... twice that of Alcock and Brown.
It seems, in retrospect,
that Nungesser and Coli’s careers had prepared them for such an attempt.
Both were officers of the French Legion of Honor because of their flying
exploits during the First World War. And because of their careers, the
public was fascinated with them. By early April major newspapers were
giving them almost daily coverage, reporting on their test flights and
explaining the special construction of their Levasseur PL8 biplane.
To the surprise of
many observers who felt the weather conditions were not favorable, the
White Bird taxied down the runway at 5:17 a.m. on Sunday, May 8. It rose
and faltered; after rolling half a mile it finally labored into the air.
It was no more than 700 feet off the ground when it disappeared in the
distance. Less than five hours later the White Bird was sighted leaving
the Irish coast on it sway westward over the Atlantic.
The next day rain
squalls covered Newfoundland, and light snow was falling at Cape Race.
Fog shrouded the northeastern U.S. coast, and those who waited in New
York wondered how the Frenchmen would be able to find the harbor, even
if they did reach it.
By the time Berry
heard what he thought was an airplane engine, those who waited in New
York were beginning to despair of seeing the White Bird at all. By nightfall
they knew Nungesser and Coli would not be arriving.
The next morning
a massive sea search for them had begun. But no one knew where to look.
They two Frenchmen could be anywhere in the North Atlantic, if they were
even still afloat.
One sighting report
arrived on May 11, and though it held little promise, it was not immediately
disproved. A farmer in Harbour Grace, on Conception Bay in eastern Newfoundland,
said he had heard an airplane engine nearby at 9:30 the morning of May
9.
In the meantime the
sea search continued. But the combined vessels of four nations – America,
Canada, England, and France – failed to come up with a single trace of
the two men or their plane.
By May 12, however,
the number of Harbour Grace witnesses had grown to six. Two men claimed
it had been audible for 20 minutes.
By May 16, at least
four more persons in Newfoundland had reported seeing or hearing an airplane
on the morning of May 9.
On May 18 The New
York Times published a letter suggesting the two fliers by have landed
on some lake in Maine. In spite of the suggestion, no search was attempted
in Maine.
On May 20, 12 days
after Nungesser and Coli left Paris, Charles Lindbergh departed from New
York in his attempt to connect the two citites. His success eclipsed questions
about their uncertain fate.
But they were not
forgotten, of course. Quebec Province airplanes were searching Labrador
and the north shore of the St. Lawrence. The Cotton Relief Expedition
began an air search over Newfoundland that was to last eight futile weeks.
At that point, having covered 15,000 square miles, they were now convinced
that Nungesser and Coli never eached land.
Over the next years
no new clues surfaced to suggest any other conclusion. Except, that is,
for Berry’s story, told long after most people had forgotten Nungesser
and Coli.
But if Berry actually
did hear a plane, why would one think it was – or could be – the White
Bird?
Given the weather
that day, the presence of any other plane would have been extremely unlikely.
In addition, airplanes, rare as they were in 1927, were especially so
in eastern Maine. So if it were both physically possible for the ... |