He taught himself to fly in 1909, and served in various French air squadrons during World War I, receiving command of Escadrille 73 in March 1918.
During the war he received both the Croix de Guerre, multiple citations, and the Legion of Honour (the highest decoration in France).
Dissatisfied with city life, in 1922 he joined the Franco-Romanian Air Transport Company (CFRNA, later CIDNA), flying primarily the Paris–Strasbourg route, but including flights as far east as Moscow.
In 1926 he joined the Transair Courier Company (Compagnie des Messageries Transaériennes) (later part of Air Orient) initiating flights to Syria and then Lebanon.
[3] That same year Lebanon issued a postage stamp picturing him and commemorating the tenth anniversary of the first Marseille-Beirut flight, which was made by Noguès.