A photo in the hotel lobby caught my eye because it featured an old airplane. It showed a 25-year old chap named Paul Redfern and his single-engine Stinson “Detroiter.” Redfern was a mechanical whiz and an excellent pilot, even flying for the Federal Customs Service. He had a plan to win a $25,000 prize (roughly $1 million in today’s dollars) by flying from Sea Island to Rio de Janeiro. Non-stop. Solo. The event was financed by Howard Coffin, automaker and owner of the Cloisters Hotel on Sea Island. Coffin and the city were hoping the publicity would establish Sea Island and the near-by city of Brunswick as places of sophistication and commerce, like Savannah. Both Brunswick and Redfern would need lots of luck to make it all happen.
