Story ID: AN5122011alerts
Safran Joins White Bird Hunt
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: 
Word Count: 93
French aerospace manufacturer Safran has partnered with a historical archeology association on a mission to rewrite the history books. The group seeks to find incontrovertible proof that a French aircraft (l’Oiseau Blanc) flown by pilots Charles Nungesser and François Coli successfully crossed the Atlantic 12 days before Charles Lindbergh in 1927. The aircraft has never been found, but in some accounts witnesses claim to have heard the sound of a laboring aircraft engine over Maine. The program seeks to locate the aircraft’s engine, which was built by Safran progenitor Lorraine-Dietrich.