L'Oiseau Blanc

L' Oiseau Blanc ( The White Bird or The White Dove ) was a French biplane in an attempt to perform the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York, disappeared in 1927. The aircraft was flown by Charles Nungesser and François Coli, two veterans of the First World War, to win the suspended U.S. $ 25,000 prize money for the Orteig price. The plane disappeared but after starting on 8 May in Paris, two weeks before Charles Lindbergh transatlantic flight successfully completed.

The aircraft weighed 11,000 lb. (5000 kg), was white, had French tricolor markings and Nungesser ace personal logo from the First World War: a skull with candles and a coffin on a black heart. Since Nungesser and Colis plan to moor after landing at a pier in New York, no chassis required, this is designed it to save weight could be thrown at startup. Since 2008, the suspension is issued as the only remaining part of the L' Oiseau Blanc at the Musée de l'Air et de l' Espace at Le Bourget airport near Paris.

The disappearance of the white bird is considered one of the great mysteries in the history of aviation. In the time of the disappearance created numerous rumors about the fate of the aircraft and its crew. Require studies since the 1980s suggest that the aircraft probably Newfoundland reached and then crashed in Maine.

The White Bird has an extensive heritage and is known in many movies and museums. A street in Paris is named after the airplane, 1967, a stamp was issued. A statue at the Paris Le Bourget Airport honors the flight test, and on the cliffs of Etretat, from where The White Bird was last seen in France, there is a monument.