MERMOZ Jean (1901-1936) aviateur.

Lot 191
Go to lot
Estimation :
1200 - 1500 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 659EUR
MERMOZ Jean (1901-1936) aviateur.
Autograph MANUSCRIT, [ca. 1934]; 2 1/2 pages in-4 (some slight marg. splits, corner missing from one leaf). Interesting project for the creation of the Rio de Janeiro airfield in Calabaiço. "When a foreign plane arrives for the first time in Rio de Janeiro, the first place for a landing that the pilot discovers is the Calabaiço field. He immediately imagines the advantages that could be derived from its privileged location and constructs in his mind the complete and rational aerodrome that Rio could be the first city in the world to possess". Mermoz first presents the technical argumentation in favor of this implantation. He reminds us that we have often been obliged to look for a natural place far from the cities "that offers the maximum of advantages and guarantees of security", and that at the beginning of aviation we feared the danger of flying over houses during the take-off and landing of the planes. "Also at a time when aeronautical technology is evolving rapidly and offers ever greater guarantees of safety, you really don't have to believe in the future of aviation to still find this reason valid. The speed of the machines increases day by day and we cannot admit that at the moment when we reach the 300 kilometers per hour, we can lose one hour, half an hour, a quarter of an hour to go from the landing place to the city, when it is possible to cancel this lost time". The airfield of Calabaiço occupies an ideal position: "It is located at the edge of one of the ends of the city: it is outside the city. Three of its sides are perfectly clear. The few buildings that border the fourth side are not a problem, as the prevailing winds are always in the direction of the opening of the bay to the sea, that is, in the largest, completely unobstructed direction of the land. The planned enlargement by gaining on the sea will give a length of 1000 meters by 800 meters, dimensions amply sufficient because one can admit and believe that the conditions of takeoff and landing would be unceasingly improved as the aeronautical technical evolution goes on. One arrives at present with planes loaded with 15 to 16 tons like the Arc-en-Ciel, without propeller with variable pitch, without special devices to take off in 600 to 700 meters on a hard runway; with propellers with variable pitch and flaps intrados one will reduce in a few months this distance of approximately three hundred meters. This is an example that simply proves that the future of aviation can be considered without fear as always improving, always growing in technical possibilities and in safety". Moreover, with Calabaiço, the safety of arrival in Rio will be increased; and Mermoz gives the example of his difficult landing by storm with the Arc-en-Ciel at the camp of Affonsos, "whereas the ground of Calabaiço was clear and allowed me a calm and normal landing". And its location is also suitable for a seaplane base... Then comes the moral argument. "The presence of an aerodrome so close to the city can only have a happy influence on the development of the aeronautical spirit of Brazil. It helps to popularize this spirit and will represent the most beautiful aviation propaganda that can be done in a country as vast as Brazil. Indeed, the arrival of airplanes in an air station attracts every day a large public, which becomes familiar with impressions and sensations that it has always ignored and that consequently it can only fear [...This is why it is necessary to break with prejudices: the future of the various countries of the world belongs to the development of the aerial idea at the service of aviation which will represent its true strength... [...] and this is why we can dare to think that the capital of Brazil will be the first privileged city in the world possessing an aerodrome answering to the future needs and which will materialize the aeronautical spirit of Brazil ". Provenance: MERMOZ archives (Artcurial sale 11 October 2008, M94).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue