St. Raphael (aircraft)

The St. Raphael was a Fokker F.VIIa monoplane that was used in 1927 for a transatlantic flight from England to Canada in an attempt to be the first to cross from east to west. With the owner and financial backer Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg as a passenger, the aircraft departed RAF Upavon, Wiltshire, at 7:30 on 31 August 1927 with Frederick F. Minchin and Leslie Hamilton as flight crew.[1] The St. Raphael's last confirmed sighting was west of Ireland, approximately 1200 miles from Upavon at 21:44 by the SS Josiah Macy;[2] Around 6 a.m. the next morning the Dutch steamer SS Blijdendijik reported seeing a white light travelling eastward in the sky when about 420 miles east-south-east of New York, which, if it were St. Raphael, was far to the south of its intended route, suggesting that they were lost.[3] After a number of unconfirmed reports the aircraft and occupants were never seen again.

St. Raphael
Fokker F.VIIa similar to the St. Raphael
Type Fokker F.VIIa
Construction number 5023
Registration G-EBTQ
Fate Lost Atlantic Ocean 1927

See also

References
  1. "Atlantic Flight to the West - British Airmen's Start - A Woman Passenger". News. The Times (44675). London. 1 September 1927. p. 10.
  2. "The Missing Aeroplane - Labrador Report Unconfirmed". News. The Times (44678). London. 5 September 1927. p. 10.
  3. "The Atlantic Flights". Flight. XIX (976): 634. 8 September 1927. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
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