CONSTANTIN (Louis) - Lot 28

CONSTANTIN (Louis) L.A.S. "Constantin", Paris, January 11, 1929. 1 p. in-4 on blue paper, autograph address. Interesting autograph letter signed by aeronautical engineer Louis Constantin, addressed to a journalist at Le Quotidien following the Saint-Raphaël air disaster. Constantin, an aeronautical pioneer and future promoter of modern wind turbines, reacts to the recent accident and offers his technical thoughts on the possible causes of the tragedy. He writes that he had carefully read the article on the disaster: "I read with interest, in Le Quotidien, your article the day before yesterday on the St Raphaël disaster." While acknowledging that he had little information on the exact circumstances of the accident, he put forward the hypothesis of a "sudden crash" and sent the journalist a technical memorandum which, in his opinion, could "shed some light". The document testifies to the effervescence of the technical debates surrounding air safety in the late 1920s, and to the role played by specialized engineers in the analysis of aviation accidents. A fine letter of a scientific and aeronautical nature, linked to one of the great French air disasters of the interwar period.