Hélène Dutrieu: Belgium’s Fearless Cyclist, Aviator and Stunt Artist

Discover the extraordinary life of Hélène Dutrieu who became a cycling world champion, stunt performer, aviation trailblazer, and wartime heroine.

Introduction to Hélène Dutrieu

Here’s an addition to my series of Famous Belgians, and I have to admit I had never heard of this person until recently. She has quite a story. At the turn of the 20th century, when most women were expected to remain invisible, Hélène Dutrieu did the opposite. She raced bicycles at world-championship level, performed death-defying stunts before packed music halls, flew aeroplanes when aviation itself was still an experiment, and later served on the front lines of the First World War. Her life reads less like a conventional biography and more like a catalogue of firsts – each achieved in a world that repeatedly told her she did not belong. So I hope you enjoy this brief biography of the amazing Hélène Dutrieu.

From Tournai to the Velodrome

Hélène Marguerite Dutrieu was born on 10 July 1877 in Tournai into a military family. Financial difficulties forced the family to move to Lille in northern France, where she left school at just fourteen to earn a living. A future of factory work awaited. And then cycling entered her life!

Inspired by her older brother Eugène, a successful professional cyclist, Hélène discovered that she possessed exceptional speed, stamina, and determination. At a time when competitive sport was considered profoundly “unfeminine,” she began racing on velodromes in northern France and Belgium, often astonishing crowds with her power and fearlessness.

In 1893, still a teenager, she set a women’s world record for distance cycled in one hour (31.2 km). The achievement was so unexpected that officials didn’t believe the timekeeper, and demanded it be repeated under stricter supervision. She did – and went even further (31.4 km). It marked the start of a breathtaking cycling career.

World champion on two wheels

Hélène Dutrieu became a professional cyclist, and by the mid-1890s she had become a dominant force in women’s track cycling. She raced professionally for the Simpson lever-chain team and won the Women’s World Speed Track Championships in Ostend in both 1896 and 1897, becoming the first female cycling world champion.

She competed across Europe, from Paris and Brussels to London and Italy, winning prestigious events such as the Course de 12 Jours in London and the Grand Prix d’Europe. Audiences were fascinated (and sometimes scandalized) by women racing at such intensity.

Yet success came with frustration. Despite drawing large crowds, female cyclists earned a fraction of what their male counterparts made. Women cyclists were also regularly mocked, and ran the risk of having mud thrown at them as they passed by. Several countries even banned women’s cycling races. As cycling’s popularity waned at the end of the century and new technologies captured public attention, Dutrieu once again looked ahead.

Reinventing herself: stage, speed and stunts

Rather than retreat, Dutrieu transformed. She moved to Paris and initially turned to the theatre, performing in comedies at leading venues such as the Théâtre des Capucines and Porte Saint-Martin. But routine never suited her for long.

Soon, she returned to physical risk, this time as a stunt performer. She developed spectacular cycling and motorcycling acts for Europe’s major music halls, including daring vertical loops and long airborne jumps. One of her signature feats, a high-speed leap later known as “La Flèche Humaine” (The Human Arrow), turned her into a sensation.

These performances were genuinely dangerous. A serious accident in Berlin in 1904 left her badly injured and forced months of recovery. Many would have stopped. Hélène Dutrieu did not.

Drawn to the sky

Risk had always been part of her life, but flight offered something new. Around 1908-1910, as aviation emerged from experimentation into spectacle, Dutrieu was drawn to aeroplanes as she once had been to bicycles.

Her early flying attempts were chaotic. She began learning on fragile aircraft like the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle, crashing more than once, but refusing to be discouraged. After formal training in France, she finally flew solo in 1910 in a Farman III.

That same year, she made headlines in Belgium with a flight from Blankenberge to Bruges and back, carrying a passenger. This was an extraordinary feat for the time.

A woman among the world’s first aviators

On 25 November 1910, Hélène Dutrieu became the first Belgian woman licensed as an aeroplane pilot. Her public flights across Europe quickly earned her the nickname “The Girl Hawk.”

Her achievements were considerable:

• First woman to remain airborne for over an hour
• Winner of the inaugural Coupe Femina for long-distance flight
• First woman to pilot a seaplane
• The first female pilot to carry a passenger in flight
• Frequent competitor (and often victor) against male pilots in international air meets
• One of the earliest female aviators to tour the United States.

She also challenged conventions beyond performance. She flew without a corset (causing a minor scandal), wore a custom-designed pilot suit by a Paris couturier, and refused to apologise for competence in a male-dominated world.

In 1913, she became the first female aviator awarded the French Légion d’honneur, and also received Belgium’s Order of Leopold.

War service and later life

When the First World War erupted, Dutrieu once again redirected her skills. She served as an ambulance driver and later ran military medical services, eventually becoming director of a military hospital at Val-de-Grâce.

After the war, she turned to journalism, married Pierre Mortier, and took French nationality. Aviation, however, never fully left her life. As vice-president of the women’s section of the Aéro-Club de France, she actively supported new generations of female pilots.

In 1956, she established the Coupe Hélène Dutrieu-Mortier, a substantial annual prize encouraging long-distance flights by women. She provided 200,000 Francs for the woman who could fly the greatest distance without landing.

Hélène Dutrieu died in Paris in 1961, aged 83.

Final thoughts on Hélène Dutrieu

To my surprise, it appears that for decades after the death of Hélène Dutrieu, her name faded from public memory. This despite a life that encompassed world championship sport, theatrical fame, mechanical innovation, aviation firsts, and wartime service. I wonder why? Would a man have disappeared from view in this way?

In recent years, recognition has returned. A feature on Mars bears her name. Belgium has honoured her with a commemorative coin, public artworks, and a street in Brussels. A book has been written about her.

However, her story still raises an unavoidable question in my mind: how many pioneers like her were written out of history simply because they were women? What do you think?

All photos from Wikimedia Commons

Denzil Walton

I created Discovering Belgium in 2011 to share the country’s hidden stories, fascinating places, and remarkable people. Through articles, photography, and audio walks, I share discoveries that reveal Belgium beyond the obvious. Hope you enjoy this site.