François Coli
François Coli (born June 5, 1881 in Marseille ; † lost on May 8, 1927 in the Atlantic or in North America ) was a French aviation pioneer . In the First World War Coli was severely wounded and lost his right eye. In 1919 he managed to cross the Mediterranean twice with his plane and set a new distance record.
Coli died while trying to cross the Atlantic non-stop from Paris to New York with Charles Nungesser in the double-decker L'Oiseau Blanc (White Bird) and to collect the Orteig Prize for it.
The aircraft was last seen on May 8, 1927 at Étretat in Normandy , where the Nungesser and Coli memorial and museum now honor the event. Nungesser and Coli may have reached the North American continent in Canada and then crashed in the hills of the US state of Maine .
A few days later, on May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris with his Spirit of St. Louis aircraft , winning the Orteig Prize.
In the Canadian film Die Geisterpiloten - Flight into the Future (1999), the ghosts of Francois Coli and Charles Nungesser are doomed to relive the crash that killed them again and again until two children free them from the curse.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coli, François |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French aviation pioneer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 5, 1881 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Marseille , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 8, 1927 |