The Village That Took To The Air Author:M J Lory "Actually, if they had not been Frenchmen, the citizens of Villemont might never have lifted their feet from the ground. But since they were; one thing led to another-usually jealousy to revenge-and so the story. — It began on an innocently small scale. Fernand would not permit his new motorized model plane to be handled by Bernard, who had lived... more » in Paris and had a motorbike; jealousy, Bernard, insulted, made a glider that could fly free; revenge.
But boys from the neighboring village that was their traditional enemy came to watch and scoff at an exhibition of the planes, and the two Villemontois joined arms, to defend their village's honor. Then a doctor from Cahors made an emergency landing in a plane he had built himself.
After that, it was only a few days until the Villemontois had founded an air club and were building their own plane. And once they had the plane, the sky was literally the limit for whatever might happen. The town's oldest inhabitant flew out to visit his "young" 80 year old sister, who fainted dead away. A baby with whooping cough was taken up for daily altitude cures. A terrified cat-passenger almost caused a crash. The bishop went for a ride, to the horror of his Vicar General. And the plane was sent on a record-breaking flight for publicity that turned into a race against time and death through a terrible thunder storm and nearly brought tragedy to everyone in the village."