82 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean 6 letters addressed “Jean” (2 addressed “Mermoz”), October–December 1924, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 20 pages, in-8 or in-4 format (the 5th page in red ink with the letterhead of the Café Restaurant Jacinto Marti) His early days at Latécoère. October 15. “Here I am in Toulouse. I was warmly welcomed, but I plan to stay here for at least a month. The Company is arranging insurance for me […] and I have to wait for the insurance authorization to come back before I can fly. […] Then I’ll be doing an internship (there are five of us new pilots) at the engine and aircraft assembly shops for a few days; followed by the Toulouse–Casablanca–Toulouse flight to familiarize myself with the route; after that flight, I’ll be assigned to a leg in Casablanca or Spain. […] I think the future looks promising. I have the determination, and that’s a lot”… – [October 26]. “I’m continuing my training at the workshops. It’s very interesting. I’ve come to know the engine piece by piece, and there are a lot of things about its construction that I didn’t know before. The factory employs 800 to 900 workers. We produce one fully equipped military aircraft per day, two civilian aircraft, and fifteen to twenty engines. […] I’ve completed eight test flights”… November 1. “Since the mail plane had broken down in Perpignan, I went to retrieve it with another aircraft. We’re required to be present at the airfield every day, unless excused. […] I test aircraft every day; I’m now well-regarded and highly rated. I always arrive on time […] I’ll probably stay with the Company permanently. It’s certainly the one with the brightest future right now”… – November 24: “I’ve started flying the Toulouse–Perpignan–Barcelona route, so I’m starting to get a bit busier. I had superb weather throughout the entire round trip to Casablanca. I visited, in turn, Barcelona, Alicante, Málaga, and Gibraltar, where I had the unexpected pleasure of witnessing a sunrise over the strait above a sea of clouds—the likes of which I’ve never seen, not even in Syria. I stopped successively in Tangier, Larache, Rabat, and finally in Casablanca, which is a superb and very French city. […] Now, the work is going to start getting tougher; five hours of flying in often unusual weather conditions. Fog is our greatest enemy in the air, and it occurs almost daily; on top of that, we have the autan winds, which are very problematic during landing”… Barcelona, December 16. “I arrived in Barcelona this morning; the veterans of this leg have taken time off, so right now I’m in the air two out of every three days, averaging five hours each day; just recently, I even flew for eight hours in a single day. I left Toulouse at 6:30 a.m. and arrived in Alicante at 1:30 p.m.; I assure you I slept soundly upon arrival. The weather is very bad—especially the heavy fog—which sometimes forces us to fly one or two hours just above the ground. It rains often; we’ve had snow, and the winds aren’t great in Perpignan. Anyway, it’s simply a matter of habit and training. That’s just part of the job, and I’m far from complaining about it, because it feels so good when you face difficulties and manage to overcome them”… – December 31. “Here is a year drawing to a close. Another is beginning—such is the eternal law of our lives. My heart has not changed. […] I’d also like you to be pleased with me. I may not always have given you the satisfaction you expected from me—I know that. But perhaps a higher power was guiding me toward aspirations quite different from yours. […] I hope… and I want the day to come when I can finally prove to you that, with willpower, perseverance, and, if necessary, a little spirit of sacrifice, I have been able to forge my own path and become a man in the true sense of the word”… Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family