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#4006991 - 09/09/14 12:50 AM Aeropostale 2014 *****  
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corsaire31 Offline
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Toulouse, France
I am almost ready to go, found most of the sceneries I needed, made my 35 flight plans respecting the historical routes through Spain, Africa and South America. I have also collected enough historical data and references to illustrate my flight reports.

The real 10.000 km air rally from Toulouse (France) to Saint Louis (Senegal) will be leaving on Sept 28th, I might wait to start my virtual flying at the same time.

In the meantime I am making training flights with the three planes (1930s designs) I will be using :


Ant's Tiger Moth (freeware)


Golden Age Simulations Stinson Reliant S8E


Alabeo Waco YMF5


Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#4007340 - 09/09/14 05:08 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
Introduction :

" I have done all the calculations once again, everything confirms our idea is impossible to realize. Now we only need to do it ! "

It is with these words that Pierre Georges Latécoère started right after WW1 a great adventure of airplanes and special pilots and men ( Daurat, Mermoz, Guillaumet, Saint Exupéry...): the Aéropostale.

With some Breguet XIVs sold by the Aéronautique Militaire after 1918, he started from my good old town of Toulouse to transport letters by air mail. Until 1931 l'Aéropostale would open new routes through Spain and Morocco to Dakar in Senegal, then jump over the Atlantic ocean to South America. The mail will then take 5 days to be delivered where it took 5 weeks before.

I plan to refly these routes making 150 to 200 nm flights in FSX. I have made the plans for approx. 35 flights. I want to do it real time, real weather, in the conditions of 1930 (VFR, no GPS, no Navaids) I also wanted to do it with planes of the 30s. After reviewing many freeware planes and reading previous reports of virtual pilots who did it in FS9 and XPlane (someone recreated the 1920 sceneries), I finally settled on three planes.

The European part from Toulouse to Tanger will be flown with a Tiger Moth, (freeware) a plane from the 1930s close in performance to the early biplanes who opened these routes in the 1920s.

The African part from Tanger to Dakar and Cabo Verde will be flown with a Waco YMF5 ( Alabeo ) for the longer range needed for a couple of desert flights

The plane will be disassembled and loaded on a french Air Force CASA C295M cargo plane which will fly it across the south Atlantic to Fernando de Noronha, a little island offshore from Brasil where the Aeropostale had a base. It will be then reassembled and flown down the coast of Brasil to Buenos Aires.

From there, the Waco will continue the southern branch to Punta Arenas, while I will borrow a Stinson Reliant SR8e (Golden Age Simulations) - replaces the historical Potez 25 - for the crossing from Buenos Aires to Santiago and La Paz over the Andes, the other ends of the line.

If in the conditions of 1930 for the type of flying, it will nevertheless be flown in today's environment. I will use FSX enhanced by :

- Ultimate Terrain X Europe
- Ground Environment X Europe, Africa and Middle East, South America and Asia
- Flight Environment X
- Freeware sceneries for almost all the airports/airfields where I plan to stop, even if only for a refuel. ( I think there are only two or three I didn't find )

Navigation will be done with Plan G v 3.1 ( obviously not connected to FSX as it would show the plane position and track. )

I fly from a rather basic install. My PC was built last November with a i5 4670 Haswell CPU, Windows 7, ATI HD 7850 2Go OC, 8 Go Ram, a 120 Go SSD for system and two Western Digital Caviar Black 1 To HDs.

The main scenery is on a 27" Iiyama monitor, with my old Acer 24 displaying the flight plan.

Controls are those of a military sims pilot :

- Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick (will be fine for the Moth and the Waco)
- Saitek rudder pedals
- Saitek quadrant (mounted on the left for my World War 1 aircrafts - will be fine also for the Moth and the Waco)
- Saitek Cessna trim wheel
- Track IR 5



I have started collecting historical data which will illustrate these reports, and I am reading again the books of Joseph Kessel and Saint Exupéry to be "in the mood", while training around Toulouse with my three planes.

Last edited by corsaire31; 04/25/15 01:37 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4007365 - 09/09/14 05:59 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Nice set-up! yep

#4007375 - 09/09/14 06:10 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
Sept 09 : VFR training flight















Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4007730 - 09/10/14 12:59 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
AEROPOSTALE, a short history - (Part 1) Spain and Morocco

September 1917 : Pierre Georges Latecoere creates the airfield in Montaudran (South East suburb of Toulouse) and a factory to build the 1000 Salmson airplanes ordered by the french ministry of Armament. The first buildings are along the railway from Toulouse to Sète.
The first airplane comes out early May 1918 and 800 are built before the end of World War 1.

Although the production of airplanes stops, Pierre Georges Latecoere thinks there is a future for commercial aviation.



May 1918 : With his friend Beppo de Massimi, a former italian pilot, Pierre Georges Latecoere imagines a draft of commercial lines which is presented on Sept 7, 1918 to Jacques Dumesnil, minister of Aéronautique.

December 25, 1918 : Pierre Georges Latecoere flies for the first time to Barcelona in a Salmson flown by René Cornemont. He then creates the " Lignes Aériennes Latécoère " (Latecoere Air Lines)

July 1919 : The pilot Didier Daurat is hired and a contract is signed for the line Toulouse-Rabat (Morocco)

September 1919 : The France-Morocco airmail connection becomes a regular airline.

October 1920 : Latecoere makes Daurat chief of operations. The line is opened to passengers, Montaudran becomes the first air terminal in France.

Mai 1922 : Pierre Georges Latecoere creates the " Société Industrielle des Avions Latécoère " which will build the aircrafts for the line.

May 3 - May 22 1923 : Captain Joseph Roig leads a flight of three Breguet XIV to extend the line to Dakar (Senegal)


Last edited by corsaire31; 09/11/14 09:25 AM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4008047 - 09/10/14 09:52 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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3instein Offline
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Nice! Good luck.

Mick. smile


"An appeaser is someone who feeds the crocodile hoping he will be eaten last"

Winston Churchill

#4008158 - 09/11/14 04:44 AM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Sluggish Controls Offline
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Bon vent, tailwind hopefully !
Will keep an eye on this one.

Cheers,
Slug


"Major Burns isn't saying much of anything, Sir. I think he's formulating the answer..." - Radar - M*A*S*H
#4008197 - 09/11/14 09:57 AM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
The airplanes : Salmson 2A.2

The " Société des Moteurs Salmson" was building engines, and specially a liquid-cooled 9 cylinders which was installed in many airplanes during World War 1. The type 2 airplane succeeded to the Salmson D biplane which was equipped with a rotating 130HP Clerget engine.

The Salmson 2 was a two seater biplane, with a round fuselage built around the huge radial Salmson Z9 260 HP engine. This engine was liquid cooled and showed typical cooling vents. It was built with metal, wood and canvas, with wings of same size and double ailerons.



Production started in 1917, the plane was operating early 1918. A total of 3200 airplanes were built and used by the french, italian and american air forces. Main mission was observation and the rear cockpit had a hatch for photo cameras. It was also used for daylight bombing and for these was equipped with a front Vickers machine gun on the engine hood, and sometimes another machine gun for the observer.

Without outstanding performance, the plane was nevertheless rugged, reliable, maintenance was easy and it could take some beating. A known problem was the difficulty to communicate between both crew members because of the distance between the two cockpits.

After World War 1, the Salmson 2A.2 was used a lot on the Aeropostale lines. The first trial flight between Toulouse and Barcelona was done on a Salmson 2A.2 on Dec 25, 1918. They were used for the line between France and Morocco and withdrawn in 1923.

There is an ongoing project among several high schools in my region to rebuild a 1:1 Salmson 2A.2. Engine and propeller have been given by the " Ailes Anciennes de Toulouse" (Toulouse Old Wings) association.



Wingspan : 11.75 m Length : 8.50 m Height : 2.50m Empty weight : 906 kg Max weight : 1290 kg
Cruising speed : 135 km/h (73 knots) Range : 500 km (270 nm)
Engine : 1 Salmson 9Zg, 9 Cylinders radial engine Power : 260 HP

Photos : Mémoire d'Aéropostale

Last edited by corsaire31; 09/11/14 10:14 AM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4008749 - 09/12/14 01:36 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
The men : Pierre Georges Latécoère



Pierre Georges Latécoère was born in Bagnères de Bigorre on August 25th, 1883. He makes brilliant studies first in his town then in Paris ( Saint Louis High School , School of Arts and Manufactures, Ecole Centrale ). His father dies in 1906 and his mother manages the mechanical carpentry factory her husband had created in 1872. Pierre Georges Latécoère develops the original business, and besides the carpentry starts building wagons for the tramways and colonial railways. He later gets a huge contract with the southern France railways (Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Midi ) for 10.000 freight wagons. He then builds a first factory in Toulouse.

In the meantime World War 1 starts in 1914. Although he has no military obligations because of his bad sight, he volunteers for the artillery. Four months later, his general thinks he will be more useful for his country managing industry rather than using a gun. In Toulouse he manufactures gun shells and in Bagnères de Bigorre field kitchens. With a new passion for aviation he starts buiding planes (800 Salmson 2A.2 from a 1000 planes order) For this he builds in only 7 months his factory and airfield in Montaudran, near Toulouse, which will build 6 planes a day.

After the war he started his project of airlines from France to african colonies and Brasil. He didn't hesitate to participate himself in the beginning, flying from Toulouse to Barcelona on Dec. 25 1918 with his pilot Cornemont, then from Toulouse to Rabat in Morocco on March 9, 1919 with his pilot Lemaitre, bringing the daily newspaper bought in Toulouse to Maréchal Lyautey. The airmail started flying from France in Sept 1919. They had heroic men working as pilots, mechanics, navigators, among which many lost their life. They had to cross the 1500 nm through the desert from Casablanca to Dakar, over the Rio de Oro, with rebellious tribes who would seize the crews and the freight if the plane broke down. In 1925 his planes were flying above the Mediterranean Sea when he created the lines Alicante-Oran, Marseille-Barcelona and Marseille-Algiers.

Although he had to sell later his original companies (as we will see in the Aeropostale story), Pierre Georges Latécoère kept on building in Montaudran airplanes which would establish world records. On May 9th 1930 Mermoz flying the Latécoère 28 "Comte de la Vaux" flying boat made the first airmail transport Saint Louis - Natal across the southern Atlantic Ocean. After this he tackled with some huge size flying boats, the first one being the 42 tons "Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris". In 1931 he gets married and will have a son called Pierre Jean. In 1937 he builds in 3 months in Anglet a large factory to make flying boats. In 1939 he sells to Breguet his factories in Montaudran and Anglet, and also his hydroplane base in Biscarosse. The company "Société Industrielle d'Aviation Latécoère" created in 1922 will open in 1940 a new factory in Toulouse where it will build the world's largest flying boat, the 75 tons Late 631.



Today the Latécoère Group is still in Toulouse, employs more than 4000 people in France and abroad, working on fuselage and doors for Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Bombardier, Dassault, while being with its subsidiary company Latelec world n° 2 for onboard wiring.

Last edited by corsaire31; 09/12/14 01:48 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4009260 - 09/13/14 02:10 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
What they wrote : Antoine de Saint Exupéry



" It was in 1926. I had just been hired as a young line pilot by the Société Latécoère, which operated the Toulouse - Dakar line, before the Aéropostale and later Air France. There I was learning the trade. In my turn, like my comrades, I was enduring the novitiate that young pilots had to endure before flying for the mail. Plane trials, trips between Toulouse and Perpignan, sad weather forecast lessons in the back of a freezing cold hangar. We lived with the fear of the spanish mountains, which we didn't know yet, and with the respect for our elders.
These elders, we found them in the restaurant, gruff, somewhat distant, giving us their lordly advices. And when one of them, flying back from Alicante or Casablanca would join us late, his leather jacket soaked from the rain, and one of us would timidly ask him about his trip, his short answers, on stormy days, were building for us a fabulous world, full of traps, of cliffs suddenly appearing, and of turbulences which could have unrooted cedar trees. Black dragons were defending the valleys entrances, sheaves of lightnings crowned the crests. These elders maintained our respect with science. But from time to time, respectable for eternity, one of them did not come back "

( St Exupéry - Terre des Hommes )

That's exactly what I will be doing until Sept. 28th : young pilot training, getting familiar with the planes and working on my VFR navigation.

Last edited by corsaire31; 09/13/14 02:37 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4009831 - 09/14/14 10:30 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
Toulouse Lasbordes on Sunday

Weather was a bit covered this Sunday, but I still went for a couple of hours to the Toulouse Lasbordes airfield, to find the best spots for taking pictures on the 28th when the Toulouse Saint Louis air rally will take off.
Took a few plane pictures, among which this superb Piper Super Cub which made a short stop for refueling.


Last edited by corsaire31; 09/15/14 01:39 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4010018 - 09/15/14 02:29 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
Monday Sept 15th : VFR training flight Toulouse - Rodez with the Waco (No VOR - No NDB)












Last edited by corsaire31; 09/15/14 02:39 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4010237 - 09/15/14 08:32 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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NV
This is awesome! Your research and style are great. I won't miss any updates.
Oh, et merci beaucoup!

Last edited by harryw; 09/15/14 08:34 PM.
#4010297 - 09/15/14 10:46 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: harryw]  
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Originally Posted By: harryw
This is awesome! Your research and style are great. I won't miss any updates.
Oh, et merci beaucoup!


Thanks for your visit and interest ! This is a project I had prepared for some time now, only waited to have the necessary free time (getting old must have some good sides !).
It is to explain that if Toulouse is today the french center for aviation and "Airbus city", the roots come from far back. It is also my way to pay a tribute to these great men. I enjoy every minute reading again all the books that I had read a long time ago when I was young. It was these books, these men and their great deeds that have started the fire and mostly explain my passion for aviation and why I have spent 30 years in flight sims. It is for me something like closing the loop. smile2


Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4010431 - 09/16/14 12:53 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
The men : Beppo di Massimi



Beppo di Massimi was an italian aristocrat, born in Bari (Italy) on August 3rd, 1875.

He volunteers in the french Aéronautique Militaire on August 17th, 1914 during World War 1 as an observer with the rank of Lieutenant and is given the french nationality in August 1914.

He becomes later one of the very first working for Pierre Georges Latécoère whom he got to know during the war. He is a gifted negociator, and knowing in advance where the difficulties will be, he moves to Madrid as an administrator and general manager of the Société des Lignes Aériennes Latécoère. Against the opposition of a large part of the spanish opinion, which is more favourable to german endeavours, Beppo de Massimi gets the essential authorizations for flying above Spain and the establishment of the necessary maintenance bases in Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga.

As soon as the Toulouse - Casablanca line is operational, he negociates the authorizations to fly over the Rio de Oro and the use of bases in Cap Juby and Villa Cisneros.

During his whole career, he actively participates in the creation and reputation of the Line. In 1923 he enters the administration council of CGEA.

In 1933, when the national company Air France is created, he decides to retire from public life at the french abbey in Saint Ay, where he dies in 1961.

He was also the one who brought to P.G. Latécoère many of his pilot friends, among which Didier Daurat who will be the operations manager of the Line from 1920 onwards.

He left a book called : "Headwind. A history of the first french airline" (1949)


Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4010869 - 09/17/14 11:12 AM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
Sept 17th, First training flight on the path of the Line : Toulouse-Carcassonne.

Today a first training flight on the path of the Line : Toulouse - Carcassonne - Perpignan



As the pilots of the time did, I follow the Canal du Midi, a canal linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.



Another good landmark is the medieval city of Carcassonne.



After landing at Carcassonne airport.



I prepare the Tiger Moth for the night while I will have a good dinner and sleep in my hotel room.


Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4011329 - 09/18/14 12:00 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Toulouse, France
The men : Didier Daurat



Didier Daurat was born on January 2, 1891 in Montreuil sous Bois near Paris.

After studying at the Superior School of Public Engineering, he enters the first World War in the 163rd Infantry Regiment where he is involved in the terrible battle of Verdun. Wounded there, he becomes Sergent and later Sous Lieutenant. Then in June 1916 he joins the Aéronautique Militaire. He flies as observation pilot of Caudrons G3 and G4 in squadron C227 where he will meet Beppo di Massimi. Together they fly many observation missions. In June 1917 he manages to localize the "Big Bertha" or "Pariserkanon". He is promoted to Lieutenant, then Capitaine, receives the "Croix de Guerre" and ends the war as fighter pilot in the Spad 87 squadron.

In July 1919 he rejoins his friend Beppo di Massimi by the Lignes Aériennes Latécoère in Toulouse. The line is opened on Sept 1st, 1919. Didier Daurat and Jean Dombray flying two Breguet XIVs first fly to Alicante. On early Sept 2, Daurat is the first to take off and lands at 17:00 in Rabat, bringing to the local authorities the first official mail of the France-Morocco postal service.

He then becomes manager of the Malaga airfield operations. In October 1920 following the advice of Beppo di Massimi, Pierre Georges Latécoère makes Didier Daurat his operations manager.

It is where the legend begins, which will make Didier Daurat admired by many, feared by all, hated by some. He fires without any hesitation all the ones who show one small weakness, don't agree with his methods or don't go along with the "spirit of the mail".

Many pilots start their career by the "royal sludge" which is working on the ground for airplanes maintenance. For him this shapes the personality and will later force the pilots to respect the machines. In fact, this capability of the pilots to take apart and repair engines will be later vital in the flights across the Sahara desert or the Andes mountains.

When Jean Mermoz makes a fantastic demonstration of his flying skills in Toulouse to be a pilot by Latécoère, Daurat tells him : " I don't need artists, I need bus drivers. We will tame you !" and hires him... to clean engines !

When the Aeropostale, (as we will see ) is integrated into Air France in 1933, Daurat who doesn't have only friends, is fired. In 1935 he starts the company Air Bleu which carries mail everywhere in France, day and night. He obtains there again outstanding results, but the company is militarized in 1939.

After the war he starts over again the Postal night flights, then becomes operations manager of the Air France center in Orly until he retires in 1953. They are using DC3s then Fokkers 27. The pilots are so reliable that out of 7200 night flights only one will be diverted for weather reasons.

He dies in Toulouse in 1960 and following his own will is buried on the Toulouse Montaudran airfield, the first base of the Aeropostale. Unfortunately, because the airfield is closed in 2003 to build a commercial zone, his grave is destroyed in 2007 and his body is now in a family vault in Marseille.

Last edited by corsaire31; 09/18/14 12:39 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4011711 - 09/19/14 05:54 AM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
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Posts: 7,247
Harry-the-Ruskie Offline
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Harry-the-Ruskie  Offline
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Malaysia
What game is this ?

#4011746 - 09/19/14 09:46 AM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: Harry-the-Ruskie]  
Joined: May 2011
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corsaire31 Offline
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corsaire31  Offline
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 1,428
Toulouse, France
Originally Posted By: Harry-the-Ruskie
What game is this ?


Plse read post n° 2... wink


Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
#4011774 - 09/19/14 01:02 PM Re: Aeropostale 2014 [Re: corsaire31]  
Joined: May 2011
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corsaire31 Offline
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corsaire31  Offline
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Toulouse, France
We left the Tiger in Carcassonne and will now fly the second part on the first leg of the Line.



Rather than landing at the Perpignan-Rivesaltes airport, I choose to stop for the night at the small airfield of La Salanque near Port Barcarès, which is more in the spirit of the Line.



I take off from Carcassonne early afternoon.



We also can use today as a landmark the highway which I follow to the crossing. Left it goes to Montpellier, right to Perpignan and Barcelona.



From there we turn South East to cross the large salty ponds leading to the Mediterranean coast.



After following the coast down south and landing at La Salanque, the plane is tied down for the night.

Last edited by corsaire31; 09/19/14 01:04 PM.

Gigabyte Z87P-D3 - CPU I5 4670 Haswell @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Go Ram - GPU HD 7850 2Go OC - SSD Samsung 128Go - HD 2 x WD Black 1 To - 27" Iiyama Pro Lite - Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke - Rudder Pedals - Quadrant - Cessna Trim Wheel - Track IR 5 - Logitech G35 headset ... and a big coffee maker !
Flying in FSX/Air Hauler, Wings over Flanders Fields, Rise of Flight, IL2 1946 Hsfx, Condor soaring.
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