I recorded this movie a couple of weeks ago and just finished watching it. Jimmy Stewart as Charles Lindbergh in the 1957 movie. I had never seen it before and I was absolutely engrossed in it (or by it).

About all I knew of Lindbergh’s flight was that he was the first to cross the Atlantic from New York to Paris. The whole story is incredible. The airplane was built in 60 days in San Diego. When Lindbergh got to St. Louis, just prior to leaving for NY, he is told a very credible effort from Paris to NY had beat him into the air; he thought it would succeed. It didn’t.

While height, body shape and being an actual pilot might have made Stewart the ideal person to play Lindbergh—he had to fight to get the role. Lindbergh was only 25 when he flew to Paris. Stewart was 47 when the movie was filmed.

Here’s a heads-up. “The Spirit of St. Louis” will be shown on TBS again on March 1. I recommend setting your DVR.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
...Lindbergh’s flight was that he was the first 27th to cross the Atlantic from New York to Paris. The whole story is incredible.

Fixed it for you. Lindy was the first to do it alone.

Seems like a good show either way. I'll check it out in March.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
...Lindbergh’s flight was that he was the first 27th to cross the Atlantic from New York to Paris. The whole story is incredible.

Fixed it for you. Lindy was the first to do it alone.

Seems like a good show either way. I'll check it out in March.

I didn’t know that. In fact, I thought the French effort that Lindbergh believed beat him, was two men.

You sure about 26 prior crewed flights between NY and Paris though?

I remember seeing it as a child and being very impressed.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:

You sure about 26 prior crewed flights between NY and Paris though?

Best that I can recall Lindberg was the 27th transatlantic flight. Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. They took off from St. John's, Newfoundland and landed in Galway.

For bonus points: The Wright Brothers were the third plane to take to the skies, but the first to heavily publicized it.

Trivia and history: His departure airport (Roosevelt Field, Long Island) is now a mall.

http://www.airfields-freeman.c...Nassau.htm#roosevelt

Sigmund, your post regarding the history of Rooseveldt Field and one entry in particular from the website caused me to do further research on Lindbergh’s flight. I now believe that my original post was correct, and that .38supersig’s “correction” is in fact wrong.

Lindbergh, and many other aviators were competing for the Orteig Prize “offered to the first Allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice versa.” That is exactly what I wrote in the OP, “that he was the first to cross the Atlantic from New York to Paris.“ He was. The Orteig Prize of $25,000 did not specify that the flight be solo. Lindbergh chose to fly solo, and the movie (and Lindbergh’s autobiography) explains his reasoning. Others had successfully crossed the Atlantic, I’m still not sure about 26 others, but one crossing was in a British dirigible, and I have no idea how many were on that flight; however, no flight by any number of people, had successfully flown from New York to Paris before Lindbergh.

Good to know. Wasn't sure about the NY to Paris thing, just remembered reading about transatlantic flights.

Thinking the way everyone went was NY to Canada to Greenland to hopping a few small islands while crossing the Atlantic to Europe.

Alcock and Brown went nonstop, then followed by many more.

I don't know what would have been worse, flying across the Atlantic, or flying without a windshield.