190 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean L.A.S. “Ton Jean,” Buenos Aires, March 26, 1929, to his “Dearest Mom”; 2 pages, in-4 format, on tissue paper, via Aéropostal. New complications for the flight; accidents in the Andes. He hasn’t left yet: “I returned from Chile three days ago... Two telegrams were waiting for me here, along with a letter from the Ministry formally prohibiting me from attempting the flight. If I disregard this, there will be severe penalties, it seems. Now I will only be allowed to leave France in an airplane carrying no more than 1,500 liters of fuel—in other words, I’ll have to depart from abroad. Furthermore, following new decrees just issued by Laurent Eynac, Hispano is hesitant to provide me with an engine. In short, I’ve been dealt another blow. The Count de la Vaulx has returned to France and promised to try to obtain authorization, as he is a personal friend of Laurent Eynac. So I’m still waiting, always waiting... and a Spanish crew arrived in Brazil today nonstop from Seville with French equipment!! Anyway, I’m starting to come to terms with it and be patient. I’ll certainly have other opportunities soon, since my contract expires in November.” He has just gone through some terrible ordeal: “I’ve just completed a 7,500-km journey, part of which was with the Count de la Vaulx. Two emergency landings deep in the mountains, from which I miraculously escaped. One with the Count de la Vaulx that nearly cost us our lives, and the other with my mechanic [Collenot], right in the Andes at an altitude of 4,000 m, surrounded by snow—a desert of stone. Pinned to the ground by a gust of wind, with the engine at full throttle, I was fortunately able to avoid a crash; we spent three days and two nights repairing the damage caused to the aircraft by temperatures ranging from 13 to 17 degrees below zero, without food—my mechanic having inadvertently forgotten our box of emergency rations— —literally gasping for breath after the exertions we were forced to endure due to the altitude, accompanied by three condors that never left our side. In short, we were able to take off again after a takeoff I had calculated in advance over three ravines that I had to clear with precise, pre-determined jumps; this takeoff at 4,000 meters in the middle of the mountains will remain my fondest professional memory. One meter off, and it would have been the end. Finally, after 3 km of running and leaping, I got my 3-metric-ton aircraft airborne, and we were able to return to the point from which we had departed. No one could believe it. The Chilean pilots were skeptical, but they had to admit the truth after retrieving a fuel tank and tools that I had left at our landing site to lighten our load. In Chile and here, the impression I made was enormous. I was celebrated upon my arrival in Santiago. The Chileans made me an honorary member of their Aero Club, where they do not admit any foreigners.” He was awarded medals. “The Count de la Vaulx, filled with enthusiasm, asked that I be given the Aéro-Club de France plaque and wanted to nominate me for the Officer’s Rosette of the Legion of Honor. I told him I didn’t care about any of that and that permission to let me make my flight would please me a hundred times more”… Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family