Editing Jacques Cousteau (section)

===Early 1940s: innovation of modern underwater diving===
The years of [[World War II]] were decisive for the history of diving. After the [[Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)|armistice of 1940]], the family of Simone and Jacques-Yves Cousteau took refuge in [[Megève]], where he became a friend of the Ichac family who also lived there. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and [[Marcel Ichac]] shared the same desire to reveal to the general public unknown and inaccessible places—for Cousteau the underwater world and for Ichac the high mountains. The two neighbors took the first [[ex-aequo]] prize of the [[The Congress (short story)|Congress of Documentary Film]] in 1943, for the first French underwater film: ''Par dix-huit mètres de fond'' (''18 meters deep''), made without breathing apparatus the previous year in the [[List of islands of France|Embiez]] islands in [[Var (department)|Var]], with [[Philippe Tailliez]] and [[Frédéric Dumas]], using a depth-pressure-proof camera case developed by mechanical engineer Léon Vèche, an engineer of Arts and Measures at the Naval College.

In 1943, they made the film ''Épaves'' (''Shipwrecks''), in which they used two of the very first [[Aqua-Lung]] prototypes. These prototypes were made in [[Boulogne-Billancourt]] by the [[Air Liquide]] company, following instructions from Cousteau and [[Émile Gagnan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espalion-12.com/scaphandre/autonomie/scaphandre_autonome.htm |title=le Scaphandre Autonome |publisher=Espalion-12.com |access-date=10 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030022352/http://www.espalion-12.com/scaphandre/autonomie/scaphandre_autonome.htm |archive-date=30 October 2012}}</ref> When making ''Épaves'', Cousteau could not find the necessary blank reels of movie film, but had to buy hundreds of small still camera film reels the same width, intended for a make of child's camera, and [[film cement|cemented]] them together to make long reels.<ref name="ReferenceA">''[[The Silent World (book)|The Silent World]]''. J. Y. Cousteau with Frédéric Dumas. Hamish Hamilton, London. 1953</ref><ref>Capitaine de frégate PHILIPPE TAILLIEZ, ''Plongées sans câble'', Arthaud, Paris, January 1954, Dépôt légal 1er trimestre 1954 – Édition N° 605 – Impression N° 243 (in French)</ref>

Having kept bonds with the English speakers (he spent part of his childhood in the United States and usually spoke English) and with French soldiers in North Africa (under Admiral [[André Lemonnier (admiral)|Lemonnier]]), Jacques-Yves Cousteau (whose villa "Baobab" at [[Sanary]] ([[Var (department)|Var]]) was opposite [[Admiral Darlan]]'s villa "Reine"), helped the French Navy to join again with the Allies; he assembled a commando operation against the Italian espionage services in France, and received several military decorations for his deeds. At that time, he kept his distance from his brother [[Pierre-Antoine Cousteau]], a "pen anti-semite" who edited the collaborationist newspaper ''[[Je suis partout]]'' (''I am everywhere'') and who received the death sentence in 1946. However, this was later commuted to a life sentence, and Pierre-Antoine was released in 1954.

During the 1940s, Cousteau is credited with improving the Aqua-Lung design which gave birth to the [[open-circuit scuba]] technology used today. According to his first book, ''[[The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure]]'' (1953), Cousteau started diving with [[Maurice Fernez|Fernez]] goggles in 1936, and in 1939 used the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus invented in 1926 by [[Yves le Prieur|Commander Yves le Prieur]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Cousteau was not satisfied with the length of time he could spend underwater with the Le Prieur apparatus so he improved it to extend underwater duration by adding a [[demand regulator]], invented in 1942 by [[Émile Gagnan]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In 1943 Cousteau tried out the first prototype [[Aqua-Lung]] which finally made extended underwater exploration possible.