FRENCH JOURNEY - PROGRAMME 1

TOULOUSE - AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Toulouse is an ancient city with modern ideas. It's the European capital of the aircraft industry. Airbus Industries builds half the planes in the world and brings together the best manufacturers in the whole of Europe. This pioneering spirit is not new to Toulouse. It all started in this factory on the edge of the town where the history of aviation was created. In 1918 the owner of this factory, Pierre-Georges Latécoère, founded a long-haul postal service between Toulouse and South America. The name of this service was Aéropostale, and its motto - This mail matters more to us than our lives.  The first planes in service didn't go beyond Morocco. But from 1926, they flew along the African coast as far as Senegal. The following year they crossed the Atlantic. Then, victory - they made it over the Andes, opening the route to Chile and the whole of South America.

Many of these intrepid flyers stayed in the Hotel Grand Balcon, next to the Place du Capitole.

This the bedroom of Antoine de St Exupéry, better known for his book The Little Prince. St Exupéry volunteered for the most dangerous Aéropostale missions. He was killed while on duty near Marseille in 1944. His body has never been found. The planes used for this postal service were Breguets XIV. Unfortunately, they no longer exist. But the plans do. After six years, in a hangar in the outskirts of Toulouse, a team of dedicated engineers tries to bring Aéropostale back to life.

Man:  This is the aeroplane which paved the way for the airmail service and if Toulouse is what it is today in the field of aeronautics, it's thanks to the Breguet XIV.  There were 8,600 of these aeroplanes made and there isn't a single one left so we thought we'd recreate a Breguet XIV.

When I think how pilots like St Exupéry, Mermoz, Guillaumet and many others, actually flew this plane, it fills me with wonder.  And when you think they had to fly to Dakar with a fixed timetable - arrive on time, leave on time - they had to have real courage.

Copyright BBC 2000.