Caroline Aigle

Caroline Aigle: Becoming a Gift of Love

This is the story of someone who had to make a decision of faith, a decision in which faith became heroic love.

Born to Fly

Speed is second nature in the life of a combat fighter pilot. Caroline Aigle, the first woman fighter pilot in France, knew all about speed. At the age of twenty-​​five, she was flying one of the fastest combat fighters in the French Air Force - the Mirage 2000-​​5.

Born in 1974 in Montauban France, Caroline lived as a daughter of the military. As a child, she spent some years in Africa; her father was a military doctor. At the age of fourteen, she entered the French military academy at Saint-​​Cyr. Caroline graduated valedictorian from the foremost engineering school in France. In May of 1999, she received the coveted fighter pilot wings, becoming the first woman fighter pilot in French history. She received a promotion to the rank of Commandant. (There is no U.S. rank equivalent to Commandant. It falls between the U.S. ranks for Captain and Major.) Always an athlete, Caroline also became the French and Military champion of the triathlon.

Mission Impossible

Heroism is a trait common to all fighter pilots, and Caroline was no exception. Uncommon however, was the opportunity that God provided for her to be a heroine – and it was not as a prisoner of war or because she received a commendation for being wounded in battle. Nothing, in fact, including her outstanding military education, had foreshadowed the plan that God had for her. In July of this year, Caroline was diagnosed with an advanced case of melanoma, a type of skin cancer. She was thirty-​​two years old. She was also five and a half months pregnant.

Caroline and her husband, Christophe Deketelaere — a fighter pilot himself — already had one healthy young son named Marc. At the time of her diagnosis, Caroline was encouraged to abort her baby so she could receive treatment for the cancer. With the support of her husband, she chose...