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 a CAMS 37.
Disappearance
Guilbaud disappeared in the Barents Sea en route to Spitsbergen 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.Fred Goldberg, Drama in the Arctic, S.O.S. Italia, Oslo, Fram Museum, 2003
Legacy The mountain Guilbaudtoppen in Sørkapp Land, Spitsbergen (Svalbard), is named after him.
See also
List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
Books La vie héroïque de René Guilbaud 1890-1928 - Coindreau (Roger), 1958
References
External links Page dedicated to Cdt Guilbaud on the site of the Association of Reserve Officers of the French Navy (in French)