Word: fonck
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Finding the right plane is a puzzler; "Rene Fonck, France's World War I ace, has just crashed on the take-off at Roosevelt Field in a trimotored Sikorsky biplane, and two of his crew members have burned to death. Lindbergh distrusts the heavy, intricate, three-engine craft of the day: too much could go wrong. But his backers are cautious; they urge him to go to the renowned Fokker Co. A three-engine plane for such a flight will cost $90,000, the salesman tells him. When Lindbergh mentions a one-engine job, the salesman's voice...
Died. Colonel René Fonck, 59, France's top air ace of World War I (in 32 months of aerial combat he got credit for 75 kills, unofficial credit for 51 more); of a cerebral hemorrhage; in Paris. A national hero after the 1918 armistice, Fonck turned to civilian flying, narrowly escaped death when his S-35 crashed on the take-off of a 1926 transatlantic attempt. Back in uniform in 1939, Colonel Fonck led a fighter group until France fell, in 1942 disguised himself as a Trappist monk and helped organize an escape route through Belgium for downed...
...Mick" Mannock (73 kills), U.S.'s Raoul Lufbery (17 kills). Other aces survived to make their marks on the brave new world: Eastern Air Lines President Eddie Rickenbacker (26), "Billy" Bishop (72), World War II commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, France's Rene Fonck (75), who collaborated with Vichy, Hermann Goring (22), a celebrated suicide...