Marie Marvingt – Nicknamed the fiancee of danger

Marie Marvingt – Nicknamed the fiancee of danger

Marie Marvingt was a French athlete, mountaineer, aviator and journalist.  In 1901 became the first woman to pilot balloons across both the English Channel. In 1910 became the third woman licensed to fly an aeroplane.  During World War I became the first woman to fly combat missions as a bomber pilot.She was nicknamed “the fiancee of danger”.

Marie Marvingt, a qualified surgical nurse and the first trained and certified Flight Nurse in the world first flight was in 1907 when she ascended as a passenger in a free-flight balloon. On 19 July 1907, she piloted one and in September 1909, she made her first solo flight as a balloon pilot. Two months later on 26 October 1909 Marvingt became the first woman to pilot a balloon across the North Sea and English Channel from Europe to England. She earned her balloon pilot’s certificate  from the Aero-Club Stella in 1910.

In September Marvingt had her first flight as a passenger in an aeroplane piloted by Roger Sommer. During 1910. On 8 November 1910 she became she was the third Frenchwoman received a pilot’s licence from the Aéro-Club de France.

During World War I she disguised herself as a man and, with the connivance of a French infantry lieutenant, served on the front lines as a soldier, 2nd Class. She was discovered and sent home but later also served as a Red Cross nurse.

In 1915 Marvingt became the first woman in the world to fly combat missions when she became a volunteer pilot flying bombing missions over German-held territory and she received the Croix de guerre (Military Cross) for her aerial bombing of a German military base in Metz.