Who is Mermoz from Wind, Sand and Stars and what is their importance?

Mermoz is a similarly heroic predecessor and inspiration in his ingenious use of the planes he had come to know so well he could wield them in nearly any circumstance. The story Antoine tells of Mermoz's adventures takes place when he is given the assignment of searching for gaps in the Cordilleras through which deliveries could be safely flown. Mermoz had landed with mechanical trouble with his mechanic on a plateau with sheer drops at every edge. Unable to start his plane, he knew flying off would be his only escape from the point at which they found themselves, so he coasts the plane off the cliff. It is then in falling that the plane picks up enough speed to respond to the controls, and the two fly safely on with their mission. He flew missions just like it in the Andes, surmounting the obstacles of mountains no other pilot had been able to survive, so that the men who followed him would know the safe passages.