Tribute to Gérard COLLOT
Our colleague Gérard Collot passed away on Sunday 31 January after a long ordeal.
Born on February 11, 1932 in Versailles, he obtained an engineering degree from CNAM after working on the job at the French Broadcasting Corporation before it became a component of Thomson-CSF. His studies were interrupted by a two-year military service at the beginning of the Algerian war. Freed from his military duties, he returned to Africa, this time to Hammaguir where, as a radar specialist, he participated in the experimentation of the Véronique rocket.
Dismissed by his employer because of a bankruptcy filing, he was immediately hired in the electronic department of the General Aerospace Marcel Dassault where he devoted himself to the radar Aida on board the Etendard IV of the navy, then to the radar Antilope, intended for combat aircraft in low altitude penetration. He left Dassault Electronics after thirty-two years in the house.
But he doesn’t leave the air force. On the contrary, he abandoned the radars for aerophilately and, with another enthusiast like him – Alain Cornu – they published two books on airlines drawn by Jean Mermoz and Maurice Noguès.
It was in 1997 that he joined our Academy, in Section 5, where he can immediately give the measure of his talent. He has a series of exhibitions, articles, and conferences to raise awareness of aviation among the general public and youth. He continued to publish his work on the airmail and participated in the publication of three issues of the magazine Icare on the same subject.
This activity that gives him an international influence has never altered his personality where courtesy and benevolence dominated, seizing all means to share his passion. A member of the French Aerophilelic Circle since 1983, he served as its president from 1996 to 2013. A member of the Aeroclub de France, he mounted, for the centenary of this institution, the exhibition “A Century of Aviation with the Post Office” held in 1998 at the Musée de la Poste. A member of The Tomato, he faithfully participated in the monthly meetings as long as his health was allowed.
Today we are losing an exemplary comrade whose trace will long mark those who were lucky enough to know him.
