Jean Mermoz owes his fame first and foremost to his exploits as an aviator. His non-stop crossings of the Sahara and the South Atlantic are milestones in the history of aviation. But Mermoz was also a man of his time, committed to political action.

An aviation hero

Jean Mermoz began his career as a pilot in the 1920s when he joined the Latécoère aviation company. It had developed airlines linking France to Spain, Morocco and Senegal. The pilots of what was to become Aéropostale, in 1927, carried mail but also passengers.

It was in this company that Mermoz made his debut as an aviator. Given the limited autonomy and the technical level of the aircraft of the time, each flight was a kind of exploit.

In 1927, Mermoz successfully completed a non-stop flight between Toulouse and Saint-Louis in Senegal. The previous year he had had to land in the desert due to an engine failure, where he had been captured by a Moorish tribe in the context of the Rif War.

In 1930, Mermoz made the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Senegal and Brazil. It will allow the opening of a postal link between France and South America.

Six years later, Mermoz disappeared at sea on board his plane "La Croix du Sud".

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