THIS AVIATION LIFE STYLE
Still Searching- the enduring legacy of L’Oiseau Blanc
A childhood buddy’s teasing disbelief began the commencement of what has become now a lifetime’s search for finding out the fate of Bill Nungesser’s long-lost relative, Charles Nungesser, whose feats and daring still reverberate throughout the pages and lore of aviation history.
Yes, the Charles Nungesser of the famous aviation team Nungesser and Coli whose attempt to successfully fly the first non-stop transatlantic flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Paris to New York City captured the imagination and excitement of not only both the nations involved, but of the whole world. Coming off of the weariness of the first World War and going into the beginnings of what would develop into The Great Depression era for not only the United States of America but also affecting many other nations across the globe as well, the general public needed something to pin some hope on, some real heroes to look up to and positive pursuits that would propel humankind forward within society and history rather than the backwards stumbles that seemed to be happening all around.
Aviation was beginning to fill that void in the hearts and hopes of people as a new century commenced. From the Wright Brothers to the aces of World War I and the glamour of the infamous Red Baron, the public was becoming fascinated by airplanes and the daring-do pilots who maneuvered them in the skies. The very ability to stay aloft was as big “a step for mankind” as the ensuing space travel would become decades later. And so, when in 1927 two men teamed up to go for the prize money, and better yet the fame, gained of completing the first complete transatlantic flight between the two great capitals representing the free, modern world of their time, New York City and Paris… excitement abounded. Since the American Revolution of 1776, the strong idealistic ties between America and France had continued on through such representations as the Statue of Liberty gift and such actualizations via allied aid during World War I. Now, here stood another way to link the countries together yet again and for the hopes and dreams of many, Nungesser and his navigator Francois Coli would be the ones to accomplish this. In the hazy dawning hours of May 8th, 1927 at 5:17 a.m., Nungesser and Coli took off in a specially-designed and developed plane called, L’Oiseau Blanc, The White Bird, from Paris’ Le Bourget airport and then disappeared on into the mists of time.
What happened to the flight of L’Oiseau Blanc remains in quite a bit of broad speculation as does the whereabouts of finding any potential plane wreckage as well as physical remains of the pilots. The legacy of this flight and these brave men continues on into the present day with several parties very interested in finding out anything at all and none the least is a descendent of the famous Charles Nungesser, William “Bill” Nungesser who has made several trips deep into the Maine and New Hampshire woods in an ongoing search for information about his family legacy. With the potential outcomes of any new information surfacing about the fate of Nungesser and Coli, aviation history itself could possibly change in a radical direction since IF the L’Oiseau Blanc did indeed actually make it over into American territory, it would seem then that the credit of a France to America transatlantic flight would shift from the iconic American national hero Charles Lindbergh to Nungesser and Coli which would of course cause many rewrites in history books and aviation lessons around the world. This is intriguing to think about and so, the excitement surrounding the legacy of the L’Oiseau Blanc continues on as strong as ever.
Part of this legacy is the continued searching of Bill Nungesser throughout the years up in remote north woods areas for evidence of the plane and its crew. His initial interest about having a famous aviation ancestor led him into researching his family genealogy starting in 1989 in order to prove to his disbelieving friend about Bill’s link to Charles Nungesser and so article after article gleaned from the New York Times changed that disbelief into realization. Along with establishing genealogical evidence came the establishment of extended family relationships as Bill has become close to his cousin living in France, Roland Nungesser, an Assembly Nationale’ politician. Working with Roland, Bill has been able to gain access to further information and material relating to the flight of, and history behind, the L’Oiseau Blanc. Other aid towards this search for information has come in more unusual formats including being contacted by a psychic about continuing the north woods searching and also utilizing a fascinating process called “Remote Viewing” which has been developed for use in military and espionage units. Late last year, Bill and others put coordinates to work coming out from Remote Viewing processes into a search organized near the Mt. Washington area. Unfortunately, this most current search revealed nothing relating directly to The White Bird mystery. Bill has said that these searches are similar to, “a recon mission…finding a way in and finding a way out”, thus well illustrating the very challenging nature of attempting to find metal airplane remains, a bit of cloth and other imagined crash-landing debris in the midst of what essentially remains remote wilderness. One such search had Bill’s team hacking through a huge raspberry field set into a clearing between two mountain rises- not an easy endeavor to say the least. In April of 2008, Bill Nungesser is organizing another search and hope reigns eternal, both for him, his family and for the annuals of history itself that something will eventually turn up underneath overgrown areas of brush, brambles and overgrowth that will solve the mysterious disappearance of L’Oiseau Blanc and its brave crew once and for all.
Interestingly enough, sometimes the smallest things play the biggest roles in finding out the truth: as Bill Nungesser searches for plane debris, he has a valuable tool in his possession to put to use- paint chip sampling directly off of the landing gear which the L’Oiseau Blanc jettisoned shortly after takeoff all those years ago. Bill relates that, “paint analysis is like a fingerprint,” and that its chemical composition with variables of oil and lead can lead back to a direct match with the very paint used for the landing gear of The White Bird and hence the plane itself. Modern-day CFI detective work meets museum-certified paint chips…the legendary romance of this story continues on…
The general public remains ever-excited about the fascinating legend and potential historical legacy surrounding L’Oiseau Blanc, Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli now continuing well on into another turn-of-the-century. Could a mystery of the early 20th Century be solved within the first few decades of the 21st? Wishing the best to Bill Nungesser and his team as they search out the possible answers…for history, family history and for us all.