Transcript
Ryan Seacrest (0:00)
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Erin Menke (0:24)
No purchase necessary vgw group void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. Welcome to Erin Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild.
Aaron Manke (0:42)
Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Erin Menke (1:06)
Charles Lindbergh is a controversial name in American history. He was an aviator first, but in many ways, he was also one of the first American mass media celebrities. And like so many celebrities, his downfall was as sharp as his rise to fame. But before he was a household name, he had to make his famous non stop transatlantic flight. While the average person might worry about mechanical failure or getting lost at sea, for Charles the only real issue was staying awake for such a monumental undertaking. Charles approached his transatlantic flight as if it were an everyday chore. In the weeks leading up to his flight, he studied navigation at his local library. He learned how to track the sun, the moon and the stars, and how to calculate his rate of travel and rate of fuel loss. He needed to be able to do these things in his head because he couldn't bring much equipment on board. The plane was small and made of wood and fabric. Like many planes of the time, it couldn't handle a lot of weight. And he would have to dedicate most of that to the 451 gallons of gasoline that he would need to make it all the way from New York to Paris. That was the challenge issued by an American businessman who wanted to see a pilot from an allied nation make a non stop flight across the Atlantic. He offered up $25,000 as a prize, which Charles aimed to win. In addition to the gasoline, Charles packed a bottle of water and a bag of sandwiches and that was about it. You would think that he was just taking a bus cross country, not crossing the entire Atlantic on his own in a rickety plane. But that's not to say that Charles wasn't nervous in fact, he didn't sleep at all the night before his flight. And this was a problem, because the trip was already meant to take 30 hours. He'd have to remain alert the entire time. So now he was running on fumes at the start and facing another night without sleep. But of course, this time he'd be hundreds of miles above the ocean. He took off from New York the morning of May 20th of 1927. The first few hours were exhilarating and passed without issue. There's always that first rush of adrenaline whenever you set out on a trip, much less a historic flight. But by hour number four, Charles's eyelids started to droop. He snapped awake. He had to keep himself alert. And so he decided to drop the plane into the ocean now, maybe not completely beneath the waves, but just 10ft above the water, to keep himself frosty. The plane required more of his attention at this height, and the sea spray was nice. He also believed that planes traveled faster just above the water. Although this was likely just a superstition, it was enough to keep him awake for a few more hours. But then night started to fall. Imagine trying to keep yourself awake in the pitch dark with a cool breeze blowing across your face. He didn't even have the light from the moon or the stars as a fog crept across the sky and engulfed his plane. There was nowhere to land and nowhere to pull over. He had to keep going at 100 miles an hour into pitch black. And then the sleet started. Icy chunks flicked across his face and threatened to weigh down the plane. He had to lower his altitude once again while also keeping track of his overall altitude in his head to ensure that he didn't crash into the ocean. He considered closing the windows, but then he thought better of it. The ice on his face might have been painful, but this was the first time in hours that he didn't feel like closing his eyes. Finally, mercifully, he saw the sun on the horizon. It cut through the fog until the fog was no more. And once it dissipated, a welcome sight. Ireland. He was close to his destination. Just five hours later, he finally arrived in Paris, exactly on time. He hadn't slept for 55 hours. He was greeted with overwhelming support from the French people, but all he really wanted from the French ambassador was a pair of pajamas. In the years that followed, Charles received endless medals from the US and other allied nations. But the 1930s were a traumatic time for him, and his infant son was infamously kidnapped and murdered. While touring Germany, he saw firsthand the might of the Nazi air force and was so frightened that he became an ardent proponent of isolationism, wanting to keep America out of the war and blaming the British, American Jews, and Franklin Roosevelt for wanting to involve the U.S. ultimately, this lost him the support of the American people and it took him flying missions in the Pacific to regain some of their respect. He was a complicated man who quickly found himself out of his depth on the public stage. Of all his accomplishments, though, it's more than curious that he remains most famous for simply keeping his eyes open.