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René Couzinet with a model of the RC.360 Aerodyne. via Bill Rose View of the Couzinet Aerodyne scale model. via Bill Rose Couzinet Aerodyne scale model. via Bill Rose As a child, Couzinet was fascinated by the way birds flew and he had filed several avia- tion patents, including plans for a helicopter, by the time he joined the Higher School of Aeronautics in 1924. In 1925 Couzinet enrolled in the Air Force as a junior officer and, following the historic trans-Atlantic Lind- bergh flight of 1927, he was assigned to the development of a new aircraft capable of intercontinental journeys. This led to the eventual construction of a three-engined air- craft called ‘The Rainbow’, which carried Couzinet, his close friend Jean Mermoz and five crewmembers on the first successful double crossing of the South Atlantic in 1933. During December 1936 Jean Mermoz was killed in a Latécoére seaplane and René Couzinet was deeply affected by _ this, although he eventually married Mermoz’s widow Gilberte Chazottes in 1939. At the start of World War Two, Couzinet and his wife relocated to Brazil. Having entered into a fifteen-year contract with the Brazilian Government, Couzinet taught aero- nautics at the Brazilian Air force Training School and Brazil’s President Gétulio Vargas appointed him as director of national aircraft production. Construction was undertaken at asmall facility near the training school, which was staffed by thirty-five French engineers who had worked on Couzinet’s earlier ‘S58 Beer 5S 4988 Bese ES 96 Couzinet Aerodyne scale model. via Bill Rose i Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft