Jean Mermoz had a passion for flying : he joined
the French Air Force in 1920, qualified
as a pilot in 1921 and commissioned to Syria
; he was mentioned in dispatches for both
his courage and the way he mastered flying.
He was demobilized in 1924, joined the Latécoère
firm, was appointed as an airline pilot
on Toulouse - Barcelona - Alicante regular
flights.
In 1925 he was appointed on the Casablanca-
Dakar
flight.
On May 10th 1927 he inaugurated the flight
Toulouse -
Saint
Louis of Senegal, non-stop.
In the course of the same year he was assigned
to ensure the Buenos Aires - Rio de Janeiro
regular flights by the French Airmail company.
On May 12th 1930, on board the hydroplane
"
Latécoère 28"
christened "
Le Comte de la
Vaulx" he managed to fly from Toulouse
to Natal in Brazil in twenty hours or so
for the first time, with 130 kgs of mail
on board.