Maryse Bastié(1898 — 1952)
Maryse Bastié
France
8 min read
French aviator born in 1898, Maryse Bastié set numerous world records in the 1930s, including a solo crossing of the South Atlantic in 1936. A pioneer of feminism through action, she also served Free France during the Second World War.
Key Facts
- 1928: sets a women's endurance record with 26h47 of solo flight
- 1930: breaks the women's world endurance record with 37h55 of flight
- 1931: women's distance record on the Paris–Moscow route
- 1936: solo crossing of the South Atlantic (Dakar–Natal) in 12h05
- 1940–1945: joins the Free French Forces, serving as a ferry pilot and test pilot
Works & Achievements
Bastié remained airborne for 37 hours, 55 minutes, and 5 seconds above Orly, breaking the women's world record. This feat earned her the Légion d'honneur and cemented her place among the world's greatest female aviators.
She set the women's world record for straight-line distance, covering several thousand kilometers in a single non-stop leg. These successive records made her the figurehead of French sport aviation.
Flying solo in her Caudron Simoun, she flew from Dakar (Senegal) to Natal (Brazil) in approximately 12 hours, becoming the first French woman to cross the South Atlantic solo and earning international acclaim.
Rejecting the armistice and collaboration, Bastié joined De Gaulle's cause and served as a ferry pilot transporting military aircraft. Her courage earned her the Croix de Guerre and several citations.
Throughout her career, Bastié campaigned for women's access to the piloting profession, trained many female aviators, and represented France at international air shows, becoming a role model for future generations.
Anecdotes
A factory worker in a shoe workshop and then a cashier, Maryse Bastié was anything but privileged when she discovered aviation. It was her first husband, Louis Bastié, himself a pilot, who introduced her to the joys of flying in 1925. To pay for her first flying hours, she had to save for months on her meager wages — yet she passed her license on the first attempt, astonishing her instructors.
In October 1930, Maryse Bastié stayed airborne above Orly for 37 hours, 55 minutes, and 5 seconds, breaking the women's world endurance record. She landed exhausted but triumphant, cheered by an enthusiastic crowd. This feat earned her the Légion d'honneur — an exceptionally rare distinction for a woman at the time — presented by the Minister of Air himself.
On December 30, 1936, Bastié took off from Dakar in her Caudron Simoun, bound for Natal in Brazil, alone above the South Atlantic. After roughly twelve hours of flying over open ocean — with no reliable radio or GPS, guided only by her charts and compass — she landed in tropical sunshine before a crowd of thousands of Brazilians who hailed her as a national heroine.
During the Second World War, Maryse Bastié rejected the armistice and joined General de Gaulle's Free France. While many women were confined to roles as nurses or auxiliaries, she continued to fly as a military aircraft ferry pilot, proving that her commitment went far beyond chasing records. She received the Croix de Guerre for her service.
On July 6, 1952, Maryse Bastié died in a military aircraft crash at an air show at Lyon-Bron: a passenger aboard a prototype that went down after engine failure, she was only 54 years old. All of France mourned; her name was subsequently given to streets, schools, and airfields, keeping alive the memory of a woman who had broken every boundary.
Primary Sources
“Mme Bastié broke the women's world endurance record yesterday above Orly, remaining airborne for 37 hours, 55 minutes, and 5 seconds. Upon landing, a large crowd cheered her.”
“I wasn't afraid. I had prepared every detail, calculated every hour of fuel. The sea was there, vast, but my Simoun and I were one.”
Official certification of the performance by Mme Marie-Louise Bastié, known as Maryse Bastié: solo crossing of the South Atlantic, Dakar–Natal (Brazil), distance approximately 3,100 km, flight duration 12 hours 5 minutes, on 30 December 1936.
Mme Marie-Louise Bastié, aviator, is appointed Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur for outstanding services rendered to French aviation and for certified world records.
“Takeoff 08:12. Calm seas up to the 20° meridian. Low clouds around 3,000 m. Fuel consumption in line with forecasts. Landing at Natal 20:17 local time.”
Key Places
Birthplace of Maryse Bastié, born on May 27, 1898 in this small wine-growing town in southwestern France. Nothing about this modest background hinted that she would become one of France's greatest female aviators.
The main Parisian airfield of the interwar period, where Bastié set her women's world endurance record in October 1930, circling above the field for nearly 38 hours before the eyes of journalists and the public.
The departure point of the historic South Atlantic crossing on December 30, 1936. Bastié took off from Ouakam aerodrome to the cheers of the French community in West Africa.
The Brazilian city where Bastié landed after her South Atlantic crossing, welcomed as a heroine by an enthusiastic crowd. This arrival point symbolized the conquest of the airspace between France and South America.
The site where Maryse Bastié met her death on July 6, 1952, during an air show. A passenger aboard a military aircraft that crashed after engine failure, she died along with two other people on board.