Mermoz's legendary plane "La Croix du Sud" is in Natal.
- Unpublished photograph of the La Croix du Sud plane with a note in French on the back.
- Christmas, September 18, 1934.
- 17 cm x 12.3 cm.
- Perfect condition of conservation.
- Unique piece.
Translation of the note from French to Portuguese
“Croix-du-Sud moored in the river, the mechanic makes a final inspection."
The world of aviation has always sparked dreams and curiosity, and it still does today, when we buy our tickets online and track the flight paths of planes in real time via the internet. But there was a time when the leather seats of aircraft exuded a scent of novelty, and venturing into the skies required a lot of courage. In those distant years, who would have thought that it was a Frenchman who gave wings to Brazil?
His name was Jean Mermoz (1901 - 1936), and although he now names countless schools, his adventures were far from academic. In fact, in 1920, at the age of 19, Mermoz failed his college entrance exam, and only because of that did he enlist to be an army aviator. However, military discipline did not appeal to him, and four years later, he left the army and sought work in civil aviation. Although talented, Mermoz almost got hired by Latécoère Airlines in 1924, since, in his admission test, his acrobatics displeased the strict director of the company, Didier Daurat. However, after a little correction, Mermoz performed a normal and perfect flight.
From then on, the pilot began working as a sky postman and accumulating adventure stories. At the beginning of his career, Mermoz flew over a large part of the African continent, where, in 1926, he suffered an accident, crashed into the Sahara and was taken hostage by a group of Tuareg rebels. Luckily, he managed to escape. But Latécoère had plans for South America, and Mermoz soon became chief pilot in the region. On one of his flights in the south of the continent, the engine failed and the pilot had to land in the middle of the Andes Mountains. There he spent 50 hours trying to fix the engine, until he had the idea of throwing the plane off a cliff to gain momentum to fly. It is almost impossible to believe that the plan worked!
But Mermoz's greatest adventure was yet to come. To establish a connection between Europe and South America, he needed to fly nonstop. Thus, Mermoz made the first nonstop transatlantic airmail trip in history! A flight of over 21 hours between Senegal and Natal, Brazil.
Since then, the French pilot has become a famous visitor. He often returned to Natal, where he made friends and even lived in a house of his own. There, Mermoz would rest from his long flights, play tennis and swim on the beautiful beaches of Natal. His plane, the Croix-du-Sud, became a beloved acquaintance in the city. As we can see in the unpublished photograph from 1934 that shows the prestigious plane shortly before taking off from Natal. The photo was probably taken by one of the crew members, since the back of it reads: “Croix-du-Sud moored in the river, the mechanic makes a final inspection”.
Unfortunately, in 1936, Mermoz disappeared on that same plane, on a flight to Natal. The Croix-du-Sud did not survive the voyage and crashed into the sea; none of its crew were found. Years later, it was discovered that Mermoz's plane had been sabotaged by the Uruguayan Nazi Party. Although he left us very young, Mermoz became unforgettable; his stories and adventures inspire dreams, and his achievements began to connect Brazil to the rest of the world. This photograph is therefore, in many ways, historic.
