René Guilbaud


René Guilbaud 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 CAMS 37.

Disappearance

Guilbaud disappeared in the Barents Sea in June 1928, while piloting a Latham 47 flying boat in which Roald Amundsen was travelling to join the search the 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.

Legacy

The mountain Guilbaudtoppen in Sørkapp Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, is named after him.