René Guilbaud

René Guilbaud (8 October 1890 – disappeared 18 June 1928) was an early-20th-century French military aviator.

Long-distance flights
Guilbaud was celebrated mainly for long-range flights, by flying boat across Africa in 1926 and 1927, first in a Lioré et Olivier LeO H-190 and then in CAMS 37.

Disappearance
Guilbaud disappeared in the Barents Sea in June 1928, while piloting a Latham 47 flying boat in which Roald Amundsen was travelling to join the search for survivors of the crash of the airship Italia. While debris from his aircraft was subsequently located by late August, no trace has ever been found of the occupants.

Legacy
The mountain Guilbaudtoppen in Sørkapp Land, Spitsbergen (Svalbard), is named after him.

Books

 * La vie héroïque de René Guilbaud 1890-1928 - Coindreau (Roger), 1958