Maryse Hilsz

Maryse Hilsz (7 March 1901 – 30 January 1946) was a French aviator known for high altitude and endurance flights. She served with the French Resistance during World War II and died in an air crash in 1946.

Early life Marie-Antoinette Hilsz was born on 7 March 1901 in Levallois-Perret and was known as Maryse. Her parents came from Alsace, her father worked as a dyer and her mother as a linen maid. She had to end her education early in 1916 after her father died in an accident. Hilsz went to work with her mother as a milliner in a dressmaking workshop to help support her two siblings.

After the end of the First World War, she explored airfields and attended airshows as civilian flying restarted. Parachute jumps were the big attraction at the meetings, and the parachutists were very well paid for risky work. She was inspired to get a pilot's licence, but flying and training was very expensive and her family could not afford the fees. In 1924, she entered a parachute jumping competition, even though she had never been in a plane before.

In 1933 she shared the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale "Woman of the Year Award" with Amelia Earhart, and was the winner of the Harmon Trophy the same year. She had only been flying since 1930.

In September 1939, she and three other pilots, Maryse Bastié, Claire Roman and Paulette Bray-Bouquet were requisitioned to ferry planes to the front for the French Air Force.

Death and legacy She and three other crew members died in an air crash of their Siebel Si 204 at Bourg-en-Bresse on 30 January 1946.

Notable flights DateRecord September 9, 1931 Completed long distance flight of Paris - Saigon - Paris August 19, 1932 Set new women's altitude record at April 28, 1934 Flight between Paris - Tokyo - Paris over distance in a Breguet. June 17, 1934 Set new women's altitude record at June 23, 1936 Set new women's fixed-wing aircraft altitude record at in a Potez 506 December 23, 1937 Set new Paris - Saigon time of four days