Departing from Toulouse, airmen in the footsteps of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 crisis, the Toulouse – Saint Louis du Senegal Air Rally is back in 2022. Since 1983, it has hailed the adventure of the pioneers of Aéropostale, who took off from Toulouse -Montaudran to transport mail to the southern hemisphere. One of the pilots being a certain Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of the “Little Prince”.
It’s even a double edition of the rally this year: before the traditional meeting in September to Senegal, 16 crews of airmen took to the skies in the direction of southern Morocco, this Thursday, May 26. The planes took off from Toulouse-Lasbordes aerodrome towards Cap Juby, now called Tarfaya.
I took “Courier sud” in my bag
Because it was in this Moroccan city on the edge of the Atlantic that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s career as a writer took off in 1929. While he was the stopover manager at Cap Juby for the Aéropostale, he writes “Courrier sud”, his first novel which will inspire the rest of his work.
And still today, this story is palpable for Clara Aubry, one of the youngest participants in the rally this year. This Commingeoise from Soueich, near Saint-Gaudens, is flying to Morocco with two teammates. “It’s fascinating. And every time we talk about it, it gives us chills. We all took “Courrier sud” in our bags, to soak up a little better what he saw, what he experienced to write this book“. Clara also admits that she took a notebook, to “_sleep on the paper_r” her experience.
The great-grandnephew of Saint-Ex among the participants
And this edition of the rally is all the more special in that among the participants is Hugo de Halleux, 23, great-grandnephew of Antoine de Saint Exupéry. He is already a professional pilot, and took the start under the eyes of his grandfather François d’Agay, nephew of the writer. With a strong but contained family emotion: “for us, having a new driver in the family is great. It is memory. Now that’s it, it’s its beginning. He takes over, and I wish him a lot of success“.
Having a new driver in the family is great.
Hugo is also aware of this history: “First there is a questioning because it’s the first time I’m going to fly for so long. But there is also an excitement, it is a bit of an adventure to follow in the footsteps of the pioneers. It’s going to be amazing, and I hope to come back full of memories. Going into the desert, which inspired Antoine’s work, will perhaps inspire us too, make us dream. We will imagine things. Yes, I think it will make me dream”.
The rally lasts ten days, in ten stages in Spain and Morocco. As for the longer version, towards Saint-Louis in Senegal, it will take place from September 17 to 30, 2022.