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Aéropostale (formally, ''Compagnie générale aéropostale'') was a pioneering aviation company which operated from 1918 to 1933. It was founded in 1918 in
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, as ''Société des lignes Latécoère'', also known as ''Lignes aériennes Latécoère'' or simply "The Line" (''La ligne'').


History

Aéropostale founder Pierre-Georges Latécoère envisioned an air route connecting France to the French colonies in Africa and South America. The company's activities were to specialise in, but were by no means restricted to, airborne postal services. Between 1921 and 1927 the "Line" operated as ''Compagnie générale d'entreprises aéronautiques'' (CGEA). In April 1927 Latécoère, having troubles with its planes, damaged due to long flights to South America, decided to sell 93% of his business to another Brazilian-based French businessman named Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont. On that basis Bouilloux-Lafont then founded the ''Compagnie générale aéropostale'', better known by the shorter name ''Aéropostale''. On December 25, 1918, the company began serving its first route between
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
and
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
in Spain. In February 1919 the line was extended to
Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
. By 1925 it extended to
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...
, where the mail was shipped by steamer to South America. In November 1927 regular flights between
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
and Natal were started. Expansion then continued to
Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
and in July 1929 a regularly scheduled route across the Andes Mountains to
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
, Chile, was started, later extending down to Tierra del Fuego on the southern part of Chile. Finally, on May 12–13, 1930, the trip across the South Atlantic by air finally took place: a Latécoère 28 mail plane fitted with floats and a Hispano-Suiza engine made the first nonstop flight. Aeropostale pilot Jean Mermoz flew from Dakar to Natal in 19 hours, 35 minutes, with his plane holding of mail. The company was dissolved in 1932 and merged with a number of other aviation companies ( Air Orient, Société Générale de Transport Aérien, Air Union, and Compagnie Internationale de Navigation) to create Air France.


Aéropostale pilots

Source: Developed in the aftermath of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, air mail service owed much to the bravery of its earliest pilots. During the 1920s, every flight was a dangerous adventure, and sometimes fatal. The period was eloquently described by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – himself an Aéropostale pilot – in his novel '' Vol de Nuit'' ("Night Flight"), in which he describes a postal flight through the skies of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. Aéropostale's roster of pilots included such aviation legends as: * Jean Mermoz * Antoine de Saint-Exupéry * Henri Guillaumet * Marcel Reine * Emile Lécrivain * Pierre Deley * Henri Larrieu (1893 – 1974) * Raymond Vanier


Aircraft

Among the aircraft operated by the company were: * Blériot 5190 * One hundred Breguet 14s * Farman F.70, for passenger and mail routes between Casablanca and Dakar and also from Algiers to Biskra. * Latécoère 26 * Latécoère 28 * Latécoère 300 * Couzinet 71 III Arc en ciel


Film

* ''Night Flight'' (1933 film), a 1933 film starring Clark Gable, was based on the novel by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, which recounted his real life experiences when he managed and flew for the Aeroposta Argentina subsidiary in South America.Hanson & Gevinson 1993, Vol. 3. In the movie the airline was given the fictitious name Trans-Andean European Air Mail. * In 1995, Futuroscope paid homage to Aéropostale pilot Henri Guillaumet with a 3D
IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, in '' Wings of Courage'' (''les Ailes du Courage''), chronicling the pilot's crash on the frozen lake surface of Laguna del Diamante in the
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
, while flying mail for the South American subsidiary, Aeroposta Argentina.James, Caryn
Wings of Courage: High Over the Andes, In Enormous Goggles (1995 Film Review)
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', 21 April 1995. Retrieved: 28 September 2012.
Guillaumet was portrayed by Craig Sheffer, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry by Tom Hulce, and Jean Mermoz played by Val Kilmer.


See also

* Aéropostale, a U.S. apparel outlet that took its name and some of its design cues from the ''Compagnie générale aéropostale''. * Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela, normally referred to as just ''Aeropostal'', an airline in
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, established after the government took over air routes previously operated by the French ''Aéropostale'' * Aeroposta Argentina, a subsidiary in Argentina.


References

; Citations ; Bibliography * Mary, Jack. "Aéropostale, les autres lignes: Algérie, Paraguay, Patagonie, Bolivie, Venezuela", 2012, * Binder, Yves Marc & Sophie. "Aéropostale, les carnets de vol de Léopold", 2009, * de Bure, Guillemette. "Les secrets de l’Aéropostale: Les années Bouilloux-Lafont 1926-1944", 2007, * Daurat, Didier. "Dans le vent des hélices, témoignage du mythique directeur de la Ligne", passé à la postérité sous le nom de Rivière dans les pages de Vol de nuit * Fleury, Jean-Gérard. "La Ligne", ouvrage de référence sur l'Aéropostale rédigé par un journaliste passionné d'aviation et collaborateur de l'industriel René Couzinet * Hanson, Patricia King (Executive Editor) and Alan Gevinson (Associate Editor). ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: 1931-40, Feature Films''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1993. . * Mermoz, Jean Mes Vols (Flammarion, 1937), regroupement posthume de textes du pilote et d'hommages de ses collègues, amis et admirateurs * Poivre d'Arvor, Patrick et Olivier. "Courriers de nuit", Place des Victoires, 2003, Mengès, 2004 ; LGF Le Livre de Poche, 2006 (version texte seulement)


External links


Latecoere and "the Line"


{{DEFAULTSORT:Aeropostale Defunct airlines of France Airlines established in 1918 Airlines disestablished in 1932 1932 mergers and acquisitions 1932 disestablishments in France French companies established in 1918