Air bleu

The company was founded in 1935 by the entrepreneur Beppo di Massimi on the initiative of the famous aviator Didier Dora , who was appointed its executive director. The main shareholder was Louis Reno , who already owned the company Caudron at that time. The aim of the new enterprise was to equip the network of express air transport on the territory of the metropolis, in addition to the existing international and overseas Air France lines.

The name “Air Bleu” was chosen to emphasize the competition with Air France, which bought Aéropostale in 1932, and to indicate a high speed of delivery, similar to pneumo-mail , the forms of which were blue ("petit bleu").

On July 10, 1935, 4 airlines were opened, on which 6 Caudron Simoun planes were operating , departing in the morning from Le Bourget and returning after noon: ^[1]

• Le Bourget- Arras - Lille ,
• Le Bourget- Rouen - Le Havre ,
• Le Bourget - Tour - Poitiers - Angouleme - Bordeaux ,
• Le Bourget- Nancy - Strasbourg .

From July 25, 2 more lines were added to them:

• Le Bourget- Le Mans - Angers - Nantes - La Baule-Escublac ,
• Le Bourget-Bourget - Limoges - Toulouse .

Shipping cost was 2.50 francs per 10 grams of cargo.

Although the company staff included experienced pilots such as Raymond Wannier (chief pilot), Georges Liber Henri Derikur and Georges Delage , it was not without incidents. On December 4, 1935, near Tour, he crashed into a tree while planting Caudron Simoun , who drove him to George Texier.

On July 15, 1936, the seventh line connected Le Bourget with Clermont-Ferrand with an intermediate stop in Vichy , but on August 3, the company’s activity was suspended due to a sudden problem: a state-imposed surcharge of three francs for every five grams of cargo. ^[1] , scared away customers, mostly businessmen, who already had claims to Air Bleu about the lack of overnight deliveries. Neither the punctuality of the pilots, nor the financial support of Louis Renault, who saw additional advertising of his own company in the company, did not allow to change the situation.

According to the results of negotiations held on July 7, 1937, the company’s activity was resumed, and the surcharge was canceled in exchange for the transfer of 52% of the shares to the state, and participation in its management of Air France (with a capital of 24% of the shares) ^[1] . In the same month, new lines were launched, and on May 10, 1939, the first French night post line, Le Bourget- Bordeaux -Pau, was commissioned. Foreign deliveries were taken by Lufthansa , who carried out Paris-Berlin-Paris flights every night.

With the beginning of World War II on September 3, 1939, the company became part of Air France . Her aircraft carried communication between Paris and London ^[1] .

By June 1940, the company's fleet was reduced to several Caudron Goéland , in September it was also transferred to Air France, which operated the remnants of Air Bleu until 1942. ^[1] During this period, Didier Dora and Air France CEO Henri Debruere developed a plan for the reorganization of airmail, which was implemented after the liberation of France.

On June 26, 1945, French civilian airlines were nationalized, Air Bleu’s assets remained with the updated Air France, and the company was officially closed in 1948.

• 12 x Caudron Simoun ^[1]
• 5 x Caudron Goéland ^[1] (F-AOMR F-AOMS F-AOYS F-AROV F-ARQN)
• 2 x Potez 630 (fighter converted into an express aircraft) ^[1] .

• On December 4, 1935, a Caudron C-630 Simoun F-ANRK plane flying from Paris to Bordeaux crashed into a tree while landing at the Pars-Mele intermediate airfield (near Tours), the pilot Georges Texier was killed and the radio operator Victor Bofol was injured. ^{[3] [4]}

• Aeropostale
• Air france
• Air inter

• Didier Daurat, Dans le vent des Hélices , Paris, Le Seuil, 1956.
• Postal Museum (Paris)

• The site dedicated to the airline Air Bleu