Paulette Bray-Bouquet Weber (1901 – October 1954) was a Belgian-French aviator who often piloted hot-air balloons.

Career

A student of Georges Suire, Weber made her first flight in a hot-air balloon in 1928. In

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

she gained her license as pilot, second-class, having completed 14 balloon ascents, including four solo and two at night. On 30 December 30, 1931, she left from Saint Cloud in the "Maison et Mallet" Trophy, competing for the distance, but because of the snow on her aircraft, weighing it down, she was forced to land in

Châtillon-sur-Seine Châtillon-sur-Seine () is a commune of the Côte-d'Or department, eastern France. The Musée du Pays Châtillonnais is housed in old abbey of Notre-Dame de Châtillon, within the town, known for its collection of pre-Roman and Roman relics ...

and abandon the race. She then returned to Paris by train. In 1931 she was documented in the magazine ''

L'Aérophile ''L’Aérophile'' ("The Aerophile") was a French aviation magazine published from 1893 to 1947. It has been described as "the leading aeronautical journal of the world" around 1910. History and contents ''L’Aérophile'' was founded and ru ...

'', which classified her "among the pilots who 'really' carry out air travel". At that time she had made 28 ascents, including 22 solo and four at night, and had participated in the Juchmès and Mallet cups, but without victory. In 1934 she copiloted with Suire a test hot-air balloon before the Gordon Bennett Cup race in Warsaw to show the contestants how the wind blows. Two years later she came third at the

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

International Hot Air Balloon Cup, having travelled 250 km, and in November 1937 she won the "Aumont-Thiéville" cup with 242 km. In September 1939, she and three other pilots,

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 ...

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and

Claire Roman Claire Roman (born Claire-Henrietta Emilia Chambaud, 25 March 1906 – 8 August 1941) was a French aviator. In the 1930s she participated in speed races and broke world records for altitude and speed, and completed a long-distance flight to India. ...

were requisitioned to ferry planes to the front for the French Air Force. On 1 May 1946, in Paris at

Place de la Concorde The Place de la Concorde (; ) is a public square in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées. It was the s ...

, demonstration flights were carried out in a balloon, with various pilots, including Paulette Weber, who was returning to pilot the balloon for the first time since 1939. On this occasion, the journalist Suzy Mathis published an article on the Weber on the central page of ''Aviation française'', where they repurposed passages from a previous interview that Mathis had done with Weber for ''Les dimanches de la femme''. It also summarized some of her records: *Distance record (750 km) Bailleul—

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

*Female distance record (440 km)

Gennevilliers Gennevilliers () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department of Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. History On 9 April 1929, ...

—

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

*Nord-Spherique Cup, with 2500 km in 4 ascents *Planchon-Ramade Cup, 2nd place *Alfred-Leblanc Cup, 2nd place The interview ended with a Weber statement: "Balloon tourism is the king of tourism."

Death

Paulette Weber died in October 1954, whilst making her 235th balloon ascent. The accident was caused by the progressive loss of hydrogen via a defect in the porous coating of her balloon, a common issue at the time. Despite having thrown all the ballast overboard, the balloon sank into the waters of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

References

Bibliography

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External links

Paulette Weber - Press review on Press Museum

Paulette Weber - Search articles on Gallica/BNF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Paulette, Bray Bouquet 1901 births 1954 deaths French aviation pioneers Women aviation pioneers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Balloon flight record holders Belgian aviation record holders Belgian balloonists Belgian women aviators Flight distance record holders French air racers French balloonists French women aviation record holders French aviation record holders Naturalized citizens of France People who died at sea Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1954 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in international waters