1983: The Sniffer Planes

Overview

In 1979, in the midst of the second oil crisis, two eccentric inventors proposed to the French industrial oil giant, Elf, a concept for an aircraft able to detect oil deposits underground. Encouraged by « promising demonstrations », the French state administration eagerly backed the « avion renifleurs » …which turned out to be a complete hoax, and a financial swindle that would soon become a national scandal.