A hero whom some labeled a "nazi"......and then his baby was also
murdered by alleged German......this is how enemy operats......JFK was
also labeled nazi as was his father - ever after these names will be
remembered and not "blotted out of the book"......
Charles A. Lindbergh
On 20 May 1927, a virtually unknown air mail pilot coaxed his small,
heavily loaded, single-engine monoplane off the rain-soaked runway on
Long Island, New York. Straining to gain altitude, the silver aircraft
skimmed dangerously close to telephone lines near the end of the field.
Several hours later, it vanished into the stormy skies above the
treacherous North Atlantic. Over 33 hours later, the exhausted pilot
performed a bumpy night landing on a poorly illuminated airfield outside
Paris that he had never seen before. Pandemonium broke loose when he
left his airplane. Charles A. Lindbergh, the first man to fly
non-stop across the Atlantic, became an instant hero and the most famous
human being on the face of the earth. Prior to his heroic journey, at
least six lives had been lost by pilots either preparing for or
attempting a trans-Atlantic flight in order to win the $25,000 prize
being offered to the first person to complete the trip.
Lindbergh's dramatic flight in 1927 fostered a widespread
international interest in aviation. His popularity helped create the
financial and technical climate necessary for the large-scale
development of aviation. Almost unknown today was the fact that he was a
respected aviator in the Missouri National Guard's 110th Observation
Squadron. Lindbergh's service in the National Guard illustrated the
close linkages between military and commercial aviation in those days.
He had learned to fly in 1924-1925 as an Air Service cadet and was
commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Organized Reserve Corps (ORC) in
July 1925. Lindbergh benefited from a policy adopted by the Army Air
Service shortly after World War I. Realizing that it was impractical to
seek an expansion of personnel that would begin to meet its projected
wartime needs, the Air Service trained and passed into the organized
reserves a reservoir of flying officers that would be available in case
of an armed conflict. Each year, the states also sent a small number of
officers to the Air Service each year to be trained as National Guard
pilots. Pilot billets in the Guard were eagerly sought after because,
unlike the ORC, they provided guaranteed flying time and pay during
monthly drills as well as the annual summer camps.
Despite flying increasingly obsolescent equipment in the
1920s, skilled pilots like Lindbergh were easy for Guard observation
squadrons to recruit. Commercial aviation was virtually non-existent in
the United States when he joined the 110th. Some pilots eked out a
living barnstorming around the country. The armed forces' fledgling
programs were by far the largest sources of support for American
aviation in terms of both aircraft procurement and flight training.
Although Guard aviation was a relatively good deal for
pilots in the 1920s, its units operated on a shoestring by later
standards. In 1925, for example, the 110th's aircraft inventory
consisted of three World War I vintage JN-4 "Jennies." It had inherited
three corrugated sheet irons hangars built for air races in 1923 at St
Louis' Lambert Field. Its headquarters was maintained for a time in a
gas station, then above a grocery store, then to the 138th Infantry
Armory in St Louis and later in a warehouse. Flying training was
conducted on weekends. Regular weeknight drills featured paddlefoot
drill, weapons training and other routines that were not much different
from that of a rifle company. A handful of state-paid full-time
mechanics helped assemble the unit's aircraft and maintained them.
Lindbergh joined the 110th in November 1925. The following
year, he was promoted to captain. "Slim," as he was known to his
squadron mates, served as a flight commander as well as a parachute
officer and pilot in the 110th. In 1926, Major William Robertson and his
two brothers, all pilots in the squadron, were awarded a government
contract to fly the mail between St Louis and Chicago. William Robertson
was also a founder and the first commander of the 110th. Lindbergh took
a job as the Robertson's chief pilot on their air mail route. Flying an
open cockpit biplane, Lindbergh faced constant exposure to cold
air, especially during winter. Even wearing a heavy flying suit, he
sometimes became so numb that his judgement was impaired. Flying the
mail became a struggle of endurance and nerves. Other men who flew the
mail considered it "pretty much a suicide club."
But Lindbergh thrived on the challenges of flying the mail.
He was a natural salesman and self-taught engineer who never finished
college. Lindy convinced a group of wealth businessmen in St Louis
to fund his attempt to master the Atlantic alone and played a key role
in helping the Ryan Aircraft Corporation design his plane, "The Spirit
of St Louis." A shy and intensely private man, the "Lone Eagle" became
an acknowledged aviation expert. He became the most worshipped, adored,
harried, photographed, written-about, and pursued man in the world.
Standing six feet three inches tall, with blue eyes and curly blond
hair, Lindbergh's infectious smile could light up a room. He neither
smoked nor drank and rarely used even the mildest profanity. He was
genuinely modest and often blushed. In 1929, he married the only woman
he ever courted. Anne Morrow Lindbergh remained his beloved wife and
best friend until he died in 1974. Lindbergh was extraordinarily decent,
unassuming and loyal.
Although dedicated to aviation as a serious business,
Lindbergh had enjoyed a reputation within the 110th as a prankster. For
example, the cockpit of each "Jenny" contained a booster for starting
the aircraft's engine. It generated a strong electrical shock. "Slim"
liked to hook a wire to the booster, hang a key on the other end, and
drop it in a pan filled with water. Then he would try to get someone to
pick it up for him. The jolt always won Lindbergh bets with his fellow
squadron mates until an old farmer grabbed the key without flinching.
The latter explained that he was used to absorbing electrical shocks
from his tractor engine.
Because of his epic solo flight, Lindbergh was promoted to
colonel in the ORC in June 1927 while retaining his captaincy in
Missouri. (Guard officers held dual commissions.) Since he was too busy
to participate regularly in its training, Lindbergh's commission in the
Missouri National Guard was vacated in 1933. In his autobiography,
Lindbergh fondly recalled his service in the Guard. He wrote that his
fellow pilots "joined the Guard for two reasons: first, because of the
opportunity it offered to keep him in flying training, and second,
because they considered it a patriotic duty to keep fit for immediate
service in the case of a wartime emergency."
In 1928, he was awarded the Medal of Honor "For displaying heroic
courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his
nonstop flight �" from New York to Paris.
Tragedy and controversy tarnished Lindbergh's life after
1927. After his infant son was kidnapped and murdered in 1932, the
intensely shy man and his wife retreated to Europe to escape the
relentless pressures of the sensationalist American media. Once abroad,
he accepted the request of the American military attach� in Berlin to
collect intelligence on the German Luftwaffe and the aircraft industry
that sustained it. Seeking to intimidate the democratic powers with the
threat of aerial annihilation, the Germans mislead the na�ve
Lindbergh. Because of his dire warnings about the growing threat of
German air power and subsequent highly visible role in the isolationist
movement, he was accused of being duped by the Nazis.
In retaliation, President Roosevelt prevented him from serving in the
military during World War II. Yet, Lindbergh is still remembered today
for his historic 1927 flight. Jimmy Stewart played him in the movie,
"The Spirit of St Louis." Lindbergh has become a cultural icon who
represents the American "can do" spirit. In our popular mythology, he is
still a great man who accomplished an enormously important feat alone
while other well-funded attempts backed by large bureaucracies failed.
Although the realities as suggested by his involvement with Army and
National Guard aviation were more complex, the "Lone Eagle" remains a
quintessential American hero.
[ANG History | Heritage | Photos | Statistics ]
A. Saba
Dare To Call It Conspiracy
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