Jean-François Chappel
Jean-François Chappel, known as Nano, was a member of the Savoyard resistance, a military pilot, and an airline pilot. He founded the Méribel flying club and served as its president for 36 years. He also founded the French association of mountain pilots in 1973.
Nano was born in 1924. and in 1941 he joined the Trentaine – B – “Gress” unit of the Savoyard resistance. He then joined the 1st Battalion of the Secret Army (AS) of Savoy in 1944.
He joined the Air Force in 1945 with the hope of becoming a pilot. He moved to Méribel in 1946, where he became the first head of the Air Force Mountain Center (CMA), which he created as a school to teach survival skills in difficult environments for pilots shot down in hostile territory. After obtaining his military transport pilot's license in Avord, he took part in the campaigns in Indochina in 1951.
In 1952, he began his civilian career by joining Air France. He started as a co-pilot on Lockheed Constellation aircraft, then became a captain and later an instructor on Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4, Breguet Deux-Ponts, and Sud-Aviation SE 210 Caravelle aircraft.
On August 24, 1964, the Méribel Aero Club (ACM) was founded by Jean-François Chappel, who became its president, and Robert Merloz, its first chief pilot. The team was completed by three vice presidents: Olivier Balthazard, an industrialist; Guy Desseaux, an Air France captain; and Alphonse Borgey, mayor of Les Allues. The secretary general was Henry Mauduit, a merchant and father of future world ski champion Georges Mauduit. The club treasurer was André Gacon, Méribel's first taxi-ambulance driver. Finally, Nano attracted six founding members: André Tournier, technical director of the resort, who chose the location for the slope; René Beckert, president of the tourist office and former champion who had been part of the first French ski team; Eugène Front, the valley's entrepreneur; Gaston Chamonal, President of the Hotel Union and founding owner of the Hôtel Grand Cœur, Dr. Lebel, a surgeon in Paris, and Fernand Stachetti, Director of the French Ski School (ESF). Shortly after the flying club was founded, Nano created its logo, which is still in use today.
Between 1965 and 1967, Nano encouraged Robert Merloz to prepare for the Air France selection process. With this in mind, Robert Merloz joined the Aeronautical Training Department in Challes-les-Eaux as an instructor, joining the team led by Marcel Collot, the theorist of mountain flying. In 1967, Robert Merloz joined Air France, where he would go on to have a long and distinguished career.
Between 1968 and 1970, Nano volunteered for the Red Cross, carrying out several missions to Biafra on a DC-4, under wartime conditions. Several hundred refugees, mostly children, were saved as a result. He was awarded the National Order of Merit in 1970.
In 1973, Jean-François Chappel and Robert Merloz co-authored L’essentiel sur le pilotage en montagne (The Essentials of Mountain Flying), the first instructional book devoted exclusively to flying and landing in the mountains. This book remained the standard reference in the field for many years. That same year, Jean-François Chappel co-founded the Association française des pilotes de montagne (AFPM), of which he remained president for 19 years, until 1992.
In the 1980s, he launched the Air and Space Festival, bringing together leading figures in the field and a large audience for a major annual air show.
He continued his career with Air France on Boeing 707s and made his last flight in uniform on a Boeing 747 in 1984, totaling 23,000 flight hours.
In 2000, he was awarded the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honor) as a former member of the Resistance. Following an accident in Cap 20, Nano decided to hand over the presidency of the flying club to Robert Merloz in 2000 and became honorary president. Suddenly, Nano's health deteriorated and he passed away in Ajaccio in June 2005.
A commemorative plaque recalling the achievements of the first president of the Méribel flying club is affixed to the wall of the control tower at Méribel Altiport, on the runway side.
