Aéropostale (aviation)

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Aéropostale (formally, Compagnie générale aéropostale) was a pioneering French aviation company. It was founded in 1919 by Pierre-Georges Latécoère as "Société des lignes Latécoère". Between 1921 and 1927 it operated as "Compagnie générale d'entreprises aéronautiques", at the end of which period it acquired its most famous name. The company's activities specialised in, but were by no means restricted to, air-borne postal services.

Developed in the aftermath of the First World War, air mail services owe much to the bravery of their earliest pilots. During the 1920s, every flight was a dangerous adventure, and could be fatal. The period was eloquently described by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – himself an Aéropostale pilot – in his novel Vol de Nuit (translated as "Night Flight"), in which he describes a postal flight through the skies of South America.

In 1918, Pierre-Georges Latécoère envisioned an air route connecting France to Senegal, by way of Spain and Morocco. With that in mind, he created the company Lignes Aériennes Latécoère, which shortly began serving routes between Toulouse and Casablanca, Casablanca and Dakar, and Rio de Janeiro and Recife in Brazil.

In 1927, Latécoère transferred his South American business to another Brazilian-based Frenchman. On that basis, this second aviation pioneer then founded the Compagnie générale aéropostale, better known by the shorter name Aéropostale. The company had soon connected France with South America and had established a network of air routes linking other American cities.

In 1933, Aéropostale 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.

[edit] Aéropostale and stamp collectors

Many philatelists are keen on the entre-guerres world of the airmail services because of the pioneering romantic spirit they evoke. Many envelopes were franked on several occasions, at each stage of their journeys; this enables collectors to reconstruct the routes taken by letters and, perhaps, sneak a glimpse into the often-tragic ups-and-downs of the endeavour.

[edit] Aéropostale pilots

Aéropostale's roster of pilots included such aviation legends as the following:

• Jean Mermoz
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• Henri Guillaumet
• Marcel Reine
• Emile Lécrivain

[edit] 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, established after the government took over air routes previously operated by the French Aéropostale