December 4, 2024 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Charles Lindbergh got his start performing in aerial circuses—and as a glorified mailman. He also made the daring decision to fly solo across the Atlantic, despite everyone else choosing to have a wingman. Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute tells the story.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Up Next,
the story of a man who had over two hundred
songs written about him and was the first to fly
(00:31):
across the Atlantic. We're talking about Charles Limberg. Here to
tell the story is Kirk Higgins, the senior director of
Content at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can check
out their great curriculum on American history at mybri dot org.
That's Mybri dot org. Let's get into the story. Take
(00:52):
it away, Kirk.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It was the evening of May nineteenth, nineteen twenty seven,
in twenty five year old at Charles Limberg was being
hounded by the New York press as he made his
way to a Broadway play. Limberg hoped that the play
would relieve him of some stress, but there's a little
chance of that. He was preparing a historic attempt to
be the first person to fly NonStop from New York
(01:16):
to Paris, but the stormy weather across the Northern Atlantic
hadn't been cooperating lately. Limberg never made it to his
Broadway play. Before it had even begun, he received one
of the most significant meteorological reports of the century. A
high pressure system was going to clear out the storms.
(01:38):
The moment he'd been waiting for had come. It was
time for Charles Limberg to head back to his hotel
and prepare for one of the most courageous, dangerous in
historic flights ever. Born in Detroit in nineteen oh two
(02:01):
and raised in the sleepy town of Little Falls, Minnesota,
on the banks of the Mississippi River, Charles Limberg was
the son of a congressman and a science teacher, and
from his earliest years anything mechanical struck his fancy. He'd
tinker with the family car and motorbike in his spare time.
It was there in Little Falls that he saw his
first airplane. Limberg would recall one day, I was playing
(02:28):
upstairs in our house on the river bank. The sound
of a distant engine drifted in through an open window. Suddenly,
I sat up straight and listened. No automobile engine made
that noise. It was approaching too fast. It was on
the wrong side of the house. I ran to the
window and climbed out onto the terry roof. It was
an airplane flying up river below higher branches of trees.
(02:49):
A biplane was less than two hundred yards away, a frail,
complicated structure, with the pilot sitting out in front between
struts and wires. I watched it fly quickly site As
more Americans took to the skies, Limberg's fascination with aviation
willed to grow. He spent hours at his family farm,
lying on his back, looking at the clouds and dreaming
(03:12):
of flying, and soon he'd be able to touch those clouds.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
He enrolled in the College.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, but dropped
out by his sophomore year to enroll in flying school
out in Nebraska. On April ninth, nineteen twenty two, he'd
take to disguise for the first time, not piloting, but
along for the ride. Later he'd state about that first flight,
trees became bushes, barns, toys, Cows turn into rabbits.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
As we climb, I lose all conscious connection with the past.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I live only in the moment, in this strange, unmortal space,
crowded with beauty, pierced with dandren needless to say, he
was hooked. Flying had become an obsession in his purpose
in life. That obsession soon drew Charles Limberg to America
is exhilarating and dangerous barnstorming circuit. It wasn't through peace
(04:08):
but war that the first Americans were trained up on
how to fly planes, almost every single one of them
in the Curtis JN nine Jenny, and after World War One,
almost all of them were sold for a small fraction
of their original cost. For two hundred dollars, you could
buy your very own airplane. That's only a cost of
about thirty seven hundred dollars today. So by them they
(04:30):
did for mail carrying, smuggling, and barnstorming, sometimes all three.
Barnstorming otherwise known as aerial circuses, was very popular in
the nineteen twenties. People from all over the country would
pay nickels and dives to see pilots perform astonishing and
thrilling acrobatic feats, wing walking, skydiving, even playing tennis between planes.
(04:51):
It was a dangerous business, unregulated and open to all
men and women, white and black, and many great pilots,
including Charles Limberg, would earn their wings this way, making
little to no money in the process. He'd joined up
with a crew as a wingwalker and parachutist, despite never
having done either. On his first jump out of a plane,
(05:12):
everything went smoothly up until the second the parachute was
supposed to open.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Thankfully, it eventually did.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
What Limberg would quit that if I could fly for
ten years before I was killed in the crash, it
would be a worthwhile trade for an ordinary lifetime. Deciding
skydiving wasn't for him, and feeling as if he had
watched people pilot planes enough to know how to do
so himself, as he hadn't flown solo up until this point,
he'd borrow money from his dad to.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Buy his first airplane at Southern Field in Georgia.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
He'd later write about the experience quote everybody at Southern
Field took for granted that I was an experienced pilot.
When I arrived to buy a plane. They didn't ask
to see my license because you didn't have to have
a license to fly an airplane.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Kid nineteen twenty three.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Flying the new plane back to Minnesota, his first time
in the cockpit solo, he barnstormed all the way back
to get enough money to complete the trip. Limburg would
soon take on a more serious career the Army Air Service,
mostly because he wanted to fly newer, faster plans. He
later orote Air Service pilot swings like a silver passport
(06:18):
to the realm of light. With them went the right
to fly all military airplanes. Out of the one hundred
and three people in his class, only nineteen would graduate.
Limberg would be at the top. Afterwards, he'd took a
job flying air mail on the Saint Louis.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
To Chicago route.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The man who became America's most famous airman was a
former mailman, just with plenty of extra risk. Flying the
mail was dangerous work. He'd be forced to jump from
his plane twice, his parachute luckily breaking his fall each time.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
And you've been listening to the story of a name
and man you know but probably don't know like this,
I certainly am learning some things about Lindberg myself, and
evently and especially the part about the role the Army
Air Service played in training up well all kinds of
American pilots, and also the role that these aerial circuses
(07:12):
called barnstorming played in the development of our pilots and
our talent in the country. When we come back more
of the story of Charles Lindbergh here on Our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories. Every
(07:34):
day on this show we tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss,
and your stories. Send us your story small or large
to out email oas at Ouramerican Stories dot com. That's
oas at Ouramerican Stories dot com. We'd love to hear
them and put them on the air. Our audience loves
(07:54):
them too. And we returned to our American Stories and
the final portion of our story on Charles Lindberg. Telling
(08:15):
the story is Kirk Higgins, the senior director of Content
at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can check out
their phenomenal curriculum on American history at MBRI dot org.
When we last left off, Lindberg had gotten his wings
being an aerial circus performer. Soon he was about to
do and be a lot more than that. Let's return
(08:38):
to the story.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The events that led to Charles Lindberg's historic flight nineteen
twenty seven began with an open letter by a New
York hotelier to the Aero Club of America in nineteen nineteen.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Gentlemen, as a stimulus to the courageous aviators, I desire
to offer, through the auspices and regulars of the Aero
Club of America, a prize of twenty five thousand dollars
to the first aviator of any Allied country crossing the
Atlantic in one flight from Paris to New York or
(09:13):
New York to Paris. All other details in your care
yours very sincerely, Raymond or take.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
For years the price sat unclaimed, not because people flocked
to meet the challenge it failed, but because nobody thought
it possible. By nineteen twenty six, though attempts were being made.
A French Fighter Races attempt failed on the runway, crashing
into a ball of flames.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Two overloaded.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Famed Arctic explorer Richard E Byrd also crashed again too heavy.
Then there was Clarence Chamberlain, another pioneer of aviation arguments,
drove his team apart.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Legal disputes followed.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Then Stanton Wooster and his partner Noel Davis, a crash
during a test flight would take their lives. Limberg was
a late challenger and different from everyone else, decided to
go solo in a single engine aircraft a very risky decision.
The prize did not demand a solo flight. Nobody had
(10:18):
tried it this way. To many, it seemed just as
doom to fail as.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Those who had gone before him. But to Limberg the
challenge seemed possible.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
He'd discussed his idea with a couple of businessmen and
went to work getting himself an airplane he felt would
be suited for the job. Limberg's priorities for the plane
were simple. First, it had to be efficient. Second, it
had to be safe. In third, it had to be comfortable,
but that would come last among everything. He'd leave a
(10:46):
parachute and radio behind too heavy. The gas tank would
be in front, even though it blocked his sight. He
wouldn't need it for most of the trip anyway, but
he and his builders installed a periscope just to be
the clear for takeoff and landing. By April twenty fifth,
nineteen twenty seven, the Metallic Bird, dubbed the Spirit of
Saint Louis, was ready to roll. By the time he
(11:11):
landed in Saint Louis from California a few days later,
he was already breaking records at home. Then, on his
flight to New York, another record the fastest flight across
America less than a day twenty two hours. The time
had now come. On the morning of May twentieth, nineteen
twenty seven. He climbed into the wicker chair in the
cockpit of his airplane. Limburg was well aware this flight
(11:31):
could be his last. The plane's two tanks were filled
with four hundred and fifty gallons of fuel each, but
as Limberg started the single engine and propeller, they responded
somewhat sluggishly because of the humidity. Limburg wasn't even sure
his plane could clear the telephone wires hanging at the
end of.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Long Island's Roosevelt Field.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Even if it could, he still had to fly thirty
four hundred miles across a broad expanse of ocean. But
shortly before eight am, Limberg turned to his crew with
a boyish grin and asked.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Say let's try it.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
As roughly five hundred spectators held their breath, the wheels
of the Spirit of Saint Louis rolled down the wet
runway and bounced twice before the plane lifted Limburg into
the sky. Cheers of joy and relief erupted from the crowd,
but Limberg's journey was just beginning, and he understood the perils.
He would write on giving up the continent and heading
out to sea in the most fragile vehicle ever devised
(12:23):
by man.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Limberg followed the New England.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Coast to the northeast, and after four hours in the air,
was flying over Nova Scotia in Canada. That's when Limberg
was faced with another serious and potentially deadly challenge, deep fatigue.
Limburg had been unable to sleep the night before and
had been awake for more than thirty hours. He wrote,
my whole body agrees Dully that nothing, nothing life can attain,
(12:55):
is quite as desirable as sleep. My mind is losing
resolution and control. After eleven hours in the cockpit, flying
at one hundred miles per hour, Limberg passed over Newfoundland
at dusk.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
He buzzed a.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Fishing town that contained the last humans he would see
for nearly two thousand miles. With his fatigue mounting, Limberg
had a decision to make. He could easily have landed
and tried again when he was more fully rested. Limberg
knew that falling asleep over the Atlantic meant certain death,
but he resolved to continue and flew alone eastward into
a very dark and stormy night over the vast expanse
(13:29):
of ocean. Limburg flew around thunderstorms and squalls as he
fought off sleep. When he climbed near ten thousand feet
so that the brisk air would keep him awake, ice
built up on the wings and threatened to down the plane. Finally,
the skies cleared and the moon rose to guide Limburg
relentlessly to the east, but Limberg didn't know exactly where
(13:52):
he was. With a little modern instrumentation or markers in
the Atlantic, he used dead reckoning to estimate his position.
To imagine Limberg's relief when, twenty seven hours after taking
off from New York and flying slow over the Atlantic waves,
he spotted his first sign of life since leaving the
coast of Newfoundland, a porpoise, then seagulls, then the unmistakable
(14:15):
cliffs of Ireland, and boats full of surprised fishermen dotting
the waters.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Limberg was ecstatic.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He was only three miles off course, and on top
of that, a favorable tailwind had shaved a few hours
off its flight. Things were going great, and he noted
that time was no longer endless, as it had seemed
while he was flying over the vast ocean where no
land was visible in any direction. Giddy with success, Limberg
considered extending his record flight by flying all the way
(14:46):
to Rome, but with good sense and humility, he reined
in these impulsive thoughts. He still had six hundred miles
ahead of him and the sun was setting yet again.
He crossed the comparatively narrow English Channel and entered France
on his way to Paris. Wh rived over the city,
Limberg flew around the Eiffel Tower and searched out l
Borge Airfield. That's when he noticed something amazing and for
(15:07):
a time confusing.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Thousands of lights guided him toward the airport in the darkness.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
These lights were coming from a massive traffic jam of
excited Parisians heading to the airfield. When Limberg finally landed
at ten twenty four pm local time on May twenty first,
as many as one hundred and fifty thousand onlookers gathered
to catch a glimpse of the historic plane and the
heroic pilot who flew it. The massive crowd gathered around
(15:33):
the Spirit of Saint Louis and began to tear at
the plane. Desperate for a souvenir, they carried him on
their shoulders before he was whisked away by police to
the American embassy for a steak dinner and a well
earned night of sleep. After thirty three and a half
hour's airport, he'd been awake for sixty six hours. Limburg
(15:55):
had done something seemingly impossible, what so many others had
tried and failed to do, and he'd made a name
for himself to boot. He was, at that moment in time,
the most famous man, not just in America but the world.
Marriage proposals were sent, thousands of gifts poured in, and
over two hundred songs were written about him after his flight.
(16:16):
For his remarkable courage, he was honored in America with
a ticker tape parade in appearance before Congress in Washington,
where two hundred and fifty thousand people greeted him and
awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Congressional Medal of Honor,
the highest award in the land. On top of this,
he became Colonel Limberg, having been promoted by President Calvin
Coolidge himself. Coolidge remarked that Limberg's success was the same
(16:40):
story of valor and victory by a son of the
people that shines through every page of American history. The
world was Limberg's oyster.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
At this moment. He could have had any job he wanted.
His choice was.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
To continue his course, much as he had done over
the Atlantic. He'd go on to state that whatever does
not mean help to aviation will not interest me at all.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monte Montgomery. And a special thanks to
Kirk Higgins, the senior director of content at the Bill
of Rights Institute. You can check out their great curriculum
on American history at Mybri dot org. That's Mybri dot org.
What a story. Born in Detroit, raised in small town Minnesota,
(17:26):
alongside the Mississippi River, sees a biplane flying up the river,
knows what he wants to do with the rest of
his life, and my goodness, choosing to fly solo. This
becomes the difference maker. And in the end, what a
crazy proposition. But no one had put it forth before
the story of Charles Lindbergh. Here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Up Next,
the story of a man who had over two hundred
songs written about him and was the first to fly
(00:31):
across the Atlantic. We're talking about Charles Limberg. Here to
tell the story is Kirk Higgins, the senior director of
Content at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can check
out their great curriculum on American history at mybri dot org.
That's Mybri dot org. Let's get into the story. Take
(00:52):
it away, Kirk.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It was the evening of May nineteenth, nineteen twenty seven,
in twenty five year old at Charles Limberg was being
hounded by the New York press as he made his
way to a Broadway play. Limberg hoped that the play
would relieve him of some stress, but there's a little
chance of that. He was preparing a historic attempt to
be the first person to fly NonStop from New York
(01:16):
to Paris, but the stormy weather across the Northern Atlantic
hadn't been cooperating lately. Limberg never made it to his
Broadway play. Before it had even begun, he received one
of the most significant meteorological reports of the century. A
high pressure system was going to clear out the storms.
(01:38):
The moment he'd been waiting for had come. It was
time for Charles Limberg to head back to his hotel
and prepare for one of the most courageous, dangerous in
historic flights ever. Born in Detroit in nineteen oh two
(02:01):
and raised in the sleepy town of Little Falls, Minnesota,
on the banks of the Mississippi River, Charles Limberg was
the son of a congressman and a science teacher, and
from his earliest years anything mechanical struck his fancy. He'd
tinker with the family car and motorbike in his spare time.
It was there in Little Falls that he saw his
first airplane. Limberg would recall one day, I was playing
(02:28):
upstairs in our house on the river bank. The sound
of a distant engine drifted in through an open window. Suddenly,
I sat up straight and listened. No automobile engine made
that noise. It was approaching too fast. It was on
the wrong side of the house. I ran to the
window and climbed out onto the terry roof. It was
an airplane flying up river below higher branches of trees.
(02:49):
A biplane was less than two hundred yards away, a frail,
complicated structure, with the pilot sitting out in front between
struts and wires. I watched it fly quickly site As
more Americans took to the skies, Limberg's fascination with aviation
willed to grow. He spent hours at his family farm,
lying on his back, looking at the clouds and dreaming
(03:12):
of flying, and soon he'd be able to touch those clouds.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
He enrolled in the College.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, but dropped
out by his sophomore year to enroll in flying school
out in Nebraska. On April ninth, nineteen twenty two, he'd
take to disguise for the first time, not piloting, but
along for the ride. Later he'd state about that first flight,
trees became bushes, barns, toys, Cows turn into rabbits.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
As we climb, I lose all conscious connection with the past.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I live only in the moment, in this strange, unmortal space,
crowded with beauty, pierced with dandren needless to say, he
was hooked. Flying had become an obsession in his purpose
in life. That obsession soon drew Charles Limberg to America
is exhilarating and dangerous barnstorming circuit. It wasn't through peace
(04:08):
but war that the first Americans were trained up on
how to fly planes, almost every single one of them
in the Curtis JN nine Jenny, and after World War One,
almost all of them were sold for a small fraction
of their original cost. For two hundred dollars, you could
buy your very own airplane. That's only a cost of
about thirty seven hundred dollars today. So by them they
(04:30):
did for mail carrying, smuggling, and barnstorming, sometimes all three.
Barnstorming otherwise known as aerial circuses, was very popular in
the nineteen twenties. People from all over the country would
pay nickels and dives to see pilots perform astonishing and
thrilling acrobatic feats, wing walking, skydiving, even playing tennis between planes.
(04:51):
It was a dangerous business, unregulated and open to all
men and women, white and black, and many great pilots,
including Charles Limberg, would earn their wings this way, making
little to no money in the process. He'd joined up
with a crew as a wingwalker and parachutist, despite never
having done either. On his first jump out of a plane,
(05:12):
everything went smoothly up until the second the parachute was
supposed to open.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Thankfully, it eventually did.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
What Limberg would quit that if I could fly for
ten years before I was killed in the crash, it
would be a worthwhile trade for an ordinary lifetime. Deciding
skydiving wasn't for him, and feeling as if he had
watched people pilot planes enough to know how to do
so himself, as he hadn't flown solo up until this point,
he'd borrow money from his dad to.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Buy his first airplane at Southern Field in Georgia.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
He'd later write about the experience quote everybody at Southern
Field took for granted that I was an experienced pilot.
When I arrived to buy a plane. They didn't ask
to see my license because you didn't have to have
a license to fly an airplane.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Kid nineteen twenty three.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Flying the new plane back to Minnesota, his first time
in the cockpit solo, he barnstormed all the way back
to get enough money to complete the trip. Limburg would
soon take on a more serious career the Army Air Service,
mostly because he wanted to fly newer, faster plans. He
later orote Air Service pilot swings like a silver passport
(06:18):
to the realm of light. With them went the right
to fly all military airplanes. Out of the one hundred
and three people in his class, only nineteen would graduate.
Limberg would be at the top. Afterwards, he'd took a
job flying air mail on the Saint Louis.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
To Chicago route.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The man who became America's most famous airman was a
former mailman, just with plenty of extra risk. Flying the
mail was dangerous work. He'd be forced to jump from
his plane twice, his parachute luckily breaking his fall each time.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
And you've been listening to the story of a name
and man you know but probably don't know like this,
I certainly am learning some things about Lindberg myself, and
evently and especially the part about the role the Army
Air Service played in training up well all kinds of
American pilots, and also the role that these aerial circuses
(07:12):
called barnstorming played in the development of our pilots and
our talent in the country. When we come back more
of the story of Charles Lindbergh here on Our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories. Every
(07:34):
day on this show we tell stories of history, faith, business, love, loss,
and your stories. Send us your story small or large
to out email oas at Ouramerican Stories dot com. That's
oas at Ouramerican Stories dot com. We'd love to hear
them and put them on the air. Our audience loves
(07:54):
them too. And we returned to our American Stories and
the final portion of our story on Charles Lindberg. Telling
(08:15):
the story is Kirk Higgins, the senior director of Content
at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can check out
their phenomenal curriculum on American history at MBRI dot org.
When we last left off, Lindberg had gotten his wings
being an aerial circus performer. Soon he was about to
do and be a lot more than that. Let's return
(08:38):
to the story.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The events that led to Charles Lindberg's historic flight nineteen
twenty seven began with an open letter by a New
York hotelier to the Aero Club of America in nineteen nineteen.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Gentlemen, as a stimulus to the courageous aviators, I desire
to offer, through the auspices and regulars of the Aero
Club of America, a prize of twenty five thousand dollars
to the first aviator of any Allied country crossing the
Atlantic in one flight from Paris to New York or
(09:13):
New York to Paris. All other details in your care
yours very sincerely, Raymond or take.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
For years the price sat unclaimed, not because people flocked
to meet the challenge it failed, but because nobody thought
it possible. By nineteen twenty six, though attempts were being made.
A French Fighter Races attempt failed on the runway, crashing
into a ball of flames.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Two overloaded.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Famed Arctic explorer Richard E Byrd also crashed again too heavy.
Then there was Clarence Chamberlain, another pioneer of aviation arguments,
drove his team apart.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Legal disputes followed.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Then Stanton Wooster and his partner Noel Davis, a crash
during a test flight would take their lives. Limberg was
a late challenger and different from everyone else, decided to
go solo in a single engine aircraft a very risky decision.
The prize did not demand a solo flight. Nobody had
(10:18):
tried it this way. To many, it seemed just as
doom to fail as.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Those who had gone before him. But to Limberg the
challenge seemed possible.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
He'd discussed his idea with a couple of businessmen and
went to work getting himself an airplane he felt would
be suited for the job. Limberg's priorities for the plane
were simple. First, it had to be efficient. Second, it
had to be safe. In third, it had to be comfortable,
but that would come last among everything. He'd leave a
(10:46):
parachute and radio behind too heavy. The gas tank would
be in front, even though it blocked his sight. He
wouldn't need it for most of the trip anyway, but
he and his builders installed a periscope just to be
the clear for takeoff and landing. By April twenty fifth,
nineteen twenty seven, the Metallic Bird, dubbed the Spirit of
Saint Louis, was ready to roll. By the time he
(11:11):
landed in Saint Louis from California a few days later,
he was already breaking records at home. Then, on his
flight to New York, another record the fastest flight across
America less than a day twenty two hours. The time
had now come. On the morning of May twentieth, nineteen
twenty seven. He climbed into the wicker chair in the
cockpit of his airplane. Limburg was well aware this flight
(11:31):
could be his last. The plane's two tanks were filled
with four hundred and fifty gallons of fuel each, but
as Limberg started the single engine and propeller, they responded
somewhat sluggishly because of the humidity. Limburg wasn't even sure
his plane could clear the telephone wires hanging at the
end of.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Long Island's Roosevelt Field.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Even if it could, he still had to fly thirty
four hundred miles across a broad expanse of ocean. But
shortly before eight am, Limberg turned to his crew with
a boyish grin and asked.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Say let's try it.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
As roughly five hundred spectators held their breath, the wheels
of the Spirit of Saint Louis rolled down the wet
runway and bounced twice before the plane lifted Limburg into
the sky. Cheers of joy and relief erupted from the crowd,
but Limberg's journey was just beginning, and he understood the perils.
He would write on giving up the continent and heading
out to sea in the most fragile vehicle ever devised
(12:23):
by man.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Limberg followed the New England.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Coast to the northeast, and after four hours in the air,
was flying over Nova Scotia in Canada. That's when Limberg
was faced with another serious and potentially deadly challenge, deep fatigue.
Limburg had been unable to sleep the night before and
had been awake for more than thirty hours. He wrote,
my whole body agrees Dully that nothing, nothing life can attain,
(12:55):
is quite as desirable as sleep. My mind is losing
resolution and control. After eleven hours in the cockpit, flying
at one hundred miles per hour, Limberg passed over Newfoundland
at dusk.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
He buzzed a.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Fishing town that contained the last humans he would see
for nearly two thousand miles. With his fatigue mounting, Limberg
had a decision to make. He could easily have landed
and tried again when he was more fully rested. Limberg
knew that falling asleep over the Atlantic meant certain death,
but he resolved to continue and flew alone eastward into
a very dark and stormy night over the vast expanse
(13:29):
of ocean. Limburg flew around thunderstorms and squalls as he
fought off sleep. When he climbed near ten thousand feet
so that the brisk air would keep him awake, ice
built up on the wings and threatened to down the plane. Finally,
the skies cleared and the moon rose to guide Limburg
relentlessly to the east, but Limberg didn't know exactly where
(13:52):
he was. With a little modern instrumentation or markers in
the Atlantic, he used dead reckoning to estimate his position.
To imagine Limberg's relief when, twenty seven hours after taking
off from New York and flying slow over the Atlantic waves,
he spotted his first sign of life since leaving the
coast of Newfoundland, a porpoise, then seagulls, then the unmistakable
(14:15):
cliffs of Ireland, and boats full of surprised fishermen dotting
the waters.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Limberg was ecstatic.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He was only three miles off course, and on top
of that, a favorable tailwind had shaved a few hours
off its flight. Things were going great, and he noted
that time was no longer endless, as it had seemed
while he was flying over the vast ocean where no
land was visible in any direction. Giddy with success, Limberg
considered extending his record flight by flying all the way
(14:46):
to Rome, but with good sense and humility, he reined
in these impulsive thoughts. He still had six hundred miles
ahead of him and the sun was setting yet again.
He crossed the comparatively narrow English Channel and entered France
on his way to Paris. Wh rived over the city,
Limberg flew around the Eiffel Tower and searched out l
Borge Airfield. That's when he noticed something amazing and for
(15:07):
a time confusing.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Thousands of lights guided him toward the airport in the darkness.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
These lights were coming from a massive traffic jam of
excited Parisians heading to the airfield. When Limberg finally landed
at ten twenty four pm local time on May twenty first,
as many as one hundred and fifty thousand onlookers gathered
to catch a glimpse of the historic plane and the
heroic pilot who flew it. The massive crowd gathered around
(15:33):
the Spirit of Saint Louis and began to tear at
the plane. Desperate for a souvenir, they carried him on
their shoulders before he was whisked away by police to
the American embassy for a steak dinner and a well
earned night of sleep. After thirty three and a half
hour's airport, he'd been awake for sixty six hours. Limburg
(15:55):
had done something seemingly impossible, what so many others had
tried and failed to do, and he'd made a name
for himself to boot. He was, at that moment in time,
the most famous man, not just in America but the world.
Marriage proposals were sent, thousands of gifts poured in, and
over two hundred songs were written about him after his flight.
(16:16):
For his remarkable courage, he was honored in America with
a ticker tape parade in appearance before Congress in Washington,
where two hundred and fifty thousand people greeted him and
awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Congressional Medal of Honor,
the highest award in the land. On top of this,
he became Colonel Limberg, having been promoted by President Calvin
Coolidge himself. Coolidge remarked that Limberg's success was the same
(16:40):
story of valor and victory by a son of the
people that shines through every page of American history. The
world was Limberg's oyster.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
At this moment. He could have had any job he wanted.
His choice was.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
To continue his course, much as he had done over
the Atlantic. He'd go on to state that whatever does
not mean help to aviation will not interest me at all.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monte Montgomery. And a special thanks to
Kirk Higgins, the senior director of content at the Bill
of Rights Institute. You can check out their great curriculum
on American history at Mybri dot org. That's Mybri dot org.
What a story. Born in Detroit, raised in small town Minnesota,
(17:26):
alongside the Mississippi River, sees a biplane flying up the river,
knows what he wants to do with the rest of
his life, and my goodness, choosing to fly solo. This
becomes the difference maker. And in the end, what a
crazy proposition. But no one had put it forth before
the story of Charles Lindbergh. Here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.