About last weekend…I didn’t plan to write about this, only about the show. People are enjoying their summer and I can come off too dramatic in writing:)
But the recent passing of Mihai Leu (a champion in two sports that I was familiar with) pushed me to sit down and put these words together. Not because the two stories are the same, but because they share something rare: courage, lived fully. Courage not as a concept, displayed extraordinarily at specific times, but as a day-to-day commitment to go further and leave something behind that moves others.
I’m driven by stories. The kind that hit you right in the solar plexus and stay there. These are the kinds of stories that keep me going when the world feels heavy.
Stories that remind us it’s not always about what we do, but how we do it and who we become in the process, the integrity we put out in the world when noone is watching.
This weekend took us to Orange, to Base Aérienne 115 Orange-Caritat, home to Escadron de Chasse 2/5 "Île-de-France" a name heavy with history. On that history, another time. However, something really to be proud of: it had the honour of being the first to enlist a female fighter jet pilot in the French Air Force, Caroline Aigle (what a name!).
Few stories have stayed with me quite like that of Caroline Aigle.
Among the many names that echo through the halls of French aviation, Caroline Aigle still cuts through the noise, a trailblazer, an athlete, and a woman who aimed and lived higher than most.
French military triathlon champion in 1997, team military world champion in triathlon the same year, and team military world vice-champion in 1999. She also practiced another one of her passions, free-fall skydiving, and parachuting in general.
But even that wasn’t the limit. Caroline had her eyes set on space. To pursue that dream, she resumed studies in astrophysics and began learning Russian. However, due to serious illness, her last major public appearance was in May 2007, when she served as the patron of the Airexpo airshow in Toulouse. She would not have the chance to apply to the selection process opened by the European Space Agency on May 19, 2008, the one that would later lead to the selection of Thomas Pesquet on May 20, 2009.
In 2002, she married Christophe Deketelaere, a fellow pilot from the Breitling patrol in Dijon, and together they had two sons, Marc and Gabriel. But during her second pregnancy, she received the devastating news: she had cancer. And still, Caroline made the impossible choice, she decided to carry the pregnancy to term, fully aware that this meant delaying treatment. Her second son was born prematurely. Caroline passed away just days later, on August 21, 2007, at the age of 32.
Her story doesn’t live in the past, it lingers in places like these:
It’s an active military airbase, not just for show, a place where Mirage 2000s take off regularly. But for one day, the gates open, and the public comes pouring in: aviation geeks, families, kids on dads’ shoulders, old men in pilot caps, and people like me, searching for noise, nostalgia, and maybe just a bit of escape. From what?:)
These airshows, to me, aren’t just spectacles. They’re reminders. Of people who do extraordinary things, of what we’re capable of. Both good and bad. Of things we might have done in another life or things we are not capable of ourselves, who knows.
Another airshow, another tick on the summer map. This time: Orange, France.
The base is tucked just outside the town, surrounded by vineyards and that unmistakable heat shimmer of southern France in June, although we weren’t so romantically welcomed, rather hit by a wall of heat. Yes, cheesy line:))
Heatwave edition. Canicular day, 40°C in the shade, officers manning the water cannons like it’s 2017 yellow vests in Paris, crowd control à la française.
The Patrouille de France did what they do best: choreographed perfection, national pride, and a few goosebumps even for the repeat offenders like me.
A nice surprise: the biggest Top Gun fan out there showed up. Might've hummed "Danger Zone" under my breath 😏
Each squadron has its own stand
And as always, I made a beeline for my favourite spot: Normandie-Niemen stand. No hats this time, but the goodie gods delivered, I looove me some memorabilia 📦
On the radar next:
20 July – Palavas-les-Flots
3 August – Menton
13 August – Courchevel
15 August – Toulon
29 August – Bucharest
Which one gonna be? Maybe none, maybe all 😅 These shows aren’t just about aircraft. They’re about repetition, reverence, waiting, getting sunburnt, and knowing exactly when to look up.
Busy summer 😎🔥
From around...random photos
The major routes south into the Rhone Valley all pass through Orange, best known for its spectacular Roman theatre. The city is the former seat of the counts of Orange, a title created by Emperor Charlemagne in the eight century, and passed to the Dutch crown of Nassau in the sixteenth century. Its most memorable member was the Protestant Prince William, who ascended the English throne with his consort Queen Mary in 1689; the Protestant Orange Order in Ireland was founded to support William’s military campaign against his Catholic predecessor, James II, which ended with the Battle of the Boyne.
