September 2, 1927
It is now believed that Princess Ludwig of Löwenstein-Wertheim, 62, and Captain Leslie Hamilton Colonel F.F. Minchin disappeared into the sea following an attempt to cross the Atlantic by plane. According to the Associated Press, the princess is the second woman to disappear in a transoceanic flight in the space of two weeks. The first was Mildred Doran, who was a passenger in a plane taking part in the Dole prize race from Oakland, California to Hawaii.
Fifteen lives have been lost this year in "attempted ocean flights."
Aviation experts believe that the St. Raphael plunged into the Atlantic due to engine trouble or defective navigation.
The New York Times reports" that "the westerly drift of winds is a phenomenon immensely complicating the problems of airmen flying westward across the Atlantic. Although two airships have been successful in crossing to North America, "so far as airplanes are concerned the North Atlantic is still a one-way street."
A British Air ministry official believes that airplanes will need to carry more gasoline "if a plane was to succeed in flying the ocean westward."
Canada's Dominion Parliament is considering proposing legislation to "discourage such flights in Canada, on the ground that they harmed rather than helped aviation." Some have described the flight as a stunt, and Canadian officials want to end further attempts.
The St. Raphael was bound for Ottawa, but the plane never reached its destination.
2 comments:
The princess was quite an adventurous 62-year-old, wasn't she. Somehow, when you first posted about this, Marlene, I thought she was at most in her early thirties.
Mary
Her memorial plaque is in St Raphael's Catholic Church, Kingston-upon-Thames, built by her great-uncle Alexander Raphael. It is also the church where the Duc and Duchesse de Chartres married in 1863; the Comte and Comtesse de Paris in 1864; the Duke and Duchess of Aosta in 1895; and the Duc and Duchesse de Guise in 1899.
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