Between sky and earth: Behind the scenes of the Aéropostale
Permanent Exhibition : Discover the History of the Aéropostale
For all
75 minutes
€9
Discover the great love story between Toulouse and aircraft in the very place where it all began! Meet the men and women who risked everything to take on the challenge of connecting people and getting the mail through.
Meeting the pionneers of aviation
Pilots, mechanics, operations managers, canvas workers … These pioneers still roam around the place to share their experience with you. They tell you about their daily adventures, the big and small stories that forged the epic of airmail.
In this old store, we talk about all of us, it’s a place where all the generations who worked in Montaudran are represented. And it has everything! Mechanics, canvas workers , pilots, engineers, fitters and so on. So yes, this is where it all started but also where it endured. It’s nice to pay this tribute to all the colleagues at LAL (Lignes Aériens Latécoère), L’Aéropostale and Air France.
Louis – Pilot
At the centre of the exhibition, discover the history of “La Ligne” in a few dates. You will even be able to meet an Aéropostale employee there who will tell you about this incredible adventure, strewn with obstacles, which still inspires today.
At the heart of the exhibition, it is the pilot Antoine de Saint Exupéry himself, who tells you about the challenge that is the desert, followed by Mermoz who faced the ocean, and finally by Guillaumet who tirelessly crossed the Andes.
But what would pilots be without other aviation professions? In this “general store” listen to the mechanics and canvas workers tell you about their job around real pieces of history.
You can continue your exploration in our hangar where the Salmson 2A2 and the temporary exhibition (link to expo tempo PGL) take pride of place.
01 — 05
A little History
On December 25, 1918, Pierre Georges Latécoère took off from the Toulouse-Montaudran aerodrome aboard a Salmson 2A2 and landed in Barcelona two hours and twenty minutes later. He had just created the first French postal airline. This is how the formidable adventure of the Lignes Aériennes Latécoère was born, which became L’Aéropostale after the purchase of the line by the industrialist Marcel Bouilloux -Lafont in 1927.
Despite its fame and the dedication of its pioneers, L’Aéropostale, in debt, was bought in 1933 by the young company Air France which maintained La Ligne until the start of the Second World War. Montaudran then hosted an Air France maintenance centre which would remain on the site for 70 years, until 2003.
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