Decrés may have a dash of the Anglo 'Artful Dodger' in him, for all I can tell by these breathy go-nowhere adventures; as odd as it may seem, there is always a millionaire or two lying about for the spider to drag in, for a time anyway.
As to the French Navy's support - who knows, but navies always need training, and in various odd places at that; maybe t'was a fortuitous 'marriage' in brief, but rather puffed up by this story to sound more like official French guvmint participation in Midnight Ghost than was truly the case?
Yes, I guess despite the excitement of it all (nothing since 2012, and looking back, much ado over nothing of substance), I am a 'SKEPTIC' (note the screaming emphasis). What exploratory excitement there may have been now having turned to excrement I stand unamused at this 'effort'... I so wish it were not so, so wish that Nungessor and Coli could be found and put to rest, bless 'em and the noble nation that sent them forth in the day for their loss: Ric had a point - this IS arguably the most important open case in 'lost aviators' history.
Think of the import of the Orteig Prize and aviation commerce with Europe as we know it today. Consider the brave efforts of people like Nungessor and Coli and those who backed them. Guys like Lindbergh, Chamberlain, and quite a few others risked their necks while backers risked reputations and fortunes.
As I am from Georgia,
Paul Redfern burns in the mind and heart as well (he was a native of SC but flew from near Brunswick, GA - and would have far out-stripped the NYC-Paris nonstop mileage had he succeeded, although as a 'route', one has to concede that trade with Rio was likley only a particle of that with Europe even then); sentimentally he's 'in there' with White Bird for me - but in terms of historic significance... well, how many know his name?
Earhart was not really notching a new commercial route on the Earth's belt, but arguably notching one for women doing as men had already done (a stronger candidate might have actually been chosen, but hers and Putnam's ambitions saw otherwise).
That Nungessor and Coli came so close to leaving Lindbergh for us to know as a mere footnote has to stand as the most remarkable of all those distance fliers of yore who remain now only as ghosts. The contemporaneous Lindbergh believed his efforts were about to be put to an end as he realized the pair was in the air flying westward and thought they would surely make it, being experienced airmen. Think of that, and that shining moment in time when the world watched for these two aviators to arrive over American shores.
As such, while I have tremendous empathy for the French in this matter, this man's chase of White Bird appears to be at least a near-abuse of public sentiment to me. Of course he is pardoned if he knows not better...