Project Midnight Ghost
In collaboration with The International Group for Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), our team is uncovering what exactly happened to what has been referred as “History’s Most Important Airplane”.
What Happened to the Pilots?
An attempt to win the famous Ortieg Prize, French Aviators Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli departed from Paris, France to New York , New York on May 5th, 1927, never to be seen again. Their plane, nicknamed “The White Bird” was a PL.8 Biplane with plenty of fuel to reach their destination. Sitting in an open-air cockpit, fitted with electrically heated suits, the pilots were last seen over the coast of Ireland. Several people reported that day of observing a “White Plane” across the coasts of Maine and Newfoundland. What happened to “The White Bird”?
The Orteig Prize in 1927
The $25,000 Orteig Prize challenged brave aviators around the world to endure a transatlantic, non-stop flight from Paris, France to New York, New York. In current terms, $25,000 in 1927 would be around $400,000 in 2021.
World Famous Charles Lindbergh Completed the transatlantic flight 8 days after Francois Coli and Charles Nungesser went missing; getting the World Renown title of First Aviator to complete a Solo Transatlantic Flight in 1927.
A Hermit’s Tale
“On the afternoon of May 9, 1927, Anson Berry, fishing in his canoe on Round Lake in eastern Maine, heard what sounded like an engine overhead, approaching from the northeast. He could not see the airplane, if that was what it was, because of a heavy overcast.
The engine sounded erratic. Moments later it stopped, and Berry heard what he described years later as a faint, ripping crash. The afternoon was wearing on, and the always unsteady spring weather was worsening; already rain was beginning to fall. Perhaps because he did not trust the weather to hold, Berry did not investigate what he heard.
If he had, one of aviation’s most puzzling mysteries might have been solved. As it is, no one yet knows what happened to Captains Charles Nungesser and François Coli , who left Paris the morning of May 8, 1927, to attempt the first east-to-west transatlantic flight in history. Apparently they disappeared into the North Atlantic, forced down by the weight of ice on the wings of their biplane, named the White Bird.
But 16 persons in Newfoundland saw or heard an airplane pass overhead the morning of May 9. Given the times and locations of those sightings, quite possibly what Berry heard was the White Bird.
“The Unfinished Flight of the White Bird”, TIGHAR, article by Gunnar Hansen