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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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TIME, Almanac of the 20th Century.ISO
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1994-02-27
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<text>
<title>
(1920s) Charles A. Lindbergh
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1920s Highlights
People
</history>
<link 07890>
<link 00026><article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
Charles A. Lindbergh
</hdr>
<body>
<p>(MAY 23, 1927)
</p>
<p> Two weeks ago, the name of Captain Charles A. Lindbergh meant
nothing to the average U.S. inhabitant. Last week, he became a
sudden, romantic national hero with a collection of nicknames:
"Lone Wolf!" Lindbergh, "Lucky" Lindbergh, "Flyin' Fool"
Lindbergh, etc.
</p>
<p> Last week, single-handed he piloted the Ryan monoplane, Spirit
of St. Louis, from San Diego to Curtiss Field, L.I., stopping
only at St. Louis. His flying time--21 hr. 20 min.--was the
fastest ever made from coast to coast. Grinning like a schoolboy
emerging from a showerbath, he told inquisitive reporters that
all he needed before hopping across the Atlantic was a little
sleep, good weather, a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of
water.
</p>
<p>(MAY 30, 1927)
</p>
<p> Late one evening last week Capt. Charles A. Lindbergh studied
weather reports and decided that the elements were propitious
for a flight from New York to Paris. He took a two-hour sleep,
then busied himself with final preparations at Roosevelt Field,
L.I. Four sandwiches, two canteens of water and emergency army
rations along with 451 gallons of gasoline were put into his
monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis.
</p>
<p> He entered the cockpit. At 7:52 a.m. he was roaring down the
runway, his plane lurching on the soft spots of the wet ground.
Out of the safety zone, he hit a bump, bounced into the air,
quickly returned to earth. Disaster seemed imminent; a tractor
and a gully were ahead. Then his plane took the air, cleared the
tractor, the gully; cleared some telephone wires. Five hundred
onlookers believed they had witnessed a miracle. It was a
miracle of skill.
</p>
<p> Captain Lindbergh took the shortest route to Paris--the great
circle--cutting across Long Island Sound, Cape Cod, Nova
Scotia, skirting the coast of Newfoundland. He later told some
of his sky adventures to the aeronautically alert New York Times
for syndication: "Shortly after leaving Newfoundland, I began
to see icebergs...Within an hour it became dark. Then I struck
clouds and decided to try to get over them. For a while I
succeeded at a height of 10,000 feet. I flew at this height
until early morning. The engine was working beautifully and I
was not sleepy at all. I felt just as if I was driving a motor
car over a smooth road, only it was easier. Then it began to get
light and the clouds got higher...Sleet began to cling to the
plane. That worried me a great deal and I debated whether I
should keep on or go back. I decided I must not think any more
about going back...
</p>
<p> Captain Lindbergh then told how he crossed southwestern
England and the Channel, followed the Seine to Paris, where he
circled the city before recognizing the flying field at Le
Bourget. Said he: "I appreciated the reception which had been
prepared for me and had intended taxiing up to the front of the
hangars, but no sooner had my plane touched the ground than a
human sea swept toward it. I saw there was danger of killing
people with my propeller and I quickly came to a stop."
</p>
<p> He had completed his 3,600-mile conquest of the Atlantic in
33 hours, 29 minutes, at an average speed of 107 1/2 miles per
hour.
</p>
<p>(JUNE 27, 1927)
</p>
<p> Aside from its emotional aspects, the Lindbergh flight was
most important as an inspiration to increased interest in
aviation. In speeches in New York City, Colonel Lindbergh
repeatedly urged the creation of a great airport, like the Le
Bourget field in Paris. He also emphasized the war-time
importance of airplanes and (somewhat like onetime Colonel
Mitchell of the army air service) said that airplane bombing had
been brought to such accuracy that if 20 planes went after a
battleship the battleship would certainly be destroyed. It was
not so much what Colonel Lindbergh said that was important as
the fact that, for the first time, the gospel of aviation was
preached by a national hero to whose words the country was ready
to listen.</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>