What did Maryse Hilsz win in 1936?

Short answer

In 1936 Maryse Hilsz won the Hélène Boucher Cup flying a Breguet 270 Series. That same year, on 23 June, she set a new women's altitude record of 14,309 m (46,946 ft). In 1933 she had shared the FAI's "Woman of the Year" award with Amelia Earhart and won the Harmon Trophy.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Breguet 270 3 view NACA Aircraft Circular No 127

The Hélène Boucher Cup and the altitude record

In 1936 Maryse Hilsz won the Hélène Boucher Cup flying a Breguet 270 Series. That same year, on 23 June 1936, she set a new women's altitude record of 14,309 m (46,946 ft).

From exhibition jumps to a pilot's licence

After her first jump, at age 21, Hilsz took up exhibition parachuting and stunt work for the Société pour le développement de l'aviation, making more than 112 jumps, twenty of them double jumps. Those public jumps helped fund the training she needed to earn her pilot's licence, officially granted on 21 April 1930.

Great flights and honours

Hilsz completed the long-distance flight Paris–Saigon–Paris and also flew Paris–Tokyo–Paris, over a distance of more than 30,000 km. In 1933 she shared the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's "Woman of the Year" award with Amelia Earhart and won the Harmon Trophy that same year. She died along with three other crew members when her Siebel Si 204 crashed at Bourg-en-Bresse on 30 January 1946.