Anne-Marie Jeanne Imbrecq (18 June 191128 November 2005) was a nurse, parachutist, and French civil and military aircraft pilot active in Europe and Africa during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Anne-Marie was the daughter of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

lawyer Joseph Imbrecq who specialized in transport law. She graduated as a nurse and joined the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

in 1932. In that same year she earned her

pilot's license Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits for operating aircraft. Flight crew licences are issued by the civil aviation authority of each country, which must establish that the holder has met minimum knowledge and experience before issui ...

for tourism (Patent no 14166,10 May 1932), and later became a

parachutist Parachuting and skydiving are methods of descending from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or multiple parachutes. For hu ...

and was awarded her pilot license for public transport in 1937. In 1932, Imbrecq was called to court in Paris for an investigation into the death of parachutist Marcel Gayet who died after a failed parachute jump from the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

(a practice that had been completely prohibited since 1912). In spite of the ban on launches, Imbrecq herself had successfully jumped after him. The trial finished without any consequences for the young woman. Imbrecq was among the first volunteers who enlisted for service in

in 1939. She first went to work with the health services of the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

. In February 1940, she flew to Finland on a Red Cross mission there, and she returned to Paris on 7 April 1940. She appointed second-lieutenant in 1940 and sent off to then-French-colony

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and the French Air Force in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

(APN), where she contributed to the air transport service. When

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

was occupied, she joined the African Free Corps as a nurse and paramedic. She also participated in the Corsican Campaign as a rescuer. She was director of the first French female glider flight course. When World War II ended, Imbreq, who had earned the rank of lieutenant in 1943, was hailed as "a heroine of the Resistance" for her work in North Africa.

Post-war training

After the French Liberation in 1944, Imbreq was still in North Africa when she learned that President Charles De Gaulle's new Air Minister Charles Tillon, was forming a team of female military pilots, learning about it "''by hearsay that there was an internship. I then returned directly and asked to be part of it .''” For the Premier corps de pilotes militaires féminins, Tillon enlisted women who had earned their civilian pilot's licenses before the start of the war. Training was at Martinerie camp, near

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

and

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

in central France. A strong bond formed among the pilots, including

Maryse Bastié Maryse Bastié (; 27 February 1898 – 6 July 1952) was a French aviator who set several international records for female aviators during the 1930s. Early life She was born Marie-Louise Bombec in Limoges, Haute-Vienne; Bastié's father died ...

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 wa ...

, Suzanne Melk,

Élisabeth Boselli Élisabeth Thérèse Marie Juliette Boselli (11 March 1914 – 25 November 2005), was a French military and civilian pilot. She was the first female fighter pilot to serve in the French Air Force, and held eight world records for distance, altitu ...

, Andrée Dupeyron, Élisabeth Lion, Paulette Bray-Bouquet, Gisèle Gunepin, Yvonne Jourjon, and Geneviève Lefevre-Seillier. According to Imbreq in an interview, "most of the forty-something volunteers, who had not flown for almost five years, found themselves in mismatched flight suits that were very ill-suited to their size." She went on to describe the experience:

“At school with men, we had the same training. Among them were pilots who had been prisoners like Edmond Petit. The men admitted us without problems, we were comrades. We sympathized more or less, it depended because some were well behaved, others more irascible… We thought what we were doing would be useful for the future because we knew that for the most part we were already too old… Of these girls who were with me, hardly any remained in the Air Force apart from Elizabeth Boselli.”

On 12 February 1946, Lieutenant Imbreq obtained her fighter pilot's license (Patent No. 32941), but the special pilot training program for Air Force women ended later that year. Thereafter, doors to female military pilots remained closed until 1996 when women finally regained the opportunity to begin pilot training.

Decorations

Imbreq was honored for her service from 1939 to 1945 as an Army and Red Cross pilot. *

Resistance Medal The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...

(1947) * Knight of the Legion of Honor (1949)

Bibliography

*''The Aerophile: technical and practical review of aerial locomotion,'' vol. 401932. *''Air via'' (no 34), 1936. * Raymond Caire, ''The Military Woman,'' 1981 * Johanna Hurni, ''Women in the armed forces,'' Effingerhof, 1992 * Jean-Michel Amirault, ''The Rich Hours of the Aero Club of France 1898-1998'', 1998 * France. Air Force. Historical service, ''Oral history: macrothematic inventory.'' Volume 5, 2000 * Michel Klen, ''Women of War: A Millennial History'', 2010 * Bernard Marck, ''Passionate about the air. Little story of light aviation'', 2011

References

External links

* "Un Français Libre among 54536: Anne-Marie Imbrecq" on francaislibres.net rchive * "Tributes: Anne-Marie Imbrecq" on aeroclub.com rchive * "A French aviator passionate about gliding" on archives.radio-canada.ca rchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Imbreq, Anne-Marie Aviators from Paris Recipients of the Resistance Medal Knights of the Legion of Honour 2005 deaths 1911 births French women aviators French Air and Space Force personnel French World War II pilots French Resistance members 20th-century French women World War II women pilots