Unfortunately, sad news has come to us from France, which we want to share with the Italian philatelic world, in particular with fans of aerophilately and aeropostal history. Our friend Gérard Collot left us on the evening of January 31st at the age of 88 following a long illness.
After a brilliant career as an engineer at Dassault Electronique in the radar sector, he became passionate about aerofilathelia, of which he had become a prominent personality, unanimously recognized internationally.
For 17 years (1996 – 2013) he brilliantly led the CAF (Cercle Aérophilatélique Français). He left a mark with his personality, his kindness and his knowledge on everyone who had the opportunity to work with him.
The books he wrote with his friend Alain Cornu: La Ligne Mermoz, La Ligne Noguès, Les Lignes Africaines have become the reference works of French aerophilatelia.
He was also a member of the History, Arts and Letters Commission of the Aéro Club de France, a member of the Academy of Air and Space and a knight of the National Order of Merit.
The Board and the President F. Longhi immediately sent condolences to the family, through the president of the CAF, Dominique Petit, and we do it now also publicly through the new site, by all AIDA members.