On 13 September 2014, the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation signed a partnership agreement with the association for the renaissance of the Caudron Simoun airplane at the Pontoise-Cormeilles airfield, before the association’s 300 guests, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the company Améridair.
This official ceremony took place in the presence of Lieutenant-Colonel Hervé de Saint-Exupéry, administrator of the Foundation, Nicolas Delsalle-Mun, the Foundation’s secretary-general, Stéphane Lanter, chairman of the Caudron Simoun association, and François Minard, the association’s treasurer.
Since 2009, this association composed of pilots and aviation enthusiasts has been restoring a C-635M, which will become the sole Caudron Simoun able to fly in the world. The airplane will be painted in the same beige and dusky red colours as the Simoun of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with which he had participated in the Paris-Saigon air race in December 1935.
This unique partnership with the Caudron Simoun association aims to further the Foundation’s actions for youth in France and overseas through joint operations: commemorations related to the aeronautical career of the famous writer-pilot, invitations to youth to aeronautical events, air shows and aviation days, flying and static presentations of the Caudron Simoun airplane, evocations of historic flights by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, participations in aerial races following in the footsteps of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the creation of and participation in static exhibitions of the Caudron Simoun to transmit to youth the stories of the adventures of the author of The Little Prince and Wind, Sand and Stars in relation with this legendary airplane…
The Foundation will also support the Caudron Simoun association in the search for parts and documentation, which will help it in its restoration works.
Photographs:
01- Signature of the partnership agreement.
02- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at the controls of his Caudron Simoun, Le Bourget, 1935.
03- Stéphane Lanter, Hervé de Saint-Exupéry, Nicolas Delsalle-Mun and François Minard in front of the Caudron Simoun.
