Jean Mermoz | |
|---|---|
 Jean Mermoz, 1935 | |
| Born | (1901-12-09)9 December 1901 |
| Disappeared | 7 December 1936(1936-12-07) (aged 34) Atlantic Ocean, en route toNatal fromDakar |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Aviator |
Jean Mermoz (9 December 1901 – 7 December 1936) was aFrenchaviator,[1][2] viewed as a hero by other pilots such asAntoine de Saint-Exupéry,[3] and in his nativeFrance,[4] where many schools bear his name.[5] InBrazil, he also is recognized as a pioneer aviator.
In 1920 he met Max Delby, a teacher who helped him develop his career, and in April 1921 he flew as a pilot for the first time.
Mermoz joined theFrench Air Force in 1922, being assigned, as a pilot of the air force's 11th regiment, to duty inSyria.[6] In 1924, he returned to France, having arguably been one of the most successful pilots in the Syrian operations. Mermoz relocated toToulouse.
Mermoz went on to become anairmail pilot,[7] withGroupe Latécoère, and almost failed his entry exam by performing dangerous stunts to impress the director. (The director,Didier Daurat had this famous quote: "We don't need acrobats here, we need bus drivers.") He then did a normal, flawless flight and was hired. It was there that Mermoz metAntoine de Saint-Exupéry. At theCompagnie Générale Aéropostale, Mermoz travelled toMorocco,Senegal and otherAfrican areas.
In 1926, one of Mermoz's flights ended with an accident, when his plane crashed in theSahara. He was then taken hostage by a group of rebelTuaregs, but was fortunately found later alive.[8]
In 1927,Latécoère began building planes of his own design to replace the aging World War I aircraftBreguet 14. TheLatécoère 25, (or "Laté 25") and, later, theLatécoère 26 andLatécoère 28 proved to be efficient aircraft when flying from Morocco to Senegal, and Mermoz himself flew the types on those routes on multiple occasions.
But Africa was only the beginning. Latécoère's project was to create a direct airline between France andSouth America. By 1929, it had become evident that it would be economically viable for France to establish a commercial air route to South America, so Mermoz and others flew over theAndes. Despite Mermoz finding the flying conditions over the Andes to be tough, he became the project's main pilot, determined to reach thePacific Ocean, and he was able, after multiple stops, to reachSantiago, Chile. During that time, to save time, he decided to fly during the night, using light beacons and flares as guides; and his fellow pilots, for once, were a bit reluctant to see him do it, because they knew it would be their turn next.For some time, astransatlantic flights were not yet possible,steamboats linked both halves of the "Line".
With a flight fromSaint-Louis, Senegal, toNatal, Brazil, on 12–13 May 1930, the line was complete at last. the modified Laté 28 "Comte-de-la-Vaulx", however, did not prove reliable, and the pilot had to ditch at sea during the return flight. Mermoz, his two companions and the mail were rescued, but the plane sank during the attempt to tow it.
In 1933, Mermoz was appointed general inspector byAir France. That same year, he arrived inBuenos Aires,Argentina, where he and Saint-Exupéry became important persons during the infancy ofAeroposta Argentina, which would later becomeAerolíneas Argentinas. Mermoz and Saint-Exupéry flew many dangerous flights for the then new air company. They became regarded as two of the most important men in the history of Argentine commercial aviation. From 1934 to 1936, Mermoz would fly private expeditions onLatécoère 300 airplanes. He flew 24 expeditions with that type. In 1935, he also flewde Havilland DH.88 "Comet" airplanes.
On 7 December 1936, on a planned flight fromDakar toNatal, Brazil, he turned back shortly after take-off to report a troublesome engine on hisLatécoère 300Croix-du-Sud (Southern Cross).[9][10] After learning that he would have to wait for another one to be prepared, he took off again in the same plane after a quick repair, concerned that he would be late in delivering the mail. (His last words before boarding the plane were "Quick, let's not waste time anymore.")
Four hours later, the radio station received a short message, where Mermoz reported that he had to cut the power on the aft starboard engine. The message was interrupted abruptly. No further messages were received, andneither the Laté 300 nor the crew were ever recovered.
It is assumed that the engine they had tried to repair lost its propeller midflight, and being one of the aft engines, the loose propeller either badly damaged or cut the hull entirely, causing the plane to lose its tail and crash instantly.Henri Guillaumet, one of Mermoz's fellow pilots, had encountered the same problem a few months before, but as his own engine was on the forward side, airspeed had been sufficient to maintain the propeller in place until the landing.
In 1941, the Investigative Commission of Anti-National Activities of the Parliament of Uruguay, after denunciations filed before the Deputy Tomas Brena and Julio Iturbide, claimed that the last two airmail flights of Air France, and with result the death of Collenot first and Mermoz later, had been sabotaged by Nazi Fifth Columnists of the National German Socialist Workers Party operating in Uruguay. The air mail bags transported the technical and economic proposals for the bidding of the so-called Obra del Río Negro in Uruguay, the international tender carried out in three calls in 1936, for the construction of the Rincón del Bonete hydroelectric plant. The tender only received Offers or proposals from the Siemens Bauunion andPhilipp Holzmann AG consortium in Germany, and SKODA WORKS fromCzechoslovakia. This and other tricks, such as false news and bribes, were used by Nazi Germany to get rid of the other proposals under way, and force the bidding to be declared void.[11]
The crew of Latécoère 300Croix-du-Sud, F-AKGF, on that day were:
Mermoz had grown dissatisfied with the quality of the planes he and his companions had to pilot. In the months before his demise, he had been vocal about the aircraft's poor quality in both design and material, and was quoted saying "Ask me to pilot anything, even a wheelbarrow, but at one condition: make sure it issolid". A similar plane,Laté 301 F-AOIKVille-de-Buenos-Aires, had disappeared eight months before his own, causing the death, among others, of his mechanic and friend Collenot. The complicatedHispano-Suiza 12Ner engines thought to be the cause of both crashes were later decommissioned and replaced with older, more reliable ones. His message had been heard too late.
In 1956 writerJean-Michel Charlier in conjunction with artist Victor Hubinon published the biographical graphic novelMermoz about the exploits of Mermoz. It was reissued in 1990 with titleMermoz, chevalier du ciel.
The 1995 docudramaWings of Courage by French directorJean-Jacques Annaud was an account of early airmail pilots including Mermoz (played byVal Kilmer),Henri Guillaumet (played byCraig Sheffer), Saint-Exupéry played byTom Hulce. The movie was the world's first dramatic picture shot in theIMAX-format.
Mermoz was a major character inAntonio Iturbe’s 2017 Spanish language novelA cielo abierto which was translated into English and published in 2021 with the titleThe Prince of the Skies.
Media related toJean Mermoz at Wikimedia Commons
