Valérie André, first woman to fly helicopter rescue missions in combat, dies at 102
French army neurosurgeon and pilot known as “Mademoiselle Helicopter” flew more than 160 wounded men from battlefields in Indochina to hospitals in Hanoi.

January 21, 2025 at 8:19 p.m. EST | January 21, 2025
6 min


Valérie André, a French army captain, doctor and helicopter pilot, stands in front of her helicopter in Tonkin, in northern Indochina, on July 30, 1952. (AJE/AP)

By Phil Davison

Valérie André, a French military officer, brain surgeon and licensed pilot who was believed to be the first woman to fly helicopter rescue missions in combat zones — during the French-Indochina war of the early 1950s — and who two decades later became the first woman to reach the rank of general in the French armed forces, died Jan. 21 in Paris. She was 102.

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Military
France's first woman general Valérie André dies at 102

AFP - news@thelocal.fr
Published: 21 Jan, 2025 CET. Updated: Tue 21 Jan 2025 17:54 CET


The first French woman general Valerie Andre, right, pictured with minister Valerie Letard in 2008. Photo by JEAN AYISSI / AFP

Valérie André, the first French woman to be promoted to the rank of general in an armed forces career that saw her deployed as a doctor, parachutist and helicopter pilot died on Tuesday aged 102, the defence ministry said.

"A very great lady has left us," defence spokeswoman Olivia Penichou said in a social media post.

André, who was born on April 21st, 1922, obtained her parachutist diploma in 1948 and worked both as a military doctor and a helicopter pilot.

"When I was 10 I told my parents that I would be an aviator," she once told an interviewer. "They thought I would outgrow it." ... But she didn't and started taking flying lessons at 17 in her home city of Strasbourg, eastern France.

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