This is the reissue of the autobiography of Jacqueline Auriol, considered the first French test pilot, and whose story is inseparable from that of Dassault Aviation.
Long out of print, since it was first published in the 1960s, this autobiography was well worth a reappearance in bookshops. Indeed, Jacqueline Auriol’s career as an exceptional pilot is one that will never be forgotten!
It all began with a first part of her life that was already unusual for the time: baptism in the air at the age of 16, marriage in 1938 to Paul, son of future French President Vincent Auriol, going underground during the German occupation, first aeronautical qualifications after the Second World War on a biplane, learning aerobatics and then… a terrible accident aboard a seaplane! The daughter-in-law of the President of the Republic (much appreciated by her father-in-law, she was entrusted with the modernization of the Élysée Palace) is disfigured, with a skull fractured in several places. The year was 1949. She underwent numerous surgical operations, but her passion for aviation remained intact. What’s more, her passion was increased tenfold, as her iron will did the rest.
In the early 1950s, Jacqueline Auriol took her military exams, broke the women’s speed record on an American jet, and broke the sound barrier on board the Dassault Mystère II, before joining the Brétigny-sur-Orge flight test center. In 1955, she set another speed record at the controls of a Dassault Mystère IV, followed by two more on a Mirage III in 1962! All in all, a career of speed and aeronautical prowess, which she rounded off as president of the Association des amis de Maryse Bastié, another French aviation star.
Adored, worldly, intrepid, technical, stubborn… Jacqueline Auriol was all of these things. When she died in 2000, President Jacques Chirac paid her a vibrant tribute at Les Invalides, recalling that her name would be “forever associated with the heroic history of aviation and aeronautical research”. From one president to another, from all sides of the political spectrum, here is the story of a woman who still commands unanimous praise a quarter century after her death.
Book. “Living and flying. Author, Jacqueline Auriol. Éditions Les Pérégrines. Collection Les Audacieuses. ISBN: 9791025206584