• Only 50 copies of the legendary Laté-28 aircraft left the Latécoère chains in Toulouse almost a century ago and there are none left.

  • But two Laté-28s are about to be reborn.

    One of which is in Toulouse, at the exact place of its invention.

  • For five years, students from fifteen specialized high schools in the Occitanie region will take part in this technological adventure.

It is no longer found except in photos in history books or on the picture rails of museums, at the limit as a model on the desk of a collector.

Not a single one of the 50 copies of the Laté-28 left between 1928 and 1932 from the Latécoère factories in Toulouse remains.

The mythical device, piloted by Saint-Exupéry, Guillaumet or Mermoz has nevertheless marked the history of aeronautics by its reliability and the comfort offered to its eight passengers installed in wicker armchairs.

But it will soon be back, with its huge two-bladed propeller spanning 4 m, its carcass of wood and metal.

In two copies even.

The first will fly.

Thanks to the madness of the enthusiasts of the Cercle des Machines Volantes (CMV) who, for ten years, collected the authentic plans and period documentation and must take off their machine in 2029.

Authentic plans but today's technologies

The second Laté-28 in the 21st century version will be assembled in the cradle of its ancestors, in Montaudran, where the Latécoère factories have given up space to a place of homage, the Flight of the Pioneers, which retraces the adventures of Aéropostale.

This copy will be static and intended to be exhibited on site.

"It will be made from the original plans transmitted by the CMV, specifies Alain Gaboriaud, the project manager of the Laté 28 association, but we will use today's methods and means".

And the mechanics of the moment too.

Because for the machining of certain parts, the students of about fifteen technological or professional high schools in Occitanie – in Toulouse, Blagnac, Tarbes or Auch – will be called upon for five consecutive years.

The Laté-28 will be part of their educational curriculum,

of their practical work and their course of "transmission of know-how".

“This project-based pedagogy makes it possible to venture beyond disciplines, and thus to mobilize the cross-disciplinary skills of pupils and students”, assures Mostafa Fourar, the rector.

Khaled, a student in the second year of a BTS in industrial product design at the Lycée Dupuy in Tarbes, is one of the pioneers of the adventure.

He is coming out of a one-month internship at the Laté 28 association and has been tasked with reproducing the frame of the fuselage.

"I first had to decipher the plans from the time, then I reproduced the part flat with software", says the student, confirmed in his dreams of aeronautics, and who does not yet know his mark of traineeship.

Next year, his comrades will have to motorize the huge propeller of the Toulouse example.

And make sure that it does not hurt any of the visitors who have come to celebrate this homecoming.

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  • Toulouse

  • Heritage

  • Plane

  • High school

  • Aeronautics

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