Passion

Book. “Les Femmes dans les nuages – Volume 1 – 1784-1918”

This book, which will be followed by at least one sequel, throws the trailblazing women of aviation, parachuting and even ballooning into the limelight. They were in fact so pioneering that this history goes all the way back to before the French revolution!

This book, which will be followed by at least one sequel, throws the trailblazing women of aviation, parachuting and even ballooning into the limelight. They were in fact so pioneering that this history goes all the way back to before the French revolution!

There were other women before Hélène Boucher! In order to find out about these first flying women, the author dug through archives in Germany, the USA, Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and Switzerland. Documenting everything, the work includes exclusive photos provided by European and American museums, and drawings inspired by the iconography of the era.

And for the story of these first women, let us go to France! For it was in France that, in 1784, a woman from Lyon went up in a free balloon, and 15 years later, a Parisian woman made a parachute jump. The book goes on to recount the stories of the women who, during the next century, went from city to city all throughout Europe, presenting their aerostats to the many onlookers who came to meet them.

As the 20th Century began, hundreds of women were flying aerostats worldwide. Among them were women of all social backgrounds – from singers to serving girls. The only thing that mattered was passion! But the start of the 20th Century brought with it the First World War, and the prohibition on women fighting. The most famous woman to get around this was Marie Marivingt who, thanks to fortuitous circumstances, managed to engage in aerial combat on multiple occasions. This brings us to the end of the First World War and the skies opening up to women… Find out more about that in the second volume!

Book. “Les Femmes dans les nuages – Volume 1 – 1784-1918” Author, Maryla Boutineau. Editions Heimdal. EAN: 9782840485940