History Charles Lindbergh's Flight

I know this is off topic but I found it interesting.

Win Perkins, a real estate appraiser who specializes in airport properties, has posted on his Web site a video he created of Charles Lindbergh's famous and risky takeoff in the Spirit of St. Louis .. According to Perkins, this is unlike any other presentation of the takeoff footage. Perkins said he "painstakingly assembled news footage from five cameras that filmed Lindbergh's takeoff from Roosevelt Field, Long Island and "m ixed it with enhanced audio from the same newsreel sources."

This is one of the most interesting videos I've seen come over the Internet. When you click on the address, episode #3 comes up ready to play.
I suggest you first click on "CONTACT" to the left and select #1, then watch them in order, #1 through #4 (each time going back to "contact" and selecting the next one). I was glued to the screen through all 4.
What guts it took for Lindbergh to overcome the odds against him and accomplish this amazing feat.

http://www.airportappraisals.com/

 

Very cool

 

That is very interesting. I have a great interest in aviation history, My Father was the radioman on the "Southern Cross", with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm And Harry Lyons that made the first Trans-Pacific Flight in 1928. Taking off from Oakland California and flying to Hawaii, Fiji and then Brisbane Australia. After he and Lyons Returned to the USA, They met with Lindbergh and actually flew with him.

Thank You very much for posting this. Tom Warner

 

A guy who did live about an hour from me (he passed away awhile back) has/had a big Franklin sedan that was given to Lindbergh after he made his flight.

The car is great condition with lots of documentation photos etc. As far as I know the family still has the car along with about 300 other old cars, tractors, parts & collectibles just sitting around going to hell.

I look for them to have an auction sometime, just don't know when.

 

That was great.. Thanks alot........

 

yea, but where is the "White Ghost" ?

 

thats cool
i have the hole news paper insert from may 29 1927 in a fram

 

Do you mean "The White Bird" (L'Oiseau Blanc)? Nungesser and Coli's plane that disappeared two weeks before Lindbergh's flight.

Kurt O. (certifiable airplane nut)

 

Lindberg as technical advisor!
Great story!
My dad was a P-38 pilot with the 475th fighter group in the Pacific during 1944. He saw Lindberg while he was there as a "technical advisor" for Lockheed. He taught the pilots techniques for long distance flights. Throttle back, adjust the mixture to get maxium range from the two big Allison engines. My dad told of a few eight + hour missions over the water out and back to Biak and other islands where they were stationed.
He was so glad to get home - never talked about it much....

 

Excellent. Thanks for sharing this. As a pilot myself, Lindbergh's feat has always entranced me. This is the best retelling of that saga I have ever seen.

dj

 

big brass clanking ones

 

Great documentary. The only thing is that I found myself looking for Jimmy Stewart

 

My parents never took us to movies when my brothers and I were coming up. But my grandmother took me to see "The Spirit of St. Louis" in '57. I was 13. I don't believe we had studied it in school so I really didn't know if he was going to make it or not. I remember the part where Jimmy Stewart (I really thought he was Lindbergh) befriended a fly that was aboard. I have not seen the movie since. This documentary brought it all back. Thanks for posting.

 

i have heard [in movies] the pilots would say "contact" when ready to start the engine. what was being "contacted"? i'm not familiar with radial engines and i'm guessing they have a magneto ignition.

 

I believe "Contact" meant magneto switch was being turned to "on" position.

 

"Contact" alerted the ground man that the ignition was on. It was both a warning and a signal to flip the propeller. It was a warning because the ground man positioned the propeller so that one piston was on the compression stroke. Adjusting the propeller with the ignition on could result in an unplanned start.

 

I have a Pic of My great grandmother sitting in the plane at Roosevelt Field (which is now a mall by the way) Ill have to see if I can dig it out. It may be in storage, according to her the seat in the plane was a very uncomfortable wicker seat that way he would stay awake during the flight.

 

There is some documented evidence that it may have crashed on the southern part of the Avalon Peninsula of Nfld...a couple of hours or less drive from my house actually.
Eyewitness accounts of aircraft sounds and sightings along with possible wreckage in a frozen pond the following winter.
In that rural area aircraft were very rare and to have reports documented BEFORE the "white Bird" flight was even common knowledge is very compelling.
There have even been magnetic surveys made of at least one lake in the area to try to locate the engine at least.

Who knows....might have made it to Nova Scotia, Maine or simply nosed into the Atlantic an hour into the flight.

Only one thing certain, Nungesser and Coli are hero's regardless...as are all those brave souls who lost their lives pushing the envelope in the early days of flight.

 

Awesome documentary.

My neighbor has a Ryan Spirit of St Louis replica that he used in a 75th
anniversary of Lindbergh's flight in 2002. What a treat to see this bird
airborne and landing in Polk City at 3:22 PM (10:22PM Paris time).Surely
not his favorite bird to fly as the "Pucker" factor is always mentioned...

http://www.fantasyofflight.com/aircraftpages/spirit.htm

 

Anasing. Thanks for posting.

 

Could someone explain to me why there is no forward view from the cockpit, only way to see in front was to look way out of the side "window"?

 

The main fuel tank is located in front of the cockpit..that way he wouldn't be between the engine and the fuel tank if he crashed. The plane was equiped with a pariscope to allow the pilot to look ahead.

 

Very interesting and entertaining. Thanks for posting.

 

From what I gathered from that, I don't believe he would do it again given the chance. I don't believe he enjoyed the publicity very much. Would rather have done it without the worlds knowledge and solely for himself.

 

Iammarvin, the truth about flying is forward vision is less than half as important in comparison to what is needed in surface transport. If all goes well in flying one should only ever truthfully need to see where one is going twice in any flight.
Landing and takeoff, during everything else it should, if you are a truly competent pilot, not be necessary to see where one is going all that well.
If you do a Little research, you may be surprised at the number of aircraft through history with little to no forward vision, both on the ground and once airborne.
Try and taxi any tail dragger!

Well, I guess it would be the 'White Ghost' now..................
I know terrible thing to say! But I'm not sure what tact is.

Doc.
(Another certifiable airplane nut)

 

Once upon a time in the 1960s the plane from the Jimmy Stewart movie was on display at the "Museum of Air" at the Orange County Airport in Southern California. It had 2-seats. One for Stewart to be seen in the cockpit window during filming and another seat forward where stunt pilot Paul Mantz would be controlling the airplane.

 

Thanks for posting!!---Really enjoyed the video, especially since he was my 6th cousin!
I visited the Smithsonian in 2007 with my son, he took this pix of me with the original Ryan plane, a real satisfying moment----Don

 

The pariscope makes sence...........the rest says "If I crash, the engine is going through the gas tank to get to me". Not the best sceniorio ( sp? ).

 

Doc, I have NO flying experince except being like a dog looking out the window. But fighter aircraft from WW1 to the Hawker Seafury had forward vision for obvious reasons. Thank you Doc, for your service to your country and to our service men and women.

 

I have always thought he was a great man to do what he did. THANKS FOR THE SITE. TV