Background
Guillaumet was born in Bouy, Marne.
Guillaumet was born in Bouy, Marne.
He was a pioneer of French aviation in the Andes, the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic. He contributed to the opening up of numerous new routes and is regarded by some as the best pilot of his age. "Je n"en ai pas connu de plus grand" (I"ve never known a greater one), said Didier Daurat, owner of Aéropostale.
Guillaumet carried the mail between Argentina and Chile.
On Friday 13 June 1930, while crossing the Andes for the 92nd time, he crashed his Potez 25 at Laguna del Diamante in Mendoza, Argentina, because of bad weather. He walked for a week over three mountain passes.
He reached a village whose inhabitants could not believe his story. This exploit made him stand out among the "stars" of Aéropostale.
After a number of south Atlantic crossings, he was appointed managing director of Air France.
On 27 November 1940, while flying to Syria with Jean Chiappe, the new French High Commissioner to the Levant, his four-engined Farman F.220 North Carolina.2234 airliner Le Verrier was shot down by an Italian fighter over the Mediterranean. In 1995, Futuroscope paid homage to Guillaumet with a 3D IMAX film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Wings of Courage (les Ailes du Courage). Guillaumet was played by Craig Sheffer.