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. The St. Raphael's last confirmed sighting was west of Ireland, approximately 1200 miles from Upavon at 21:44 by the SS Josiah Macy; Around 6a.m. the next morning the Dutch steamer SS Blijdendijik reported seeing a white light travelling eastward in the sky when about 420 mi 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. After a number of unconfirmed reports the aircraft and occupants were never seen again.