A researcher has spent decades trying to unravel the mystery of a 95-year-old missing plane
The disappearance of the L’Oiseau Blanc — the White Hen — in 1927 has left historians and aviation fanatics stumped. One man in Oxford, Penn., has spent the final 40 years attempting to uncover the thriller.
The big French biplane, together with its pilots Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli, disappeared throughout an try and make the primary continuous transatlantic flight between Paris and New York Metropolis, and to win the $25,000 Ortieg Prize.
Simply two weeks later, Charles Lindbergh efficiently made the flight — and historical past, as the primary solo pilot to cross the ocean. [British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first transatlantic flight in 1919, flying from St. John’s to Clifden, Ireland.]
On the time, residents of the Cape Shore on Newfoundland’s southeast coast mentioned they watched Nungesser and Coli’s aircraft fly overhead. Later, some even reported seeing items of airplane wreckage in close by Gull Pond close to St. Mary’s Bay.
No conclusion was ever drawn and the aircraft itself has by no means been discovered.
Ric Gillespie, government director of the Worldwide Group for Historic Plane Restoration, hasn’t given up the hunt since he first heard concerning the legend in 1980.
“That is an important lacking airplane in historical past,” Gillespie instructed CBC Information in an interview. He mentioned his analysis has taken many twists via the years, with researchers following hypothesis about crashes in New York and Maine.
“We began looking out [and] finally began a non-profit group that does historic investigations. We seemed in Maine for eight years and located nothing however tales,” he mentioned.
“In Newfoundland there are greater than tales. There are witness reviews. We shifted our search to Newfoundland in 1992 and began to seek out issues.”
French pilots Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappeared in 1927 whereas hoping to grow to be the primary to win a transatlantic contest. Reg Sherren reported for CBC’s Right here & Now in a documentary that aired Nov. 16, 1993.
Gillespie has made a number of journeys to the province since 1992 however has but to seek out any conclusive proof that the flight crashed in or across the island, although on one such journey the search group discovered part of a metal cylinder painted blue, one thing Gillespie is of unknown origin.
He mentioned witness reviews from individuals in St. Mary’s on the time say they noticed the aircraft cross the bay whereas on fireplace, however notes it may have been steam as a substitute because the engine was liquid cooled.
In Newfoundland there are greater than tales. There are witness reviews– Ric Gillespie
“These individuals swore affidavits earlier than magistrates on the time. That is good, strong, arduous proof,” mentioned Gillespie.
“The pond on the Cape Shore, it is a legend. [There are] individuals’s tales instructed years later — a lot fuzzier however value testing. There have been no energetic plane in Newfoundland on Might 9, 1927. If these individuals heard and noticed an airplane, as they swore on the time they did, it was the White Hen.”
Yet one more shot
Gillespie is again in Newfoundland this week to provide a presentation and dialogue concerning the historical past and the mysteries of the disappearing L’Oiseau Blanc.
He additionally filmed an expedition with Discovery Channel for the present Expedition Unknown, which aired Wednesday.
“What we hope is that individuals from the Cape Shore, or anyone who has data or needs to listen to concerning the White Hen, comes … and hope that individuals share their tales with us,” he mentioned.
“My lengthy forlorn hope is that any individual on the Cape Shore has one thing stashed again of their closet that their great-uncle mentioned, ‘That is from that aircraft from the pond’ and no one ever got here ahead with it earlier than.”
A presentation on Saturday begins at 7 p.m. NT at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Placentia.
Learn extra articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
