In order to prepare for his departure Étienne Poulet does not remain inactive:
September 1919:https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/ bd6t52910t/f3.item.r=%22etienne%20poulet%22.zoom“The Issy-les-Moulineaux airfield yesterday morning. A Caudron evolves in the gray sky. On the ground, three cinematographic operators are filming... The plane lands lightly, rolls a few more meters and comes to stand in front of the operators. From the cabin jumps out, disheveled, a very blond young woman, who, quickly removing her suit, takes a hat and a coat from the trunk of the aircraft, puts them on hastily and walks away towards a hectic car which waits.
It’s Gaby Deslys, who, before leaving for America in a few days, is “filming” the last episodes of a great cinematographic drama that began this summer in Deauville, and which is said to be marvelous. Its pilot, a tall, young, blond boy, has a frank and friendly face, calm and determined, supervises the re-entry of his aircraft under the hangar while speaking with his mechanic (…)” The New York herald 25 /09/1919
Poulet, Gaby Deslys and Henry Pouctal (director) probably during the filming of the film “The God of Chance” (1919).
Editor's note: There are only a few sequences of the film visible on the internet. The rest of the film is gone
Deauville July 1919
Le Petit Parisien, Sunday September 28, 1919“Poulet, moreover, has no illusions about the difficulties of his business. I know, he told us yesterday, that from Baghdad to Bangkok, I have to cross immense desert regions. I also know that certain corners of the Philippines are completely unsanitary, and, on my map, I noted, on the islands Moluccas, a distance of 800km by these words “do not land”. Some navigators have in fact told me that in this region I simply risked being put on the spit...and as this prospect hardly appeals to me...(...)”
Authorizations to fly over British territory are slow to be provided to them. The departure scheduled for October 1 is delayed until October 5. After a test flight the day before departure, the aviators decided to change propellers in favor of those manufactured by Chauvière which showed better performance. The departure is therefore postponed until October 12 at dawn.
On October 12 at seven o'clock in the morning the aircraft had already left its hangar on the Issy les Moulineaux field covered in frost and drowned in mist. The mechanics are busy around the plane. Étienne Poulet and Jean Benoist arrive accompanied by Jean Lhermit, the organizer of the raid. The crowd is present to witness the departure. The press, photographers and cameras are there.
Jean Benoist's wife and his son Marcel also attended the departure. Postcard/advertisement for the tire manufacturer Hutchinson. Another advertisement using the Benoist and Poulet raid.
(...) - Hey, old man, if the sewer workers in Adelaide are . on strike we can replace them. (...)
Source: Caudron museum
