258 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean L.A.S. “Jean,” Natal, June 16 [1934], to his “Dearest Mom”; 3¼ pages, in-8 format, with an Air France vignette. Work on the Natal airstrip where the Arc-en-ciel has become bogged down. Mermoz is stranded in Natal “because of the terrain, which was poorly prepared and has become completely soft and impassable due to the torrential rains that have been falling continuously for a month and a half and are expected to last until the end of July.” I had planned to leave for Noronha tomorrow and continue with the mail via Praia (Cape Verde) and Port-Étienne. Frescheville assured me that the terrain in Noronha was excellent. I went to land there with the Arc-en-ciel and only managed to do so on the third attempt, as the surrounding terrain is so mountainous and steep; then I got stuck in a veritable swamp that ran right through the middle of the field: it took two hundred convicts (from the Brazilian penal colony) to get me out of there. Fortunately, I was able to take off again from there the same day. […] If I hadn’t known my aircraft as well as I do and if I hadn’t had experience with this kind of sport, I could easily have wrecked everything. So, we’re working on the field in Natal. I rented one of the city’s ancient road rollers. Collenot is plowing the field with a tractor and a plow: we’re rolling the ground and trying to make a temporary takeoff strip. We have to do everything ourselves: Air France still hasn’t given us any sign of life and isn’t helping us at all.” He hopes to leave again toward the end of the month and return directly to France. “It’s been a year since I’ve been negotiating, fighting to secure takeoff runways […] I won’t leave until I have confirmation that the airfields are safe—I’ve had enough”… Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family