The Flight Of Charles Lindbergh

It was on May 20, 1927, that aviation history was changed forever. Charles Augustus Lindbergh, a 25 year old from Little Falls, Minnesota, made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 33-1/2 hours. This was a great feat that strikes me still as seemingly impossible and almost a miracle. Charles Lindbergh deserves to be praised as one of aviation's greater pioneers.

There are many facts about Lindbergh that are quite fascinating. First, Charles Lindbergh was the son of a U.S. Congressman from Minnesota and met President Teddy Roosevelt. When LIndbergh stayed at the Garden City Hotel the night before, he did not sleep that night as well, so with that and his 33-1/2 hour flight, he probably went almost 55 hours without sleep! The remarkable thing is that he only dosed off once during the flight. The night before that, the announcer at Yankee Stadium, who was announcing a pro-boxing match, said to say a prayer for Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh's mother was very concerned about her son's flight. She thought he would crash into the ocean and be devoured by sharks. so Lindbergh said he would bring with him a life raft, a survival pack with fishing lines, and shark repellent. There was no such thing as shark repellent, but this seemed to make his mother feel better about it.

Lindbergh was a giant, measuring up to 6 feet 4 inches tall. In the very small cockpit, this plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, he was always uncomfortable which kept him from falling asleep. The Spirit of St. Louis cost Lindbergh his entire life savings and he borrowed the rest from a group of businessmen from St. Louis. This is why the plane was named The Spirit of St. Louis.

It was a Nassau County Policeman who closed the hatch for Lindbergh's flight. He was especially friendly with the police who helped Lindbergh, a very shy man, concentrate on his upcoming flight while the large crowds came that could potentially disturb him. He had tried to keep himself in uncomfortable positions so that he would not fall asleep. For the flight, the plane. was loaded with more fuel than was ever put in it, and in San Diego where the plane, was tested, they decided to not fully load the plane because in landing it would have too much weight. The wings were also extended another four feet in order to increase lift and help the plane aloft. So they decided to calculate how long the runway would have to be with the amount of fuel he would need. On his flight he did not have a windshield so he had to use a periscope in order to see out of the plane. After takeoff, Lindbergh used the Port Jefferson railroad line as a guide to steer himself across the sound.

When Lindbergh arrived home, he was lauded as an American hero. He was in parades all across America and was one of three Americans to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during peacetime. This amazing feat will certainly be remembered for years to come as an almost suicidal mission which turned into one of the greatest events of the decade. If I were alive at the time, he would certainly be a hero of mine for an extended period of time.