Baltic Pioneer

摘要

Having flown across the Atlantic, the monoplane crashed, killing its two valiant pilots, in the early hours of July 17, 1933. For a long time there was speculation about the cause of the accident; had it strayed too close to a Nazi German military establishment, perhaps even a concentration camp? The most likely cause of the tragedy was bad weather and the fatigue of its two pilots, who had taken off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York on the 15th. They had travelled 3,983 miles non-stop and were just 65 miles from their final destination. Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas had perished in an attempt to put the land of their birth, Lithuania, firmly on the aviation map.