French aviatrix Helene Boucher

French aviatrix Helene Boucher made history with her flying skills. She set several women’s world speed records in the 1930s.

Born on 23 May 1908 in Paris, she saw planes flying aerobatics when she was 20 years old, and became the first pupil (male or female) to join Henri Fabos’ new flying school.

At 23, she bought her own plane, a de Havilland Gypsy Moth, and learned to perform aerobatics in Flight Shows.

She sold the Gypsy Moth and bought an Avro Avian with the aim to fly to the Far East. Due to a lack of finances, she flew to Damascus in Syria, and returned via North Africa.

Helene Boucher, and co-pilot Miss Jacob, entered the Angers 12-hour race in 1933—the only female team.

In 1933 and 1934 she set several world speed, distance, and height records.

She was the first woman to fly to a height of 5,900 metres (19,357 feet). She set the first international speed record over a distance of 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of 409 kilometres per hour (254 mph) in 1934 for men and women. On the same day, she set the speed record over a distance of 100 kilometres (62 miles) of 412 kph (256 mph) for men and women.

Three days later she reached a speed of 445 kph (277 mph), which was a women’s speed record. She set these records in a Renault Caudron aircraft.

She died on 30 November 1934 near Versailles, not far from Paris, when her plan crashed into the Guyancourt woods. She was 26 years old. She was posthumously awarded a knight of the Legion of Honour.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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