Modest Lindbergh

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 80, 25 June 1927, Page 24

Modest Lindbergh

The Fiction of Distance

ODEST to a surprising degree, Captain Lindbergh gives the greater nmjAjhfflMYl share of the credit for yPfiwfinfMn his successful flight IMwtwW from New York to Paris to his earth-in-ductor compass and Wright air-cooled engine. Although alone in his tiny cockpit during the long ordeal of his great adventure, when to doze meant death, the hearts and hopes of millions were with him. “The thought of this man alone somewhere above the Atlantic, moved a billion lips in prayer and set the heart of the world throbbing with a braver beat," says the Albany “Evening News,” which declares that “nothing in years has brought world thought and world hope to such unity as the daring of Charles Lindbergh.” The world's response to Captain Lindbergh’s magnificent feat of courage, skill and endurance, notes the Boston “Globe,” demonstrates the fact that we all “must be nourished in our spirits by great things outside ourselves.” This effect of Lindbergh’s achievement is touched upon by Heywood Broun in the New York “World.” “Who can appraise the worth of such an example of intrepid spirit?” asks the New York “American.’ “This self-contained, self-reliant, courageous young man ranks among the great pioneers of history," remarks the Columbus “Ohio State Journal.” “He has exalted the race of men,” declares the Baltimore “Sun”; and the Minneapolis “Daily Star" appraises his heroism as “worthy of the greatest that ever enter Valhalla. Like Leif Ericson, called “L,eif the Lucky,” who is believed to have reached the shores of America from Europe nearly a thousand years ago, Lindbergh has Scandinavian blood in his veins; and, like Ericson, one of his nicknames is "Lucky.” Noting these facts, the New Xork "Times” remarks;—•

“There is a poetic fitness in the fact that an American of Scandinavian descent should have been the first to make the successful venture in the air over a course with a thousand miles of sleet and snow such as the Vikings faced in their early voyages. His father, who became a member of Congress from Minnesota, was born in Sweden, and the son, heir to the spirit of those sturdy, far-venturing Northern peoples, has come also to be known by the same affectionate appellative that has carried Leif Ericson’s name across the centuries—‘Undy the Lucky.’ As such the saga

of Charles Lindbergh will be sung through years to come. It will be repeated by youth, and especially American youth, for more years than the traditional story of the Marathon runner of he mythical Icarus who flew too near the sun."

The history of human flight, notes the Binghamton “Press and Leader,” lies within the twenty-five-year span of Lindbergh’s life. It was on December 17, 1903, that man’s first flight was made, when the Wright brothers got their first flying machine, the “Kitty Hawk,” into the air on the sand dunes of North Carolina, remaining aloft for 59 seconds and covering the distance of 284 yards. Now Lindbergh has flown a third of the way around the world in three hops— San Diego to St. Louis, St. Louis to New York, and New York to Paris. His exploit “annihilates, with the destructiveness of TNT, the barriers that have stood in the way of rapid development of aviation in America,” declares “The Press and Leader,” which goes on to prophesy as follows:

“Immediate stimulation will be given to all branches of commercial flying. “The dream of transatlantic air service probably will be translated into a reality of the next half-dozen years, or less.

“Lindbergh has brought the light to timid capital lying idle in bank vaults. Henceforth bankers will be less cowardly about risking investment in heavier-than-air machines built for practical purposes of commerce.

“It won’t be long before the business man of Binghamton and his wife and children can step into the family air flivver, hop to New York in a couple of hours, put away their own air car in a garage, and go aboard a commodious transatlantic air liner that will take them across the ocean safely and comfortably in a day and a night. “Lindbergh’s flight must also result in awaking the people of the United States to the importance of aerial defence on land and sea. “The United States is no longer invulnerable, because Lindbergh has destroyed the fiction that the distance factor of the ocean protects us.” Lindbergh, himself, in his exclusive story for the New York “Times,” makes this prediction; “I look forward to the day when transatlantic flying will be a regular thing. It is a question largely of money. If people can be found willing to spend enough to make proper preparations, there is no reason why it can’t be made very practical.”