Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 25, Number 142, Decatur, Adams County, 16 June 1927 — Page 6

PAGE SIX

Life Story Os Captain Charles A. Lindbergh NEW YORK-TO-PARIS FLYER IS NO SUPERMAN, BUT JUST A NORM AL AMERIC AN YOUTH WHO HAS THREE OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTICS, N AMELY. COMPLETE MASTERY OF HIMSELF, DIRECTION IN LIFE AND GREAT COURAGE. . i i » f.. it..i . .: ■ r •. «.. .. a ....x . ft .i. ...

Charles A. Lindbergh’s decision to fly to Paris was made sometime last Fall while he was still currying the night mail between St. Louis and Chicago. At least, it was then that he began to talk of such a flight. To many people such a project then sounded foolhardy but it was typical of the confidence Lindbergh’s friends had in him the aviators immediately took the idea seriously. We knew that ‘Slim’ was extraordinarily well fitted for the job.” one of his associates said in telling of those days. "We knew also that he would not content himself very long with air mail flying.” • In December he resigned from the air-mail service telling his friends that he proposed to fly to Paris. It was at that time that he was credited with saying that government had spoiled the sport of flying the night mail by lighting the St. Louis-Chicago route and robbing it of thrills. December 27. 1926 Lindbergh made his first concerted move toward organizing his flight. He called upon Major William B. Robertson of St. Louis, laid , the plan before him and asked for advice and financial assistance. "He had a clear idea then," Robertson said, "of the sort of plane he wanted to use and had decided it was best to use a single motor. "We talked it over with my brother. Lieut. Frank Robertson and finally called upon a newspaper reporter for advice.” January 9. 1927, a conference was "held and Harry H. Knight, a young bioker interested in flying. Albert Bond Lambert, once a balloonist and the father of the development of aviation in St. Louis, and Harold Bixby, secretary of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce were interested in the project. |

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Knight set out to finance the flight. He and Bixby signed a note for $15,000 at a bank and that amount was put on deposit to the credit of Lindbergh and his associates. Then the note was underwritten by subscription Lindbergh gave $2,000 which was the largest single subscription to the project Harry F.Knight, father of H.H. Knight Major Lambert, J. I). W. Lambert. Earl c. Thompson, and the St. L mis Globe-Democrat subscribed from SSOO to SI,OOO. It is interesting to note that the loan from the bank still Is in effect and that Lindbergh used only $13,500 of the $15.0000 raised for him. The remainder still is on deposit. With the flight financed to his satisfaction. although $15,000 seemed a paltry sum when the magnitude of the project is considered and the amounts spent on other like projects are recalled. Lindbergh started out to buy an airplane. He* favored a Bellanca monoplane and opened negotiations for the purchase of one from the Bellanca interests. But he could not come to terms with the New' York firm and. with char-1 acteristic decisiveness, broke off negotiations and started for California to deal with the Ryan Aircraft Company there. Lindbergh was just 25 years of age and B. F. Mahoney, president of the Ryan Company, was just turning 26 years. It didn’t take these two youthful spirits long to get together. Mahoney agreed to build the plane which would cost $14,000 to manufacture. It was specified that the established sale price, allowing for royalities and payment for patents, would be $25,000 but Mahoney agreed later to sell it to Lindbergh for $ 10.5m 1 . In those negotiations began the friendship between Mahoney ami Lindbergh which caused Mahoney to follow pndbergh to New York to bid him

DEC.VH’R DAILY DEMOCRAT THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1927.

farewell, and then to Paris. Lindbergh remained in San Diego while his piano was being built. Dur- < Ing those two months he lived aviation and nothing else. He roomed with , A. .1. Edwards, ami according *to Ed- ■ wards worked constantly and with little sleep as his prepurations went > on. “He gave no attention to social ll'e whatsoever.” said Edwards. "He nev- ' er cared for girls. Only once duri'ig the entire time we lived together did he ever have a date with a girl ami • then he made me promise that I would--1 n't say anything about his proposed 1 flight to Paris. I "He always preferred to spend his • spare time reading and studying or in 1 taking long walks. He was not a ; woman hater in any sense of the phrase but women did not seem to have a place in his plans for the flight. "1 never saw a man who was more of 1 a gentleman or whoso personal habits ' were better. His only bad habits was his mania for practical jokes. He was clean cut and straight-forward as any person 1 have ever known and a model for the coming generation of American youth in every respect." In that regard it is a well known fact that Lindbergh never smokes and never uses liquor. Even in Paris the ' French were reduced to the expe--1 dient of making non-alcholic cocktails • for him at his many banquets. While at San Diego Lindbergh seemed to get his relaxation from the strain of his studies and planning for the flight, from pranks played upon his associates. At the flying field no mechanic was safe. His boyishness always was coming to the front. He enjoyed immenely pushing over some field attendant while a confederate kneeled behind his victim. One night he kept Edwards up answering the telephone most of the night and incidentally, pinned the name of "Adolph” on Edwards. The phone in Edward's room had been listed under the name of Adolph Schmidts, ' a former tennant. Lindbergh arranged ! with a group of friends to call the numI her ans asked for "Adolph... It was well along in the morning before Edwards finally decided he was trying to sleep beneath a telephone barrage and he abandonded the room for the apartment of a friend. A dinner was given for Lindbergh attended by many army ami navy fli-

| ers. A blackboard was erected and on , It were airplanes sketches including I one of Lindbergh’s plane on the wings | of which were the letters "N. Y. P.", 'l the letters then assigned to Lind--1 bergh's plane. Someone wrote under these letters 1 "Nervy Young Pilot.” 1 Lindbergh was telling of his flight pains when he noticed the inocreption. 1 "That's right." he said. "I certanil) I feel like a nervy pilot telling you ’ veteran navigators about navigation." 1 Lindbergh spent his days nt the 1 Ryan factory or'at the flying field, watching the construction of his plane, 1 testing ami planning, when not there he spent most of his time studying and outlining his flight. 1 v He kept a note book and whenever 1 he would hear some skeptic advance a reason why the flight would fail he 1 would write it down in the book. When he had found an answer to the skeptics argument and woiked out away of meeting the difficulty, he would mark ’ it out. When his maps, ( harts and navigation books, which he hud ordered especially for the flight, arrived he went ' into It) days seclusion. He slept but a few hours a night and only appeared ' out of his room for meals. At the end of that tinie he had stored away in his mind a course of study in navigation had woiked ont the plan for the navigation of the Atlantic from which he never deviated and which never even threatened to fail him. As the time approached for the flight he considered the problem of sleep and engaged in trials of his ability to keep awake. First he remained awake 24. then 30 and finally 35 hours, to prove that he could do it. He took longer and longer walks to condition himself physically. At last his plans and his plane were ready. “'The only sign of nervousness he showed was when he was all set to go • and the weather proved unfavorable." Edwards said. "The he began getting

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n Impatient.” w g Finally on the morning of May in * conditions were reported favorable ' Lindbergh went to the field early. His ' plane was wheeled from the hangni and mechanics began filling it with gas 8 ollne for the flight to St. Ixmis. Time dragged. Lindbergh's impatience grew. I but he was buoyant and confident. A •• plane of the Hawk type, a type Lind- • hergh had never flown, was on the " field. So while mechanics prepared his plane for the long flight from San ' Diego to St. Louis Lindbergh piled inII to the Hawk and soared over the field '• putting it through a dizzy series of e j loops and twists and turns. K Lindbergh waiting to make al7 hour flight to St. Louis was going out for an I airplane ride. e At last his monoplane was ready and e he sailed away for St. Louis where he II arrived, almost unheralded. the morn s ing of May 11, setting a new record for ' non-stop flying for a one-man plane. 11 and arriving three hours ahead of his schedule. He came so early no one was there '■ to meet him. That night a reception ’ L was given him by his St. Louis friends 11 and Harry Knight asked him to spend 1 the night at his country home. But I Lindbergh was engaged in the business s of flying. He refused the offer and I I went to the little, frame house, near ' | the flying field, where he had kept c bachelor quarters so long with the dth--1 er aviators. The morning of May 12 he break--1 fasted at the field lunch stand and was off for New York. I' Before dark he circled over Manhatl - tan and made his memorable landing e at Curtiss Field —a smiling, blushing bashful boy, full of confidence, and D destined to become the most popular peace time civilian hero of the cen e tury. In his pocket he had an ordet for a ticket home. To that, he added a e draft on a Paris bank for some SSOO o issued on Friday. May 13. Hater cairn letters of introduction which he soughi g because of a fear he might find n<

friends In Paris. , Then, after taking In Coney Island and the sights of New York, this tiintu- * Ing lad, who had dreamed through his youth in Little Fulls of the day when he could soar away in the air, roared out of Roosevelt Field and 34 hours later the world was at his feet. For Charlie Lindbergh, who used to “ride” a bicycle high up in a tree at his father's farm and play he was flying; who used to wear bis cap back- ’ wards; and who drove too ’ fust to suit the quiet people of his ( home town; proved that his dreams f and hln daring were not Us vain. He had flown to Paris. (The End) r ii If you are looking for a Rood 1 cow, hogs or sheep, you will ? find what you want at the stock i sale Saturday, June 18, at r Butler & Ahr’s sale barn. ’• , 141t2 S' — =

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