Recipients of the Aeronautical Medal

François Hussenot (22 March 1912 – 16 May 1951) was a French engineer, credited with the invention of one of the early forms of the flight data recorder.
He attended the École polytechnique from 1930 to 1932. After graduation, he attended two other schools: the Ecole Militaire d'Application de l'Aéronautique in Versailles, where he obtained his pilot license, and the Ecole Supérieure d'Aéronautique (better known as Supaéro), which he graduated in 1935 with a degree in aeronautical engineering.
His career began at the Centre d'Essais de Matériels Aériens (CEMA) of Villacoublay, an aircraft test center, in 1935. In July of that year, he married Yvonne. In 1936, he was sent to Saint-Raphaël, in southern France, to take part in the testing of heavy seaplanes. In 1941, he moved to the Centre d'Essais en Vol de Marignane, where he made his early attempts at constructing a flight data recorder. Unlike modern recorders, Hussenot's early models had the particularity of storing the information not on a magnetic band, but on an eight meter long by 88 mm wide photographic film, scrolling in front of a thin spot of light deviated by a mirror to represent the data. The initials HB stood for Hussenot and Beaudouin, the name of an early associate who helped Hussenot in developing the device during World War II. Those flight recorders were also known as "Hussenographs".
In July 1945, Hussenot was appointed as an engineer at the Brétigny-sur-Orge flight test center (Centre d'Essais en Vol de Brétigny-sur-Orge) as the director of the Methods and Try-Outs service (Service des Méthodes et Essais). In 1946, with Maurice Cambois and Charles Cabaret, he created the Ecole du Personnel Navigant (E.P.N.) school, which later became the EPNER (Ecole du Personnel Navigant d'Essais et de Réception). As of today, the EPNER is one of only six test pilot schools in the world, together with the Empire Test Pilots' School, the United States Air Force Test Pilot School and the United States Naval Test Pilot School, the National Test Pilot School, and the Indian Air Force Test Pilots School.
In 1947 Hussenot founded the SFIM (Société Française des Instruments de Mesure) with his associate Marcel Ramolfo, to market his flight data recorder. The SFIM had a successful story of its own, selling many successful data recording devices, before diversifying. The company is today part of the Safran group.
In 1948, Hussenot became professor at SUPAERO. In the same year, he was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, and was awarded the Médaille de l'Aéronautique (Medal of Aeronautics) in recognition for his services.
François Hussenot died in 1951, in a plane crash between Marignane and Mont-de-Marsan.

Pierre Armand Gaston Billotte (8 March 1906 – 29 June 1992) was a French Army officer and politician. He was the son of General Gaston Billotte, who commanded parts of the French Army at the start of World War II. Pierre Billotte was himself notable for his combat actions during the Battle of France.

Bernard Saint-Hillier (29 December 1911 – 28 July 2004) was a French general.
Saint-Hillier graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1933 and was affected to the 11th Chasseurs alpins Battalion. In 1938, he joined the French Foreign Legion with the rank of captain. He sided with the Fighting French and took part in the East African Campaign with the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade.
In 1943, he was promoted to commandant, and to lieutenant-colonel in 1944. He took command of the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade on the 25 March 1945. From 1946, he was affected to the general staff of the Armed Forces, where he spent two years.
In 1951, he was promoted to colonel, and led the 18th paratrooper regiment, until he departed to Indochina in 1954. On his return, he studied at the Institut des hautes études de la défense nationale.
In 1958, Saint-Hillier was chief of the general staff in Constantine, Algeria. Promoted to general of brigade in 1959, he became chief of cabinet of the Minister of Defence. From 1960 to 1961, he commanded the 10th Parachute Division. He was French military representative to the European Allied command in 1962.
In 1965, he was promoted to general of division, and served as inspector of the staffs of the Army. Saint-Hillier was promoted to Général de corps d'armée in 1968, commanding the 3rd Military Region in Rennes, and sitting at the Conseil supérieur de la Guerre.
He retired in 1971.

Pierre-Henri Clostermann (28 February 1921 – 22 March 2006) was a World War II French ace fighter pilot.
During the conflict he achieved 33 air-to-air combat victories, earning the accolade "France's First Fighter" from General Charles de Gaulle. His wartime memoir, The Big Show (Le Grand Cirque) became a notable bestseller. After the war, he worked as an engineer and was the youngest Member of France's Parliament.

Georges Roger Pierre Bergé (3 January 1909 – 15 September 1997) was a French Army general who served during World War II. He enlisted in the Free French Forces, where he took command of the 1re compagnie de chasseurs parachutistes (1st Parachute Chaser Company). He is mentioned by David Stirling as one of the co-founders of the Special Air Service (SAS). In Britain and Egypt, he organised the training for Allied agents sent to France and led the first airborne mission in occupied France, named Operation Savannah. He fought in Syria and Crete. After his capture by the Germans, he was imprisoned in Colditz Castle.

Jacques Andrieux (15 August 1917 – 21 January 2005) was a French fighter ace of the Second World War credited with 6 aerial victories.

Émile Allegret (24 April 1907 – 22 November 1990) was a French soldier and member of the French Resistance during World War II.

Jean-Philippe Douin (8 April 1940 – 19 January 2016) was a French Air Force general. He was the Chief of Staff of the French Air Force from 1994 to 1995 and Chief of the Defence Staff from 1995 to 1998. There was some controversy surrounding his appointment since, as a Conscript between 1958 and 1959, he had served in a French Marine Light Cavalry/Light Armored Reconnaissance Regiment (Régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine) in Algeria that was accused of committing war crimes during the Algerian War; later, as a young Air Force Lieutenant and Dassault Mirage III fighter pilot in 1961, his unit had taken part in the Algiers Putsch under the command of Air Vice Marashal Jouhaud. For most of his flying career, Douin piloted the Dassault Mirage III and the Dassault Mirage 5, commanding a squadron, wing and fighter group, before becoming the French Air Attache to Pakistan and Chile. After entering the General Ranks he served variously as a doctrinal specialist in the Air Force Staff & Training Command, the chief of Aerial Intelligence for a Fighter Division, and Commander of a Fighter Division.

Jacques Marie Alfred Gaston Faure (2 March 1904 – 9 April 1988) was a French Army general and skier. He was the leader of the French national Olympic military patrol team in 1936 which placed sixth and in 1961 one of the masterminds of the Algiers putsch.

Valérie André (French pronunciation: [valeʁi ɑ̃dʁe] ; born 21 April 1922) is a veteran of the French Resistance, a neurosurgeon, an aviator and the first female member of the military to achieve the rank of General Officer, in 1976, as Physician General. In 1981, she was promoted to Inspector General of Medicine. A helicopter pilot, she is the first woman to have piloted a helicopter in a combat zone. She is also a founding member of the Académie de l'air et de l'espace.As a member of the military, she is not addressed as "Madame la Générale" (a term reserved for spouses of generals) but as "General".She started as a Medical Captain in Indochina in 1948, already a qualified parachutist and pilot, in addition to being an army surgeon. While in Indochina, she realized that the most difficult part of her duties was retrieving the wounded, who were often trapped in the jungle. She returned to France to learn how to pilot a helicopter, then flew one to Indochina. From 1952–1953, she piloted 129 helicopter missions into the jungle, rescuing 165 soldiers, and on two occasions completed parachute jumps to treat wounded soldiers who needed immediate surgery.One typical mission occurred on 11 December 1951, when casualties were in urgent need of evacuation from Tu Vu on the Black River. The only available helicopter, stationed near Saigon, was dismantled, flown to Hanoi by a Bristol Freighter and reassembled. Captain André then flew into Tu Vu despite heavy mist and anti-aircraft fire. There, she triaged the casualties, operated on the most pressing cases and then flew the urgent wounded back to Hanoi, two at a time. Later, she was put in command of a casualty evacuation flight.
She continued in Algeria as a Medical Commander in 1960, where she completed 365 war missions. She rose to the rank of Medical Lieutenant Colonel in 1965 then to Medical Colonel in 1970. She had a total of 3200 flight hours, and received 7 citations of the Croix de Guerre.
She has written two collections of memoirs : Ici, Ventilateur! Extraits d'un carnet de vol. (Calmann-Lévy, 1954) and Madame le général (Perrin, 1988).
She is one of eight women to hold the Grand-croix (Great Cross) rank in the Legion of Honour, with Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Jacqueline de Romilly, Simone Rozès, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Yvette Farnoux and Gilberte Champion.
She is the aunt of politician André Santini.
She turned 100 on 21 April 2022.