Jacqueline Auriol
Jacqueline Marie -Thérèse Suzanne Auriol Douet ( born November 5, 1917 in Challans, † February 11, 2000 in Paris) was a French pilot who broke the sound barrier as the first woman and was several times the title of " fastest woman in the world".
Life
Jacqueline Douet was born in 1917 as a subsidiary of the wood dealer Pierre Douet in Challans and studied at the Blanche de Castille in Nantes, then to the Parisian Notre Dame de Sion. She studied art at the École du Louvre in Paris.
She met Paul Auriol (1918-1992), the son of the future French President Vincent Auriol know about family contacts. However, the families did not want marriage and separated the two for now. 20 -year-old she married in February 1938 Paul Auriol, after all. She had two children with him, Jean -Paul and Jean -Claude.
She worked as a press secretary of the President, Jacqueline fell mainly ceremonial duties to. With these tasks, it was not busy.
1947 for a flight ticket with the French aviator Raymond Guillaume, she decided to learn to fly yourself. Her husband, also an airman, was enthusiastic about the idea and supported it where he could. But only with the written consent of her father Guillaume gave her lessons in stunt flying. Between 1948 and 1954 acquired Jacqueline Auriol six pilot's licenses for all types of aircraft, the sailing and the art ticket.
Soon, she worked as a test pilot and flew in a season with 20 air acrobats at airshows with. In July 1949 she was in Paris a stunt performance in front of 30,000 people. Because of her courage she was nicknamed La lionne ( the lioness ). Just three days later, she crashed as co -pilot of a seaplane. She survived only with very severe burns and injuries including multiple fractures of the skull and jaw. Over the next two years, she underwent 22 operations.
Bedridden and disfigured by their burns, Jacqueline Auriol studied aeronautics, algebra and trigonometry for the license as a military pilot who acquired it in 1950. Immediately after the last plastic surgery in the United States, she made her diploma in 1951 as a helicopter pilot. During her U.S. stay, she learned the former " fastest woman in the world", Jackie Cochran know and they were good friends initially, but later they were rivals. On 13 May 1951 she luchste Jackie Cochran their first time speed record from: a jet fighter of the type " Vampire " she reached in Paris at a speed of 818,181 km / h
In September 1952 she got for "outstanding aeronautical achievements ," awarded the French Legion of Honor and two months later by Harry S. Truman, the International Hermon trophy. In December of the same year she put out another world record for women when she flew at an average speed of 856 km / h with a "Mistral" between Avignon vs Istres.
In the summer of 1953 Jacqueline Auriol reached the first woman to supersonic speed: With a jet fighter of the " Mystère " they broke the sound barrier, reaching 1195 km / h A next record followed in June 1955, when it 1200 km / h flew with a " Mystère IV" and so Jackie Cochran referred to the ranks again. In the years 1959, 1963, 1963 and 1964 reach her more world speed records, was the fastest at 2150 km / h in a " Mirage III ".
Overall, Jacqueline Auriol graduated over 4,000 flight hours. She was a test pilot for Mistral, Mystère and Mirage.
She died in 2000 with 82 years in her apartment in Paris.
Records
She was one of the first people to fly supersonic speed.