LATECOERE 300 SEAPLANE - Lot 151

LATECOERE 300 SEAPLANE Southern Cross Black and white photo signed and dated by Lieutenant-Commander Roger Bonnot, aircraft commander. The seaplane christened "Croix du Sud", registered F-AKGF, is photographed on departure from the Etang de Berre - France, in December 1933. 14 x 20 cm - The aircraft made its first major flight from December 31, 1933 to January 1, 1934, flying non-stop from the Etang de Berre to Saint-Louis-du-Sénégal, a distance of 3,679.4 km, beating the world record for straight-line distance flown by seaplane. - It was also with this seaplane that, two years later, the Laté 300 "Croix du Sud" took off on December 7, 1936 from the Dakar Bel-Air seaplane base for its 25th postal crossing, with Alexandre Pichodou as second pilot, Jean Lavidalie as flight engineer, Henri Ezan as navigator and Edgar Cruveilher as radiotelegraphist. After a few "TVBs" (all's well) - at 10:47 a.m. comes the fateful message: "Coupons moteur arrière droit" - then nothing more...