Little Falls Native, Charles A. Lindbergh began his famous journey on the morning of May 20, 1927 and finally land in the late evening of may 21st in Paris. American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh departs from Long Island, NY on his Trans-Atlantic Flight aboard the Spirit of St. Louis to become the first person to fly a solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Landing in Paris 33 ½ hours later Lindbergh also completed the first ever non-stop flight between New York and Paris. Lindbergh – an airmail pilot – wasnt considered a serious contender to be the one to claim the $25,000 prize offered by Raymond Orteig in accomplishing the feat. Most of the other contenders were quite seasoned, highly experienced, and highly financed. Lindbergh financed the feat himself, along with loans from the State National Bank of St. Louis (giving the plane its name), and a donation from his Air Mail employer. Multiple other aviators had come close to accomplishing the feat, but they had all ended either in failure (not being able to land and having to ditch the plane), or disaster (being lost at sea). Lindbergh, however, was not deterred and helped design his plane along with Ryan Aircraft chief engineer Donald A. Hall. Taking off from Roosevelt Field at 7:52 AM, the plane was so loaded down in fuel that it barely cleared the runway and the telephone lines at the end of it. He flew northeast up the East Coast and as night fell left Newfoundland and headed across the North Atlantic. His greatest challenge was staying awake; he had to hold his eyelids open with his fingers and hallucinated ghosts passing through the cockpit. He also had to fight icing, flying blind through fog for several hours, storm clouds, and wave tops. After navigating only by the stars (whenever visible), and dead reckoning Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Airport at 10:22 PM (22:22) on May 21st. The airfield was not on his map and he initially mistook it for a large industrial complex because of bright lights spilling out in all directions. Those lights were, in fact, the headlights of the largest traffic jam in Parisian history come to see Lindbergh – literally dragging him out of his cockpit and parading him around on their shoulders for over half an hour. Lindbergh instantly became an international hero. Gaston Doumergue, the President of France, bestowed the French Légion dhonneur on Lindbergh, and on his arrival back in the United States aboard the United States Navy cruiser USS Memphis (CL-13) on June 11, 1927, a fleet of warships and multiple flights of military aircraft including pursuit planes, bombers, and the rigid airship USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), escorted him up the Potomac River to the Washington Navy Yard on the Anacostia River in SE Washington, D.C. where President Calvin Coolidge awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. On June 13, 1927, a ticker-tape parade was held for him down 5th Avenue in New York City. On December 14, 1927 a Special Act of Congress awarded Lindbergh – a United States Army Reserve Officer - the Medal of Honor.
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 13:53:21 +0000
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