View source for Paul Redfern

{{distinguish|Paul Redfarn}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Paul Redfern
| image              = 
| caption            = 
| birth_date         = February 24, 1902
| birth_name         = Paul Rinaldo Redfern
| alias              = 
| birth_place        = [[Rochester, New York]], U.S. 
| disappeared_date   = August 26, 1927
| disappeared_place  = Inland over [[Venezuela]]
| disappeared_status  = Missing, presumed dead
| death_date         = 
| death_cause        = 
| body_discovered    = 
| education          = 
| nationality        = American
| occupation         = Musician, pilot
| spouse             = 
| partner            = 
| known_for          = First person to fly solo across the Caribbean Sea and first to fly nonstop from North to South America; mysterious disappearance
}}
'''Paul Redfern''' (24 February 1902 – August 1927?) was an American [[musician]] and [[pilot]].<ref name="alumni">{{cite web | url=https://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/Databases/Attachments/Reviews/1929/7-3/1929_February.pdf | title=Life Story of Paul Redfern, Aviator | publisher=Rochester Alumni Review | date=1929 | access-date=19 April 2015 | author=Redfern, Frederick C.}}</ref> In August 1927, Redfern became the first person to fly solo across the [[Caribbean Sea]] and the first to fly nonstop from North to [[South America]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Liefer |title=Lost Flight to Brazil in 1927: A Young Pilot Disappears in the Amazon |url=https://www.historynet.com/lost-flight-to-brazil-in-1927-a-young-pilot-disappears-in-the-amazon.htm?fbclid=IwAR0p7a22AcbKcxz0Kj8MvjKXFZvQPodI-eqmER1pCnF8ZZ8OmVyPSbi9-U8 |website=HISTORYNET |date=19 March 2021 |publisher=Historynet LLC |access-date=14 November 2021}}</ref> He has never been found or heard from since he was observed flying inland over [[Venezuela]]. Redfern's flight was twelve weeks after [[Charles Lindbergh]] made his historic flight from [[New York (State)|New York]] to [[Paris]]. In 1929, Lindbergh came close to skimming the sands of the [[Sea Island, Georgia]], beach Redfern took off from and dropped carnations in his fellow flyer's honor. If Redfern had reached his final destination, [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]], his {{convert|4,600|mi}} flight would have outdistanced Lindbergh. Redfern had an alternative landing site (Recife) planned if his fuel ran too low, but it is unknown whether he pursued that alternative or decided to continue on to Rio, where thousands awaited his arrival, including the [[Washington Luís|President of Brazil]] and movie star [[Clara Bow]].

==Biography==
Paul Rinaldo Redfern was born in 1902 to Blanche Myrtle Redfern and Dr. Frederick Coachefer Redfern<ref name=father/> in [[Rochester, NY|Rochester, New York]]. His uncles were Richard S. Redfern and Edwin C. Redfern.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rochester Suicide Believed R.S. Redfern. Uncle of Aviator Lost on Brazil Flight Had Aided Search in South America  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/04/26/archives/rochester-suicide-believed-rs-redfern-uncle-of-aviator-lost-on.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=April 26, 1933 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> As a teenager, Paul lived in [[Columbia, South Carolina]], where his father was a dean at [[Benedict College]] and an advocate for black rights who advised [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] on poverty in the South. His mother taught English at Benedict and represented South Carolina as a delegate at national political conventions. Paul was a mechanical and musical prodigy. He was planning to go to [[MIT]], but after building several planes, he was asked by the U.S. government at age 16 to go to [[New Jersey]] to be a production inspector for the [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] at the [[Standard Aircraft Corporation]]. Upon returning to South Carolina, he became a barnstormer at air shows and started the first airport in Columbia, South Carolina. He married Gertrude Hildebrand in [[Toledo, Ohio]], in 1925.<ref name=widow>{{cite web |url=http://www.eaa242.org/PaulRedfern/redfern_001.asp |title=Paul Rinaldo Redfern. The First Aviator to Solo the Caribbean Sea |access-date=2013-12-30 |publisher=Palmetto Sport Aviation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018215830/http://www.eaa242.org/PaulRedfern/redfern_001.asp |archive-date=2016-10-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Flight and disappearance==
In August 1927, Redfern attempted to fly from [[Brunswick, Georgia]], to [[Brazil]] in a [[Stinson SM-1 Detroiter]] NX-773 nicknamed the ''Port of Brunswick''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://windowstoworldhistory.weebly.com/are-paul-redfern-and-the-port-of-new-brunswick-buried-in-the-amazon-jungle.html|title=Are Paul Redfern and the Port of New Brunswick Buried in the Amazon Jungle?|website=WINDOWS TO WORLD HISTORY|language=en|access-date=2019-01-27}}</ref> He was spotted by the Norwegian freighter ''Christian Krogh'' a few hundred miles off the coast of South America, after dropping a message asking for the ship to be turned in the direction of the nearest land, and when nearing Venezuela he was spotted by a fisherman just off the coast and then later by others in towns and outposts in Venezuela. He failed to arrive in Rio de Janeiro, and over the years more than a dozen search parties were organized. Missionaries and people visiting tribes living in the jungle reported on a white man living among the Indians, but he was never found, and no credible evidence documenting that he somehow survived the flight exists.<ref name="lostlegend">{{cite web | url=http://triathletechronicles.com/2013/10/21/lost-legend-paul-redfern-and-the-birth-of-aviation-in-columbia-s-c/ | title=Lost legend – Paul Redfern and the birth of aviation in Columbia, S.C. | date=21 October 2013 | access-date=19 April 2015 | author=Piercy, Alan}}</ref><ref name="bryson">{{cite book | title=One Summer in America – 1927 | publisher=Black Swan | author=Bryson, Bill | year=2013 | pages=419–420 | isbn=978-0-552-77256-3}}</ref>

In September 1927, [[George Henry Hamilton Tate]], sponsored by the [[American Museum of Natural History]], went to look for Redfern.<ref>{{cite news |title=Explorer In Brazil To Seek Paul Redfern. Backer of Expedition Cables Tate to Use Native Runners in Hunt for Georgian Flier |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/09/11/archives/explorer-in-brazil-to-seek-paul-redfern-backer-of-expedition-cables.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=September 11, 1927 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> Some believed him to still be alive as late as 1932.<ref>{{cite news |title=Says Flier Is Safe If With Parintins. Explorer Believes Paul Redfern Is Enjoying Life in the Brazilian Jungle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/12/28/archives/says-flier-is-safe-if-with-parantins-explorer-believes-paul-redfern.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=December 28, 1932 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref>

In 1935, [[William LaVarre]] who was searching for diamonds in the interior of Suriname heard a story in [[Drietabbetje]] about a crippled white man who had fallen from the sky, and was now living with the [[Amerindian]]s in [[Paloemeu]]. The American consulate sent an expedition to the village, but found nothing.<ref name="landewers">{{cite web|url=http://landewers.net/Geijskes-expedities-internet.pdf |title=Wetenschappelijke verkenningsvluchten boven Suriname 1938-1958|author=Arno Landewers|website=Landewers|access-date=15 January 2022|language=nl|page=5}}</ref> 

In 1936, aviator Art Williams claimed he found traces of the Redfern crash in [[British Guiana]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Williams Found Redfern Traces. Signs of Missing American in Guiana Jungles Were Recent, the Flier Declares |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0710FE3D54147B93C0AB178AD85F428385F9 |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=January 22, 1936 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> In the same month, newspaper articles appeared that Redfern was living in a little Amerindian village not listed on any map in the [[Tumuk Humak Mountains]] of British Guiana. He was married and had a son, however the Amerindians did not want to part with him.<ref name="landewers"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.funeralwise.com/digital-dying/the-dead-pilot-search-story-you-dont-know-hint-its-not-amelia-earhart/ |title=The Dead Pilot Search Story You Don't Know (Hint: It's Not Amelia Earhart)|author=Justin Nobel|website=Funeral Wise|date=7 July 2012 |access-date=15 January 2022|language=nl}}</ref> Redfern's father published a joyful reply in the papers, and credited Art Williams as the discoverer of his son.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?facets%5Bperiode%5D%5B%5D=1%7C20e_eeuw%7C1930-1939%7C&query=paul+redfern&coll=ddd&identifier=ddd:110636240:mpeg21:a0025&resultsidentifier=ddd:110636240:mpeg21:a0025&rowid=3 |title=Vreugde in Amerika|website=De West|date=29 January 1936|language=nl|access-date=15 January 2022}}</ref> Williams who did not originate the story, discovered that Alfred Harred, a freelance reporter in Suriname, was the origin, and took him to court in [[Paramaribo]] where Harred admitted that the story was false and that he had been paid to spread the falsehood.<ref name="landewers"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?query=Redferm&coll=ddd&identifier=MMCODA01:000157846:mpeg21:a0039&resultsidentifier=MMCODA01:000157846:mpeg21:a0039&rowid=3 |title=Arrestatie te Paramaribo|website=Provinciale Overijsselsche en Zwolsche courant |date=25 February 1936|access-date=15 January 2022|language=nl}}</ref>

In 1937, the 13th expedition was organized to find out his fate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Begin New Redfern Hunt. Explorers Start 13th Expedition in 10-Year Quest for Flier |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/12/14/archives/begin-new-redfern-hunt-explorers-start-13th-expedition-in-10year.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=December 14, 1937 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> Now missing for ten years, he could be [[Declared death in absentia|legally declared dead]].<ref>{{cite news |title=To Ask Redfern Be Ruled Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/09/30/archives/to-ask-redfern-be-ruled-dead.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=September 30, 1937 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> In February 1938 Frederick John Fox died while trying to find Redfern.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Yorker Dies in British Guiana Jungle While on Expedition to Find Paul Redfern |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F1FF6345D1B7A93CAA81789D85F4C8385F9 |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=February 18, 1938 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> In April 1938 Theodore J. Waldeck believed he found the wreckage of Redfern's plane.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death Of Redfern Now Held Proved. Waldeck, on Return From the Jungle, Says He Has Found Scene of Fatal Crash. Riddle Believed Solved. 'The Suspense Is Ended', Flier's Father's Comment on Expedition's Report. Flier's Father Gets Report. Plane Crash Established |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A13F63F5C1B7A93CBAB178FD85F4C8385F9 |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=April 29, 1938 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref>

His father died in 1941, still hoping that his son would be found alive.<ref name=father>{{cite news |title=Redfern, Father Of Lost Aviator. Professor Clung to Hope That Son, Paul, Who Disappeared in 1927 Flight, Was Alive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/11/08/archives/redfernfather-of-lost-aviator-professor-clung-to-hope-that-son-paul.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=November 8, 1941 |access-date=2013-12-29 }}</ref> His widow, Gertrude Hillabrand, died in 1981 and was buried in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]].<ref name=widow/>

In 1988 Robert Carlin believed that Redfern had flown over [[Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela]], only to be killed in a crash in the jungle and that a report that aviator [[Jimmy Angel]] had seen wreckage of Redfern's plane was not bragging, but correct.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ci_F3K9AGPQC&dq=Jimmy+angel&pg=PA94 Flying Magazine Aug 1988 "The Redfern Mystery" by Len Morgan. Accessed October 15, 2018]</ref> Carlin believed the area to be approximately 40 miles NNW of [[Angel Falls]].

==See also==
*[[List of people who disappeared mysteriously: 1910–1990|List of people who disappeared]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redfern, Paul}}

[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1920s missing person cases]]
[[Category:American aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Venezuela]]
[[Category:Missing aviators]]
[[Category:Missing person cases in Venezuela]]
[[Category:Musicians from Columbia, South Carolina]]
[[Category:People declared dead in absentia]]
[[Category:People from Rochester, New York]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1927]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]