Dieudonne Costes

Dieudonné Costes (14 November 1892 – 18 May 1973) was a French aviator who set flight distance records. He was also a fighter ace during World War I.

Costes was born in Septfonds, Tarn-et-Garonne. He received a pilot diploma (brevet) on 26 September 1912. During World War I he served in the French Air Service, in MF55 and MF85 Farman squadrons, then in N506, N507 and N531 fighter Nieuport squadrons, on the Balkan front. He scored there 8 victories (6 confirmed), the first in April 1917, the rest in January–September 1918. He ended the war as a 2nd Lieutenant.

After the war he flew in a civilian aviation, starting with Latecoere in 1920, flying with mail on Toulouse-Casablanca route, then flying on Bordeaux-Paris route in 1921 and on Paris-London route in Air Union airlines in 1923. From 1925 he became a test pilot in Breguet works. Then he started to perform long-distance and record breaking flights with Breguet 19 aircraft.

On 26 September 1926 he flew 4,100 km (2,546 miles) from Paris to Assuan, with René de Vitrolles, attempting at breaking a world distance record. He broke the world distance record on 28 October 1926, flying 5,396 km (3,351 miles) from Paris to Jask, Persia, with J. Rignot, as a part of 19,625-km (12,187-mile) Paris-India-Paris flight.

Between 10 October 1927 and 14 April 1928 Costes and Joseph Le Brix flew 57,410 km (35,652 miles) around the world, in Breguet 19GR named Nungesser-Coli, from Paris through Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Japan, India, and Greece, although they traveled across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco, California, to Tokyo, Japan, by ship. During the trip, they made the first non-stop aerial crossing of the South Atlantic Ocean on 14–15 October 1927, flying between Saint-Louis, Senegal, and Natal, Brazil. While in South America, they routed themselves through every country in the continent. On 15–17 December 1928 Costes, with Paul Codos, set a world distance record in a closed circuit of 8,029 km (4,986 miles).

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