Mansell Richard James

On 28 May 1919 James flew what was reputedly the first Sopwith Camel in the United States, from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Boston, Massachusetts. He was competing for a $1,000 prize offered by The Boston Globe for fastest flight between the two cities. At 115 miles per hour despite headwinds, he was much faster than a prior competitor's 90 mph gait. After landing at a field eight miles north of Boston, James departed again at 6 PM, supposedly for a stop at Mitchel Field on Long Island en route to Atlantic City, both of which are southwest of Boston. He buzzed frightened spectators watching his takeoff.[7]

It was Captain James' intent to follow railroad tracks from Boston on his return flight. He apparently guided on the wrong set of railroad tracks,[8] as he later landed at Tyringham, Massachusetts, (near Lee), about 100 air miles west of Boston, to have his aircraft serviced.[9] On 29 May, he was reportedly seen at 11:30 AM at an altitude of about 5,000 feet over Connecticut after departing Lee, Massachusetts; he apparently had a sound engine at that sighting and was headed southeast.[10][11]

A more reliable report tells a somewhat different story. On the morning of 2 June 1919, he took off from Tyringham toward the south, then turned west, away from Boston. He drew a crowd of spectators for his departure because the local populace was not used to aircraft. Because of his direction of flight, they thought he might be returning to the field he departed, but he did not reappear.[9]

Various search efforts were attempted in the years that followed James' disappearance. On 4 June 1919 it was reported that an aeroplane with its engine running had been heard near Millerton, New York.[12] On 5 August 1919, a berry picker in a ravine on Mount Riga outside Millerton, New York found aircraft wreckage which was speculated to be James'.[13][14] In December 1925 a hunting party had found some apparent wreckage in the remote woods near Tyringham but did not think much of it at the time and only in the weeks after returning did they realize the significance and mounted an unsuccessful search to relocate it.[8] James's uncle had posted a reward for the recovery of his nephew's remains shortly after the disappearance which was still being offered at the time.[8][15] On 19 May 1927, U. S. Coast Guard Boat 290 found an aircraft wing floating in Fort Pond Bay, Long Island Sound. Captain James's brother, E. D. James, wrote a letter requesting a description of the wing, hoping to identify it.[10] There was another report that his plane might have gone down in a river at Poughkeepsie, New York, but nothing was found.[16] Despite extensive searches for him spurred partially by rewards offered, no sign of James has ever been found.[1] The aircraft debris that had been found was never positively identified as being from James' plane.