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February 27, 1898 – † July 6, 1952
Maryse Bastié was a French aviator. Born Marie-Louise Bombec in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, at age eleven Bastié's father died and her family struggled to survive. However, as an employee in a shoe factory, money was scarce and an early marriage that failed left her with a child and limited means. As a result of her marriage to lieutenant pilote Louis Bastié, a World War I pilot, she became fascinated by the new phenomenon of powered flight and was determined to become a pilot and to own her own plane. She obtained her license to fly and although her husband was killed in a 1926 plane crash, Maryse Bastié began doing aerobatics to earn money to keep herself flying and in 1927 purchased her own aircraft, a Caudron C.109.
In the 1930s, Maryse Bastié set several international records for female aviators including for duration flying, distance, and a record time for a solo flight across the South Atlantic, only one month after the death of Jean Mermoz on the same route. Her performances earned her the Harmon Trophy in 1931. In 1935 she founded her own flying school at Orly Airport Arthur Sanfourche father and Jean-Joseph Sanfourche was his mechanic.
Maryse Bastié served in the French Air Force, rising to the rank of Captain while logging more than 3.000 hours flying time. The government of France made her a Commander of the Legion of Honor. In 1937, she published her story under the title Ailes ouvertes: carnet d'une aviatrice.
In 1934, she engages with Hélène Boucher and Adrienne Bolland in the feminist struggle to become an activist for the French vote, supporting Louise Weiss who stood for election in 1936 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.
At the German offensive of May 1940, she offers her services to the Red Cross, particularly among the French prisoners grouped in the Drancy camp. On departure of a train to Germany, she is shaken by a German sentry and fractures her right elbow. She keeps a disability and will not fly again. Under cover of her activity for the Red Cross, she collects informations on the occupant.
On July 6, 1952, following a conference in Lyon, Maryse Basti é was killed when her Noratlas crashed during take off. She is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
The "Lycée professionnel régional Maryse Bastié" in Hayange-Marspich, the "Lycée Maryse Bastié" in Limoges, and the "College Maryse Bastié" in Reims are named in her memory. The Real Estate Services division of aircraft maker Bombardier Inc. named a street in her honor in Saint-Laurent, Quebec as did the French cities of Anglet, Bron, Haguenau and Lyon.
In 1955, the Government of France honored Maryse Bastié with her image on an airmail postage stamp.
There is a memorial to Maryse Bastile in the west of Paris in a small park of the Boulevard du Garigliano M. Valin not far from the Seine river.
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