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Old November 11th, 2020 #1
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Default Charles Lindbergh: Wronged American Hero

Charles Lindbergh: Wronged American Hero

By John Wear

Published: 2020-11-10

Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974) became world-famous in May 1927 after he flew solo his single-engine plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. When he returned to New York two weeks later, 4 million people turned out to honor him in a massive ticker-tape parade. One newspaper wrote, “No conqueror in the history of the world ever received a welcome such as was accorded Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh yesterday.”[1] Lindbergh was a national hero, and became Time magazine’s first Man of the Year.[2]

By the end of 1941, however, Lindbergh had become one of the most-reviled men in American history. One columnist wrote that Lindbergh had plummeted from “Public Hero No. 1” to “Public Enemy No. 1.”[3] A 1942 poll showed that only 10% of Americans had a favorable view of Lindbergh, while 81% had an unfavorable view.[4] Lindbergh’s sister-in-law, Constance, reflected on America’s new attitude toward Lindbergh, “Imagine, in just 15 years he has gone from Jesus to Judas!”[5]

This article examines why Lindbergh suffered such a precipitous drop in popularity.

https://codoh.com/library/document/c...rican-hero/en/
 
Old November 15th, 2021 #2
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Default Brigadier General Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (1902-1974)

This recent research study brings forward some hidden facts about the roaring 20s of America and the path of Charles A. Lindbergh. I have permission to post it here.

Abstract
Charles A. Lindbergh created a new opening for America with his successful flight to Paris in May of 1927. At the same time, he received a truly unique, overwhelmingly positive reaction from the public, an event that is still waiting for a full explanation and documentation.
Introduction

Brigadier General Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (1902-1974)

On April 7, 1954, Lindbergh was reinstated as a brigadier general in the Air Force Reserves by President Eisenhower (The National 2020).

The Roaring Twenties – when Charles A. Lindbergh grew into a young adult – were exceptional times, even by American standards. A large scale consumerism was spreading nationwide with cars, movies and radios while masses of people discovered the world of the stock market. Internal combustion based, fuel operated engines steadily improved and extended the range of airplanes. Lindbergh fell into love with aviation early, gained a few years of experiences and started to formulate his plan for a transatlantic flight, setting his mind on winning the Orteig Prize. He was working against a very competitive field of men who were often well financed. By early 1927 he started to design a purpose built plane where the critical elements were his own initiations (Hall 1927). It was a single-seated monoplane that Ryan Airlines of San Diego, California offered to build in 60 days for him. The engine was a nine-cylinder, 223 hp, Wright J-5C Whirlwind radial engine with a predicted 9,000 hour lifetime (Wraga 2014), (Hall 1927). In other words, all the critical elements and knowledge were on hand and Lindbergh was the man to assemble the pieces of this puzzle properly. His preparations for the flight covered every possible detail and he took off from New York in the morning of May 20, 1927. Thirty-three hours and thirty minutes later he landed in Paris and stepped out from obscurity into the light of fame that followed him for a lifetime. How substantial was Lindbergh’s contribution to the rapidly developing aviation industry after his 1927 flight? Although Lindbergh clearly arrived to aviation activities at the right time, at the critical moment he made the correct choices and this quality characteristically remained with him for the rest of his life. He remained very active and masterfully used the exploding public interest he created to promote aviation worldwide, providing a major contribution to the aviation industry in the following decade.

Lindbergh’s Personal Background

Lindbergh (1927) described his early life and origins in his book “WE’, that he published after the Paris flight in 1927. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on February 4, 1902. His father, Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. was born in Stockholm, Sweden on January 20, 1860 and was brought to America as a young child “about 1860”. The family settled in Minnesota (Lindbergh 1927 19 20). Lindbergh, Sr. became a practicing attorney in Little Falls, Minnesota after spending his younger years with hunting and fishing in the state’s rural environment with very few schools. In 1906, Lindbergh Sr. was elected to the U.S. Congress where he served for ten years for the Sixth District of MN. The father had a strong leaning toward populist principles which was a fairly standard political orientation at the time in the U.S. He played his role for American isolationism from World War I affairs in Europe and has also written a book about the Federal Reserve System (Lindbergh Sr. 1968). Lindbergh’s mother Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh, was from Detroit, the “daughter of Charles and Evangeline Land” of “English, Irish and French extraction” (Lindbergh 1927 21). Lindbergh’s mother was well educated, and on both sides of the family high achievers was present before him.

Lindbergh as a Young Adult

Lindbergh’s younger years were spent with constant moving with the family. He was educated in over a dozen schools “public and private” from Washington, D.C. to California. His main interests were mechanical engineering, target practice, airplanes and riding his motorcycle cross country. His interest in flying was already fixed at age ten when his mother took him to an air show in the Washington, D.C. area in 1912. Lindbergh’s higher education was in Mechanical Engineering, at the College of Engineering in Madison, at the University of Wisconsin. He left the university after finishing only half his sophomore year. He decided to enroll with the Lincoln, Nebraska Aircraft Corporation, a flying school, in April of 1922. From there on his life became literally a rollercoaster ride. Lindbergh started his “barnstorming” activities right after flying school, in 1922, and he soon graduated to “wing-walking”. As he finished the season in October in Wyoming he had to get back to Lincoln so he purchased a boat for $2, patched up the larger leaks and started downstream on the Yellow Stone River on his own.

In 1923 April Lindbergh was in Americus, Georgia where the federal Government was auctioning off leftover “Jennies” from WWI. These were trainers with relatively weak engines and he purchased his own for $500 with an OX-5 motor, “fully equipped” (Lindbergh 1927 39). He was learning to fly his plane mostly on his own and soon found his first enterprise. He was flying around in the southern states, when in Maben, Mississippi, he found a town where seemingly everybody wanted to take short, $5 pleasure flights with him. In two weeks he made $250, after expenses (Lindbergh 1927 40-62). Considering that the year before, Lindbergh was forced to work in a factory for $15 a week to cover his traveling expenses, his future started to look brighter. Through his barnstorming period Lindbergh has often carried out forced landings, sometimes on uneven terrain, damaging his plane. Engines cut out on him, or simply, there was not enough power to clear obstacles after taking off.

Barnstorming was a lifestyle loaded with adrenalin and continuous adventures but Lindbergh had his eyes fixed on the modern airplanes with 400 hp engines that the Army had at the time already. He enlisted in the Army and in early 1924 he passed his War Department examination. Soon he was invited to Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas to start his Flying Cadet class on March 15, 1924 (Lindbergh 1927 90). The training at Brooks Field was “rigid” and the majority of the applicants were unable to pass the flight tests and exams. Lindbergh had the advantage with his over 300 hours of accumulated flight time plus his in depth mechanical experiences. Out of 104 students in Lindbergh’s class only 18 received their wings after the one year program. He graduated as the best pilot in his class. (Lindbergh 1927 116). By joining the army he opened a lifetime of opportunities and advances for himself. Also, the Robertson Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis hired him as a mail pilot for the St. Louis to Chicago route. Flying the airmail routes was a job where even the most experienced and careful pilots found their challenges. The planes they used were usually old Army planes with their fair share of mechanical issues. The schedules forced evening, bad weather and winter flights with occasional emergency landings and parachute jumps. By November of 1926, Lindbergh had four emergency parachute jumps in a two and half year period and a number of forced landings under adverse conditions. As a result, after Charles "Slim'' Lindbergh he also received the nickname "Lucky Lindy”, years before his New York to Paris flight (Bates N.D.). He fearlessly carried on with the job and developed a reputation as a cautious and skilled pilot.

Early Transatlantic Flights

Villiers-Tuthill (1994) wrote about the first successful transatlantic crossing by Lieut. Arthur Whitton Brown and Capt. John Alcock. Three airplanes gathered at St John, New Foundland in May of 1919 to attempt the crossing to Ireland. As they were flying for a £10,000 prize offered originally by Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail in 1913, the flights were well documented on both sides of the Atlantic by the Royal Aero Club. The rules called for heavier than air planes and a 72 hour limit to fly from St. John, New Foundland to the Irish coast. First to take off was Harry Hawker and K. Mackenzie Grieve on May 18, 1919. They were flying a Sopwith Rolls-Royce, a biplane with two motors but were forced into the water because of an engine failure and were saved by Mary, a Dutch steamer in mid-Atlantic waters. Capt. John Alcock and navigator Lieut. Arthur Whitton Brown took off also from St. John on the 14th of June at 4:13 pm, GMT with a Vickers Vimy biplane, after learning that Hawker and Grieve did not take the Prize. The large plane was made of steel, 42 feet and 8 inches long with a respectable wingspan of 67 feet, powered by a pair of 360hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines. Their maximum speed was 90 mph. Strong winds helped the team to reach Ireland; their average speed was 120 mph because of the wind. They flew 16 hours and 27 minutes to cover the 1,900 miles under very poor visibility. After landing in a bog at the small town of Clifden proper celebrations followed. Later in the same month the aviators were knighted by King George V and their prize was presented to them by Sir Winston Churchill. Admiral Mark Kerr, the third contender experienced mechanical issues and gave up the idea of the crossing after Alcock and Brown made it to Ireland.

The Introduction of the Orteig Prize

Raymond Orteig, a French hotel owner in New York, offered a $25,000 prize for the first pilot to make an uninterrupted flight between New York and Paris, in either direction (Raymond 2014). The prize amounted to somewhat less than $400,000 in 2021 dollars. The first offer was made in 1919 and was large enough to motivate experienced flyers with resources. By the mid 1920s the prize was well known in the budding aviation community, the media and the public kept a close eye on the developments as well. Around 1925, certainly all major components were developed by the aviation industry for pilots to realistically consider the 3,610 mile flight. The risks involved were obviously major, but the pilots who gained their flight experiences in the first half of the 1920s were not a bunch to be scared easily either. The major risk factor was the flight over the Atlantic during most of the course. An airplane to have a chance for success had to meet three critical requirements: The frame, the landing gear and the engine had to be sturdy and powerful enough to survive the takeoff with the huge load of fuel and clear any obstacles at the end of the runaway. The solution was a delicate balance among many factors, the power of the engine and its weight, fuel economy, wingspan, the dry weight of the whole plane and the equipment to be carried. The propeller pitch and the positions of the wings had to be optimized for fuel economy for the long flight as opposed to maximum lifting power at the takeoff. And last but not least, an aerodynamic fuselage was a critical factor where the engine was mostly covered to reduce fuel consumption and maximize speed. Lindbergh’s single-seat, single engine, small mono-plane, regardless of the relative low production cost of $10,500, was on the cutting edge for all the above requirements. The design was the result of teamwork between Ryan Airlines and Lindbergh (Hall 1927).

The Field of Contenders for the Orteig Prize

Like Medieval knights in preparation for a tournament, so were the best and bravest flyers of the decade drawn to Roosevelt Field in New York. Long Island was the optimal geographical location for takeoff toward Paris. As the deaths, injuries and broken up expensive airplanes piled up on the runaway it became clear, this contest was not motivated by money anymore, winning the Prize became a question of honor. The media fully realized the dramatic news value of the events and followed step by step, securing major publicity for the flyers. Experts understood that the goal was within reach. The question was: Who will make it?

The completion took off in 1926 and activities reached the high point in 1927. René Paul Fonck was a highly successful top fighter ace in WWI for the French Army. In 1926 he received substantial support from Igor Sikorsky. They built a plane specifically for the New York to Paris flight, the Sikorsky S-35. The three engine, $80,000 plane with four people and luxury items was badly overloaded and crashed at the end of the runaway at Roosevelt Field on September 21, 1926. Fonck and his co-pilot survived, two men died and the plane was destroyed in a fire (Guttman 2009). Additional teams were ready by April 1927. On the 26th of April, Davis and Wooster died while trying to take off from Roosvelt Field, Long Island, New York. The French team flying the plane White Bird on May 8, 1927 has disappeared after last seen off Ireland. The two pilots, Charles Nungesser and François Coli never made it to New York. Generally, the main issue was that the planes were overloaded, unable to takeoff, and the landing gears were damaged, causing accidents (United Press 1927). Such was the situation at Roosevelt Field on the 12th of May, 1927 when Lindbergh arrived with his new plane the Spirit of St. Louis.

Lindbergh’s Preparations and Approaches

Lindbergh had to do some substantial work to convince a group of bankers in St. Louis to finance his adventure. He was young although well known as an experienced local mail pilot. Regardless, from the bankers view, the project must have looked anything but guaranteed in light of the September 21, 1926 crash of the very well financed, tragic attempt by René Paul Fonck (Guttman 2009). Lindbergh used his strong reputation with Harry Knight, the president of the St. Louis Flying Club, to advance his cause with the leader of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, Harold Bixby (Adams 2011). Lindbergh presented his case to Bixby as a potential opportunity for the city to become an aviation hub for the area, strengthening the business base there. He received a $15,000 budget for his project but it took months to locate Ryan Airplane Company with chief engineer Donald Hall (Hall 1927), as most manufacturers disagreed with his single engine approach and design plan. By early 1927 it was obvious to Lindbergh that the multi-engine larger airplanes, loaded with two, three and sometimes four men inside were a recipe for disaster. The total weight of these planes with the oversized fuel loads did not allow for safe takeoffs, and at the same time, there was no reason to risk additional lives when one man could handle the flight perfectly.

Lindbergh mercilessly eliminated all items he judged unnecessary weight from the flight. No parachute or heavy radio equipment was taken, only a few sandwiches in a paper bag, some army rations, water and a small raft, just in case. No bed or hot dinner on board and no direct view forward from his pilot seat. The traditional heavy leather chair for the pilot was substituted with a light wicker chair. No opportunity was overlooked to cut down on weight and maximalize fuel load as Lindbergh considered the extra fuel both, a guarantee for success and the ultimate life insurance for himself. Even the edges of paper maps were trimmed to save a few extra ounces. Only a small Spartan cabin to fold in his 6’ 4” frame as he was guiding the plane by looking out the open side window or through a periscope. He was seated behind the engine, an oil tank and two fuel tanks as this configuration offered the best weight distribution around the center of gravity of the plane for takeoff and flight. At the same time, Lindbergh was unwilling to be caught between a fuel tank and the engine, in case of a forced landing. His engine was a single, nine-cylinder, 223 hp, Wright J-5C Whirlwind radial engine with a predicted 9,000 hour lifetime (Wraga 2014). This was a surprisingly advanced motor for 1927. At 500 lb dry weight the J-5C of 1927 delivered comparable horsepower and lifespan, pound by pound, to the six cylinder Ford Mustang engines offered seven decades later. An advantage on the side of the J-5C was that it was air-cooled, allowing for lighter weight. Liquid cooled engines powering airplanes at the time were the cause of endless mechanical issues, often triggering forced landings.

Lindbergh’s preparations were extensive, covering all possible details. As other teams were advancing toward takeoff from Roosevelt Field, time was pressing him. Winning the Orteig Prize was the only visible guarantee to close his flight with a positive balance sheet and pay his bills. The Spirit of St. Louis was finished by Ryan Airlines within 60 days as it was agreed in the contract. This was an extraordinary effort as the Company realized the gravity of the project. Ryan Air was placing its reputation on the line and Lindbergh was risking his life in the process, they had every reason to cooperate. The plane was finished on April 28, 1927. The engine had special attachments for lubrication during the long flight. Lindbergh took some days to carry out seven test flight with various fuel loads in order establish the length of the runaway he needed. He reproduced the graph in his book showing that with a full 450 gallon load of fuel and oil he needed 2,250 feet of runaway (Lindbergh 1993 534 535 544). Had all of his competitors taken the time to do the same work, they might have avoided some accidents.
As Lindbergh was progressing with his last flight tests in San Diego, he kept a close eye on the news about his completion (Lindbergh 1993 129-133). He left San Diego on May 10, and by the time he arrived at Curtis Field, Long Island, NY on the 12th he broke the record for transcontinental flights across North America. In the meantime, the news was received that Nungesser and his navigator Coli has left Paris on the 8th of May with their plane named the White Bird (Lindbergh 1993 129-133). They had been seen off the Irish coast attempting the crossing and they never arrived in New York. They most likely crashed over the Atlantic, sometimes in the next 30 hours after leaving Ireland. The tragic loss of the two French pilots further increased the public’s attention that was already focused on Roosevelt Field. Because of the heavy competition Lindbergh did not publicize his intentions before the 12th of May, 1927 although some local papers in San Diego sniffed out what was going on at Ryan Airplanes (Lindbergh 1993 134). From the 12th of May to the 15th Lindbergh carried out shorter test flights from Curtis Field with various experts to help him to evaluate engine and instrumental functions on the plane.

The Flight to Paris

By the early morning of the 20th of May Lindbergh was ready to fly and the light rain was unable to stop him. His fuel supply was filtered – three times – with his own participation. The last thing he needed was a small mirror to be placed above his head on the instrument panel. A young lady who was in the crowd to see him off gave him her small compact mirror and Lindbergh did not hesitate to stick it on the instrument panel with his own chewing gum. This last issue was checked off and the pilot pronounced his last words before takeoff: “Well, I might as well go”. The runaway was wet and he cleaned the phone wires starching across at the end only by 20 feet. He was tired because he was behind his sleeping schedule, dealing with tasks in the last days. There was rain, fog and icing he had to deal with, forcing him occasionally to fly at sea level. He was navigating exclusively by landmarks and a magnetic compass, regardless; he was only three miles off course when he reached the South Coast of Ireland (Lindbergh 1993 Part 2). He spent four weeks at Ryan Air, while waiting for the airplane, to master the art of magnetic compass navigation and dead reckoning (Hall 1927).
Lindbergh landed at Le Borguet, Paris, at 10:22 pm, local time on May 21st, 1927. The flight was taking 33 hours and 30 minutes and Charles A. Lindbergh was ready for a good sleep that he was able to start only 4:15 in the next morning, after 63 sleepless hours. He woke in the afternoon, “well rested, into a life which could have hardly have been more amazing if I have landed on another planet instead of Paris.” (Lindbergh 1993 501-504). Over half of his book, The Spirit of St. Louis, was dedicated to the detailed account of the 34.5 hour flight (Lindbergh 1993 179-501). In these chapters, he masterfully intertwined his hour by hour detailed records of the flight with his own personal memories, often describing his learning experiences. The book was completed by him in 1953 and he received the Pulitzer Prize for his work.

The Immediate Reactions to Lindbergh’s Flight

The public reception to Lindbergh’s flight at Le Borguet, Paris was unexpected and overwhelming. Regardless of his late arrival at 10:22 pm, local time, a hundred thousand people were waiting for him (Lindbergh 1993 504). Some of them carried the aviator on their shoulders while others were taking pieces of souvenirs, fuselage fabric and parts from his plane. There was no mercy for the winner. The explosive public celebrations Lindbergh received in Paris and New York were out of all proportions, almost irrationally so. After all, his success was built on the labor of thousands who improved aviation slowly after the Wright brother’s first flight on December 17, 1903, almost 24 years earlier. Lindbergh himself went on record, stating how much he learned from René Paul Fonck’s book and his tragic accident of September 21, 1926 at Roosevelt Field. After many months of tensions, waiting and repeated tragedies, a young man stepped out of the shadows with a seemingly average background, with a brilliantly simple looking solution to a complex problem that mesmerized all. A special bond was formed, people adopted him and tied to his personality, youthful smile and simplicity on an emotional level and this connection is still alive after almost a century later. It is impossible to understand Lindbergh’s deep impression on the American public without reading about the receptions he has received while arriving back from Europe (Kessner 2010 117-144). This was more than the celebration of a man and his brave act. This was a deep spiritual experience, a battle cry for renewal and unity of purpose from a whole nation, a unique historical phenomenon, maybe never seen in America with such force before. (Kessner 2010 143-144).

Charles A. Lindbergh Starts on his Unique Path

Lindbergh’s life was a continuous sequence of stressful and dangerous events from the very first day, after he joined the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation, a flying school, in April of 1922. Any average person would have been begging for a time out after five years of wing walking, barnstorming, a year of hard military training, four emergency jumps, hundreds of mail delivery flights, countless forced landings and the transatlantic flight. Airmail service was started in 1918. “According to one veteran airmail pilot, there was a fifty-fifty chance of engine failure on any given flight.” (Historian 2018). By the mid 1920s Army pilots referred to Air Mail piloting as suicidal missions and called their planes flying coffins. “31 of the first 40 U.S. Air Mail pilots died in crashes from 1918 to 1925.” (Mortimer 2003). It is not surprising that Lindbergh’s interests turned toward the Army, and ultimately long distance records. By 1927 pilots with good planes and strong engines actually had a chance to stay alive while those flying the old WWI trainers with 70-90 hp engines were marked for death. Lindbergh, with his four parachute jumps was a marked man and he knew it.

Indications were that Lindbergh was not an average person. By the time he arrived to Roosevelt Field he has accumulated close to 2,000 flight hours after flying for five years. That is over an hour flying on the average for every day during those five years. Lindbergh, starting with minimal resources, literally self-trained himself in five years to be one of the best qualified pilots of his generation.

As soon as Lindbergh slept enough, the minor repairs were done on the plane and he survived a week of continuous “ceremonies and engagements which crammed almost every hour of each day,” (Lindbergh 1993 497). Soon, he was looking around in Europe for places to visit. The log book of the Spirit of St. Louis shows, he flew to Brussels, Belgium on the 28th of May and from there to London, Croydon Aerodrome on the next day (Lindbergh 1993 504 505). When he left Brussels he had to use the end of the runaway in order to avoid hurting people who came to celebrate him and broke through the police cordon. At Croydon his stabilizer that was damaged during the Paris celebration was repaired. From London he flew to Gosport, UK on May 31st, where his plane was dismantled and crated by the Royal Air Force to be shipped back to Washington, D.C. with the U.S. cruiser Memphis. There, it was assembled and was flown by him to Roosevelt Field on the 16th of June.

Lindbergh Becomes an International Ambassador and Groundbreaker for the Aviation Industry

Charles Lindbergh had a strong ability to measure up complex situations and sort out problems, finding solutions. This ability has guided him through the step by step process of securing finances for his plan, to build the proper plane and to land in Paris first. He did not really believe in luck. He often told his children later that “luck had very little to do with the success of the flight.” (Lindbergh 1993 ix). Lindbergh fitted easily and naturally into his new roles and opportunities, adapting well to his new social status, always working on a next project and a next plan. His next logical step was to use his international name recognition to open a market for long distance and intercontinental travel. Once the feasibility was solidly proven, money, technology and business developments started to flow toward this goal as a logical conclusion. Historically, he was looking back at two decades of fast developments of the automobile and aviation industries to show him future possibilities.

After landing in Paris and being dragged around on the runaway by the public, the police decided to hide Lindbergh in a darkened hangar to keep him safe. Within the hour, the U.S. Ambassador, the Honorable Myron T. Herrick showed up with his family members and invited Lindbergh to stay at the embassy for the next week. In the years to follow, this remained a standard policy of the government, inviting him to U.S. embassies everywhere where he flew. This formal U.S. government help opened him the doors to local political and business leaders, turning him into an effective messenger for the U.S. Federal Government and aviation in general. Lindbergh met his future wife Anne Spencer Morrow, while visiting her father, Dwight Whitney Morrow, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in December of 1927. They were married in May of 1929. Ambassador Morrow was engaged in a large scale diplomatic maneuver at the time to strengthen American positions and to pacify the explosive situation with Mexico. He invited Lindbergh to support him with his immense popularity in Latin America as well. The Morrow-Lindbergh diplomacy worked out well, turning around U.S. – Mexican relations for the better. (Kessner 2010 145-155).

On June 17 Lindbergh took the 9 hour and 20 minute flight to visit St. Louis from New York. The result was an overwhelming parade to honor him (Lindbergh 1993 505). He used the rest of 1927 to visit 48 U.S. states and also received the Medal of Honor from Congress. Lindbergh also flew the Spirit of St. Louis from Washington, D.C. to Mexico City in 1927. In 1928 he organized a Latin American air tour and has taken jobs as service consultant with Transcontinental Air Transport and to Pan American Airways (Charles N.D.). Lindbergh also found time to campaign for a World Air Code in order to overcome issues presented by the various regulations different nations set up to deal with civilian flights. The goal was of course some sort of unification to assist international flyers (1920s Aviation 2012).

The Lindbergh Effect on American Aviation

As far as the general public was concerned, on the 21st of May, 1927 when Lindberg landed at Paris, the issue of long distance flight was settled. It did not matter that Lindbergh was an exceptional individual who could walk on airplane wings, survive countless close calls while flying for five years, design an optimal airplane for the job and navigate a 3,610 mile course with only a magnetic compass, not even taking a sextant with him. What was important was that he was able to cross to Paris and he came across as a down to earth young man with a broad smile. Therefore, airplane manufacturers suddenly became a hot item on Wall Street and people became more willing to turn to air transportation. On the surface the public’s approach seems simplistic. In the era of the roaring 20’s the logic was acceptable. Very few people understood at the time, that the economy already received an extrajudicial death penalty in 1920. That was the year when all further increases of monetary liquidity were denied for over a decade, regardless of the average 4% yearly GDP growth and related population increases. From August 1929 to March 1933, the stock of money fell by over a third (Friedman and Schwartz 1963 Chs 6-7, p-299), (Bernanke 1983 257). One of the negative results was that urban real-estate mortgages went from $11 billion to $27 billion in the 1920 to 1929 period (Bernanke 1983 261). Shaw (2016 619-629) illustrated very clearly that the Depression was already forcefully present in rural America. From 1920 to 1923, 28% of the farmers lost their land in Montana when the banks denied them the renewal of their loans.

The Historical Statistics of the United States (1975 Q 768) is a rare primary source reflecting on early manufacturing rates of airplanes in the U.S. After WWI, the total number of planes produced went down to 328 in 1920. After 1920 there was a hesitant slow growth rate to 1,186 planes, built in 1926. From 1927 to 1929 there was an explosive fast growth, from 1,995 to 6,139 planes. As a result of the Depression and stock market collapse, for 1930 the rate shrunk back to 3,437. In 1931, when the full weight of the depression arrived and already existing contracts were delivered in 1930, the year’s total went down to 2,800 and in 1932 to 1,896. These last two years, 1931 and 1932, were still as high as pre-Depression production rates for the aviation industry. The lowest point was reached in 1933 with 1,324 planes and from there on; there was a steady rise toward the early 1940s when the war economy pushed production rates to never seen heights.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA 1926-1996) in a list of chronological events from 1926 to 1996 lists a series of events that are a clear indication of increased aviation related activities after Lindbergh’s flight. Entries after Lindbergh’s flight to the start of the depression include:
May 20-21, 1927: “Lindbergh's feat provided a strong stimulus to U.S. aviation, and made him a world hero whose fame overshadowed earlier Atlantic crossings by air”. (FAA 1926-1996 3)
Oct 19, 1927: Pan American Airways starts passenger and mail services between the U.S. and Cuba (4, 5).
Jan 31, 1928: Early noise related complaints against airplanes reported that low flying planes lowered egg production at a farm in Garrettsville, Ohio (5).
May 16, 1928: Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), also called the "Lindbergh Line" started a well financed operation, mostly focused on transporting passengers. (6). The Jul 7, 1929 entry states that TAT operated a “48-hour coast-to-coast passenger transportation service,” and Charles Lindbergh flew the first plane on this new service route (9).
Oct 31, 1928: The Aeronautics Branch showed that there were 3,659 active pilot licenses. The participation of private pilots increased compared to the prior year (7). The first license was issued only in early 1927, about two months before Lindbergh’s flight.
Feb 21, 1929: “Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh was appointed Technical Adviser to the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce.” (8).
Jun 17, 1929: Delta Air Service started a passenger service on the Dallas, Tex., to Monroe, La. rout (8).

There were already strong bets on Wall Street to support commercial aviation before 1927, usually without substantial returns. Lindbergh set off a new wave of investments with his flight. Between May of 1927 and the 1929 economic collapse, aviation investment tripled. In 1926 there were only 6,000 passenger flights and this number grew to 173,000 by 1929. Regardless, air travel companies were able to turn a profit only later, in the 1930s. Still, the growing number of airplanes and passengers constantly grew the industry. New pilots, navigators and service people had to be hired to operate the growing numbers of planes (Freeman N.D.). Technological inventions were not far behind either:
In September of 1929, a young U.S. Army lieutenant, James Doolittle, took off from Mitchell Field in New York, flew an irregular course of 15 miles (24 kilometers), and landed, all without seeing anything outside of his cockpit (the cockpit was shrouded.) He was using the first instrument navigation package, including a very accurate barometer, a Sperry artificial horizon and gyroscope, and a radio direction beacon for landing—all the result of research at the Full Flight Laboratory set up by Harry Guggenheim. (Freeman N.D.)
Kessner (2010 143-144) provides a summary from contemporary news articles from major newspapers on Lindbergh’s immediate effects on aviation developments. America, after 30 to 50 million people had seen Lindbergh as he was flying from state to state, developed a craving to be a nation of airfields and flyers, overnight. “There is hardly a good-sized city in the West, which is not building a flying field.” (143). “Men and women considered flying for the first time.” (143). “Col. Charles Lindbergh is directly responsible for the awakening to the possibilities of aeronautics.” Wrote the Los Angeles Times (143). “The use of airmail spiked, the sales of private airplanes and investors underwrote new airline adventures.” (143). “Towns across the land offered prizes for long-distance flights and air derby competitions.” (143). “Flying become so popular on the Pacific Coast that flights had to be booked days in advance, and for the first time businessmen found themselves bumped from their regular departures.” (143 144). “Demand for new aircraft quickly outpaced supply, delaying delivery on new orders for ninety days.” wrote the New York Times (144).

Newspapers started to offer regular columns on aviation. The New York Times first came up with a column “Aviation” and later added “Lindbergh on Flying” (144). The Washington Post replied with “Flying and Flyers” and in the Los Angeles Times it was “Aviation News” (144). After a year, a study showed that flight related coverage increased six times compared to earlier, and this study did not include the newly started aviation magazines (144). Lindbergh has emerged from his long American tour as the “face of commercial aviation” (144). The highest officers of the nation sought his advice, Congressmen asked for a new “Department of Aviation” and the White House was open for him even for “unannounced visits” (144). This was not an overnight success story of a man; this was the changing of a nation. The opening of a new gate, regardless what was waiting behind that new gate.

Lindbergh Meets the Shapers of Public Opinion

Lindbergh refused the endorsement of a cigarette advertisement, without even taking a second look. That was $50,000 out the window, exactly twice what he was risking his life for when he won the Orteig Prize. The next test was presented by William Randolph Hearst for MGM Studios. Lindbergh was supposed to become a movie star in the loving arms of Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davis in an “aeronautical picture” “filmed with dignity and taste” (Kessner 2010 145). The offer was $750,000 plus possibly more with royalties, exactly thirty times the amount of the Ortieg Prize, minimum. At the end of a personal meeting Lindbergh was politely trying to hand the contract back to Hearst who challenged him to tear it up if he does not like it. Lindbergh was not about to disappoint Hearst and did as requested. While looking back at the sacrifices of his friends and competitors during the last five years of his life, the decision must have been easy for him. He was not against making money, as he explained later, but it had to happen in an acceptable way. In less than a year his bank collected around $400,000 in fees and royalties. His exclusive reports from Paris to the Times made him $65,000 alone.

Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh Opens Intercontinental Routes
After Anne Spencer Morrow married Charles Lindbergh in May of 1929, soon she started her training to be a pilot, radio operator and navigator. By August of 1929 she was flying solo and starting in 1931 the couple carried out a series of long distance flights to map new routes to Alaska, China and Japan with a Lockheed Model 8 Sirius plane. The Sirius 8 was manufactured by Lockheed after Lindbergh requested it in 1929. While in China Anne has written a book titled North to the Orient. Charles Lindbergh has written ten or more books, fully or partially. His father Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. has written a book also while in Congress from 1907 to 1917. Since he was fundamentally a Populist, the subject of his book was the Federal Reserve System. Anne Morrow graduated from Smith College where she received two awards for her literary works. Her 1955 book, Gifts from the Sea was a national bestseller. She received numerous honorary degrees and awards for her works in later years. Their youngest child, Reeve Morrow Lindbergh (born October 2, 1945) also turned out to be a good writer. As she notes in her foreword to her father’s book The Spirit of St. Louis, “Ours has always been a family of writers,” (Lindbergh 1993 viii). This deep family tradition of the Lindberghs’ is running into the third century now, this is the guarantee that they will be always an organic part of American history.

The Lindberghs started their 7,100 mile long journey from Long Island on July 27, 1931. They were exploring the optimal routes toward the Orient on the request of Pan American Airways where Lindbergh was a consultant. They certainly had the experience to fly together as part of their honeymoon in 1929 was already spent in a Skiorsky S-38, mapping routes for Pan Am in South America. They flew across Northern Canada to Nome, Alaska and crossed the Pacific to the Siberian cost. They made numerous stops. From the Japanese Islands they crossed to Nanking, China. Their journey ended at Hankow, China. The Sirius 8 was seriously damaged while being lowered from the deck of the British ship Hermes for take off from the Yangtze River. (Trautman 2017). In 1933 the Lindbergh couple started a 30,000 mile, around the world tour with the Sirius 8 again. This time they flew first to Greenland and on to Europe, including Moscow, Africa, across the Atlantic to South America and north to New York. They arrived home, on time for Christmas of 1933. They landed on four continents and visited 21 countries. Their detailed logs and observations were used for decades to establish new flight routes by aviation companies. Anne Lindbergh was able to make a 3,000 mile radio connection during trip.

The Kidnapping and Murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr.

This was the darkest event in the life of the Lindbergh family that resonated down to their next generation. The murder of the 20 months old toddler is much researched to this day as many feel that there was no full, satisfactory solution to the crime. On the one side, three cultural deconstructionists, Lisa Pearlman and Gregory Ahlgren with Stephen Monier produced two books arguing that Lindbergh was somehow involved in the murder of his own child. On the other hand, Cahill (2014) invested two decades to uncover all possible details to offer a full record of the related events, including the Bruno Richard Hauptmann trial. There were two facts that were clearly established and supported with quality evidence: Hauptman had in his home and personally used part of the ransom money. Also, the ladder left behind, after the kidnapping at the Lindbergh home, was constructed from pieces of wood that were found in Hauptman’s attic. The FBI was involved in the kidnapping investigation and collected related data. Had there been any possible connection between Lindbergh and Hauptman, this would have been publicized one way or another when Lindbergh started to oppose FDR, joining America First before the WWII entry of the U.S. (FBI 100 Lindbergh Kidnapping 2008), (FBI File Lindbergh Kidnapping N.D.)

Medical Research

Lindbergh was also engaged in medical research and stayed in a lifelong friendship with Richard Bing, M.D., as a result. Dr. Bing described their work together in an article and reproduced Lindbergh’s letter to him after a 1970 meeting in Pasadena, CA (Bing 1970).

The Lindbergh Family

It all started at a Christmas party in 1927 in Mexico City. Anne Morrow was staying with her family while her father was the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Colonel Lindbergh was an invited guest; he arrived on the Spirit of St. Louis, just six months after his Paris flight. There were other girls at that party, some taller and more fashionable than Anne Morrow but something happened between the two of them, something unexplainable and barely describable. Melanie Benjamin (2013) has made an excellent attempt to sort things out, based on a detailed interview with Anne, using plenty of quotes from her. It seems Benjamin was able to reconstruct a set of events that the participants could barely comprehend even many years later. Events of very minor significance to others, that led to Lindbergh writing a short note to Anne Morrow, to meet him in the kitchen at 4:15 am, the next morning. The invitation was for a short flight together, early, in order to avoid the eyes of news people. And Anne Morrow set her alarm clock to 4:00 am, to be there on time.

Charles Lindbergh was rather careful and usually avoided to disclose any information about his family members. In later decades, Anne Morrow Lindbergh and their youngest child, Reeve Lindbergh published many writings, including personal letters. Reeve Lindbergh (2012) describes her mother as a “pioneer aviator and author” and explorer while discussing her mother’s diaries. She quotes her as a woman on a "journey toward insight.", after the mother gave up flying and turned to writing. Reeve Lindbergh explores even the most sensitive family issue, the three women her father had relationships with in Germany and Switzerland, resulting in seven children in the 1950s and 1960s.

Reeve Lindbergh reprinted a part of her mother’s letter to her father, written on December 18, 1947. She wrote that this was a shocking experience for her:
"I would rather have you think me 'a good girl' than be right myself, or than to have anyone else think me a good girl. And I am afraid you will not. All the time I feel like a bad girl—that I am not living up to your idea of a good girl." (Anne Morrow Lindbergh to Charles A Lindbergh 1947 82).
Reeve’s reason for her cultural shock? “I was shocked. The writer of this letter sounded so weak, so clinging and self-deprecating, so cloyingly pathetic, not at all like the woman I knew.” (Lindbergh Reeve 2012 82). Maybe she learned first time how a woman can feel when truly in love.
Reeve Lindbergh (1999) also showed us how deep the murder of Baby Lindbergh remained on the collective minds of the family. In Under the Wing she described their secretive lives. Secretive to the point where most people had no idea they had five siblings; Jon, Land, Anne, Scott and Reeve, “the tribe” as they referred to themselves.

Political Positions

Charles Lindbergh’s political views were clearly influenced by his father as he forcefully played his own isolationist role before the U.S. entry into WWII, just like his father did, before WWI. Naturally, this behavior was closely followed by the FDR Administration and the FBI. Related FBI files show heavy activities concerning Lindbergh and one can be assured that these are only selected items for public consumption (FBI Records: The Vaults, Charles Lindbergh, N.D.) Lindbergh modified his position and stepped away from further political opposition after the Perl Harbor attack. He requested his own enlistment again but was denied by FDR. Regardless, Lindbergh actually flew in the Pacific War and participated in 50 combat missions with at least one combat victory against a Japanese fighter. He was classified as a “civilian” adviser and after the War, on the April 7th of 1954, he was reinstated as a brigadier general in the Air Force Reserves by President Eisenhower (The National 2020).

Judging from a letter written by Lindbergh in 1969, the “false news industry” was already fully functional in America after WWII. He wrote a letter to William Jovanovich, his publisher, explaining why he decided to publish his wartime diaries after so many years in 1970 (Lindbergh 1970). Jovanovich has written the introduction for the book and incorporated the full letter (Lindbergh to Jovanovich 1969 x). Among several reasons, Lindbergh mentioned setting the record straight after too many misrepresentations by the media. His records in the book are stretching from March, 1938 to June, 1945.

Conclusion

Charles A. Lindbergh performed brilliantly in May of 1927 but it was the American and European public that placed him on a pedestal where he became substantially larger than life. Most surprisingly, young Lindbergh went along, grew into the role assigned to him and used every ounce of the advantage he has received to further the causes of aviation. His act immediately set off a major increase in airplane manufacturing and multiplied the number of passengers who were willing to fly. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA 1926-1996) in a list of chronological events from 1926 to 1996 shows a number of events that indicate increased aviation related business and private activities after May of 1927. Lindbergh was often directly involved in these acts showing that he remained focused on promoting aviation wherever he was needed. The FAA’s stated position is that his flight started the increased aviation activities directly. A review of the contemporary media also shows a rapid orientation toward the incorporation of aviation into public life and the economy. A powerful symbiotic relationship was formed between Lindbergh and the public, strong enough to move masses of people toward a singular goal: to open a new technological dimension by turning aviation into an instrument for normal, everyday use. Was there enough monetary liquidity provided for the U.S. economy in the 1920 to 1933 period, the 1929 Depression would have been easily avoided and the aviation industry would have grown into a major segment of the U.S. economy by 1940, without FDR’s war economy.

Last edited by Robert Kendall; November 15th, 2021 at 03:08 AM.
 
Old January 18th, 2022 #3
Farwell Kirk
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The hatred of Lindbergh didn't last (except with the Jews, what a surprise!), just a few years after WWII his Book, The Spirit Of St. Louis, was a best seller and won a Pulitzer prize.
 
Old January 19th, 2022 #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Farwell Kirk View Post
The hatred of Lindbergh didn't last (except with the Jews, what a surprise!), just a few years after WWII his Book, The Spirit Of St. Louis, was a best seller and won a Pulitzer prize.
Also the movie with Jimmy Stewart.

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Old March 24th, 2022 #5
alex revision
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Charles Lindbergh Our ‘European Blood’ Is Our Most ‘Priceless Possession’


On the Eve of World War II, Charles Lindbergh, the single-most famous and popular man in America, warned the entire White race that the asiatic hordes led by Russia were poised to destroy our most ‘priceless possession’ which is our ‘european blood’:

We, the heirs of European culture, are on the verge of a disastrous war, a war within our own family of nations, a war which will reduce the strength and destroy the treasures of the White race, a war which may even lead to the end of our civilization. And while we stand poised for battle, Oriental guns are turning westward, Asia presses towards us on the Russian border, all foreign races stir restlessly.

It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again. This alliance with foreign races means nothing but death to us. It is our turn to guard our heritage from Mongol and Persian and Moor, before we become engulfed in a limitless foreign sea...


https://christiansfortruth.com/flash...ss-possession/
 
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