Aviation History – July 11, 1931. On this Saturday, July 11, 1931, the crew made up of pilots Marcel Doret and Joseph le Brix and mechanic René Mesmin embarked on an ambitious air raid, wanting to go by air from France to Asia, to try to post the record for distance in a straight line on a world scale on their prize list. A company whose starting point will be the aerodrome of Le Bourget, in the Paris region.
In the line of sight for the three men, the city of Tokyo which they hope to reach with a device by François Coty, namely a monoplane from the firm Dewoitine equipped with an engine capable of developing a power of no less than 650 horsepower. , baptized “Trait d’Union”, loaded with 8,100 liters of fuel. Until now, no one has made this trip without making the slightest stopover.
This flight would therefore be a first… but it still has to be successful, 11,000 kilometers are thus to be covered, which is no small feat. In Nizhne-Oudinsk, a brutal and forced landing by the icing of their plane put an end to their quest. Their device will be destroyed, but the three men will be saved, Le Brix and Mesmin having used their parachute.
