166 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean L.A.S. “Ton Jean,” Buenos Aires, September 26, 1928, to his “Beloved Mom”; 4 pages, in-4 format, on Aeroposta Argentina letterhead. Account of his accident during the flight to Bolivia. …“From Bolivia, I was supposed to fly on to Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. Five hours after taking off from Puerto Suárez, the engine failed due to poor-quality oil. I managed to land in a clearing in the middle of a palm forest without, fortunately, causing any damage. My passengers were my director and my mechanic. I set out with the director to explore the area. After hours of walking through the forest with water up to our knees and grass taller than our heads, we came upon an indigenous estancia, where, fortunately, we were not greeted with gunfire. Had we gone just 10 km further inland, we would have run into marauding Indians, who are abundant in the Paraguayan “Prairie.” We returned to the aircraft with a prehistoric ox-drawn cart, loaded our luggage onto it, and set off with one of our Indians toward a settlement located 25 km away, on the Rio Paraguay. We arrived there in the middle of the night. There was a tannin factory run by Germans and protected by a Paraguayan fort. The fort’s commander wants to put us in prison, mistaking us for Bolivian spies who arrived by plane, since there is currently a near-state of war between Bolivia and Paraguay. All the checkpoints had reported us as passing through from Bolivia!! So they wouldn’t listen to a word we said; we negotiated, explaining that we were French”… After the factory director vouched for them, they were allowed to leave by boat for Asunción: “We telegraphed Buenos Aires to send us an engine and a mechanic. He arrived three days later. We loaded it onto a sort of mixed-use barge.” After seven days, they arrived: “We unloaded the engine, transported it by oxcart to the breakdown site, and while my two mechanics installed the engine, I lived the life of a trapper for five days. On horseback all day, with a revolver on my belt and a rifle slung over my shoulder, I rode around with the “peones” from the estancia, killing parrots, monkeys, hunting panthers (I have two very nice skins), and wild boars, fishing, eating the meat we killed on the spot, and drinking water from the ditches—in short, almost the life of a Fenimore Cooper hero! In the evening, for example, I’d be devoured by mosquitoes—veritable clouds of them—since we slept outdoors. With the engine installed, I left the place—which, all things considered, was quite delightful, and which even had a small wild boar and some parrots as passengers—with some regret; I managed to make my way through the grass and trees and reach Asunción, then Buenos Aires. Three days later, I returned to Asunción to fly nonstop to Rio. I managed to reach Santos, where I landed in the middle of a storm, and I returned to Buenos Aires the day before yesterday. So, in forty days, I spent three days at home—and what adventures I’ve had since then!”… He is about to leave for Chile “to undertake a study and promotional trip for a new route. And in December or January, I’m heading to the West Indies, also on a study trip. We’d like to go as far as Panama to connect with the North American route.” He recounts the discussions regarding his “transatlantic flight project” with Mr. de Sieyès; Bouilloux-Lafont would subsidize it, “either for Paris–New York or for Paris–Buenos Aires nonstop. […] “My flight will be good publicity for the company.” He will come to France to fine-tune the aircraft, particularly “to improve safety in the event of a breakdown,” and for testing. He intends to ask Le Brix to be his navigator… Correspondence, No. 148. Provenance: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family