François Coli (5 June 1881 – presumably on or after 8 May 1927) was a French pilot and

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

best known as the flying partner of

Charles Nungesser Charles Eugène Jules Marie Nungesser (15 March 1892 – presumably on or after 8 May 1927) was a French ace pilot and adventurer. Nungesser was a renowned ace in France, ranking third highest in the country with 43 air combat victories during W ...

in their fatal attempt to achieve the first

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, bal ...

Early life and World War I

Born in

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

of a Corsican seafaring family, Coli became a merchant captain, married, and had three daughters. Upon the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he offered his services to the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. Reportedly disillusioned because no warships needed a captain, he entered the army as a private. His age and experience gained him a commission in 1915 and that summer he was promoted to captain. Suffering multiple wounds, he was declared unfit for infantry service and transferred to the French Air Service, gaining his pilot's brevet in March 1916. Late that year he joined

Escadrille A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, Naval aviation, naval air service, or Army aviation, army air corps; and is usually subordinate to a larger Squadron (aviation), squadron. A military aircraft fligh ...

N.62 and rose to command the squadron in February 1917. Captain Coli remained as chief of the Escadrille des Coqs even after losing an eye in a crash in March 1918. He departed the Roosters that August with a reputation as an exceptional navigator and leader.

Post-war career

After the war Coli began a series of record-setting distance flights. On 26 January 1919 he achieved the first double crossing of the Mediterranean with Lieutenant Henri Roget. The flight established the over-water distance record of 735 kilometers (457 statute miles) in five hours. On 24 May, again with Roget, Coli set a long-distance record from Paris to

Port Lyautey Kenitra (, , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is a port on the Sebou River with a population of 507,736 as of 2024. It is one of the three main cities of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the capital of the similarly named Kénitra ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, a distance of . He was injured in the crash at the end of the flight. The following year, 1920, with

Joseph Sadi-Lecointe Joseph Sadi-Lecointe (1891 – 1944) was a French aviator, best known for breaking a number of speed and altitude records in the 1920s. Biography Sadi-Lecointe was born on 11 July 1891 at Saint-Germain-sur-Bresle. He learned to fly at the Z ...

, Coli made further long-distance flights around the Mediterranean. In 1923 Coli began planning a nonstop transatlantic flight with wartime comrade Paul Tarascon, a leading

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

. In 1925 they became interested in the

Orteig prize The Orteig Prize was a reward of $25,000 offered in 1919 by New York City hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first Allies of World War I, Allied aviator, or aviators, to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice versa.Bak. Pages 28 and 29. Se ...

of $25,000 for the first flight between Paris and New York. Late in 1926 an accident destroyed their

Potez 25 Potez 25 (also written as Potez XXV) was a French twin-seat, single-engine sesquiplane designed during the 1920s. A light multi-purpose Strike fighter, fighter-bomber, it was designed as a line aircraft and used in a variety of roles, including F ...

biplane and Tarascon was badly burned. A new aircraft was sought, and Tarascon relinquished his place as pilot to Charles Nungesser. They took off from Paris on 8 May 1927 in the biplane '' L'Oiseau Blanc'', but disappeared en route. In 1928, the Ontario Surveyor General named a number of lakes in the northwest of the province to honour aviators who had perished during 1927, mainly in attempting oceanic flights. p 14. Amongst these are Coli Lake () and Nungesser Lake ().

References

External links

Escadrille 62

''Tighar Tracks'' (Spring 1987), Volume 3, Number 1
published by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery
"Mystery of the White Bird"

cenotaph;findagrave memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coli, Francois 1881 births 1920s missing person cases 1927 deaths French people of Corsican descent Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Flight navigators French aviation record holders French people with disabilities French World War I pilots Missing aviators People from Marseille People lost at sea Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1927 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in international waters Eyepatch wearers

Early life and World War I

Post-war career

See also

References

External links