Two photographic perspectives on History…


Charles Lindbergh’s flight


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 “mixed 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 HERE, episode #3 comes up ready to play.

I’d suggest you first click on “CONTACT” to the left and select #1, then watch them in order, #1 through #4. I was glued to the screen through all 4.

As an Aviator, I cannot imagine what it took for Lindbergh to overcome the odds against him and accomplish this amazing feat…


31 hours, over 3000 miles, DR navigation all the way… Simply amazing!!!


And HERE is a link to some photos of Davis Monthan from the late 60’s This was a MUCH earlier time, when you could actually get out among the planes and see things.


I do remember going out there in 1971 and scavenging parts off the Navy WV birds (Super Connies) and seeing Gen McArthur’s personal airplane a C-54 with Battan on the nose. We joking called Monthan our spare parts locker…



Comments

Two photographic perspectives on History… — 13 Comments

  1. That was great, and no matter the skill of the pilot in flying – and he really had skill, the media played to their image of what they needed to sell. Thanks for the post.

    Today he would have needed an agent, or NASA to dampen his effect.

  2. Earl- the irony is that Lindberg HATED the media… even from day 1…

    Fuzzy- You’re welcome 🙂

  3. That guy had huge brass ones!!! Did you know that he went out to the S.Pacific and showed a bunch of the P-38 pilots how to recover from and engine out on T.O. and that yes, “this plane will fly and land with only one turning&burning!

    After all the C-97 pics, no more of them would come up, only a little blue box with a ‘?’ in it

    Hope you had a great X-maswith the kids. I know Idid!

  4. Just picked you up from Random Acts of Patriotism. My son is an AF pilot active. Every once in awhile I find out the kind of stuff he does and it puts me on the ole prayer bones for sure. Anyone who leaves the relative safety of terra firma for the air in service is deserving of honor. I read Lt General John Kelly’s speech – hard to finish – it is harder when your son or daughter is in the gap. Breaks my heart about his loss of his son. I lost 3sons (non combat) but it likes to kill ya. One was a baby and one in early ’20’s from mental illness and one to a stupid drug/drinking interaction. I have 2 sons left and 2 great daughters but will cry for the lost until the end. Sorry so long – it just starts. Take care and I’ll look through your archives. Thank you for your service.

  5. A really excellent two-fer, sir! A DOUBLE shot of really informative aviation knowledge in a single article is like an extra Christmas gift.

    Yes, Lindbergh had his disputes with the news media, but his personality and accomplishments made interaction inevitable. The son of a U.S. Congressman, he came from comfortable youth. He worked in aviation before joining the Army Air Service. As a reserve officer, he was one of the early Contract Airmail Service pilots, and publically campaigned for that and other air commerce issues.
    Already well known in aviation circles, Lindbergh was instantly world famous after his NY-P flight.

    Five years later, the kidnapping and murder of his son brought him into daily –and unpleasant — contact with the press, renewed during the trial of the kidnapper. Moving to Britian and Europe thereafter, Lindbergh interacted with German aviation figures and met numerous high Nazi officials. Much of this was at the behest of U.S. government authorities, but this fact was of course unpublicized. These led to media criticisms and uncomfortable questions about Lindbergh’s isolationist views and accusations that he was himself a Nazi.

    When America entered WWII, Lindbergh was again in the news, traveling to the Pacific as a civilian advisor and paricipating in numerous combat missions. In the postwar years, he was in and out of the news for various reasons.

    Even in view of Lindbergh’s antagonistic relations with the news media, he was tuly a newsworthy individual, prior to and following his famous Paris flight.

  6. Thanks for posting this.

    I got wrapped up at the links two days ago and forgot to come back and say thanks.

  7. WSF- You’re welcome.

    Lorraine- My heart goes out for your losses… I pray everyday for those still in harms way. I was lucky, I came back…

    JPG- Excellent points! Thanks!

    HT- Glad you enjoyed it!