Out of the white clouds set against a star-studded black and green sky surges a three-engine monoplane with a closed cockpit, probably a Dewoitine D338, the work of one of the most inventive French manufacturers of the time. This passenger aircraft served all of France’s overseas possessions – another way of showing that aviation was a new vector of progress.  

The Dewoitine D333 put into circulation in 1935 (Paris-Dakar link), derived from the Dewoitine “Émeraude” D332, in 1932 (wikipedia)

Visuel de la fresque (détail)

At the bottom left of the fresco, Dufy depicted the barely completed Le Bourget airfield. The architect Georges Labro designed “Janus”, a 233-metre long rectilinear building, placed between the alignments of the old hangars, themselves enlarged in the ocean liner style. The control tower was a vast rotunda projecting between the wings of the building like the figurehead on the prow of a ship, while the terraces for spectators symbolised the ship’s decks lined with railings. It combines modern aesthetics and functionalism and remains one of the most beautiful achievements of the Art Deco style. Completion of the airport was scheduled for the 1937 Universal Exhibition and it went into service in November 1937. Raoul Dufy depicted what happens in the control tower: an operator sitting in front of his control panel is in radio contact with the approaching aircraft.

Visuel de la fresque (détail)

 Air traffic control tower, 1936