A Forgotten Legend
We’ve all heard of Amelia Earhart, and while she is a legendary figure, we should also take time to acknowledge Marie Marvingt. Though she’s a lesser-known aviator, she was no less prolific and important to the field. Here’s everything you need to know about this amazing WWI pilot.
More Than A Flying Icon
Marie Marvingt is known as an army pilot, but to look at only that part of her life would be a discredit to all her other accomplishments. So, we’ve listed as many as we can.
Humble Beginnings
Flying wasn’t a part of her family in her early life. She was born to postmaster Félix Constant Marvingt and Élisabeth Brusquin in Aurillac, France.
Agence Meurisse, Wikimedia Commons
An Early Introduction To Sports
She had a brother named Eugène, who was sickly. He wasn’t able to participate in the sports her father adored, and that Marvingt grew to love from a young age.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
They Moved Across Borders
The family lived in Metz, at the time a part of Germany, from 1880 to 1889, but they moved to Nancy after her mother perished in 1889. Little did they know, the simmering national tensions would later become a huge part of Marvingt’s life.
Claude_villetaneuse, Wikimedia Commons
A Father’s Influence
Marvingt was influenced by her father’s love of sports and gained an interest in mountaineering, gymnastics, horse riding, fencing, tennis, and many more sports. To say the least, she was a busy child with lots and lots of passion.
Huge Ambitions Developed Quickly
She had high aspirations early in her life. In 1890, only a year after her mother’s passing, Marvingt canoed over 400 km from her hometown to Koblenz, Germany. She was only 15!
Römmler & Jonas, Wikimedia Commons
She Found Even More Sports To Love
As Marvingt mastered one sport, she learned another. She became a lauded athlete and won many prizes in swimming, fencing, riflery, skiing, speed skating, and more. Her abilities were widely versatile, and they would come in handy at a critical moment.
She Was Up On High
Marvingt summited huge mountains. From 1903 to 1910, she was the first woman mountaineer to ascend most of the French and Swiss Alps. She saw a lot of Europe from those peaks, and it was an early taste of the views from even higher in the sky.
National Library of France, Picryl
A Keen Swimmer
Marvingt was nicknamed “the red amphibian” for her vibrantly colored swimsuit, which she wore while being the first Frenchwoman to swim the Seine. And this wouldn’t be the last time she set a new standard.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
She Still Received Rejection Despite Her Great Abilities
She wanted to bike in the 1908 Tour de France, but was rejected because the competition only allowed men to participate. Unfortunately, she would continue to face gender-based discrimination later in her life.
This Didn’t Stop Her From Achieving Other Accolades
Marvingt was wildly successful in the 1908 and 1910 winter sports competitions in Chamonix, Gérardmer, and Ballon d’Alsace. She got first place 20 times! Her competitive drive was no joke.
She Saw Earth From The Sky
Marvingt’s aviation really kicked off in 1901, when she was a passenger in a free-flight balloon. This showed her a whole new world, and she became intrigued by the endless possibilities. She had no idea how this would change her life.
La Vie au Grand Air, Wikimedia Commons
Her Praise Of The Experience Was Incomparable
Her regard of the sport was so high that she would later say this about flying and piloting: “This new sport is comparable to no other. It is, in my opinion, one of the most intoxicating forms of sport…”
She Took Her New Passion Seriously
On July 19, 1907, she piloted a free-flight balloon for the first time, and two years later, did a solo-flight. A few months after her first solo flight, she made a courageous journey and set her sights even higher.
Somewhere Across The Sea
One success led Marvingt straight into another. On October 26, 1909, Marvingt traversed the North Sea, from Europe to England, and was successful. The balloon was named The Shooting Star.
Christian Vollmer, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Her Pursuit Of Achievement Continued
This started a lifelong love of being in the sky. Over the following couple of years, Marvingt won several awards for her balloon pilotry. Her desire to succeed at the things she loved filled her with an unparalleled conviction.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
She Made History, Again
Marvingt always strove to make space for women in men’s spaces, and this included aviation. In 1910, she received her ballooning license, #145, at the Stella Aero Club. She was the second woman to ever do so. And she would make history again during an important world event.
Another Goal Appeared
With her ballooning license under her belt, it was time to try another type of aviation. Her first fixed-wing powered flight was in September 1909. The flight was piloted by Roger Sommer, and it instigated Marvingt’s next goals as a pilot.
George Grantham Bain Collection, Wikimedia Commons
She Learned What She Could About Her New Goal
In 1910, Marvingt learned all she could about fixed-wing aviation alongside Hubert Latham, and the two piloted an Antoinette aeroplane. This plane was notoriously hard to fly, but that didn’t stop Marvingt’s ambitions.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
And That Goal Was Attained
Marvingt learned how to pilot the Antoinette, then managed to pilot the plane solo. She claimed the title of the first woman to fly this plane, and she earned her pilot's license at the same time. But she continued to be wildly impressive in her life.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
Three Of A Kind
The turn of the century brought opportunity. In 1910, Marvingt became the third registered Frenchwoman pilot, with license #281. And she was an exceptional pilot.
A Safe Pilot
Throughout her first 900 flights, she never crashed nor “broke wood”, which set a new record for other pilots at the time. This was another achievement added to her long list of successes, and so early in life!
She Wanted To Help
But that isn’t where her piloting experience ended. She also participated as an unofficial pilot in WWI, and even took part in conflicts with a German airbase twice. But she couldn’t participate as herself.
Cromwell Productions, Line of Fire (2002)
A Woman Undercover
Marvingt had to disguise herself as a man to participate in the war effort. She had the help of a French infantry lieutenant and served in the 42nd Battalion. Then, things took a turn.
Her Undercover Status Was Uncovered
Despite her helpful contributions, her presence in the battalion couldn’t last. The French army discovered they had a woman in their midst. They sent her home for her deception, but that wasn’t the end of her time in the service.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
A Personal Request
Marvingt caught the eye of important people. Marshal Ferdinand Foch made a special request that Marvingt come back to participate in the effort in the Italian Dolomites. And she even played other, equally important roles.
Nationaal Archief, Wikimedia Commons
A Jill-Of-All-Trades
She did three vastly different jobs. First, she was a surgical nurse with the Red Cross. Secondly, she was a correspondent in Italy, and thirdly, she likely gathered information for the French service. Talk about multifaceted!
She Made Her Mark
In 1915, Marvingt was the first woman pilot to ever participate in combat missions. She participated in missions that flew over German territory, and she even received an important award for her participation.
Finally, She’s Acknowledged For Her Contributions
Marvingt received the Croix de Guerre for her efforts in Metz against a German base. This honor was a true testament to her contribution to the WWI efforts and the role she played in so many segments of the army. And her contributions went beyond even that.
Nationaal Archief, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
Her Worlds Combined
Marvingt was smart and resourceful, and combined her sports knowledge with her aviation knowledge to create an air ambulance that could land on sand in a desert. She carried this forward by teaching other pilots to ski on sand dunes.
Émile Friant, Wikimedia Commons
She Found Even More Passions
After WWI ended, she pivoted and began working as a journalist and correspondent. She also became a medical officer, and worked with the French Forces in North Africa. Marvingt’s hard work continued to make a lasting statement.
Maurice Pillard Verneuil, Wikimedia Commons
She Was An Innovator
In addition to that, she continued innovating on her ambulance aeroplane, and even turned it into a service. This project became one of Marvingt’s greatest achievements that would eventually spread around the world.
She Stood For Her Values Again
But her military participation didn’t end with WWI. She also played a vital role in WWII, when she returned to the Red Cross as a corporal-ranked nurse. She even brought her air ambulance skis with her.
Le Miroir des Sports, Wikimedia Commons
A Helping Hand
Marvingt was a primary contributor in creating and maintaining a home for aviators wounded in combat, which was a major contribution to the WWII effort. She also did something surprising to advance medicine at the time.
A Change Of Stitch
During this time, she also invented a novel way of doing surgical sutures. Add this to her prior contributions with the air ambulance, and she was on a roll with assisting others and creating new, helpful systems.
She Didn’t Hoard Her Knowledge, She Shared It
Marvingt even created courses for other nurses to learn how to perform medical care in the air, and became the first-ever flight nurse in 1935. She set a new standard for medical care, and this would be one of her major achievements in the military.
Fablegros, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
She Was Awarded Highly, Once Again
Marvingt was also a major participant in the Resistance in German-occupied Europe, which earned her another important award: a medal with a star, which indicated the awarded person had made exceptional contributions.
Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Her Values Expanded Beyond Her Service Career
Despite all her time being a combat pilot, Marvingt still championed aviation as a vehicle for peace: “If we have given wings to the world, we have the obligation to ensure that they are the wings of the dove of peace”.
ullstein bild Dtl., Getty Images
She Was An Artist
Throughout her life, Marvingt wrote fiction, poetry, and most prominently, non-fiction journalism. She wrote two books—which won awards and international literary competitions—one of which was adapted for film.
The Passing Of An Underacknowledged Aviation Figure
When she departed this life, Marvingt was 88. She was interred in the Cimetière de Préville, Nancy, France, where she grew up. Her contributions to aviation and medicine had a lasting positive impact on the world, which would make her proud of all she accomplished.
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