RTTTTT! And off he goes .... CHARLES A. LINDBERGH! He's accepted the challenge of flying across the Atlantic Ocean! Will he win the race?Raymond Okleig promised a large amount of money for the first man to fly across the Atlantic Ocean by plane. Some died and most were injured. People could not cross the ocean by plane back then. In May of 1927, CHARLES A. LINDBERGH with Ryan Aerohauticat made a plane called the SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS. When he was ready for his trip to New York, he started on the field.
LINDBERGH started his journey in San Diego. It took him 20 hours and 21 min. to get to New York. He stopped only in St. Louis to sleep and refill his plane with gas. The next morning, he left New York at 5:21am. His trip took him over the Atlantic Ocean, Ireland , and France. Altogether the flight took 33 hours and 29 min. When he arrived in Paris, people crowded around LINDBERGH. The crowds cheered a lot. A US warship took LINDBERGH back to America.
After he returned, he toured the United States of America and talked to thousands of people all over the country. People offered him money to:
- play in a movie,
- appear in a vaudeville1 show,
- fly around the world,
- have a new house, and
- endorse a cigarette.
He rejected all of these offers, because he was modest. From this, the French realized that he was not what they thought every American was like. They really liked that.
1 Webster: A theatrical piece, usually a comedy, the dialogue of which is intermingled with light or satirical songs, set to familiar airs.
Acknowledgment: Thank you to Chris, my brother, for making the model of the Spirit of St. Louis. Everybody liked it!