Both of these intrepid women were lost during their attempts to cross
the Atlantic.
Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim may have made it as far as Newfoundland.
Elsie Mackay is believed lost at sea off the coast of England.
Here are links to Lowenstein-Wertheim information. Information on
Macay is posted in my orignal comment.
Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim of Great Britain even then was
bankrolling a flight in which she would be the first woman to fly the
ocean. (The plane was lost at sea.)
http://members.tripod.com/ralphcooper0/eredfern.htm
NAVY VESSELS were solemnly searching the sea for the remains of Old
Glory, Sir John Carling and Royal Windsor in the first terrible week
of September 1927 when Frances Wilson Grayson of Queens announced that
the three fresh air disasters would emphatically not interrupt her own
plans to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly 20 souls had now been
lost in the brave quest to follow Charles Lindbergh and Clarence
Chamberlin and Richard Byrd, among them the elderly European aviation
patroness Princess Anne of Lowenstein- Wertheim, who had dreamed of
being the first woman to fly the sea, if only as a passenger; now it
was Frances Grayson who would claim the honor.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Home/News/Clippings/99/99.09.16.html
Unsuccessful Record Flights
Goliath --Capt. St. Roman, Commander Mouneyres--St. Louis, Senegal,
for Buenos Aires. White Bird --Capt. Nungesser, Maj. Francois
Coli--Paris, for New York. Miss Doran --Mildred Doran, J. Auggy
Pedlar, Lieut. Vilas R. Knope--Oakland for Honolulu. Golden Eagle
--Jack Frost, Gordon Scott-- Oakland for Honolulu. Dallas Spirit
--Capt. William Erwin, A. H. Eichwaldt--Oakland for Honolulu. Port of
Brunswick --Paul Redfern- -Brunswick, Ga., for Rio de Janeiro. St.
Raphael --Capt. Leslie Hamilton, Col. F. F. Minchin, Princess
Lowenstein-Wertheim-- Upavon, England, for Ottawa, Ont. Sir John
Carling --Capt. Terry Tully, Lieut. James Medcalf--London, Ont., for
London, England Old Glory --Lloyd W. Bertaud, James Dewitt Hill,
Philip Payne--Old Orchard, Me., for Rome. Dawn --Mrs. Florence Grayson
and three male companions. Maine for Nova Scotia, then Europe.
http://www2.worldbook.com/features/aviators/html/av7.htm#otherattempts
30 August 1927
U.K.: Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim decides at the last minute to fly
on the transatlantic flight she is financing.
http://daybyday.dk.com/C20UK/TODAYINHISTORY/30-Aug.htm
The deaths did not end even after Lindbergh’s flight in May 1927.
Before the end of the year, three other planes set out to cross the
Atlantic and did not make it. The first, an east-west flight in a
single engine Fokker called the St. Raphael, took off from England on
August 31, bound for Ottawa. The plane was piloted by two experienced
RAF pilots, Leslie Hamilton and Fred Minchin, and had an illustrious
passenger: Princess Anne Lowenstein-Wertheim. Wertheim was well known
as an intrepid aviator with several records to her credit. She kept
her involvement in the flight secret (mainly because of her
aristocratic family’s objections to her flying career) until just
before boarding. The plane was spotted en route by an oil tanker, and
then disappeared into the Newfoundland fog. For years, searchers
combed the Canadian wilderness for wreckage, but found nothing.
http://www.esparacing.com/Aviation%20history/daredevils/Atlantic%204.htm
Search strategy: women aviation history; women aviation atlantic;
"elsie mackay"; Lowenstein-Wertheim
I also searched for books or magazine articles on either of the two
women but found no further information.
Very interesting topic. I've enjoyed researching it.
Nellie Bly |
