Fossett, Fossett, Fossett, .... is he really that great?

"Kev" wrote in message
ups.com...

Yep. And even stranger, Lindbergh was praised even though he was what,
about the 100th person to cross the Atlantic by plane?


At least 84 men crossed the Atlantic by air before Lindbergh, but not all of
them did it by airplane. The crew of the British dirigible R.34 did it July
1919, a month after Alcock and Brown's first nonstop crossing. The
dirigible LZ-126/ZR-3 was flown nonstop from Germany to New Jersey in
October 1924 by Hugo Eckener and crew.



But he was the first solo, just as Fossett was the first to solo round the
world.



Yes, Lindbergh was the first solo across the Atlantic, but that was just
incidental to his flight. The goal was to be the first nonstop flight
between New York and Paris to win the Orteig prize. The prize did not
require a solo flight.

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 14:19:04 GMT, "Steven P. McNicoll"
wrote:

Yes, Lindbergh was the first solo across the Atlantic, but that was just
incidental to his flight. The goal was to be the first nonstop flight
between New York and Paris to win the Orteig prize. The prize did not
require a solo flight.

But the press jumped all over this aspect of the flight, calling him
"the Lone Eagle". It's an aspect that made the flight seem more
adventuresome and dangerous.

Corky Scott

I've been thinking about what made Lindbergh so famous, and so many
other aviation firsts are not. In no particular order, there are a
bunch of reasons that probably also influence other world "memories".

1) There was a competition involved.
2) There was national pride at stake.
3) Others had died attempting the same feat.
4) He was likeable and a newcomer.
5) He was alone.
6) There was no way to know if he was alive until near the end.
7) He had to navigate by dead reckoning
8) The technology was just barely there.

A lot of these also applied to the moon race.

Kev

("Kev" wrote)
1) There was a competition involved.
2) There was national pride at stake.
3) Others had died attempting the same feat.
4) He was likeable and a newcomer.
5) He was alone.
6) There was no way to know if he was alive until near the end.
7) He had to navigate by dead reckoning
8) The technology was just barely there.


The post WWI population understood his craft: small plane + motor + fuel.
There was an accessibility, a connection, to this technology as in, maybe
"I" could have built that. Maybe "I" could have done that. Perhaps that
resonated in people's imagination back in 1927.


Montblack