NBA LABEL
CHARLES A LINDBERGH

Charles A. Lindbergh

(Paris May 21st 1927)

On the evening of May 21st 1927, a small silver-grey monoplane, "The Spirit of St Louis", descended quietly out of the darkened sky to land in a field near Paris. A huge throng of 100,000 people had already gathered in the open, waiting excitedly with their eyes fixed on the sky, eager to witness the historic event - the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris.

As soon as the plane touched down, the young solo pilot, Charles A. Lindbergh, was mobbed by the ecstatic crowd and hailed a world hero for his achievement.

"Well, I made it", was the characterstically modest comment from the quiet 25-year-old Mid-Westerner as he stepped from his little plane to the rapturous welcome.

The flight, which had been through rain, sleet and snow, had taken 33½ hours. So much fuel had been needed for the long trans-Atlantic flight that "The Spirit of St Louis" had only just managed to take-off at New York, flying like "a drunken seagull", and barely clearing trees and telephone wires. Because of the weight problem, Lindbergh refused to carry a radio and had with him just five sandwiches, a quart of water and some letters of introduction.

Such is the stuff of legends



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