Toulouse. This beautiful book takes us to the heart of the Aéropostale epic

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» This Line is not made for pilots hungry for fresh air and sunshine, it is deadly for lounge pilots, who have all their guts in their suit. The Line is wild, it needs guys who match it. » This sentence reported by Tarnais Gaston Vedel, one of the company's first pilots Latécoère then that of Aéropostale, illustrates the exceptional tenacity of these knights of the sky of the interwar period.

Leopold's flight logs

From the golden expanses of the sands of the Sahara to the snow-capped peaks of the Andes, Jean Mermoz, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Henri Guillaumet and their comrades transported, at the risk of their lives, letters and parcels, at the command of Breguet Salmson or even Laté 28. Privat, which is increasing the publication of beautiful books at the end of the year, takes us back into the hectic life of these hero by reissuing Aéropostale: Leopold’s flight logs.

Written by the late Yves Marc, a great specialist in aeronautical history, embellished with archive photos and illustrated with watercolors by illustrator Sophie Binder, the work, between travel and adventure novel, takes us in the footsteps of Léopold . This fictional character, son of peasants from the Ariège countryside, is aware of “flying as high, as free as these hawks whose slow evolution once fascinated him on the way to the local school”.

Iron disciplines

Despite the iron discipline imposed by Didier Daurat, the uncompromising operations manager, and meager remuneration -90 francs for a 500 kilometer stage and a bonus of 10 francs if he brings back his plane in perfect condition-, which was a challenge in those years, the young applicant lived a waking dream: that of rubbing shoulders with his glorious elders. He was thus fascinated by the tall stature and the endearing and mischievous personality of Saint-Exupéry, then stopover manager at Cap Juby, in Morocco, and his companions, with whom he shared some tasty feasts and wild card games.

Some time later, Léopold discovered, just as amazed, in the company of Jean Mermoz, his instructor, Rio and Brazil, the first stage of his wanderings on the Latin American continent.

To Santiago de Chile

Rocked by the exploits of Paul Vachet and his team responsible for recognizing the route between Natal (in the North-East of Brazil, editor's note) and Buenos Aires, section of the future France-South America line, he often makes connections between Rio and Montevideo (Uruguay) but wishes, despite the dangers of the Andes mountain range which must be crossed on sight by slipping between snow-capped mountains, to reach Santiago in Chile. At the beginning of the 1930s, his epic journey came to an end. He left Aéropostale, which became part of the new Air France entity, and created a small company of which he was the operator and sole pilot, providing a link between France and Spain.

Mathieu Arnal

» L'Aéropostale: Léopold's flight logs » (Privat editions) 160 pages, €25.90

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