Adrienne Bolland has been called “France’s most accomplished female aviator”. Her main claim to fame was being the first woman to fly over the Andes – a truly perilous feat in her day. She also set a women’s record for most loops done in an hour. The French government awarded her the Legion of Honour – the country’s highest order of merit.

Adrienne Armande Pauline Boland was born on November 25, 1895, at Arcueil, a suburb of Paris. Being the youngest of seven children she was a spoilt brat. She had a fiercely obstinate streak that earned her the sobriquet “the little terror”. As a young woman she indulged in drinking bouts, gambling and the fast life. In a desperate effort to pay off her gambling debts she even decided to learn flying. She commenced flight training in November 1919 at the Caudron Airplane Company, France’s first aircraft manufacturer, and secured her pilot’s licence in January 1920. A typo on her certificate rendered her surname with two “l”s and she decided to keep the name “Bolland”. Adrienne was a difficult person to get along with, even physically attacking those who disagreed with her. As a result she was often grounded. However, flying changed more than just her name. She later confessed, “I became a different person in an airplane. I felt small, humble. Because, the truth is, on the ground I was totally insufferable.”

One day Bolland marched up to René Caudron, the factory owner, and said she wanted to fly her own plane. He pointed to a Caudron G.3 and said that if she could execute a loop, the aircraft was hers. When she did so, effortlessly, Caudron realised the publicity value of having an attractive young woman flying his machines. On his instructions, she flew a G.3 over the English Channel on August 25, 1920.

Adrienne’s next assignment was a series of demonstration flights in Argentina to boost G.3 sales. She had a brainwave – why not fly across the Andes? Argentine Army Lieutenant Luis Candelaria had achieved the feat in 1918 but no woman had done so. The G.3 was a single-engine aircraft, widely used in World War I for military reconnaissance and training. It was a fragile contraption, consisting mainly of struts and wire, with an empty weight of 355 kg and max weight of 630 kg. (A Maruti Alto K10 car weighs 750 kg). Its single Le Rhône 80 hp engine gave it a rather sedate cruising speed of 80 km/h. It was very underpowered to fly across the Andes whose highest elevation is Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, 6,962 m above sea level.

Bolland telegraphed Caudron to request a more capable aircraft but he replied: “Take decision yourself. Could not send another plane.” Knowing Adrienne’s determined disposition, it was perhaps a foregone conclusion that she would not be deterred. The night before the flight, a strange young Brazilian woman visited Adrienne unannounced in her Buenos Aires hotel room. She told Adrienne that during her flight, when she saw an oyster-shaped lake, she must turn left towards a steep mountain face that resembled an overturned chair. “If you turn right, you’re lost.”

On April 1, 1921, at 6 am, Adrienne Bolland took off from Mendoza, Argentina, for Santiago, Chile. It was just 195 km distant, but ahead lay mountains above 6 km, way higher than the G.3’s service ceiling of 4,300 m. She would have to find a way through river valleys. Considering that she had just 40 hours of flying experience, and neither maps nor any knowledge of the area, a safe flight was by no means assured. The plane had no windshield or on-board oxygen, and the blood vessels in her lips and nose burst from temperatures as low as -26°C during the long flight. She felt dizzy and could hardly breathe in the rarefied atmosphere. The newspapers stuffed into her pyjamas, under her flight suit, proved pitifully inadequate to keep her warm.

Hours into the journey Adrienne spotted an oyster-shaped lake. To the right was an inviting valley; to the left, a formidable mountain resembling an overturned chair. Against all her aviator’s instincts she turned left. Just before she feared she would hit the mountain, a sudden updraft wafted her safely over its steep face and, on the other side lay the Chilean plains leading to Santiago. She reached her destination after 4 hours and 15 minutes flight time.

Back in France, Adrienne participated in numerous air meets, displaying her skill in aerobatics. On May 27, 1924, she flew 212 consecutive loops in an hour – a new women’s record. In 1930 she married another pilot, Ernest Vinchon. She and her husband were leftist activists and they eventually became part of the French Resistance during World War II. Adrienne Bolland died on March 18, 1975, in Paris.