French aviator, Adrienne Bolland was the first woman to cross the Andes Cordillera by plane in incredible conditions. Committed and humanist, she notably took a stand for women's right to vote and became involved in the Resistance during the Second World War.
The first woman to cross the Channel by plane from France
Born November 25, 1895, Adrienne Armande Pauline Bolland is the youngest of seven siblings, daughter by Marie Joséphine Pasques and Henri Boland, writer-geographer with Hachette editions. Henri's death in 1909 left the family in a delicate financial position.
In 1919, Adrienne embarked on pilot training. The announcement of her decision to become an airplane pilot caused a scandal within her family, but that did not stop the young woman who, very talented, obtained her pilot's license on January 29, 1920, ten weeks after the start of its formation. She becomes the thirteenth woman to obtain this patent, and the first to be hired by aviation pioneer René Caudron as a test pilot. On August 25, 1920, she became the first woman to cross the Channel by plane from France. In October of the same year, she flew alongside big names in aviation at the big Buc air show on October 8, 9 and 10, 1920.
Crossing the Andes
Intrepid, Adrienne Bolland hears about the Andes and asks Caudron to send her there. By boat, she goes to Buenos Aires with an 80 horsepower Caudron G.3, not powerful enough to conquer the Andes. She does some demonstrations but the press, which announced that she would cross the Andes, is impatient and challenges her to achieve the feat. Faced with Caudron's refusal to send a more powerful plane, Adrienne decides to take up the challenge with the G.3. On April 1, 1921 in the morning, she took off from Mendoza.
His plane tops out at 4,000 meters above sea level while his route passes through the summit of Aconcagua, at 6,900 meters above sea level. Adrienne herself doubts she can make it out alive. At altitude, she suffers from the cold, gets lost, flies between the sides of the mountains and her aircraft leaves her little leeway. Despite everything, she persisted and, after a 4h15 flight, she landed at Santiago airport in Chile where she received a triumphant welcome. The French ambassador, however, did not move:when the exploit was announced, he believed that he was being pranked! In 1951, Adrienne will explain to the press that she was saved by the warning given by a mysterious woman, who would have told her the right route to follow.
The CND Castille du Loiret network
After a tour of Latin America, Adrienne Bolland returned to France and went on to air shows where she displayed her technical prowess and broke records, notably by performing 212 loops in 72 minutes in 1924. She devoted herself to promoting aviation as well than improving the image of France in Latin America. In 1930, she married an airplane pilot, Ernest Vinchon.
In 1934, she became involved, alongside her pilot colleague Hélène Boucher, in the fight for women's right to vote. Openly on the left, she is strongly criticized for her freedom of speech. Suffering several sabotages, it will have seven serious accidents but will always survive.
In 1940, she and her husband chose to stay in the occupied zone and invest in resistance, joining the CND Castille du Loiret network. In particular, they identify areas of interest to the air forces of the Free French Forces. At the Liberation, she was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor.
In 1961, to commemorate her crossing of the Andes, Air France offered the trip to her and her husband. Ten years later, Air France is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary with a new trip offered to Adrienne and her friends, Ernest having died in 1966.
Adrienne Bolland died in Paris on March 18, 1975.
