Lot n° 193
Estimation :
1500 - 2000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 1 845EUR
MERMOZ Jean (1901-1936) aviateur.
AUTOGRAPHIC MANUSCRIT, Report on the causes and conclusions of the accident to the F-ANBL plane, [September 4, 1936]; 3 pages in-4.
Report on the fatal accident of his comrade Gaston Génin, whose plane crashed on August 2, 1936 in the Montagne Noire. Mermoz follows the flight meticulously, since its departure from Le Bourget on good meteorological information. "Génin is a specialist in blind flights. A bank of bad weather 200 km deep between Brive and Toulouse, with ceilings of 3 to 600 meters is not an obstacle for a good airline pilot, and even more so for him who has seen many others and more difficult ones. According to the latest forecasts of the O.N.M., a route leading west of Toulouse can only offer the greatest security. He is wary of the Toulouse gonio... all the more so, he will take the western route... he prefers to take a Wibault which has no on-board gonio, but which has extra range than the other Wibault which has the on-board gonio but which has less range. He knows that the range offers a much greater margin of safety. He makes his decision wisely. He left with full knowledge of the facts, sure of his experience"... His crew, with Savary as second pilot and Aubert as radio, is "full of conscience and experience". The flight is without history, "as the report of the radio report proves it with however a kind of insufficiency of the meteorological information and the bearings of the posts on ground which seem particularly silent"... Mermoz follows the flight in detail, until the fatal accident. For him, "Génin and Aubert accomplished their professional duty with all their quiet experience. At no time could they be reproached for the slightest lapse in reasoning, the slightest panic, the slightest error of judgment. [...] The inadequacy of the organization of the ground stations, which did not allow for rational and methodical work, for a sound and constant link with the aircraft on the line in terms of communication of meteorological and radio directional information, was solely responsible for the causes of the accident"; and Mermoz was particularly severe with regard to the Toulouse station, whose errors "caused Génin to fall into a real trap. [...] The plane was not followed along the way by most of the staking posts of the line. It is unbelievable that, especially at night, one can be so disinterested in the fate of a commercial aircraft in service. And above all, "the lack of onboard gonio is a most regrettable fact. It is inadmissible that in 1936 this additional safety device was not installed on all commercial aircraft in service. The gonio of edge provided with the raising of doubts is absolutely with the point and allows a navigation of arrival to the aerodromes very precise. One can wonder in all justice of cause if the presence on board of this complementary element of control of navigation would not have allowed Génin to reach Francazal without worrying about the doubtful help ". Two letters signed by the Director of Civil Aeronautics at the Ministry of Air, August 8 and September 11, 1936, asking Mermoz for a report on this accident, then acknowledging receipt. Provenance: MERMOZ archives (Artcurial sale October 11, 2008, M107).
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