It was in the days of the pioneers of aviation, heroes who crossed the still virgin horizons of the sky. Jules Védrines was the first pilot to land in Lebanon on Christmas Day, December 25, 1913, just a year before the First World War.
Obviously at the time, no airport still existed in Lebanon.
The pioneer he was, thus inaugurated a new air route, aboard his Blériot monoplane.
This flight, which was to leave Nancy in eastern France to Cairo, was not without incident from the start.
Indeed, Jules Védrines had not received any authorization from the German imperial authorities to fly over Germany, which then took an increasingly belligerent attitude towards France. For the aviator, it was about defending the right to be able to fly anywhere despite land borders. He was then one of those still idealistic people who thought to transcend the borders of different nations on the eve of a deadly conflict. This subject was to be discussed at an international conference the following year.
After announcing that he wanted to bypass Germany, he showed a cunning. Just after taking off and escaping view, Jules Védrines took over the leadership of the German Empire which will condemn him in his absence to 1 year of imprisonment.
It will then successively fly over Prague, then Constantinople, Beirut, Jaffa and finally Heliopolis in Egypt.
Who is Jules Védrines?
Born in the Plaine Saint-Denis in Seine-Saint-Denis, December 21, 1881 and died April 21, 1919 in Saint-Rambert-d’Albon in the Drôme, Jules Védrines was a character all by himself.
Before becoming a pilot, Jules Védrines was first a worker, then a developer at Usines Gnôme, which at the time was one of the main suppliers of aircraft engines. He then became a mechanic, then passed his pilot’s license on December 7, 1910. Coincidentally, this date is also World Civil Aviation Day.
Jules Védrine won his first Paris-Madrid race on May 26, 1911 with a Morane-Saulnier A monoplane, then tackled speed records.
During the 1st World War, it is he who will welcome the one who will become the most respected French ace, Georges Guynemer, within the MS.3 squadron, known as the Escadrille des Cigognes.
Jules Védrine will survive the Great War, being cited three times to the Order of the Army.
Among the other exploits of Jules Védrines, that of landing on the roofs of Galeries Lafayette, January 19, 1919, aboard a “Caudron G III”.
Jules Védrines was killed in the crash of his plane on April 21, 1919, while he was inaugurating the Paris-Rome line aboard a twin-engine Caudron C-23, following an engine failure.