Le Bourget

Exactly.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to Le Bourget.

You've taken up too much of my time already.

I...

fit wet they don't like it

yeah funny tell me a bit about easy the competitive element between you and other teams so you go to Farnborough you go to Le Bourget which is the Paris air show if anybody's not familiar with the other name for it but Sometimes there are awards given for the best display team.

Do you become competitive? And also, generally, do you look at what the other teams are doing, take inspiration from them, and compare yourselves to them? Competition

exists, but

The lights of France came up below him.

He had been told to look for the Seine and follow it northeast toward Le Bourget Aerodrome.

He found the river.

He found the field.

When John Alcock and Arthur Witten-Brown made their non-stop crossing three weeks after NC4 arrived in Plymouth, flying a converted Vickers Vimy bomber through icing and cloud, and a terrifying near spiral that nearly drove them into the Atlantic before they recovered at low altitude, the non-stop achievement captured something the stage crossing hadn't quite matched.

Alcock and Brown claimed the Daily Mail Prize and got the major headlines, and when Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927, and landed at Le Bourget 33 and a half hours later, the image of one young man alone in a silver monoplane over the dark ocean became the defining picture of transatlantic flight.

200,000 people met him at Le Bourget.

The world never forgot his name.

NC-4, the aircraft that had actually done it first, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1924.

His point of view, shared by so many of those who fought hardest for France before and after it went down, remains today my most active memory of France.

We drove to Le Bourget to take the plane for Copenhagen.

It was reasonable to wonder whether this country, which had been invaded by Germany three times in 70 years, would have to beat down another such attack in the next 70.

Whether the greatest security for France

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however i circled again and closing the throttle as the plane passed within a few feet of the boat i shouted which way is ireland of course the attempt was useless and i continued on my course less than an hour later a rugged and semi-mountainous coast-line appeared to the north-east i was flying less than two hundred feet from the water when i sighted it the shore was fairly distinct and not over ten or fifty miles away a light haze coupled with numerous local storm areas had prevented my seeing it from a long distance the coast-line came down from the north curved over towards the east i had very little doubt that it was the south-western end of ireland but in order to make sure i changed my course towards the nearest point of land i located cape valencia and dingle bay then resumed my compass course towards paris after leaving ireland i passed a number of steamers and was seldom out of sight of a ship in a little over two hours the coast of england appeared my course passed over southern england and a little south of plymouth then across the english channel striking france over cherbourg the english farms were very impressive from the air and contrast our hours in america they appeared extremely small and unusually neat and tidy with their stone and hedge fences i was flying at about a fifteen hundred foot altitude over england and as i crossed the channel and passed over cherbourg france i had probably seen more of that part of europe than many native europeans the visibility was good and the country could be seen for miles around people who have taken their first flight often remark that no one knows what the locality he lives in is like until he has seen it from above countries take on different characteristics from the air the sun went down shortly after passing cherbourg and soon the beacons along the paris london airway became visible i first saw the lights of paris a little before ten p m or five p m new york time and a few minutes later i was circling the eiffel tower at an altitude of about four thousand feet the lights of le bourget were plainly visible but appeared to be very close to paris i had understood that the field was farther from the city so continued out to the north-east and to the country for four or five miles to make sure that there was not another field farther out which might be le bourget then i returned and spiralled down closer to the lights presently i could make out long lines of hangars and the roads appeared to be jammed with cars i flew low over the field once then circled around into the wind and landed after the plane stopped rolling i turned it around and started to taxi back to the lights the entire field ahead however was covered with thousands of people all running towards my ship when the first few arrived i attempted to get them to hold the rest of the crowd back away from the plane but apparently no one could understand or would have been able to conform to my request if he had i cut the switch to keep the propeller from killing some one and attempted to organize an impromptu guard for the plane the impossibility of any immediate organization became apparent and when parts of the ship began to crack from the pressure of the multitude i decided to climb out of the cockpit in order to draw the crowd away speaking was impossible no words could be heard in the uproar and nobody apparently cared to hear any i started to climb out of the cockpit but as soon as one foot appeared through the door i was dragged the rest of the way without assistance on my part for nearly half an hour i was unable to touch the ground during which time i was ardently carried around in what seemed to be a very small area and in every position it is possible to be in every one have the best of intentions but no one seemed to know just what they were the french military fliers very resourcefully took this situation in hand a number of them mingled with the crowd then at a given signal they placed my helmet on an american correspondent and cried here is lindbergh that helmet on an american was sufficient evidence the correspondent immediately became the centre of attraction and while he was being taken protestingly to the reception committee via a rather devious route i managed to get inside one of the hangars meanwhile a second group of soldiers and police had surrounded the plane and soon placed it out of danger in another hangar the french ability to handle an unusual situation with speed and capability was remarkably demonstrated that night at le ambassador herrick extended me an invitation to remain at his embassy while i was in paris which i gladly accepted but grateful as i was at the time it did not take me long to realize that a kind providence had placed me in ambassador herrick's hands the ensuing days found me in situations that i had certainly never expected to be in and in which i relied on ambassador herrick's sympathetic aid these situations were brought about by the whole-hearted welcome to me an american that touched me beyond any point that any words can express i left france with a debt of gratitude which though i cannot repay it i shall always remember if the french people had been acclaiming their own gallants airmen nungesser and coley who were lost only after fearlessly departed in the face of conditions insurmountably greater than those that confronted me their enthusiastic welcome and graciousness could not have been greater in belgium as well i was received with a warmth which reflected more than simply a passing curiosity in a transatlantic flight but which was rather a demonstration by the people of their interest in a new means of transportation which eventually would bring still closer together the new world and the old their welcome too will be a cherished memory for all time in england i experienced one final unforgettable demonstration of friendship for an american that spontaneous wonderful reception during my brief visit seemed typical of what i had always heard of the good sportsmanship of the english my words to all those friends in europe are inadequate but my feelings of appreciation are boundless conclusion when i was contemplating the flight to paris i looked forward to making a short tour of europe with especial regard to the various airports and aeronautical activities after i arrived however the necessity for returning to america in the near future became apparent and after a consultation with ambassador houghton who informed me that president coolidge was sending the cruiser memphis to cherbourg for my return journey to america i flew the spirit of st louis to gosport early one morning there it was dismantled and crated through the courtesy of the royal air force which also placed a woodcock pursued plane at my disposal i returned to london in the woodcock and a few days later flew to paris in another r a f machine of the same type i remained over night in paris and early the next morning flew a french brejet to cherbourg where the cruiser memphis was waiting barrage met me at the dock and after going aboard the memphis i became acquainted with captain lackey and the officers of the ship during the trip across they extended every courtesy and did every thing within their power to make the voyage a pleasant one a description of my welcome back to the united states would in itself be sufficient to fill a larger volume than this i am not an author by profession and my pen could never express the gratitude which i feel towards the american people the voyage up the potomac and to the monument grounds in washington up the hudson river and along broadway over the mississippi and to st louis to do justice to these occasions would require a far greater writer than myself washington new york and finally st louis and home each of these cities has left me with an impression that i shall never forget and a debt of gratitude which i can never repay publisher's note when lindbergh came to tell the story of his welcome at paris london brussels washington new york and st louis he found himself up against a tougher problem than flying the atlantic he wanted to speak from his heart his appreciation for all the kindness and enthusiasm that had been shown him but when he began to write he found that fitting words would not come somehow it wasn't a story for him to tell so the publishers agreed to a suggestion that this part of the record be put in the third person by a writer he might choose as a result much in the way of illuminating speeches and other important matter is included that lindbergh would have been loth to use Author's note, I have asked Fitzhugh Green to write a brief account of my various receptions, not only because I think he has caught the spirit of what I have tried to do for aviation, but because I trust his judgment in selection of material.

Charles A. Lindberg End of section 10 section eleven of we by charles lindbergh a little of what the world thought of lindbergh by fitzhugh green one paris charles a lindberg was the dark horse of the new york to paris flight also he flew alone these two facts combined with the tragic disappearance of the french transatlantic fliers nungessa and coley shortly before he left new york emphasized the suspense with which paris awaited his arrival he landed safely on a dark night about on scheduled time this was the culmination of what might be called the mechanical aspect of his success in consequence of these unique but rather simple circumstances it was natural that there should follow a good deal of notoriety for the flyer already the so-called transatlantic air race had received much advertising several planes had been grooming for the long flight and there had been much speculation about the practicability of such an effort lindbergh's landing figuratively rang the bell as the winner came under the wire the first man over was bound to be recognized as an audacious pioneer without regard for his character creed or aspirations the world was going to come forward and say well done the first man to fly from new york to paris was bound to be fatted and decorated he would tell the story of his flight and there would be ephemeral discussion of its bearing on the future of aviation wild speculation about the world being on the brink of a great air age would follow the first man to fly from new york to paris was bound to excite the admiration of his own countrymen he would be met on his return by committees have to make some speeches at banquets and receive appropriate decorations for his valour the first man to fly from new york to paris would write several magazine articles and a book he might make some money by lecturing he would be offered contracts for moving pictures jobs as manager of something or other and honorary memberships in a hundred organizations of more or less doubtful value then some one would break a home-run record or commit a murder whereupon the world would forget with pitiless promptness the first man to fly the broad atlantic who by the way can name the dauntless pilots that circled the globe by air not so many months ago the reason lindbergh's story is different is that when his plane came to a halt on le brugier field that black night in paris lindbergh the man kept on going the phenomenon of lindbergh took its start with his flight across the ocean but in its entirety it was almost as distinct from that flight as though he had never flown at all it is probable that in the three ensuing weeks lindbergh loosed the greatest torrent of mass emotion ever witnessed in human history this narrative is a record of events not an analysis it therefore cannot pretend to explain the phenomenon of lindbergh whether it was his modesty or his looks or his refusal to be tempted by money or by fame that won him such a following we cannot say perhaps the world was ripe for a youth with a winning smile to flash across its horizon and by the brilliance of his achievement momentarily to dim the ugliness of routine business politics and crime many said that his sudden meteor-like appearance from obscurity was an act of providence whatever the reason for it all the fact remains that there was a definite phenomenon of lindbergh quite the like of which the world had never seen this strange phenomenon is the opening fact of our simple narrative of events called from a list far too long to include in the space allowed all who followed press accounts of the flyers adventures after landing agree that his meteor did not glow in its full radiance at first there was a faint unmistakable artificiality in the news reports on this side of the atlantic immediately following his arrival in paris to be sure unstinted praise was poured on his courage and on the skill of his unprecedented flight but the true lindbergh had not yet impressed itself upon america his personality caught the french at the very moment when their natural enthusiasm for his deed was at its height it was like pushing a swing just when it had started downward two french aviation officers extricated him from the milling crowd at le bourget on a rival night and succeeded in getting him to the american embassy where newspaper men located him at one thirty a m the journalist naturally found the flyer tired after having had practically no sleep for nearly sixty hours but he was far from exhausted and he had no model and recital for the pencil pushers who so eagerly surrounded him he awakened near noon next day after breakfast he went out on a balcony in response to crowds in the street and for the first time after his triumph stood face to face in daylight with citizens of france there was a burst of applause as we have said the first man to have flown from new york to paris was bound to get just this applause then something else happened we talked to one of the diplomatic corps who witnessed this first public appearance he said the people kept on cheering and clapping and waving their hats or handkerchiefs but i suddenly had a feeling they were applauding mechanically as if their attention were rooted on something that fascinated them i glanced up at lindbergh to see if he were doing anything he shouldn't do no he was just smiling and his ruddy face was alight with appreciation i looked from lindberg to the crowd then i realized that something was going on right before my eyes that i couldn't see lindberg's personality was reaching out and winning the french just as surely as his flight had reached out and found their city that was the beginning of the phenomenon of lindbergh it grew in a steady crescendo as the days passed we saw it full force in washington he saw it reach incredible heights in new york procession of events fitted into and abetted development of the situation there was the telephone conversation from paris to his mother in detroit four thousand miles away his mother the world rolled the two words around its collective tongue as might a wine connoisseur his nectar He called on Madame Nungese, another mother whose equally brave son had disappeared but a few days before, in the stormy wastes of the same ocean he had crossed.

Their exchange was brief, but the whole world listened and wiped away a tear.

In simple compassion, Lindbergh told the mother not to give up hope.

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president and mrs coolidge entertained members of the cabinet and their wives that night lindbergh sat on mrs coolidge's right he wore a conventional evening dress and was distinguished by the ease and simplicity with which he met both sallies and inquiries of the imposing guests it is one of the cruelties of social lionization that we search for the peculiarities of our specimen in lindbergh's case his peculiarity lay in the fact that neither by word nor lurk nor deed was he in any way grotesque his eyes were clear his smile quick like a practised diplomat he eluded entangling discussion and he had a ready reply for every intelligent inquiry put to him within his range of knowledge or experience it is at risk of dampening the ardor of our narrative that we repeatedly point to this trait of simplicity that lies in lindbergh we do so because it was from close within the nucleus of this trait that there sprung the incredible emotional reaction towards his personality after the president's dinner lindbergh attended a meeting of the national press club in the washington auditorium this was his first public appearance under roof in america six thousand people risked imminent heat stroke by crowding into every seat and cranny of the building the program oaked him with an address on behalf of the press club by richard v because this address illuminated the feelings of the fourth estate proverbially cynical toward notoriety we give it here in full we the press rub elbows with all manner of mankind we see much of good but we see much of self-seeking of sordid motive as we sit in the wings watching the world's procession pass across the stage if it is true that through our contacts we are sprinkled with a coating of the dry dust of cynicism that dust was blown away in a breath as it were when our professional brethren who greeted you overseas broadcast the news of your peerless exploit to americans it brought a spontaneous feeling of pride that you were of their nationality the whole world was carried off by its feet by an accomplishment so daring so masterful in execution so superb an achievement by the picture presented of that onrushing chariot of dauntless youth flashing across uncharted heavens straight through the storm's barrage but if the press with such an inspiration performed its mission well it found equal inspiration it performed as fine a mission in chronicling the subsequent conduct of our young ambassador of good will his words and bearing dissipated vapors of misunderstanding he personified to a europe amazed at the revelation the real spirit of america the press should be proud then if in telling the story of this later phase in the career of the american boy it brought to the peoples of the world a new realization that clean living clean thinking fair play and sportsmanship modesty of speech and manner faith in a mother's prayers have a front-page news value intriguing imagination and inviting emulation and are still potent as fundamentals of success postmaster general new then stepped forward and gave lindbergh the first special air mail stamp as he handed it to the flower he said it is as a pilot in the service of the air mail that i greet you there is no public service devoted to the peace time of the public whose past and present are attended by the romance that are attached to the history of the post-office department of the united states from the single couriers of the early days who followed the uncertain trails through word and fen on horseback and on foot the picturesque riders of the pony express of a later day who risked their lives at the hands of savage foes in the wilderness the drivers who serve amid the rigors of the frozen north with dog teams and sleds to those intrepid pilots who pierce the night with the air mail and of whom you are a worthy representative the whole story is set in an atmosphere of most engaging romance it has no titles to bestow nor medal can add to those that have been given in recognition of your splendid achievement there is one thing however it can do that will everywhere be regarded as most appropriate it has issued a stamp designed for special use with the air-mail which bears your name and a representation of the other member of that very limited partnership in which you made your now famous journey across seas it is the first time a stamp has been issued in honour of a man still living a distinction which you have worthily won it is my great pleasure to be privileged to present to you and to the mother who gave you to this service the first two copies of this issue as the best evidence of the enduring regard of the post-office department of the united states these speeches are quoted because better than almost any other capturable entity of those days they reflect the wide scope of the effect lindbergh's success had on both governmental and business routine surely it is difficult to conceive of a military victor shaking so many foundations no matter what the might of his mailed fist secretary of state kellogg next presented lindbergh with a memorial volume consisting of a compilation of diplomatic exchanges between the state department and the foreign offices of the world in connection with the flight his words lined in a little more of the bewildering picture of the world's admiration enfolding before lindbergh's frankly astonished gaze colonel charles a lindberg he slowly and ponderously began staring hard at the object of his eulogy on may twentieth and twenty first nineteen twenty seven the world was electrified by the news of your non-stop flight from new york to paris it was a marvellous accomplishment requiring the highest courage skill and self-reliance probably no act of a single individual in our day has ever aroused such universal enthusiasm and admiration Your great deed is a milestone making scientific advancement.

you have been congratulated by kings and presidents you have listened to the plaudits of thousands and thousands in europe and you know the tributes which have been justly paid to you by millions more you do not now realize the thousands who have expressed their congratulations in letters and telegrams i have had printed in this little volume only the official telegrams which passed through the department of state and i take pleasure in presenting to you this volume in commemoration of your epochal achievement along the highway of human progress as we look back over the last half-century we marvel at the progress in science the arts and invention truly this is a marvelous age and your daring feet will pass into the pages of history then came dr charles g abbott acting secretary of the smithsonian institute who informed lindbergh that the institute had decided to award him the langley medal of pioneers this honor has in the past been bestowed upon a small but distinguished group such as orville wright clenn aged curtis and gustave eiffel thus was added to the tribute of press and state the commendation of one of the oldest and finest scientific bodies in the world followed next a medley of messages from special organizations greetings from cities touched by lindbergh in his historic flight from san diego to paris were read st louis sent a moving reminder that her people were waiting for you now impatiently waiting since that gray morning when you launched out over the clouds and the sea for paris there was one from the british government something almost without precedent when it is considered that its recipient was a private citizen on a private enterprise the official bearer read i have been desired by the british government to express to colonel lindberg on this occasion in behalf of all the people of great britain their warm congratulations on the safe return home after his historic flight across the atlantic the british people regard colonel lindbergh with special admiration and affection not only for his great courage and resource but also for his equally great modesty and success and generosity in giving their due to other aviators who have gone before at the end of this bewildering array of orations and gifts the speaker of the evening was announced one has only to put oneself in lindbergh's place after reading some of the eloquence listed above to admire the moral courage it took to face that huge audience and once more speak with directness and precision of the things nearest his heart things often furthest from the burden of the discourse i want to express my appreciation of the reception i have met in america and the welcome i have received here to-night it was plain the flower was going to cover another field than the infinitely delicate one he had touched earlier in the day when i landed at le bourget a few weeks ago i landed with the expectancy and hope of being able to see europe it was the first time i had ever been abroad i'd seen a number of interesting things when i flew over ireland and southern england and france i'd only been gone from america two days or a little less and i wasn't in any particular hurry to get back But by the time I had been in France a week, Belgium a day, and England two or three days, by that time I had opened several cables from America and talked with three ambassadors and their attaches and found that it didn't make much difference whether I wanted to stay or not.

And every time I'd turn around, he'd promptly shut his eyes and feign sleep again.

[gentle music] Finally, it was early evening, we set down at Le Bourget, the airport on the outskirts of Paris.

Since this was Carolyn's destination, during the short layover I helped her get her baggage and extracted the promise of a date in New York when she returned in the fall.

Yeah.

That's a fine question to ask a pilot bound for Paris.

We land at Le Bourget Field, you know.' "'No, I didn't know.' "'Where do you think you'd land? In the Champs-Élysées?' "'I'm liable to land on a church steeple if that motor cuts out on me as it did yesterday afternoon, for no reason at all.

Remember, no contour chasing and no dogfighting.

We're going to Paris.' Larkin grinned.

As for contour chasing, well, they had broken regulations times without number, and to date had paid no penalty.

McGee, knowing what thoughts lurked behind Larkin's grin, wagged a prudent finger under his nose.

mind your step buzz he warned we are supposed to be sedate dignified instruction keeping instructors fly northwest to auxerre and then follow the railroad toward sens and on to melun then swing straight north and come into le bourget from the east All right.

All set? Yes.

And he has a tremendous sense of humor.

So, as he put it, we had a ball from the time we took off in L.A. till the time we set down in Le Bourget.

Item 3, 520 American, taxi into the Hotel Le Bois, where the manager was, well, somewhat helpful.

Oh, mais oui, mais oui.

Aircraft transport and travel, he replied, on the Paris route.

We used to fly nines and sixteens from Hunslow to Le Bourget and get through as best as you could.

Later on we moved to Croydon.

I nodded.

Time and again, jerking her nose up into a zoom when you came to a tree or a church, and letting her down again the other side, so as you could see the ground again, at over a hundred miles an hour.

Crossing the channel like that, ten minutes in a cold sweat, praying to God that your compass was right and your engine would stick it out, and you'd see the cliffs the other side before you hit.

And then, at the end of it all, to have to land in a field halfway between the coast and Le Bourget because it was getting too thick for safety.

He paused.