Jean Dabry (8 December 1901,

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

5 July 1990, Montmorency) was a French

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

of the Aéropostale, then an airline pilot for

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

. He is buried in the Montmorency cemetery.

Biography

Dabry gained his first officer-rank when he joined the Aéropostale in 1928 as

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

. Two years later on 12 April 1930 with

Jean Mermoz Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

as pilot and Léopold Gimié as radio-operator they made a closed circuit length record by

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

. The aircraft, a

Latécoère 28 The Latécoère 28 was a successful French long-haul mail plane and passenger airliner of the 1930s. It was the main-stay of Air France's predecessor, Aéropostale (aviation), Aéropostale in its efforts to establish intercontinental air mail serv ...

fitted with a 600 hp

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

engine flew 4 345 km for 30h25. On 12 and 13 May 1930 the same crew performed the first crossing of the South

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

with the

Laté 28 "Compte de la Vault" fitted with an

engine (600 hp). They flew between Saint Louis, Sénégal to Natal (

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

). They delivered 130 kg of

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

during this 3200 km journey. During the flight two records would be established namely, distance in a straight line for a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

and mail delivery time as they flew for 20 hours and 15 minutes.
Le Matin
', Paris, 14 May 1930, quotidien He became a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1936. During his career he made more than 540 crossings of the North

. He became one of the executive directors of the company. He had logged 16,000 hours of flight time when he left

in 1957.

Publications

* French book : Amicale des pionniers des lignes aériennes Latécoère-aéropostale, ''L'Aéropostale : l'histoire, les hommes : à Toulouse, terre d'envol'', Castres, J. Gasc, 1983 (rédigé par Jean Dabry et Gaston Vedel)

Awards

Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

* Grand-croix de l'ordre national du Mérite *

Médaille de l'Aéronautique The Aeronautical Medal (french: "Médaille de l'Aéronautique") is a state decoration of France established by the decree of February 14, 1945. It is awarded to both military personnel and civilians for outstanding accomplishments related to t ...

Bibliography

* Marcel Catillon, Mémorial aéronautique : qui était qui, Paris, Nouvelles Editions latines, coll. « Mémorial de l'aéronautique » (no 2), 1997 (), p. 57

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabry, Jean 1901 births 1990 deaths French aviators History of aviation Aviation pioneers

Biography

Publications

Awards

See also

Bibliography

References