THE FIRST VICTORY
The apprentice pilot, then, left the ground for the first time at the
Pau school on February 17, 1915, in a three-cylinder Bleriot. But these
were only short leaps, though sufficiently audacious ones. His monitor
accused him of breakneck recklessness: "Too much confidence, madness,
fantastical humor." That same evening he wrote describing his
impressions to his father: "Before departure, a bit worried; in the air,
wildly amusing. When the machine slid or oscillated I was not at all
troubled, it even seemed funny.... Well, it diverted me immensely, but
it was lucky that _Maman_ was not there.... I don't think I have
achieved a reputation for prudence. I hope everything will go well; I
shall soon know...."
During February he made many experimental flights, and finally, on March
10, 1915, went up 600 meters. This won him next day a diploma from the
Aero Club, and the day following he wrote to his sister Odette this hymn
of joy--not long, but unique in his correspondence: "Uninterrupted
descent, volplaning for 800 meters. Superb view (sunset)...."
"Superb view (sunset)": in the hundred and fifty or two hundred letters
addressed to his family, I believe this is the only landscape.
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