Caroline Aigle was a polytechnician, the first woman in the French Air Force to have a fighter pilot’s licence, and military triathlon champion. Her life was as short as it was spectacular. The daughter of an army doctor, she had always been part of the military. After her studies at the Saint-Cyr military school then at the military high school of La Flèche, she joined the École polytechnique in 1994 and did her compulsory military service (1994-1995) with the 13th battalion of alpine hunters. She then chose to serve in the Air Force, where she discovered her true vocation. The first woman to follow complete training at the Air School of Salon-de-Provence then at the Fighter Aviation School of Tours, she received her fighter pilot licence in 1999 from General Jean Rannou, Chief of Staff of the Air Force. In the meantime, she was also a versatile and accomplished sportswoman; she became the French military triathlon champion (swimming, cycling, running) and world military triathlon team champion. Assigned to the Dijon air base, she accomplished her dream of flying the Mirages 2000-5 and quickly climbed the ladder. In 2005, she became Flight Commander. She was then transferred to the Air Force Command in Metz, where she was in charge of flight safety. In June 2007, she learned that she had passed the written examinations for the Joint Services Defence College (JSDC) entrance examination, when her life took a tragic turn: married with one child, she became pregnant with a second child when she was diagnosed with skin cancer. Despite the doctors’ advice, she chose to keep the baby. The baby was born by Caesarean section three and a half months before her term, while she died two weeks later, shortly before her 33rd birthday. A wave of emotion overwhelmed the air force pilot community: the C. Eagle myth was born. The aviator was awarded the Aeronautics Medal posthumously by the President of the Republic on October 2nd 2007. Then, as part of International Women’s Rights Day, the Air and Space Museum organised a day in her honour on March 8th 2008, with the participation of some 100 female pilots. Ultimately, the nautical centre of the École polytechnique is now named after this knight of the sky and the school’s students organise the Caroline-Aigle triathlon each year to salute her memory.
