Flying to Algiers Without Authorization

Romain Gary’s flight from Bordeaux-Mérignac to Algiers was an unauthorized attempt to evade the halt on air movements toward North Africa and keep fighting after France’s armistice. The crossing turned the pressure of military orders into a personal test: Gary set out in an aircraft that might not have had enough fuel to reach the African coast, carrying with him the conviction that his mother’s will and love would not let him fail.

Orders Reversed at the Airfield

At four in the afternoon, Gary’s squadron finally received orders to proceed to Meknès, in Morocco. The order seemed to confirm the belief that North Africa would remain in the war. The squadron left Bordeaux-Mérignac at five and landed that evening at Salanque, on the Mediterranean shore. There, the men learned that every aircraft had been forbidden to leave the ground. A new authority controlled air movements toward Africa, and previous instructions were null and void.

Gary believed his mother would rather make him swim across the Mediterranean than accept surrender. When a sympathetic squadron pilot offered a way forward, the two did not wait for further orders or counter-orders. At dawn, they set course for Algeria. The decision was not a sanctioned transfer: it directly defied the grounding order that had met them at Salanque.

The Crossing

Their Potez had Petrel engines. Without supplementary tanks, it risked losing power roughly forty minutes’ flying time short of the African coast, leaving the crew to ditch at sea. Gary and Warrant Officer Delavault took off anyway. Their preparations acknowledged the danger without removing it: they carried two tires to use as lifebuoys if the aircraft had to come down.

Gary describes himself as sustained by a powerful sense of his mother’s love and by a youthful belief that life followed a balanced, almost classical design. In that imagined order, he was his mother’s victory and was meant to return to her triumphant. The confidence did not make the flight safe; it gave him a way to act as though failure could not be the ending. Delavault, by contrast, set out without such literary assurance, accepting the uncertainty in a matter-of-fact spirit.

The wind proved favorable. They reached Maison-Blanche airfield at Algiers with ten minutes of fuel left in their tanks. That narrow margin made the successful landing a concrete escape from the danger anticipated before takeoff, not evidence that the risk had been slight.

A Temporary Arrival, Not a Resolution

The next morning, Gary and Delavault proceeded to Meknès, where the flying school had temporarily established its headquarters. The hoped-for continuation of the campaign had already been overtaken by events: the armistice had been accepted by the authorities in North Africa. After rebellious crews had tried to reach Gibraltar, orders were issued to ground all aircraft.

Gary’s mother reacted with fury, brandishing her cane and urging him to take matters into his own hands. He tried to calm her and avert his eyes from her incomprehension at the acceptance of defeat, but her indignation kept him awake. The unauthorized flight had carried them to Algeria; it had not secured a clear route back into the war. Its significance lies in that gap between achievement and outcome: Gary had acted against an order to stop, but the political and military surrender continued to close around him.