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230
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MERMOZ Jean
See original version (French)
230
-
MERMOZ Jean
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,000 - €1,200
Voluntary lot
Description
MERMOZ Jean
L.A.S. ‘Jean Gilberte’ and ‘Mermoz Chief Pilot’, Marseille, 9 December 1930, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 6 pages, in-8 format, on Hôtel de Noailles letterhead.
Test flights at Marignane with his seaplane prior to the Atlantic crossing.
He has a lot of work “and plenty to get on with ahead of him. Every day I am in Marignane—which is twenty-five kilometres from Marseille—from 9 am to 5 pm, fine-tuning my seaplane and its engine, with which I intend to make another commercial crossing of the South Atlantic in early January. At the same time, the Aviation Bernard factories have just produced a superb long-range aircraft that resembles Le Brix’s ‘Trait d’Union’. It has been purchased by the State and will be entrusted to me – following a closed-circuit test flight carried out in the company of the factory’s acceptance pilot – to attempt the world distance record on the Marseille–Buenos Aires route, which I hope to complete non-stop, given that, with 7,500 litres of petrol on board, giving a range of 12,000 km. I received confirmation of my official appointment today and I’m very pleased about it.”
He fully intends to visit his grandparents for Christmas; he’ll drive them to Paris. “I’ll collect my citation as an Officer of the Legion of Honour in Paris, but Grandma, I won’t be able to give it to you until we’re in Paris!! So you really must come. I had my pilot’s medical examination a few days ago. I hadn’t had one since I left for South America. They found me to be in excellent shape. So all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds!!”…
He adds that Mlle de la Vaulx, cousin of the Count de la Vaulx [who died in a crash near Jersey City on 18 April 1930], ‘sent him the Count’s wallet as a memento… it is a very precious keepsake for me’.
Provenance: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936);
- Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955);
- Then passed down through the family
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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