Airlines were hiring, but many other pilots were also scratching for jobs. The fiercely independent Mermoz, although a decorated pilot, disliked military life and was demobilized in March 1924.Īdrift in Paris and looking for steady work, Mermoz found himself frequenting soup kitchens.

Once posted overseas to Syria, he distinguished himself by surviving a grueling four-day desert trek after a forced landing. Instead, he became a national hero famed for his pioneering airmail flights linking France to South America.Īdvised by a family friend to go into aviation, Mermoz qualified as a military pilot in 1921. It was to be his 24th crossing, but after a brief radio message, Croix du Sud and its veteran five-man crew vanished, never to be seen again.īorn on December 9, 1901, in the rustic village of Aubenton in northern France, Mermoz was a quiet and reserved youth who thought he might become a poet or perhaps an artist. On December 7, 1936, French adventurer and aviator Jean Mermoz took off from Dakar, Senegal, in his four-engine Latécoère 300 flying boat for a flight across the South Atlantic to Brazil. While establishing fast and reliable airmail routes to and across South America, trailblazing aviator Jean Mermoz became a national hero. Triumphs and Ultimate Tragedy of the French Lindbergh Close

Jean mermoz