On May 26, 1986, Nadine Vaujour flew a rented helicopter, flew to the Le Sante prison in Paris and broke out her husband Michel Vaujour who was serving a sentence for armed robbery. A few minutes after the escape, the helicopter landed in an athletic field in southern Paris and the couple set off in a waiting car. Nadine had earned her private pilot license specifically for the prison break.
Michel Vaujour was no stranger to prison life. In 1985, he was slapped with an 18-year sentence for bank robbery and attempted murder. But prison bars couldn’t hold back his dreams of freedom. Lucky for him, his wife Nadine had a plan that was straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Nadine wasn’t your average housewife. As soon as Michel was arrested, she decided to take action. She enrolled in helicopter piloting classes, and soon enough, she was a regular at a helicopter rental company in southern Paris. The owner must have been asleep at the wheel, as Nadine paid in cash and rented helicopters twice a month without raising any eyebrows.
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| Nadine Vaujour in a helicopter |
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| Michel and Nadine Vaujour |
Inside the notorious Prison De La Santé, Michel and his buddy Pierre Hernandez scoped out the grounds. They hit a snag when they realized there was no room for a helicopter to land. So, they tweaked their plan.
On May 26, 1986, at 10:30 a.m., Nadine flew a helicopter over central Paris, ignoring frantic radio warnings. She hovered above the prison roof, while chaos erupted inside. Michel and Pierre burst through a door, racing across the roof. The guards, distracted by reports of inmates with grenades (actually nectarines painted green), didn’t fire a single shot.
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