169 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean L.A.S. “Jean,” Buenos Aires, October 30, 1928, to his “Dearest Mom”; 2 pages in-4 and 2 pages in-8 on Compagnie Générale d’Entreprises Aéronautiques letterhead. He hopes to see her again very soon. He is awaiting a reply from Paris: “If so, I’ll try to be here by Christmas. Otherwise, I’ll leave in January, but I won’t return here until after I’ve completed my flight. […] I’m hopeful that things will be settled by mid-November”... He hopes his mother is well. “I’ve gained five to six kilos since I’ve been in Buenos Aires. I’m doing well despite the exhaustion from very hard work. I leave Buenos Aires every Wednesday at midnight to arrive the next day at 5 or 6 p.m.—that’s 17 to 20 hours of nonstop flying—and two days later I make the trip back in the opposite direction. Not to mention the sudden changes in climate and the torrential rains that soak you to the bone. Anyway, you get used to it—it’s good training—and my enthusiasm hasn’t waned because of it”… He didn’t buy a car because there are no roads in Argentina. “But when I’m on leave, I’ll make up for it. I’ll go to Renault, and believe me, we’ll go for a drive. I’m really missing driving.”... Correspondence, No. 153. Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family