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| May 11, 2012, 11:18 am

French flying ace Rene Fonck’s attempt to be first to solo the Atlantic

[media-credit name="Denver Post file" align="aligncenter" width="495"]Rene Fonck and Sikorsky S-35[/media-credit]

Rene Fonck stands in front of the huge Sikorsky plane which is almost ready for Atlantic flight. The craft is already assembled and only the remaining touches need to be completed. 1926

One of the pilots expected to win the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris was World War I French flying ace Rene Fonck.

In 1926, Fonck convinced aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky to build the plane for the flight. What resulted was the Sikorsky S-35, a three-engine biplane. Experts believed the plane would easily make the crossing.

After several trial flights and a postponement for a leaking gas tank, Fonck, co-pilot Lieut. Lawrence W. Curtin and two crew members took off on September 21, 1926.

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