Vélizy - Villacoublay

This French pilot was born in Aubenton in the Aisne on November 9, 1901.
An iconic figure of the French air mail service, he devoted his entire career to opening up new air routes. At the age of 19, he began his career in aviation, passing his pilot's licence in 1921.

Mermoz was posted to Syria, where he could fully satisfy his thirst for freedom and adventure.

During his first 18 months in Palmyra, Mermoz learned his trade the hard way: after an engine fire over the middle of the desert, he spent 2 days and 2 nights alone in a difficult region, without food or water, surrounded by rebels, until he was rescued by a patrol of the French camel corps.

He was repatriated in February 1923. He soon demobilised and set off to conquer the world of civil aviation. In September 1924, he joined the Compagnie des Lignes Latécoère, where he became pilot on the Toulouse-Casablanca and then the Barcelona-Malaga lines.

In 1927, the Avions Français network was extended to South America. Mermoz, who was in charge of setting up the new network, moved to Buenos Aires.
He returned to France in 1930 and got his seaplane pilot's licence at Marignane. Shortly afterwards he made the first transatlantic postal crossing and broke the straight-line seaplane distance record.

Between 1930 and 1936, Mermoz crossed the South Atlantic 24 times.
On December 7, 1936, he once again left Dakar on board the "Croix-du-Sud" 4-engine seaplane but at 10.47am, the listening station in Dakar heard the following message: "Shutting down rear right engine...". Followed by a dreadful, final silence. The Croix-du-Sud disappeared without trace, taking with it one of the greatest pioneers of our air routes who trained at Villacoublay and whose entire life was focused on crossing the Atlantic Ocean - which was also to become his final resting place. For many years, Air France pilots wore a black tie (they now wear a blue one) in memory of Mermoz (and Guynemer).