The Aéro-Club de France (French: [a.e.ʁɔ.klyb də fʁɑ̃s]) is one of the oldest French aviators' associations still active. It was founded as the Aéro-Club on 20 October 1898 as a society 'to encourage aerial locomotion' by Ernest Archdeacon, Léon Serpollet, Henri de la Valette, Jules Verne and his wife, André Michelin, Albert de Dion, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, and Henry de La Vaulx. On 20 April 1909, its name was changed to Aéro-Club de France.
The Aéro-Club de France originally set many of the regulations that controlled aviation in France. From its formation it also set the rules that have marked some of the 'firsts' in aviation, such as the first closed-circuit flight of over 1 km and the first helicopter flight, and has organised competitions including:
the Prix Deutsch de la Meurthe, a challenge for dirigibles from 1901
the Gordon Bennett Cup for fixed-wing aircraft in 1909
The club published the journal L'Aérophile from 1898 to 1947, and since 1997 publishes the magazine Aérofrance.
The Aéro-Club de France was a founding member of the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI) in 1905, a joint effort with other national associations.
After 1945, some of the Aéro-Club's regulatory roles were taken by other bodies. It now focusses on the promotion of aviation and certification.
Medal
The Club grants the Great Medal of the Aéro-Club de France to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of aviation. The winners have been:
2025 - Tom Cruise
2020 - La Patrouille de France
2019 - Buzz Aldrin and Jean Pinet
2018 - Thomas Pesquet
2017 - Bertrand Piccard (second award) and André Borschberg
2015 - Aude Lemordant, Alexandre Orlowski, François Rallet, Damien Vadon
2012 - The Big Frog project team
2010 - The six members of the EC 725 Caracal helicopter team in Afghanistan
2006 - The flight test team of the Airbus A380 and the Dassault Falcon 7X
2005 - Pierre Guyoti
2004 - At the retirement of Concorde, the heads of EADS, British Aerospace, Air France and British Airways
2003 - Steve Fossett
2002 - The astronauts of the Andromeda mission
2000 - Jean-Pierre Haigneré, ESA astronaut
1998 - Bertrand Piccard, of the Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon
1997 - Claudie Haigneré, Shannon Lucid, Yelena Kondakova
1996 - Jules Roy, author
1995 - Serge Dassault
1994 - Henri Pescarolo
1988 - Jean Salis, Chuck Yeager
1986 - Patrick Baudry
1981 - John Young, Robert Crippen
1980 - Valérie André
1970 - Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, Fred Haise
1969 - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins
1967 - Adrienne Bolland, Élisabeth Boselli, Marcel Dassault, Didier Daurat, Jean Lasserre, Georges Libert, Henry Potez
1963 - Jacqueline Auriol
1958 - Gabriel Voisin
1946 - Léon Cuffaut
1938 - Henri Guillaumet, Paul Tissandier
1937 - Maryse Bastié
1931 - Maurice Noguès
1930 - Jean Mermoz, Maurice Bellonte
1928 - Joseph Le Brix
1927 - Charles Lindbergh
1923 - Louis Bréguet, Pierre-Georges Latécoère, Dieudonné Costes
1922 - Clément Ader
1920 - Joseph Sadi-Lecointe
1918 - Pier Piccio
1917 - Warrant Officer Lucien Jailler, Sergeant Walter Lovell, Warrant Officer Raoul Lufbery, Archibald Johnson, Willis Haviland, Captain Georges Thenault, Warrant Officer Harold Willis, Second Lieutenant Henri Languedoc, Lieutenant J.A. Tourtay, Second Lieutenant Hector Varlin, Second Lieutenant William Thaw, Lieutenant Albert Deullin, Captains Alfred Heurtaux and Georges Guynemer, Second Lieutenant Paul Tarascon, and Captain André Wateau
1914 - Elmer A. Sperry
1913 - Georges de Castillon de Saint-Victor
1912 - Roland Garros
1911 - Jules Védrines
1910 - Géo Chavez
1909 - Louis Blériot
1908 - Henri Farman, Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright
1901 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, Louis Robert Lebaudy
1900 - Henry de La Vaulx