An old avaiation movie

I've just finished watching an old movie about Charles Lindberg's flight from New York to Paris. He was the first to fly solo, non-stop, in a mono plane across the Atlantic from Roosevelt field on Long Island to Paris, France. The film describes the preparations for the non-stop flight. Weather became a concern as was the weight load the plan's engine would have to lift on take-off.

The film has momentary flash backs about Lindberg's flying career, his obtaining support for the idea of such a flight, and finally purchasing and helping to design a plane for such a trip. The possibility of a non-stop flight had caused a number of pilots to plan and even attempt the trip but without success and Lindberg was very aware that someone might beat him and win the $25,000 prize being offered.

33 hours after taking off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island on May 19, 1927, he landed the single seat mono plane at Bourget Field May 21, 1927 and won the $25,000 prize. The world's imagination had been stirred by the achievement and Lindberg became an instant celebrity. The mother of one of our college friends told us that she had been staying and one of the hotels in Paris when Lindberg made the flight and that she watched from a window as people gathered in the street to celebrate his arrival.

As I watched the actual film footage of the ticker tape parade in N Y when Lindberg returned to the states, (which was made part of the movie), I couldn't help comparing the jubilation the world felt when men first walked on the moon. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, its estimated that over 20 percent of the worlds population watched. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent more than 2 hours gathering lunar material to bring back to earth, while Michael Collins, the pilot of the lunar module flew the aircraft in an orbit around the moon.

The three men too became instant celebrities and were given ticker-tape parades in New York and Chicago. They also went on a 38 day tour of the world to celebrate walking on the moon.