{"id":28859057,"date":"2026-10-20T11:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/helene-boucher-french-speed-record-pilot-caudron-1934\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:46:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:46:59","slug":"helene-boucher-french-speed-record-pilot-caudron-1934","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/helene-boucher-french-speed-record-pilot-caudron-1934\/","title":{"rendered":"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher: The Fastest Woman in the World in 1934"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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It lost speed, dropped onto the treetops of the woods beyond the field and broke apart. The pilot, reached first by fellow aviators who saw the crash, died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. She was 26 years old.<\/p>\r\n<p>Less than four months earlier, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher had been the fastest woman on earth. In a single week in August 1934 she set an international speed record open to men and women alike, then pushed the women's absolute speed record to 445 km\/h. French newspapers called her \"la femme la plus vite du monde\", the fastest woman in the world.<\/p>\r\n<p>From first lesson to final flight, her career lasted less than four years. In that time she went from first lesson to transport pilot, aerobatic display star, Renault's racing pilot and holder of a string of world records, and France gave her a send-off no woman had received before.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Born:<\/strong> 23 May 1908, Paris<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Pilot's licence:<\/strong> 21 June 1931, A\u00e9ro-Club des Landes, Mont-de-Marsan<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First world record:<\/strong> Women's altitude record for light aircraft, 5,900 m, 2 August 1933<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Headline record:<\/strong> 1,000 km international speed record, all categories, 409.184 km\/h, 8 August 1934<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Women's speed record:<\/strong> 445.028 km\/h, 11 August 1934<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Died:<\/strong> 30 November 1934, Guyancourt, in a Caudron C.430 Rafale, aged 26<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Honours:<\/strong> Posthumous L\u00e9gion d'honneur; first woman to lie in state at Les Invalides<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">From Orly Joyride to Professional Pilot<\/h2>\r\n<p>Boucher was the daughter of a Parisian architect, L\u00e9on Boucher, and grew up partly at the family property near Yermenonville in Eure-et-Loir, where as a girl she collected photographs of aviators. Her first flight came on 4 July 1930, a joyride at Orly at the age of 22. Weeks later she decided to become a pilot herself.<\/p>\r\n<p>She learned at the A\u00e9ro-Club des Landes in Mont-de-Marsan, run by Henri Farbos, took her first lesson in March 1931 and earned her tourist pilot's licence on 21 June 1931. A year later, with 100 hours and a night flight in her logbook, she qualified as a public transport pilot. According to French Wikipedia, only Adrienne Bolland, Maryse Basti\u00e9 and Maryse Hilsz had done so before her.<\/p>\r\n<p>Money was the constant problem. Early in 1933 she set off alone in a second-hand British light aircraft on a raid to Saigon. Engine failures stopped her near Baghdad, where she was stuck for six weeks, and she came home through Egypt and North Africa as a tourist.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t6gG-oK7Tx4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic\">British Path\u00e9 newsreel from 1934 on Frenchwoman H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher's new air speed records.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Altitude, Then Aerobatics<\/h2>\r\n<p>Her first world record came in a machine with almost no power at all. On 2 August 1933, flying a Mauboussin M.120 Corsaire with a 60 hp Salmson engine, she climbed to 5,900 metres for the women's altitude record for light aircraft. A few weeks earlier she had finished 14th in the 12 Hours of Angers race in the same low-powered type.<\/p>\r\n<p>That autumn she turned to aerobatics under Michel D\u00e9troyat, France's leading display pilot. She trained for four weeks on a Morane 230, learning spins, rolls and inverted flight, before her first public display at the November 1933 match between D\u00e9troyat and the German champion Gerhard Fieseler. The organisers billed a second duel alongside: Boucher, pupil of D\u00e9troyat, against Fieseler's pupil Vera von Bissing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;Les tonneaux, les vrilles, les renversements avaient pour moi un irr\u00e9sistible attrait.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:8px;font-size:15px;color:#333\">&ldquo;Rolls, spins, stall turns held an irresistible attraction for me.&rdquo; (our translation)<\/div><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher<\/strong> &mdash; talk &ldquo;Impressions d'acrobatie a\u00e9rienne&rdquo;, Petit Palais, Paris, 28 November 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>D\u00e9troyat did more than teach. In December 1933 he lent her 25,000 francs to buy an aircraft, according to the archive letters studied by historian Laure Bougl\u00e9-Bal dit Sollier. Meeting fees of 6,000 to 8,000 francs, handled by the agency Air Propagande, began to keep her in the air.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Renault's Racing Pilot<\/h2>\r\n<p>In June 1934 the newly formed Caudron-Renault company signed her as a pilot. The contract gave her a salary, and with it access to the fastest light aircraft in France: the Rafale family designed by engineer Marcel Riffard. Renault also used her to advertise its Viva Grand Sport car.<\/p>\r\n<p>On 8 July 1934 she flew a Caudron Rafale single-handed for the full twelve hours of the second 12 Hours of Angers. She finished second to a two-pilot crew, and on the way set the international 1,000 km speed record for light aircraft at 250.086 km\/h.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/helene-boucher-caudron-rafale-1934.jpg\" alt=\"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher in overalls standing in front of a Caudron Rafale with her name painted on the cowling\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher in front of her Caudron Rafale, 1934, her name painted on the nose. Photo: unknown photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Then came the big one. On 8 August 1934, at <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-bases\/ba-125-istres\/\">Istres<\/a>, she flew a Caudron C.450, the single-seat Renault-powered racer that had won that year's Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe. She averaged 409.184 km\/h over 1,000 km, an international record in all categories, open to men and women. The previous mark of 393 km\/h had belonged to Maurice Arnoux. The same day she set the women's 100 km record at 412.371 km\/h.<\/p>\r\n<p>She was still not satisfied. On 11 August she took the women's world speed record over a measured course at 445.028 km\/h. Her L\u00e9gion d'honneur citation later credited her with bringing six records home to France.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Crash at Guyancourt<\/h2>\r\n<p>Her final aircraft was a Caudron C.430 Rafale, registered F-AMVB, a two-seat development of the Coupe Deutsch racers built to train pilots on something close to a racer but safer. On 30 November 1934 she was flying it on a training flight at Guyancourt aerodrome.<\/p>\r\n<p>The press reported a loss of speed on the landing approach. The Rafale clipped the treetops of the woods near Magny-les-Hameaux and crashed. Raymond Delmotte, himself a Caudron record pilot, was among the first to reach her. Badly injured, she died in the ambulance on the hill at Satory on the way to Versailles.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Minister of Air, General Victor Denain, came to her bedside and pinned the L\u00e9gion d'honneur on her body. Military aviators mounted an honour guard through the night. France was in shock.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;Votre fille regrett\u00e9e, reste, comme le dit la belle citation qui vient de lui \u00eatre d\u00e9cern\u00e9e, l'exemple le plus parfait et le plus noble de la jeune fille fran\u00e7aise. Nous la pleurons tous avec vous.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:8px;font-size:15px;color:#333\">&ldquo;Your late daughter remains, as the fine citation just awarded to her says, the most perfect and noble example of the young French woman. We all mourn her with you.&rdquo; (our translation)<\/div><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Albert Lebrun<\/strong> &mdash; President of the French Republic, letter to the Boucher family, December 1934<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">First Woman Honoured at Les Invalides<\/h2>\r\n<p>Her coffin was taken to Les Invalides in Paris, the resting place of Napoleon and France's military heroes. She lay in state in the chapel of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides for two days, watched over by military and civilian pilots, men and women. She was the first woman to receive the honour.<\/p>\r\n<p>The funeral mass there drew the whole of fashionable Paris. Yet she was not buried at Les Invalides. Her body went home to the village cemetery at Yermenonville, where she was laid to rest privately with her family. General Denain declared that H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher, who had given her life for aviation, had \"entered into legend\".<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JpUGY2ik1Iw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic\">British Path\u00e9 footage of the funeral procession for H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher in Paris.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Journal officiel published her citation to the order of the Nation on 2 December 1934. Drafted by the airman and writer Ren\u00e9 Chambe, it described her as a pilot of great class who had won the most coveted records in a short time through skill and \"audace r\u00e9fl\u00e9chie\", considered daring.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Legacy of L\u00e9no<\/h2>\r\n<p>Within months, a women's air race carried her name: the Coupe H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher, won by Maryse Hilsz in 1935 and 1936. A new girls' lyc\u00e9e in Paris was named after her, as were countless streets and schools since. A 1953 film, <em>Horizons sans fin<\/em>, told her story, and in 1972 the French post office put her on a stamp with Hilsz.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/helene-boucher-tomb-yermenonville-1935.jpg\" alt=\"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher's tomb at Yermenonville with a bronze bust, stone wings and two boys laying flowers\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher's tomb in the cemetery at Yermenonville, photographed in 1935 or 1936, with her bronze bust and sculpted stone wings. Photo: Agence Meurisse \/ Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Her aircraft live on too. A replica of her blue-and-red C.430 Rafale is displayed at the regional air museum at Angers, where she raced twice. And a flying replica of the C.460, sister ship of the C.450 she took to 445 km\/h, was built in the United States in 2009 and bought by Renault in 2023.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RyfOYulF3Jw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic\">The flying Caudron-Renault C.460 Rafale replica displaying at Air Legend 2026, Melun-Villaroche, 6 September 2026.<\/p>\r\n<p>In 2019, water damage at Yermenonville town hall led to the rediscovery of her archives: hundreds of documents, her flying suit, her logbooks, and the propeller and debris of the Rafale she died in. The village now has a small H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher museum.<\/p>\r\n<p>She flew for less than four years. In that time she beat the men over 1,000 km, became the fastest woman alive and was the first woman to lie in state at Les Invalides.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Sources: Wikipedia (H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher, English and French), Wikipedia (Caudron C.450\/C.460, Caudron C.430 Rafale, Mauboussin Corsaire), Laure Bougl\u00e9-Bal dit Sollier, &ldquo;H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher&rdquo;, Nacelles no. 12 (2022), Ren\u00e9 Chambe archive (generalrenechambe.com), This Day in Aviation, Vintage Aviation News<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who was H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher (1908\u20131934) was a French aviator who became one of the fastest pilots of the 1930s. Licensed in June 1931, she flew aerobatic displays under Michel D\u00e9troyat, joined Caudron-Renault in 1934 and set several world records, including an all-category 1,000 km speed record. She was killed in a training crash at Guyancourt on 30 November 1934, aged 26.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What speed records did H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher set?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 8 August 1934, flying a Caudron C.450 racer, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher set the international 1,000 km speed record in all categories at 409.184 km\/h and the women's 100 km record at 412.371 km\/h. On 11 August 1934 she set the women's world speed record at 445.028 km\/h. In July 1934 she had also set a 1,000 km light aircraft record.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What altitude record did H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher set in 1933?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 2 August 1933 H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher set the women's world altitude record for light aircraft at 5,900 metres. She flew a Mauboussin M.120 Corsaire powered by a 60 hp Salmson engine. It was her first world record, set shortly after she finished 14th in the 12 Hours of Angers race in the same low-powered aircraft type.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher die?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher died on 30 November 1934 after crashing a Caudron C.430 Rafale, registered F-AMVB, during a training flight at Guyancourt aerodrome near Versailles. The press reported a loss of speed on the landing approach; the aircraft hit treetops and crashed. She was badly injured and died in the ambulance on the way to hospital in Versailles, aged 26.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher buried at Les Invalides?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher lay in state at Les Invalides in Paris, in the chapel of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, and was the first woman to receive that honour. Her funeral mass was held there, but she was buried privately in the village cemetery at Yermenonville in Eure-et-Loir, where her family had a property.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who taught H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher aerobatics?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher learned aerobatics from Michel D\u00e9troyat, France's leading display pilot, starting in September 1933. She trained for four weeks on a Morane 230 and made her first public display at the November 1933 match between D\u00e9troyat and German champion Gerhard Fieseler. D\u00e9troyat also lent her 25,000 francs in December 1933 to buy an aircraft.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was the Coupe H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Coupe H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher was a French air competition for women pilots created in her memory after her death in 1934. It was held at least in 1935 and 1936, and Maryse Hilsz won both of those editions. Many French schools and streets, including the Lyc\u00e9e H\u00e9l\u00e8ne-Boucher in Paris, are also named after her.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher (1908\u20131934) was a French aviator who became one of the fastest pilots of the 1930s. Licensed in June 1931, she flew aerobatic displays under Michel D\u00e9troyat, joined Caudron-Renault in 1934 and set several world records, including an all-category 1,000 km speed record. 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It was held at least in 1935 and 1936, and Maryse Hilsz won both of those editions. Many French schools and streets, including the Lyc\u00e9e H\u00e9l\u00e8ne-Boucher in Paris, are also named after her.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/adrienne-bolland-andes-crossing-caudron-g3-1921\/\">Adrienne Bolland: She Flew the Andes With 40 Hours<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/marga-von-etzdorf-first-female-airline-pilot-1933\/\">Marga von Etzdorf: The First Woman to Fly for an Airline<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hughes-h-1-racer-worlds-fastest-1935\/\">The Racer That Redrew the Airplane<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/amy-johnson-solo-england-australia-1930-jason\/\">Amy Johnson: The First Woman to Fly Solo to Australia<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher beat the men over 1,000 km, hit 445 km\/h in a Caudron racer in 1934 and was the first woman to lie in state at Les Invalides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":28859030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28859057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher: Fastest Woman in the World, 1934 | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher beat the men over 1,000 km, hit 445 km\/h in a Caudron racer in 1934 and 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