Charles Eugne Jules Marie Nungesser (15 March 1892 presumably on or after 8 May 1927) was a French ace pilot and adventurer who is best remembered as having been a rival of Charles Lindbergh. Nungesser was a renowned ace in France, ranking third highest in the country with 43 air combat victories during World War I.

After the war, Nungesser mysteriously disappeared on an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, flying with wartime comrade Franois Coli in L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird). Their aircraft took off from Paris on 8 May 1927, was sighted once more over Ireland, and then was never seen again. The aircraft was either lost over the Atlantic or crashed in Newfoundland or Maine. Two weeks after Nungesser and Coli's attempt, Charles Lindbergh successfully made the journey, flying solo from New York to Paris in Spirit of St. Louis. Monuments and museums honoring Nungesser and Coli's attempt exist at Le Bourget airport in Paris and on the cliffs of tretat, the location from which their plane was last sighted in France.

A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or vice versa. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, balloons and other aircraft.

Early aircraft engines did not have the reliability needed for the crossing, nor the power to lift the required fuel. There are difficulties navigating over featureless expanses of water for thousands of miles, and the weather, especially in the North Atlantic, is unpredictable. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, transatlantic flight has become routine, for commercial, military, diplomatic, and other purposes. Experimental flights (in balloons, small aircraft, etc.) present challenges for transatlantic fliers.