In 1986, Nadine Vaujour, a 27-year-old French woman with no prior aviation experience, spent months earning her helicopter pilot’s license with a singular goal: to free her husband, Michel Vaujour, a convicted bank robber serving a 27-year sentence. On May 26, she rented an Aérospatiale Alouette II helicopter and flew it to La Santé Prison in Paris, where Michel, using a smuggled gun (possibly fake), took a guard hostage and reached the roof with an accomplice. Hovering above the prison, Nadine expertly landed the helicopter long enough for Michel to climb aboard, and they escaped to a nearby park, ditching the chopper for a getaway car.

The breakout shocked France, triggering a manhunt that ended with Michel’s recapture in September 1986 after a shootout, and Nadine’s arrest soon after. She faced prison time but was later released early, while Michel, who had a history of escapes, served most of his sentence until 2003 and later chronicled his life in a memoir, *La Cavale des Cavales*. The incident exposed security flaws at La Santé, cementing the Vaujours’ story as a bold testament to love and daring ingenuity.