Marie Surcouf

Marie Surcouf (19 May 1863 – 11 March 1928) was a French balloonist and feminist. In 1906, she was the first French woman to earn an aeronautical balloon pilot's license and later that year she became the first French woman to pilot a balloon flight with an all-woman crew. Surcouf founded the women's aeronautical club Aéroclub féminin la Stella and served as its president.

Early life and marriages

Marie Valentine Nelly Bayard was born on 19 May 1863 at Ham (Somme) the daughter of Félicie (née Pollet) and Ernest Julien Bayard.

On 7 February 1882, she married Alberic Roussel (1853–1904), a medical doctor. They had two children: Pierre Roussel, (9 – 22 April 1886) and André Roussel (1888–1968). André later became a dirigible pilot.

At a meeting of the Management Committee on 27 October 1903, the club President, Jules Saunière, raised the question of recognizing women as a member of the ACDF, inspired by the number of women participating in balloon ascents or related to the men in the club and interested in its work. It took until the Management Committee meeting on 8 May 1904 for an agreement that women related to ACDF members could officially participate in the balloon ascensions, for the not inconsiderable sum of 80 French francs. At the AGM held on 21 October 1904, article 4 of the statutes were modified to allow "Ladies related to club members" to be admitted with “the same rights and advantages […] and the same obligations" as male members, with the restriction, that they could not be part of the Management Committee. If they were to participate in balloon ascents, it must only be done in the company of one of their two sponsors.

From March 1906, new members joined the Women's Committee and it began to expand with the first Women's Committee event taking place on 24 May 1906 at the ACDF's balloon park, located at the Rueil gas factory for easy access to the lighter than air gases required to lift the balloons. Around 600 people gathered to watch ascents and balloon releases. and increased to 55 in March 1907. The increasing membership represented "un gage du triomphe du féminisme aéronautique" a "symbol of the triumph of aeronautical women" for Marie Surcouf.

Whilst the Women's Committee was a success, a dispute arose around the organization of the meal to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the ACDF in 1907, which caused tensions between the Women's Committee and the main Management Committee.

At a meeting of the Women's Committee on 13 January 1908, the members heavily criticized the ACDF Executive Committee for not taking into account the opinions of female members and for countering their initiatives. At the same meeting, the members of the Women's Committee drafted a petition which officially asked "to separate the [Women's] Committee and the ACDF". The petition was presented to the ACDF general assembly on 18 February. Vigorously defended by Marie Surcouf, and seconded by her husband Edouard, the petition was rejected by the ACDF Management Committee, which decided to manage the Ladies' Committee instead. Many of early women members and members of the Board of Directors came from the former Ladies' Committee of the ACDF, disappointed at their treatment there. On 15 April 1909, La Stella became affiliated with the l’Aéro-Club de France. Madames Savignac, Vincent, Blériot and Desfossés-Dalloz were vice-presidents with Surcouf as president and Madame Airault as secretary.

Men were admitted as members of La Stella but did not have decision-making rights within the association, only being allowed to accompany their wives as passengers. Marie Surcouf stated that “La Stella is a women's club that allows fathers, husbands, sons or brothers of its members to accompany them on their air trips".

In April 1910, Surcouf was quoted as saying that la Stella was "a school of energy, poetry, gentleness... a movement of well-understood feminism ... aerial sport is an attraction because it helps to develop the qualities of initiative, strong will and disregard for danger, which have become indispensable to current feminist aspirations."

The club grew quickly, attracting members such as the Princess of Polignac, the Countess of Poliakoff, Anne, Duchess of Uzès, Mrs. Gabrielli, wife of Senator Gabrielli and Madame Henriette Poincaré, wife of the French president Raymond Poincaré.

On 17 June 1909, Marie Surcouf became the holder of the first sports pilot's license awarded to a woman. This certificate was awarded by l'Aéro-Club de France and required the balloon pilot to have undertaken 10 ascents, with only two persons onboard and one ascent undertaken at night.

In 1911, la Stella had 122 members, 79 of them women. At the end of 1913, this had increased to 350 members. The AGM on 17 March 1914 recorded that La Stella's membership included 6 women balloon pilots and 7 aviators: Jeanne Pallier, Carmen Damedoz, Marthe Richer, Hélène de Plagino, Marie-Louise Driancourt and Hélène Dutrieu. The Netherlands Indies Dutch Béatrix de Rijk (aka Beatrice Deryck) was another member and she was both a balloonist and an aviator.

On 17 December 1912, at the Palais d'Orsay, during the great annual banquet of la Stella, Marie Surcouf plead the cause of women.

"The sportswoman does not, believe it or not, erase the feelings of the woman. The empire of the air belongs to everyone, and who would dare to dispute that women do not have the right to conquer the stars. What men achieve through their muscular strength and physical endurance, women also achieve through their will, tenacity and courage."

First World War

The aeronautical and social activities of the club were suspended in August 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War. Members of La Stella, under Surcouf's presidency, organized charitable events in support of military aeronautics.

In the mid-1920s, Marie Surcouf tried to relaunch the women's flying club without much success. Finally, the announcement of the dissolution of La Stella was made on 30 June 1926 at the meeting of the Permanent Consultative Commission of the companies affiliated to the l'Aéro-Club de France.

The era of ballooning was coming to an end, and although the use of airships continued, interest was booming in the field of aviation.

Marie Surcouf died in Paris on 11 March 1928.