Aéropostale (aviation)
Encyclopedia
Aéropostale was a pioneering aviation company. It was founded in 1918 in Toulouse
, France
, as Société des lignes Latécoère, also known as Lignes Aeriennes Latécoère or simply "The Line" (La ligne).
envisioned an air route connecting France to the French colonies in Africa and South America. The company's activities were to specialise in, but were by no means restricted to, airborne postal services.
Between 1921 and 1927 the "Line" operated as Compagnie générale d'entreprises aéronautiques (CGEA). In April 1927 Latécoère, having troubles with its planes, damaged due to long flights to South America, decided to sell 93% of his business to another Brazilian-based French businessman named Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont. On that basis, Bouilloux-Lafont then founded the Compagnie générale aéropostale, better known by the shorter name Aéropostale.
On December 25, 1918, the company began serving its first route between Toulouse
and Barcelona
in Spain. In February 1919 the line was extended to Casablanca
. By 1925 it extended to Dakar
, where the mail was shipped by steamer to South America. In November 1927 regular flights between Rio de Janeiro
and Natal
were started. Expansion then continued to Paraguay
, and in July 1929 a regularly scheduled route across the Andes Mountains to Santiago
, Chile, were started, later extending down to Tierra del Fuego
on the southern part of Chile. Finally, on May 12–13, 1930, the trip across the South Atlantic by air finally took place: a Latécoère 28
mail plane fitted with floats and a 650 hp Hispano-Suiza
engine made the first nonstop flight. Aeropostale pilot Jean Mermoz
flew 3,058 kilometers from Dakar to Natal in 19 hours 35 minutes, with his plane holding 122 kilograms of mail.
After a scandal involving postal payments from the French government to Aeropostale, the company was dissolved in 1932, and merged with a number of other aviation companies (Air Orient
, Société Générale de Transport Aérien, Air Union
, and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation) to create Air France
.
, air mail services owe much to the bravery of their earliest pilots. During the 1920s, every flight was a dangerous adventure, and could be fatal. The period was eloquently described by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
– himself an Aéropostale pilot – in his novel Vol de Nuit (translated as "Night Flight"), in which he describes a postal flight through the skies of South America
.
Aéropostale's roster of pilots included such aviation legends as:
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, as Société des lignes Latécoère, also known as Lignes Aeriennes Latécoère or simply "The Line" (La ligne).
History
Aéropostale founder Pierre-Georges LatécoèrePierre-Georges Latécoère
Pierre-Georges Latécoère was a pioneer of aeronautics. Born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, he studied in the École Centrale Paris and, after the First World War, started a business in aeronautics. He directed plants that made planes and opened the first airlines that operated from France to Africa and...
envisioned an air route connecting France to the French colonies in Africa and South America. The company's activities were to specialise in, but were by no means restricted to, airborne postal services.
Between 1921 and 1927 the "Line" operated as Compagnie générale d'entreprises aéronautiques (CGEA). In April 1927 Latécoère, having troubles with its planes, damaged due to long flights to South America, decided to sell 93% of his business to another Brazilian-based French businessman named Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont. On that basis, Bouilloux-Lafont then founded the Compagnie générale aéropostale, better known by the shorter name Aéropostale.
On December 25, 1918, the company began serving its first route between Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
in Spain. In February 1919 the line was extended to Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
. By 1925 it extended to Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, where the mail was shipped by steamer to South America. In November 1927 regular flights between Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and Natal
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
-History:The northeastern tip of South America, Cabo São Roque, to the north of Natal and the closest point to Europe from Latin America, was first visited by European navigators in 1501, in the 1501–1502 Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci, who named the spot after the saint of the day...
were started. Expansion then continued to Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, and in July 1929 a regularly scheduled route across the Andes Mountains to Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, Chile, were started, later extending down to Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
on the southern part of Chile. Finally, on May 12–13, 1930, the trip across the South Atlantic by air finally took place: a Latécoère 28
Latécoère 28
-See also:- External links :...
mail plane fitted with floats and a 650 hp Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines in the pre-World War II period of the twentieth century. In 1923, its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the parent company and is now part of the French SAFRAN...
engine made the first nonstop flight. Aeropostale pilot Jean Mermoz
Jean Mermoz
Jean Mermoz was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name...
flew 3,058 kilometers from Dakar to Natal in 19 hours 35 minutes, with his plane holding 122 kilograms of mail.
After a scandal involving postal payments from the French government to Aeropostale, the company was dissolved in 1932, and merged with a number of other aviation companies (Air Orient
Air Orient
-History:Air Orient was an airline based in France. Created in 1929 from the merger of Air Asie and Air Union Lignes d’Orient , the short lived airline was merged with Air France October 7, 1933....
, Société Générale de Transport Aérien, Air Union
Air Union
Air Union was a French airline established 1 January 1923 as the result of a merger between the airlines Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes and Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens...
, and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation) to create Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
.
Aéropostale pilots
Developed in the aftermath of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, air mail services owe much to the bravery of their earliest pilots. During the 1920s, every flight was a dangerous adventure, and could be fatal. The period was eloquently described by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...
– himself an Aéropostale pilot – in his novel Vol de Nuit (translated as "Night Flight"), in which he describes a postal flight through the skies of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
Aéropostale's roster of pilots included such aviation legends as:
- Jean MermozJean MermozJean Mermoz was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name...
- Antoine de Saint-ExupéryAntoine de Saint-ExupéryAntoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...
- Henri GuillaumetHenri GuillaumetHenri Guillaumet was a French aviator.He was a pioneer of French aviation in the Andes, the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic. He contributed to the opening up of numerous new routes and is regarded by some as the best pilot of his age...
- Marcel Reine
- Emile Lécrivain
- Pierre DeleyPierre DeleyPierre Deley , was one of the pioneering pilots for the Aéropostale company.He was born in Marseillan, Hérault, the grand nephew and godson of another Marseillan native, Pierre Roques, the founder of French military aviation.He obtained his fighter pilot's licence in 1917 and finished World War I...
Aircraft
Among aircraft operated by the company were:- One hundred Breguet 14Breguet 14-See also:-References:*Tomasz J. Kowalski, Samolot Breguet 14, TBiU no.197, Warsaw 2002, ISBN 83-11-09461-6...
s - Farman F.70Farman F.70-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1739...
, for passenger and mail routes between Casablanca and Dakar and also from AlgiersAlgiers' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
to BiskraBiskraBiskra is the capital city of Biskra province, Algeria. In 2007, its population was recorded as 207,987.During Roman times the town was called Vescera, though this may have been simply a Latin transliteration of the native name. Around 200 AD under Septimius Severus' reign, it was seized by the...
. - Latécoère 26Latécoère 26|-See also:...
- Latécoère 28Latécoère 28-See also:- External links :...
Film
- In 1995, FuturoscopeFuturoscopeFuturoscope, or Parc du Futuroscope is a French theme park based upon multimedia, cinematographic futuroscope and audio-visual techniques...
paid homage to Aéropostale pilot Henri Guillaumet with a 3D IMAXIMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
film by Jean-Jacques AnnaudJean-Jacques AnnaudJean-Jacques Annaud is a French film director, film producer and screenwriter.- Biography :Annaud was born in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne...
: Wings of CourageWings of CourageWings of Courage is a 1995 American-French drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. The 40-minute picture was written by Annaud with Alain Godard. It was the world's first dramatic picture shot in the IMAX-format...
(les Ailes du Courage). Guillaumet was played by Craig ShefferCraig ShefferCraig Eric Sheffer is an American film and television actor. He is known for his leading role as Norman Maclean in the film A River Runs Through It and of Keith Scott on the television series One Tree Hill.-Early life:...
.
See also
- AéropostaleAéropostale (clothing)Aéropostale, Inc. is a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories, principally targeting 14-to-17-year-old young women and men through its Aéropostale stores and 7-to-12-year-old kids through its P.S. from Aéropostale stores...
, a U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
apparel outlet that took its name and some of its design cues from the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale. - Aeropostal Alas de VenezuelaAeropostal Alas de VenezuelaAeropostal Alas de Venezuela, normally referred to as just Aeropostal, is a flag carrier and the national airline of Venezuela also an airline based in Torre Polar Oeste in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean...
, normally referred to as just Aeropostal, an airline in VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, established after the government took over air routes previously operated by the French Aéropostale - Aeroposta Argentina, a subsidiary in Argentina.