Evening star., 1927-05-29
LINDBERGH FINDS
TRIBUTE IN FLYING
BIG FRENCH PLANE


Continued from First Page)
that honor more, I think, than any
that has been paid to me here, and
they have been plentiful enough.
This week will be kind of a dream
to me all of my life. / feel l want
it over.
Concerned About Field.
Before l left | was told that the
French were so disappointed at the
failure of Nungesser and Coli and
so grieved by the loss of those great
airmen that they would not take
much note of any other attempt to
cross the Atlantic by air. l must
say / didn't think much of these
reports. My reception did not matter
so much to me as getting across.
] wondered one or twice about the
arrangements that would be made at
lie Bourget and whether | would be
able easily to find it in the dark be-
cause 1 perhaps hadn't paid suf-
ficient attention to that and didn't
know whether foreign fields are run
on the same lines as ours.
But what happened that night, and
what has been happening ever since,
have been more than any one could
have anticipated. I doubt il they
could have done more to honor one
of their own people than they have
done for me. and one thing that
struck me very much at all the re-
ceptions is the way ursAmbassador,
3 Mr.. Herrick. Is cheered and well
coined. He has certainly got. the
hearts of the French people. At
the Chamber of Deputies, at the SEN
ate and at the Hotel De Vile 1
know their welcome to me was all
the warmer because he was along
side of me- Many of them have told
me how glad they have been to see
his pleasure.
I don't think that my individual
fight across the Atlantic has done
anything much in itself to advance
either aviation or civilization. Some
one was going to be first soon, and 1t
was terribly bad luck t.lat Nungesser
and Coli didn't make their fight,
which, as / have already written.
consider far harder to make tha 4
mine, from West to East, but it has
certainly served to get rid of that
idea. which some people in America
seem to have, that the French were
not as good sports about other people
as they are among themselves. /
doubt if even the French airmen, il
they had reached New York, could
have had any bigger welcome than /
have had or would have found at
home a deeper appreciation of flying
for its real value than I have found
here.
French Interested I'm Flying.
have been struck very much in
all of these receptions by the interest
Frenchmen Of all opinions take in
the advance of flying. They gave it
its first start when Wilbur and Or.
Vile Wright came here, and ever
since they have been going along fast
with, / begin to think. bigger public
interest among them than anywhere
else. They are attracted to It scien.
tifically and by their character.
Some OF these French airmen /
have met at LIE Bourget are the most
modest men 1 have ever known, and
/ have had to ask others about their
records to get to know anything about
them. They never talk about them.
selves.
/ notice that the French air service
Is going in for monoplanes more than
we are, but / haven't yet got down to
the real reason. Each kind of ship
has its own purpose and suitability
and why they should be developing
the monoplane more than we are do
ing is one of the questions l want to
have some quiet time here investigat
ing. We have some very similar
types to the Nieuport scout plane ]
flew this morning, but 1 saw some
types l would like to have a closer
look at.
One of the questions the French
elrmen have been asking me is how
often I changed the angle OF my com
pass on the way from Newfoundlan nc
until l sighted Ireland. That is wha,
has interested them most in examin
ing the way in which I navigated
Actually ] changed the point abou
every hundred miles. My flight across
the ocean was not straight line, az
some thought. and l found that my
calculations were almost exactly right
Not Bothered BY Wind.
Another of their questions thi'
morning was how | calculated thu
drift of the airplane. In that wa,
fortunate, because there was neve
at any time a strong side wind blow
Ing. When the wind was highest j
was directly behind me. Now ant
then took an observation of the wa,
the waves were running, especial,
the white caps, and though thi.
manner of observing is only very ap
proximate, it served my purpose yer.
well.
About this mornings flight owe
Paris there was one funny little Incl
dent. / suppose I am rather tale
than most French airmen, and thei
wind screens are lower than am use,
to. When l was doing some stunts
looked out over the side and the win
took my helmet clean off, leaving m
goggles. 1t just ripped it from m
head, and now. after having had
saved for me that first night at l.
Bourget, ! have lost it.
The rest of nay equipment is in fin
shape. Cleaners have got me all fiXe
up. and l won't look so untidy when
arrive in Brussels and London as di
when l got here.
This morning at lie Bourget I CAV
a look to my plane. and it seems t
have been fixed up all right. ! shall