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. 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. In September 1927,
George Henry Hamilton Tate, sponsored by the
American Museum of Natural History, went to look for Redfern. Some believed him to still be alive as late as 1932. 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
Amerindians in
Paloemeu. The American consulate sent an expedition to the village, but found nothing. In 1936, aviator Art Williams claimed he found traces of the Redfern crash in
British Guiana. 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. Redfern's father published a joyful reply in the papers, and credited Art Williams as the discoverer of his son. 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. In 1937, the 13th expedition was organized to find out his fate. Now missing for ten years, he could be
legally declared dead. In February 1938 Frederick John Fox died while trying to find Redfern. In April 1938 Theodore J. Waldeck believed he found the wreckage of Redfern's plane. His father died in 1941, still hoping that his son would be found alive. His widow, Gertrude Hillabrand, died in 1981 and was buried in
Detroit, Michigan. Carlin believed the area to be approximately 40 miles NNW of
Angel Falls. ==See also==