Monday, May 21, 2007

80 years

Eighty years ago today, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis" in a field outside Paris, France. So was laid down a template for what we know today as the "media frenzy." Except his lasted throughout his life.

Irrespective of his politics and the controversy that soon followed him, you have to give him credit for carrying a large pair of cojones: flying a fabric-covered airplane powered by a single piston engine of relatively unproven technology for more than 33 hours -- alone and without an autopilot, or even a radio -- across nothing but water.

Given the relatively insignificant support he had, especially when matched against not only other, contemporary efforts but also to more modern record attempts (Voyager and Space Ship One come to mind), very little we can do today compares.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home