Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press., 1927-05-26
LINDBERCH TELLS
STORY OF FLIGHT
Sir Alan Gotham, Great British Air
man, Adds Congratulations, Hears
Thrilling Story

A. Lindbergh today told the story of
his flight from New York to Paris
to a group of newspapermen in the
embassy, and when he had finished
every one was firm in the belief that
he was real flying genius.
Being newspapermen'', he bagan,
l suppose you gentlemen are inter-
ested first in knowing what was the
most dangerous thing about our
flight. The most dangerous thing of
all was that landing at LIE Bourget,
bringing that ship down on field
with all that crowd runnign. l had
more fear at that moment for the
welfare of our plane, than at any
other time in the whole flight.
sThe first part of the flight was
better and easier than any of us ex-
pected. The field in New York was
muddy, which made the take-off lit
tie long, but we got away all right.
"All the way up the American coast
to Newfoundland. we had uncommon
ly good weather-lots better than we
expected But for the next 1000
miles it couldn't have been much
worse for us"
eve Us & Co.
At this juncture, the ambassador re-
marked "When Lindbergh says
we he means the ship and HIMSELF
All the way through, except when
asked for personal opinion of some
thing the flyer used the first person
plural in describing the voyage.
"After we got away from land"
continued the aviator, "we ran into
fog, then rain, then hail. Some
times we flew not more than 10 feet
above the water, and the highest was
10000 feet We went up that high to
try to get above the storm, but the
average altitude for tn ewhole second
1000 miles of the flight was less than
100 feet.
eff we had known that the weather
would be as bad over that part of the
ocean as it turned out to be, we
would not have started, but once we
got into it, there was not any use in
turning back; there wasn't anything
to do but keep going.
Happy At Dawn
eve were mighty happy to see the
dawn which we ran into about 2
O'Clock New York time. In the after
noon, we picked up Ireland. From
the maps we had and from what I
read at home l knew that England
was a sort of hilly rolling country,
France pretty flat and Ireland inclin-
ed to be mountainous. So when l saw
pretty high ranges off in front,
knew it was Ireland. L."
pardon me-, a voice from the out
er ring of listeners called, "but did
you do the whole flight by dead reck-
oning? l am a flyer myself; my
name is Gotham, and I flew from
London few minutes ago to see you
and tell you you have done the great
est thing I have ever heard of.
All heads turned. The voice was
that of Sir Alan Gotham, the great
est of British long distance aviators,
the pioneer of routes of South Africa,
India and Australia.
Gotham Greeted
"It is Sir Alan Cobham", several
said, and made path for him to ap-
proach Lindbergh, who grasped the
Briton's hand and said. 81 am Nigh
ty glad to meet you sir. have heard
a great deal about you. We II
did it all by dead reckoning. Wei
didn't carry any astronomical instru-
ments, and l don't know how to use
a sextant".
"What points did you fly over in
crossing from Ireland to France?",
some one asked.
"Hand me the map; I'll tell you,
Lindbergh replied,
In answer to another question he
said he did not feel either hungry
or sleepy during the flight, and as
to his meals, 81 ate about sandwich
an da half and drank half glass of
water. l kept the windows open all
the way. But, you see, our ship,
the way she is built, you are protected
from straight winds, and so we didn't
have that discomfort"
"How did you fly from Cherbourg
on to Paris.
ooh just came on in a straight
line, picked up the beams of the
searchlights all right and saw the
Seine. Then I got a look at Eiffel
tower all light up. knew that was
Paris, and l had been told at home
that LIE Bourget was IA kilometers
northeast of Paris.
"When l got there I wasn't quite
sure that it was LIE Bourget. That
is why I flew around there several
minutes. | thought LIE Bourget must
be little farther on, but when they
turned on the field lights l figured
that must be the place. Then the
crowd began racing out there into
the lights, and there wasn't any more
doubt about it."