Page 106 - They Also Served

Charles Nungesser, the second a German flight forced to turn back by bad weather. According to a contemporary newspaper report, the princess arrived with plenty of clothing to wear on her arrival in Canada and received the benediction from an archbishop before boarding the aircraft.
Flying in the Fokker monoplane, St. Raphael, they left RAF Upavon at 07:30 on the morning of 31st August for the non-stop flight to London, Ontario, a distance of 3,200 miles. Around 800 miles west of Ireland, they sighted a steamer, the SS Josiah Macy, and made radio contact before thick mist rolled across the Atlantic. The fate of the St. Raphael and its three occupants remains a mystery, although they almost certainly crashed into the sea. The newspapers of 2nd September carried the headline: ‘All hopes lost for Air Princess’. Also lost were the Princess’s jewels, valued at around three million dollars at today’s prices. Hamilton had also purchased 600 £1 notes for the trio to autograph in Canada and then sell for $25 each. Lieutenant-Colonel Dan Minchin CBE DSO MC was declared dead in absentia.
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