1 00:00:10,710 --> 00:00:15,238 In 1927, an unknown air mail pilot from rural Minnesota 2 00:00:15,382 --> 00:00:19,079 enters a race against the best aviators in the world. 3 00:00:22,956 --> 00:00:30,055 He will fly from New York to Paris, alone across the empty sea. 4 00:00:33,666 --> 00:00:37,966 Charles Lindbergh is a dark horse in a deadly competition. 5 00:00:43,977 --> 00:00:48,346 He risks his life on the longest flight ever flown 6 00:00:50,150 --> 00:00:54,610 and he lands as the most famous man on earth. 7 00:01:03,663 --> 00:01:06,257 The story is an American legend: 8 00:01:06,399 --> 00:01:10,130 Lindbergh's dream to prove aviation's future. 9 00:01:10,270 --> 00:01:16,004 A Lone Eagle, who inspires the world to look to the skies. 10 00:01:47,507 --> 00:01:51,967 Early in the 20th century, the airplane is a deadly innovation. 11 00:01:54,948 --> 00:02:02,047 Few people dare to flyand those who do often pay with their lives. 12 00:02:07,527 --> 00:02:11,486 The heavens beckon, and then destroy. 13 00:02:22,542 --> 00:02:26,000 The most lethal challenge is to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. 14 00:02:26,146 --> 00:02:29,206 A feat so hazardous that, in 1919, 15 00:02:29,349 --> 00:02:32,443 a New York millionaire offers 25,000 dollars 16 00:02:32,585 --> 00:02:37,522 to the first plane to fly nonstop between New York and Paris. 17 00:02:44,898 --> 00:02:52,270 No one dares. Planes are too slow, too primitive and the ocean, too wide. 18 00:03:02,615 --> 00:03:04,378 Three years pass. 19 00:03:04,517 --> 00:03:06,849 Then, at a remote airfield in Nebraska, 20 00:03:06,986 --> 00:03:10,547 a twentyyear old from rural Minnesota begins his apprenticeship 21 00:03:10,690 --> 00:03:13,158 in the uncertain world of flight. 22 00:03:14,661 --> 00:03:16,652 Charles Lindbergh has dropped out of college 23 00:03:16,796 --> 00:03:20,095 after just one year to pursue his dream. 24 00:03:22,802 --> 00:03:25,566 Lindbergh wants to be a pilot. 25 00:03:27,340 --> 00:03:31,242 When a daredevil named Erold Bahl brings his aerial act to town, 26 00:03:31,377 --> 00:03:35,313 the young Lindbergh sees a way to fiinally get off the ground. 27 00:03:44,958 --> 00:03:47,518 Bahl admires the newcomer's enthusiasm, 28 00:03:47,660 --> 00:03:50,754 and decides to take him on as a protege. 29 00:04:02,408 --> 00:04:05,639 Lindbergh is selfreliant, calm, and driven. 30 00:04:05,778 --> 00:04:09,305 He is shy and modest, but determined. 31 00:04:23,529 --> 00:04:26,430 Lindbergh knows aviation is his future. 32 00:04:26,566 --> 00:04:30,832 He is electrified by the perils and the freedom of flight. 33 00:04:32,138 --> 00:04:38,839 "Trees become bushes; barns, toys; cows turn into rabbits as we climb. 34 00:04:39,245 --> 00:04:42,510 I lose all conscious connection with the past. 35 00:04:42,649 --> 00:04:45,982 I live only in the moment in this strange space, 36 00:04:46,119 --> 00:04:50,647 crowded with beauty, pierced with danger." 37 00:04:56,329 --> 00:04:58,627 In the air, Lindbergh shows no fear, 38 00:04:58,765 --> 00:05:02,496 perfecting the most perilous barnstorming stunts. 39 00:05:04,170 --> 00:05:05,728 Wingwalking... 40 00:05:07,140 --> 00:05:10,473 Then skydiving, with a primitive silk parachute. 41 00:05:11,244 --> 00:05:13,109 He makes hundreds of jumps. 42 00:05:13,246 --> 00:05:17,649 With each leap, he risks his life, and enriches his spirit. 43 00:05:18,618 --> 00:05:20,245 "Of course there's danger; 44 00:05:20,386 --> 00:05:23,981 but a certain amount of danger is essential to the quality of life. 45 00:05:24,223 --> 00:05:26,748 I don't believe in taking foolish chances; 46 00:05:26,893 --> 00:05:30,795 but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all. 47 00:05:30,930 --> 00:05:34,195 What civilization was not founded on adventure, 48 00:05:34,334 --> 00:05:37,167 and how long could one exist without it? 49 00:05:37,670 --> 00:05:41,037 What justifies the risk of life?" 50 00:05:46,379 --> 00:05:50,338 Lindbergh masters the singleengine biplanes of the day. 51 00:05:53,319 --> 00:05:55,913 Over the next year, he hops from town to town, 52 00:05:56,055 --> 00:05:59,047 performing stunts across the rural midWest. 53 00:05:59,192 --> 00:06:02,161 Then, Charles Lindbergh decides to make a serious commitment 54 00:06:02,295 --> 00:06:04,855 to his flying infatuation. 55 00:06:07,900 --> 00:06:14,305 In 1924, he enlists in the US Army flying school in San Antonio, Texas. 56 00:06:16,542 --> 00:06:19,306 Lindbergh wants to hone his skills as a pilot, 57 00:06:19,445 --> 00:06:23,381 and the Air Corps owns some of the fastest planes in the world. 58 00:06:27,453 --> 00:06:30,320 Flying in formation teaches him precision 59 00:06:30,456 --> 00:06:33,584 and about the dangers of carelessness. 60 00:06:34,293 --> 00:06:37,922 On a routine flight, Lindbergh collides with another plane. 61 00:06:48,508 --> 00:06:51,705 Both pilots narrowly escape with their lives. 62 00:07:02,321 --> 00:07:04,915 Lindbergh is back in the air within the hour. 63 00:07:05,057 --> 00:07:08,026 Nothing can keep him out of the skies. 64 00:07:18,571 --> 00:07:21,870 Of the hundred and four men who join the Air Corps with Lindbergh, 65 00:07:22,008 --> 00:07:23,976 only nineteen pass. 66 00:07:24,110 --> 00:07:26,476 Lindbergh, once a firstyear college failure, 67 00:07:26,612 --> 00:07:29,877 now graduates at the top of his class. 68 00:07:39,692 --> 00:07:41,717 When his oneyear army tour is over, 69 00:07:41,861 --> 00:07:43,954 Lieutenant Lindbergh goes to one of the capitals 70 00:07:44,096 --> 00:07:49,500 of the burgeoning aviation industry Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. 71 00:08:00,746 --> 00:08:04,147 St. Louis has ambitions to be an aviation hub. 72 00:08:04,283 --> 00:08:06,444 Lindbergh's experience earns him the best, 73 00:08:06,586 --> 00:08:08,986 but most dangerous job on the field: 74 00:08:09,121 --> 00:08:12,522 Chief pilot of the Air Mail run to Chicago. 75 00:08:14,227 --> 00:08:16,559 Air mail pilots live short lives. 76 00:08:16,696 --> 00:08:18,926 Thirty one of forty are killed in crashes 77 00:08:19,065 --> 00:08:21,693 in the first five years of service. 78 00:08:25,872 --> 00:08:28,432 The planes are World War One surplus. 79 00:08:28,574 --> 00:08:31,907 Pilots call them "flaming coffiins." 80 00:08:50,196 --> 00:08:54,656 But Lindbergh ignores the terrifying record of the air mail service. 81 00:08:55,868 --> 00:08:59,031 He believes the skies must be tamed. 82 00:09:02,208 --> 00:09:07,168 What a future aviation has; yet how few people realize it! 83 00:09:07,580 --> 00:09:12,313 Somehow they must be made to understand the possibilities of flight. 84 00:09:13,352 --> 00:09:15,149 It is 1926. 85 00:09:15,288 --> 00:09:16,516 Seven years have passed 86 00:09:16,656 --> 00:09:21,650 since the 25,000 dollar prize was offered for a New YorkParis flight. 87 00:09:22,628 --> 00:09:24,755 Not one aviator has stepped forward. 88 00:09:24,897 --> 00:09:28,958 But Charles Lindbergh has not yet heard of the challenge. 89 00:09:29,368 --> 00:09:30,164 Throughout the year, 90 00:09:30,303 --> 00:09:34,262 Lindbergh carries the mail through the Midwest's worst weather. 91 00:09:34,407 --> 00:09:39,106 With little more than a compass and courage, he gets the letters through. 92 00:09:42,982 --> 00:09:44,381 Twice, in the dead of the night, 93 00:09:44,517 --> 00:09:47,645 he is forced to parachute from his crippled aircraft. 94 00:09:47,787 --> 00:09:50,119 He dutifully runs his fuel tanks dry 95 00:09:50,256 --> 00:09:54,192 to prevent letters from being consumed by flames. 96 00:09:57,863 --> 00:10:00,696 He breaks the nation's record for deathdefying leaps, 97 00:10:00,833 --> 00:10:05,998 and earns a new nickname from his fellow air mail pilots: "Lucky." 98 00:10:11,544 --> 00:10:15,537 The crashes shake the public's opinion of air mail's safety. 99 00:10:19,285 --> 00:10:23,619 Charles Lindbergh makes it his mission to change their minds. 100 00:10:34,567 --> 00:10:35,556 "Whether the mail compartment 101 00:10:35,701 --> 00:10:39,159 contains ten letters or ten thousand is beside the point. 102 00:10:39,305 --> 00:10:41,273 We have faith in the future. 103 00:10:41,407 --> 00:10:44,774 Some day we know the sacks will fiill." 104 00:10:46,278 --> 00:10:49,247 Lindbergh can only dream of aviation's future, 105 00:10:49,382 --> 00:10:52,374 while another pilot flies to fame. 106 00:10:54,420 --> 00:10:59,084 On May 9, 1926, US Navy Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd 107 00:10:59,225 --> 00:11:02,956 flies his threeengined Fokker over the North Pole. 108 00:11:05,865 --> 00:11:08,163 The achievement sums up Byrd himself: 109 00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:12,703 Part science, part adventure, part selfpromotion. 110 00:11:16,609 --> 00:11:20,545 Richard Byrd is acclaimed as America's king of the skies. 111 00:11:22,481 --> 00:11:26,212 With the Arctic defeated, Byrd now sets his sights on the Atlantic, 112 00:11:26,352 --> 00:11:29,651 and the sevenyearold challenge to reach Paris. 113 00:11:29,989 --> 00:11:33,390 Byrd plans a mission for a crew of four in one of the largest, 114 00:11:33,526 --> 00:11:36,654 most expensive planes ever built. 115 00:11:36,796 --> 00:11:40,095 But another pilot beats him to the airfield. 116 00:11:40,599 --> 00:11:43,193 On September 15, 1926, 117 00:11:43,335 --> 00:11:47,897 French war ace Renee Fonck sets off from New York for Paris. 118 00:11:49,608 --> 00:11:54,272 But Fonck's huge, overloaded plane does not even lift off the ground. 119 00:11:56,816 --> 00:11:58,875 Two crewmen are killed in the wreck 120 00:11:59,018 --> 00:12:03,614 Fonck survives his dream in ruins. 121 00:12:11,130 --> 00:12:15,533 But Charles Lindbergh takes inspiration from the tragic headlines. 122 00:12:17,303 --> 00:12:21,433 It is the first time he has heard of the New YorkParis prize. 123 00:12:25,211 --> 00:12:28,180 Lindbergh decides to enter the race. 124 00:12:29,115 --> 00:12:31,106 But his plan is different. 125 00:12:31,250 --> 00:12:34,048 He will fly with just one engine. 126 00:12:37,990 --> 00:12:40,584 And, he will do it alone. 127 00:12:44,029 --> 00:12:47,487 It would be a thirtysix hour, sleepless ordeal. 128 00:12:50,402 --> 00:12:53,701 But first, he needs a decent plane. 129 00:12:57,076 --> 00:13:01,240 Lindbergh approaches eight of the wealthiest men in St. Louis. 130 00:13:03,048 --> 00:13:05,175 Inspired by the young man's boldness, 131 00:13:05,317 --> 00:13:08,286 they stake Lindbergh with 15,000 dollars, 132 00:13:08,354 --> 00:13:10,549 gambling that the publicity will make St. Louis 133 00:13:10,689 --> 00:13:13,522 the aviation hub of the Midwest. 134 00:13:16,061 --> 00:13:20,555 Lindbergh offers his own life savings, 2,000 dollars. 135 00:13:25,838 --> 00:13:28,807 In February, 1927, he makes his way toward 136 00:13:28,941 --> 00:13:33,571 the only manufacturer that will build a plane on his meager budget. 137 00:13:36,982 --> 00:13:39,678 His destination is San Diego, California, 138 00:13:39,819 --> 00:13:44,085 and a company he has never heard of Ryan Aircraft. 139 00:13:46,225 --> 00:13:49,786 But no one has ever heard of Charles Lindbergh, either. 140 00:13:57,236 --> 00:14:04,005 On February 25th, 1927, Lindbergh arrives at Ryan Aircraft in San Diego. 141 00:14:05,277 --> 00:14:07,108 First impressions are discouraging: 142 00:14:07,246 --> 00:14:12,149 A dilapidated hangar, with no runway, and a staff of just a dozen. 143 00:14:16,689 --> 00:14:20,284 Ryan's owner is barely a year older than Lindbergh... 144 00:14:21,227 --> 00:14:24,594 Benjamin Franklin Mahoney, a former bond salesman 145 00:14:24,730 --> 00:14:28,325 who bought the company after taking a few flying lessons. 146 00:14:31,203 --> 00:14:33,899 He shares Lindbergh's passion for aviation 147 00:14:34,039 --> 00:14:37,668 and his desire to win the transAtlantic race. 148 00:14:45,384 --> 00:14:48,080 Donald Hall is Ryan's only engineer. 149 00:14:48,220 --> 00:14:51,155 He's also young, just twentyseven. 150 00:14:53,826 --> 00:14:57,023 Hall is astounded by Lindbergh's vision of a solitary, 151 00:14:57,162 --> 00:14:59,062 sleepless flight to Paris. 152 00:14:59,198 --> 00:15:02,565 But a crew of one would mean more room for gasoline. 153 00:15:02,701 --> 00:15:08,298 He begins sketches at once for a small aircraft, a flying fuel tank 154 00:15:13,712 --> 00:15:17,045 Lindbergh wires his sponsors in St. Louis. 155 00:15:18,584 --> 00:15:22,816 "Believe Ryan capable of building plane with sufficient performance. 156 00:15:22,955 --> 00:15:25,389 Delivery within sixty days. 157 00:15:25,524 --> 00:15:27,651 Recommend closing deal. 158 00:15:27,793 --> 00:15:29,420 Lindbergh." 159 00:15:29,561 --> 00:15:31,426 Lindbergh has his team. 160 00:15:31,563 --> 00:15:33,929 Now, it's time to get to work 161 00:15:40,406 --> 00:15:44,536 The aircraft will be an extension of Charles Lindbergh himself. 162 00:15:46,412 --> 00:15:50,815 "Every part of it can be designed for a single purpose 163 00:15:52,318 --> 00:15:55,151 every line fashioned to the Paris flight. 164 00:15:55,287 --> 00:15:59,781 I can inspect each detail before it's covered with fabric and fairings. 165 00:15:59,925 --> 00:16:04,157 I can build my own experience into the plane's structure." 166 00:16:18,277 --> 00:16:20,745 The young men who plan a leap across the Atlantic 167 00:16:20,879 --> 00:16:24,076 need to know precisely how far it is to Paris. 168 00:16:24,216 --> 00:16:26,878 Lindbergh has a primitive solution. 169 00:16:29,054 --> 00:16:31,113 The bit of white grocery string under my fiingers 170 00:16:31,256 --> 00:16:34,248 stretches taut along the coast of North America, 171 00:16:34,393 --> 00:16:38,921 bends down over a faded blue ocean, and strikes the land mass of Europe. 172 00:16:39,064 --> 00:16:42,431 It's 3600 statute miles. 173 00:16:43,002 --> 00:16:47,769 It will be twentyeight hours to Ireland and thirtysix to Paris. 174 00:16:47,906 --> 00:16:52,536 Lindbergh will use a simple compass to guide him from New York to Newfoundland, 175 00:16:52,678 --> 00:16:55,977 then across two thousand miles of open sea, 176 00:16:56,115 --> 00:16:59,516 with no hope of surviving if anything goes wrong. 177 00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:13,055 As Lindbergh's work gets under way, the competition heats up. 178 00:17:14,033 --> 00:17:15,432 On March 2, in New York 179 00:17:15,567 --> 00:17:20,129 Richard Byrd announces that his plan to reach Paris is almost complete. 180 00:17:20,272 --> 00:17:22,331 Byrd has built a 100,000 dollar, 181 00:17:22,474 --> 00:17:27,571 gigantic aircraft named "America," and will be ready by May. 182 00:17:30,149 --> 00:17:32,117 Just two weeks later, in Virginia, 183 00:17:32,251 --> 00:17:35,618 American Navy pilots Noel Davis and Stanton Wooster 184 00:17:35,754 --> 00:17:41,158 unveil their own contender: A trimotor called "American Legion." 185 00:17:43,562 --> 00:17:47,862 But Lindbergh holds to his plan to build a small aircraft. 186 00:17:48,133 --> 00:17:50,727 He is certain that the bigger the plane, 187 00:17:51,470 --> 00:17:54,200 the bigger the chance of a fatal accident. 188 00:17:58,544 --> 00:18:02,378 Then, on March 26, a new challenger emerges in Paris. 189 00:18:02,514 --> 00:18:06,678 Ace Charles Nungesser and his oneeyed navigator Francois Coli 190 00:18:06,819 --> 00:18:09,379 are ready for a westbound crossing in their plane, 191 00:18:09,521 --> 00:18:11,352 the "White Bird." 192 00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:20,357 The Ryan team works around the clock 193 00:18:20,499 --> 00:18:23,627 a race against the world's most famous aviators 194 00:18:23,769 --> 00:18:28,502 all for a twentyfive year old with a dream, and determination. 195 00:18:33,912 --> 00:18:36,346 Then comes a stunning blow. 196 00:18:37,883 --> 00:18:41,580 In midApril, American pilot Clarence Chamberlin announces that 197 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,984 he has stayed aloft for a recordsmashing 198 00:18:44,123 --> 00:18:47,092 fiftyone hours in skies over New York 199 00:18:47,226 --> 00:18:51,424 His powerful plane Columbia is now ready for Paris. 200 00:18:54,666 --> 00:18:56,691 Four planes are ready to go, 201 00:18:56,835 --> 00:18:59,770 waiting only for clear skies over the Atlantic, 202 00:18:59,905 --> 00:19:02,305 while Charles Lindbergh is on the Pacific coast, 203 00:19:02,441 --> 00:19:05,899 still waiting for his aircraft to be built. 204 00:19:12,317 --> 00:19:14,751 Suddenly, the odds begin to change. 205 00:19:14,887 --> 00:19:19,654 A test flight of Byrd's America on April 16 ends in a twisted wreck 206 00:19:19,791 --> 00:19:22,385 Byrd and two of his crewmen are seriously injured 207 00:19:22,528 --> 00:19:25,622 and the America needs weeks of repairs. 208 00:19:32,437 --> 00:19:33,404 Eight days later, 209 00:19:33,539 --> 00:19:37,475 Clarence Chamberlin takes off from the same New York runway. 210 00:19:43,248 --> 00:19:45,341 He crash lands the Columbia. 211 00:19:45,617 --> 00:19:49,610 Chamberlin walks away, but his landing gear is destroyed. 212 00:19:51,557 --> 00:19:55,049 Noel Davis and Stanton Wooster are not as fortunate. 213 00:19:55,194 --> 00:19:57,662 On April 26, both men are killed 214 00:19:57,796 --> 00:20:01,926 when their overloaded plane stalls and crashes in Virginia. 215 00:20:07,439 --> 00:20:10,567 Lindbergh's prediction has come tragically true. 216 00:20:11,710 --> 00:20:17,307 Loaded down multi engine giants are too unreliable for transatlantic flight. 217 00:20:22,688 --> 00:20:25,555 Two Americans and four Frenchmen have given their lives 218 00:20:25,691 --> 00:20:28,421 in the race to link their nations. 219 00:20:34,499 --> 00:20:36,967 April 28, 1927. 220 00:20:37,102 --> 00:20:40,299 Two months after Charles Lindbergh arrived in San Diego, 221 00:20:40,439 --> 00:20:47,709 his dream plane is born the Spirit of St. Louis. 222 00:20:59,458 --> 00:21:01,790 Named in honor of his backers in St. Louis, 223 00:21:01,927 --> 00:21:04,521 the Spirit is just over twentyseven feet long, 224 00:21:04,663 --> 00:21:07,223 with a fortysix foot wing span. 225 00:21:08,100 --> 00:21:12,434 The plane is trucked to a local airfield, for its maiden voyage. 226 00:21:15,340 --> 00:21:19,834 For Lindbergh, Mahoney, and Hall, the moment of truth has come. 227 00:22:12,230 --> 00:22:16,360 The Spirit of St. Louis is all Lindbergh dreamed it would be. 228 00:22:20,038 --> 00:22:23,599 "I've never felt a plane accelerate so fast before. 229 00:22:23,742 --> 00:22:26,006 There's a huge reserve of power." 230 00:22:45,330 --> 00:22:46,729 There are no front windows. 231 00:22:46,865 --> 00:22:50,062 A gas tank blocks Lindbergh's forward view. 232 00:22:50,202 --> 00:22:54,298 Visibility and comfort have been sacrificed for endurance. 233 00:22:54,439 --> 00:22:56,566 Weighing just over a ton empty, 234 00:22:56,708 --> 00:23:01,736 the Spirit is a tiny challenger to Richard Byrd's eightton America. 235 00:23:02,814 --> 00:23:06,079 The first test is a stunning success 236 00:23:11,423 --> 00:23:14,756 Every possible ounce of weight has been eliminated. 237 00:23:14,893 --> 00:23:17,726 Lindbergh will confront the Atlantic without a radio, 238 00:23:17,863 --> 00:23:21,128 without navigational instruments, without a parachute. 239 00:23:21,266 --> 00:23:24,861 He has thought through everything and carries nothing. 240 00:23:30,442 --> 00:23:34,811 He makes two dozen test flights, and declares the Spirit ready. 241 00:23:34,946 --> 00:23:38,882 The time has come to leave for New York and the starting line. 242 00:23:42,387 --> 00:23:43,854 But he may be too late. 243 00:23:43,989 --> 00:23:49,325 On May 8, French aviators Nungesser and Coli take off from Paris. 244 00:23:54,933 --> 00:23:55,627 The next day, 245 00:23:55,767 --> 00:24:00,227 newspapers report the French aces have been spotted over Nova Scotia. 246 00:24:01,807 --> 00:24:04,503 So close to fulfiilling his dream. 247 00:24:05,043 --> 00:24:08,274 Lindbergh despairs he has lost the race. 248 00:24:16,254 --> 00:24:19,417 But Nungesser and Coli never arrive in New York 249 00:24:19,558 --> 00:24:22,322 Their aircraft mysteriously disappear. 250 00:24:22,461 --> 00:24:24,361 It is never found. 251 00:24:25,564 --> 00:24:28,032 Six Men have now been sacrificed. 252 00:24:28,166 --> 00:24:31,966 But Lindbergh has been granted one more chance. 253 00:24:34,339 --> 00:24:36,364 May 10, 1927. 254 00:24:36,508 --> 00:24:39,534 Lindbergh says goodbye to Benjamin Franklin Mahoney, 255 00:24:39,678 --> 00:24:42,704 Donald Hall, and the Ryan factory workers. 256 00:24:42,848 --> 00:24:44,213 They have built the Spirit, 257 00:24:44,349 --> 00:24:47,284 it is now up to Charles Lindbergh to fly to New York 258 00:24:47,419 --> 00:24:50,547 before any other pilot attempts the Atlantic. 259 00:24:56,495 --> 00:25:00,397 But first, he must stop in St. Louis to meet his backers. 260 00:25:05,770 --> 00:25:09,866 He flies all night, testing the Spirit, and his own stamina. 261 00:25:10,008 --> 00:25:13,136 He calculates fuel consumption at 100 miles per hour, 262 00:25:13,278 --> 00:25:15,974 his planned airspeed over the Atlantic. 263 00:25:17,449 --> 00:25:21,749 And he practices holding his course on a dead heading for St. Louis. 264 00:25:21,887 --> 00:25:25,983 It is dry run, over land, for his Atlantic journey. 265 00:25:33,732 --> 00:25:37,828 Fourteen hours and twentyfive minutes after lifting off from California, 266 00:25:37,969 --> 00:25:42,372 Charles Lindbergh lands the Spirit of St. Louis in the city of her name. 267 00:25:42,507 --> 00:25:46,466 He has broken the world speed record on his flight. 268 00:25:46,611 --> 00:25:51,514 "No man has ever traveled so fast from the Pacific coast before." 269 00:25:54,653 --> 00:25:57,622 Lindbergh's sponsors want to show off their investment, 270 00:25:57,756 --> 00:26:01,590 but the great race to Paris will not wait for a Missouri parade. 271 00:26:01,726 --> 00:26:03,921 They urge him on to New Youk 272 00:26:17,142 --> 00:26:21,442 Seven and a half hours later, Lindbergh reaches New York 273 00:26:30,388 --> 00:26:32,788 "Manhattan Island lies below me 274 00:26:32,924 --> 00:26:34,152 millions of people, 275 00:26:34,292 --> 00:26:38,058 each one surrounded by a little aura of his problems and his thoughts, 276 00:26:38,196 --> 00:26:41,097 hardly conscious of earth's expanse beyond. 277 00:26:41,533 --> 00:26:45,162 What a contrast to the western spaces I have crossed. 278 00:26:45,303 --> 00:26:47,931 I feel cooped up just looking at it" 279 00:26:50,542 --> 00:26:54,444 At 4:31PM, on May 12, 1927, 280 00:26:54,579 --> 00:26:59,380 the tiny Spirit of St. Louis touches down at Curtiss Field, Long Island. 281 00:26:59,517 --> 00:27:02,350 Charles Lindbergh has crossed the North American continent 282 00:27:02,487 --> 00:27:05,285 more quickly than any man in history. 283 00:27:08,026 --> 00:27:11,154 Suddenly, the race to Paris has a new contender. 284 00:27:11,296 --> 00:27:14,060 A young daredevil from the American heartland, 285 00:27:14,199 --> 00:27:17,259 with the fastest plane in the sky. 286 00:27:21,539 --> 00:27:25,839 In the Spring of 1927, three aircraft and their impatient pilots 287 00:27:25,977 --> 00:27:29,435 are lined up in the race to be the first to Paris. 288 00:27:32,917 --> 00:27:36,284 Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, 289 00:27:37,489 --> 00:27:40,117 Richard Byrd's rebuilt America, 290 00:27:41,092 --> 00:27:44,425 and Clarence Chamberlin's repaired Columbia. 291 00:27:46,765 --> 00:27:50,997 All three are ready to go, but bad weather keeps them on the ground. 292 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,471 The fliers maintain a link of friendship and respect. 293 00:27:58,610 --> 00:28:01,545 The national hero Byrd is courteous to Chamberlin 294 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,240 and the young outsider Lindbergh. 295 00:28:08,386 --> 00:28:13,119 Each understands that the best man and the best machine will win. 296 00:28:13,258 --> 00:28:17,024 And that any, or all of them may die trying. 297 00:28:21,132 --> 00:28:24,966 Charles Lindbergh gives the press the story they've been waiting for. 298 00:28:27,038 --> 00:28:28,403 The underdog, 299 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:30,837 the farm boy, 300 00:28:32,277 --> 00:28:33,869 the Flyin' Fool. 301 00:28:39,317 --> 00:28:40,841 Lindbergh is besieged. 302 00:28:40,985 --> 00:28:41,974 On one day alone, 303 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:47,387 30,000 people come to catch a glimpse of the gallant young American pilot. 304 00:28:51,529 --> 00:28:56,592 Publicity is good for the cause of aviation, so Lindbergh complies. 305 00:28:57,669 --> 00:29:00,763 "The journalistic atmosphere has reached fever heat. 306 00:29:00,905 --> 00:29:04,238 The moment I step outside the hangar I'm surrounded. 307 00:29:04,375 --> 00:29:08,471 The attention of the entire country is centered on the flight and me. 308 00:29:08,747 --> 00:29:13,480 We've helped focus everybody's eyes on aviation and its future." 309 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,517 His mother arrives in New York to see her son off. 310 00:29:18,656 --> 00:29:22,023 Cameras turn as the two pose stiffly together, 311 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,597 a moment they both know may be their fiinal goodbye. 312 00:29:34,806 --> 00:29:39,834 Commander Byrd admires Lindbergh, and praises his undeniable courage. 313 00:29:41,446 --> 00:29:44,381 But he is certain that a single engine, and a single flier, 314 00:29:44,516 --> 00:29:48,612 cannot possibly endure a 3,600 mile flight. 315 00:29:54,826 --> 00:29:59,957 Seven days pass and the weather holds the frustrated pilots down. 316 00:30:02,667 --> 00:30:04,635 "The sky is overcast. 317 00:30:04,769 --> 00:30:06,498 Rain is falling. 318 00:30:06,738 --> 00:30:10,265 It may be another week or two before I can take off. 319 00:30:10,408 --> 00:30:12,774 I feel depressed at the thought". 320 00:30:15,947 --> 00:30:18,415 May 19, 1927. 321 00:30:18,550 --> 00:30:23,613 Bored and restless, Lindbergh accepts an invitation to a Broadway musical. 322 00:30:24,055 --> 00:30:25,147 Before reaching the show, 323 00:30:25,290 --> 00:30:29,021 he receives a forecast of clearing skies over the Atlantic. 324 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:34,530 He races back to his hotel, hoping to catch a few hour's sleep before dawn. 325 00:30:37,068 --> 00:30:40,128 But Lindbergh is far too excited to rest. 326 00:30:40,271 --> 00:30:43,604 At 2:30 AM, already awake for twenty hours, 327 00:30:43,741 --> 00:30:47,734 he begins preparing for the 36hour flight ahead. 328 00:30:51,883 --> 00:30:55,979 At dawn, the Spirit of St. Louis is towed out to the runway. 329 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,918 Five hundred soaked spectators gather, 330 00:30:59,057 --> 00:31:03,323 eager to be witnesses to history, or tragedy. 331 00:31:03,928 --> 00:31:07,420 "My plane lurches backward through a depression in the ground. 332 00:31:07,565 --> 00:31:09,499 It looks awkward and clumsy. 333 00:31:09,634 --> 00:31:14,765 It appears completely incapable of flightshrouded, lashed and dripping. 334 00:31:14,906 --> 00:31:16,373 It's more like a funeral procession 335 00:31:16,507 --> 00:31:19,101 than the beginning of a filght to paris." 336 00:31:19,878 --> 00:31:24,713 7:30 AM, May 20, 1927. 337 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,087 Fully fueled, the plane weighs two and a half tons. 338 00:31:32,223 --> 00:31:36,683 Lindbergh has never attempted a takeoff at this maximum load. 339 00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:45,160 The commotion has awakened Commander Byrd. 340 00:31:47,438 --> 00:31:51,738 Byrd himself would not dare attempt a takeoff in this wretched weather. 341 00:31:54,779 --> 00:31:59,011 But the pilot nicknamed "Lucky" is willing to take the gamble. 342 00:32:11,129 --> 00:32:12,721 A reporter asks Lindbergh 343 00:32:12,864 --> 00:32:17,563 if he has brought enough supplies to live on for nearly two days in the air. 344 00:32:29,447 --> 00:32:33,383 He has packed just five sandwiches and a gallon of water. 345 00:32:33,518 --> 00:32:35,986 He answers with a grim joke. 346 00:32:37,956 --> 00:32:39,947 "If I get to Paris I won't need anymore, 347 00:32:40,091 --> 00:32:43,492 and if I don't get to Paris I won't need anymore either." 348 00:32:44,796 --> 00:32:49,256 Loaded with explosive fuel, on a 5,000 foot runway of clinging mud, 349 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,494 the Spirit lumbers into position. 350 00:32:56,641 --> 00:33:02,079 It is a vital moment in the history of human technology, and human courage. 351 00:33:04,549 --> 00:33:09,043 A tiny silver plane, straining and roaring a lone pilot 352 00:33:09,187 --> 00:33:12,020 who has passed the point of aborting his flight. 353 00:33:12,156 --> 00:33:15,319 He will take off, or he will crash. 354 00:33:27,271 --> 00:33:32,038 Lindbergh clears wires at the end of the runway by just twenty feet. 355 00:33:39,851 --> 00:33:42,445 And Lindbergh is gone. 356 00:33:46,958 --> 00:33:49,950 As the Spirit of St. Louis disappears into the clouds, 357 00:33:50,094 --> 00:33:52,756 Commander Richard Byrd estimates soberly that 358 00:33:52,897 --> 00:33:56,765 the odds against Lindbergh's survival are three to one. 359 00:34:00,638 --> 00:34:05,803 As his thirtysix hour odyssey begins, Lindbergh sets his course. 360 00:34:10,248 --> 00:34:14,617 50cent highway maps guide him over the New England coast. 361 00:34:21,926 --> 00:34:25,521 He alternates fuel tanks every hour to balance his load, 362 00:34:25,663 --> 00:34:30,464 and keeps a careful log of speed, altitude, and course. 363 00:34:33,137 --> 00:34:36,834 The Spirit's engine is the most powerful ever built for flight: 364 00:34:36,974 --> 00:34:40,808 223 horsepower of aluminum and steel. 365 00:34:40,945 --> 00:34:44,904 It must perform perfectly for almost two days nonstop, 366 00:34:45,049 --> 00:34:49,486 fourteen million explosions in its nine cylinders. 367 00:35:00,098 --> 00:35:02,066 As he leaves Massachusetts behind, 368 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:06,398 Lindbergh heads over open ocean for the first time in his life. 369 00:35:06,537 --> 00:35:10,166 250 miles from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, 370 00:35:10,308 --> 00:35:14,802 a preview of the 2,000 mile ordeal across the Atlantic ocean. 371 00:35:14,946 --> 00:35:18,177 He flies low, and faces the sea. 372 00:35:24,555 --> 00:35:28,389 "I come down to meet the ocean, asking its favor 373 00:35:31,195 --> 00:35:35,131 the right to pass for thousands of miles across its realm. 374 00:35:42,907 --> 00:35:48,311 The earth released me on Long Island; now I need approval from the sea." 375 00:36:02,426 --> 00:36:03,620 The skies clear. 376 00:36:03,761 --> 00:36:08,130 But in the sun, Lindbergh begins to suffer the tortures of fatigue. 377 00:36:08,266 --> 00:36:12,327 He already regrets staying awake all night before departure. 378 00:36:18,476 --> 00:36:21,377 New York is just five hours behind him. 379 00:36:21,512 --> 00:36:25,642 As he soars over Nova Scotia, the journey has barely begun. 380 00:36:33,324 --> 00:36:35,519 Navigating by a simple compass heading, 381 00:36:35,660 --> 00:36:38,959 he is only six miles off his planned course. 382 00:36:46,304 --> 00:36:49,239 But as each hour passes, the drone of the engine, 383 00:36:49,373 --> 00:36:52,604 and the monotony of the waves, dull his consciousness. 384 00:36:52,743 --> 00:36:56,338 Urging surrender, demanding sleep. 385 00:37:06,257 --> 00:37:07,724 Twelve hours after takeoff, 386 00:37:07,858 --> 00:37:11,021 still a day away from a seemingly impossible touchdown, 387 00:37:11,162 --> 00:37:13,096 he is over Newfoundland. 388 00:37:13,231 --> 00:37:17,463 One quick wingover, and the vast Atlantic awaits. 389 00:37:27,878 --> 00:37:30,642 "North America and its islands are behind. 390 00:37:30,915 --> 00:37:34,316 Ireland is two thousand miles ahead." 391 00:37:38,623 --> 00:37:43,117 Now, Lindbergh has only his compass and his courage to guide him. 392 00:37:43,261 --> 00:37:45,161 Caught between sky and sea, 393 00:37:45,296 --> 00:37:49,357 no traveler in history has ever been so alone. 394 00:37:53,738 --> 00:37:56,764 The first night of his journey begins. 395 00:38:01,012 --> 00:38:06,882 "I've given up a continent and taken on an ocean in its place irrevocably." 396 00:38:11,555 --> 00:38:12,749 Over the North Atlantic, 397 00:38:12,890 --> 00:38:16,656 not far from where the Titanic sank just fifteen years before, 398 00:38:16,794 --> 00:38:19,024 Lindbergh spots icebergs. 399 00:38:19,163 --> 00:38:22,030 He dreams of landing and sleeping. 400 00:38:22,166 --> 00:38:24,828 If he drifts off, even for a few seconds, 401 00:38:24,969 --> 00:38:28,632 he will tumble into the waves and die. 402 00:38:36,614 --> 00:38:39,549 "Sleep is winning." 403 00:38:42,620 --> 00:38:45,555 At this moment, at Yankee Stadium in New York City, 404 00:38:45,690 --> 00:38:49,251 40,000 people gather at a heavyweight boxing match. 405 00:38:49,393 --> 00:38:53,659 The announcer asks the audience for a moment of silence for Lindbergh. 406 00:38:53,798 --> 00:38:56,528 All 40,000 join as one. 407 00:39:05,576 --> 00:39:09,103 Over the Atlantic, Lindbergh flies into dense clouds. 408 00:39:09,246 --> 00:39:11,840 He climbs above them for better visibility. 409 00:39:11,982 --> 00:39:14,951 But at ten thousand feet, the air is colder. 410 00:39:15,086 --> 00:39:18,146 He has made a dangerous mistake. 411 00:39:18,689 --> 00:39:23,956 "I pull the flashlight from my pocket and throw its beam onto a strut. 412 00:39:27,331 --> 00:39:28,730 Ice!" 413 00:39:30,234 --> 00:39:33,726 His only hope is to dive for warmer air 414 00:39:37,341 --> 00:39:42,142 and pray the ice clears before the Spirit falls from the sky. 415 00:39:44,749 --> 00:39:48,480 After ten perilous minutes, he triumphs. 416 00:39:58,562 --> 00:40:01,725 A nation flies with him, sleepless and anxious. 417 00:40:01,866 --> 00:40:07,270 The New York Times receives 10,000 telephone calls, asking for updates. 418 00:40:11,742 --> 00:40:13,539 But there is no news to print. 419 00:40:13,677 --> 00:40:18,910 Lindbergh flies alone, without a radio, over the desolate ocean. 420 00:40:36,567 --> 00:40:40,594 Nineteen hours out, he estimates that he is halfway to Paris. 421 00:40:40,738 --> 00:40:44,640 But his body is numb, beyond hunger and thirst. 422 00:40:45,509 --> 00:40:48,239 "My greatest goal now is to stay alive 423 00:40:48,379 --> 00:40:52,008 and pointed eastward until I reach the sunrise." 424 00:41:00,491 --> 00:41:04,860 He abandons his log book too weary to care. 425 00:41:10,968 --> 00:41:11,491 In New York 426 00:41:11,635 --> 00:41:15,469 the newspapers can only repeat stale bulletins from Newfoundland. 427 00:41:15,606 --> 00:41:21,306 No one on earth knows where Lindbergh is, or the agony he endures. 428 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,145 "This is the hour I've been dreading. 429 00:41:30,020 --> 00:41:33,114 I know it's the beginning of my greatest test. 430 00:41:34,925 --> 00:41:40,625 This early hour of the second morning the third since I've slept". 431 00:41:41,198 --> 00:41:46,568 Just before dawn, Lindbergh believes he is visited by ghosts. 432 00:41:48,806 --> 00:41:52,071 "These phantoms speak with human voices 433 00:41:52,209 --> 00:41:56,111 vaporlike shapes, without substance. 434 00:41:58,048 --> 00:42:00,482 The feeling of flesh is gone. 435 00:42:00,618 --> 00:42:03,985 Am I now more man or spirit?" 436 00:42:19,370 --> 00:42:24,808 On the verge of defeat and death, he fiinds the fortitude to fly on. 437 00:42:25,543 --> 00:42:29,104 "I'm gaining strength, I'm crawling upward. 438 00:42:29,246 --> 00:42:32,044 I've fiinally broken the spell of sleep. 439 00:42:32,349 --> 00:42:36,285 The sight of death has drawn out the last reserves of strength." 440 00:42:41,525 --> 00:42:45,484 His ghosts, and his fears, dissolve in the sunrise. 441 00:42:59,944 --> 00:43:02,913 Suddenly he sees something moving below. 442 00:43:03,047 --> 00:43:05,481 The world has come alive again. 443 00:43:10,154 --> 00:43:11,587 Porpoises. 444 00:43:19,396 --> 00:43:20,658 Then a seagull. 445 00:43:20,798 --> 00:43:23,961 A certain sign that land must be near. 446 00:43:25,336 --> 00:43:29,432 Soon, a tiny dot that can only be a mirage. 447 00:43:32,610 --> 00:43:34,134 Fishing boats. 448 00:43:35,212 --> 00:43:36,110 Where is he? 449 00:43:36,246 --> 00:43:37,804 Where are they from? 450 00:43:42,086 --> 00:43:44,714 Within half an hour, another apparition. 451 00:43:44,855 --> 00:43:47,289 He refuses to believe his eyes. 452 00:43:47,424 --> 00:43:48,652 Land. 453 00:43:48,792 --> 00:43:52,091 He looks at the chart, and at the mass below. 454 00:43:55,466 --> 00:43:56,831 It is Ireland. 455 00:44:01,138 --> 00:44:04,005 He is just three miles off his plotted course, 456 00:44:04,141 --> 00:44:07,133 and over two hours earlier than he expected. 457 00:44:16,420 --> 00:44:20,117 When he is spotted over Dingle Bay, the world rejoices. 458 00:44:20,257 --> 00:44:23,920 For Charles Lindbergh has not been flying alone. 459 00:44:27,264 --> 00:44:30,597 Only the British Isles remain, then the Channel. 460 00:44:30,734 --> 00:44:33,202 Then, France. 461 00:44:39,109 --> 00:44:44,137 Lindbergh will be the first man in history to be in New York one day, 462 00:44:45,416 --> 00:44:47,884 and Paris the next. 463 00:44:48,585 --> 00:44:54,114 "Yesterday I walked on Roosevelt field, today I'll walk on Le Bourget." 464 00:44:58,429 --> 00:45:02,331 Five hours after reaching Ireland, at 9:52 PM 465 00:45:02,466 --> 00:45:05,560 Lindbergh is fiinally over Paris. 466 00:45:05,703 --> 00:45:10,697 But at this moment of triumph, strange lights below disorient him. 467 00:45:11,442 --> 00:45:12,966 He circles lower. 468 00:45:13,110 --> 00:45:18,138 He fiinally locates Le Bourget Airfield, obscured by bright lights. 469 00:45:18,282 --> 00:45:24,278 Below him, a public hysteria unlike any in history is about to erupt. 470 00:45:26,690 --> 00:45:30,888 One hundred and fifty thousand people have come to witness his arrival. 471 00:45:31,028 --> 00:45:33,758 The lights are their automobiles. 472 00:45:41,004 --> 00:45:45,737 At 10:24 PM, after thirtythree and a half hours in the air, 473 00:45:45,876 --> 00:45:50,745 the Spirit of St. Louis returns Charles Lindbergh to the earth. 474 00:45:58,522 --> 00:46:01,548 But his feet do not even touch French soil. 475 00:46:01,692 --> 00:46:06,857 The mob surges forward, carrying the exhausted Lindbergh like a rag doll. 476 00:46:06,997 --> 00:46:11,457 They claw at the Spirit of St. Louis, tearing off pieces of history. 477 00:46:15,038 --> 00:46:18,098 A group of French aviators fiinally rescue Lindbergh, 478 00:46:18,242 --> 00:46:20,938 and carry him off to a waiting car. 479 00:46:24,982 --> 00:46:30,113 He is taken to the American embassy, where he sleeps for nine hours. 480 00:46:30,587 --> 00:46:34,614 And awakens the most famous man of the century. 481 00:46:39,196 --> 00:46:42,893 Lindbergh's shy grace wins the heart of Paris. 482 00:46:43,033 --> 00:46:45,126 The crowds hail not only the pilot, 483 00:46:45,269 --> 00:46:50,172 but the dawn of a new age of unity between Europe and America. 484 00:46:55,646 --> 00:46:58,740 Paris is in a Lindbergh frenzy for a week 485 00:46:58,882 --> 00:47:01,146 Then he flies on to Brussels and London 486 00:47:01,285 --> 00:47:04,686 and is greeted with explosive hero worship. 487 00:47:11,495 --> 00:47:13,622 But Lindbergh is more than a hero. 488 00:47:13,764 --> 00:47:19,100 He is a 20th Century phenomenon, the first international superstar. 489 00:47:30,247 --> 00:47:32,772 After two weeks of European adoration, 490 00:47:32,916 --> 00:47:36,647 President Calvin Coolidge orders Lindbergh home. 491 00:47:39,356 --> 00:47:42,553 A Navy cruiser brings the nation's most popular hero 492 00:47:42,693 --> 00:47:46,629 and his nowfamous plane back to American soil. 493 00:47:47,531 --> 00:47:53,026 When he arrives in Washington, 250,000 people are there to greet him. 494 00:47:55,606 --> 00:47:57,198 An innocent twentyfiveyearold 495 00:47:57,341 --> 00:48:00,970 from the midWest has become a living legend. 496 00:48:04,548 --> 00:48:06,106 His next stop is New York 497 00:48:06,250 --> 00:48:08,878 where four million people line the streets 498 00:48:09,019 --> 00:48:12,750 for the largest tickertape parade in the city's history. 499 00:48:17,027 --> 00:48:20,519 The public's rapture exhausts the quiet Lindbergh. 500 00:48:20,664 --> 00:48:24,532 But he seizes the opportunity to promote aviation's future. 501 00:48:24,668 --> 00:48:27,398 And now, people will listen. 502 00:48:32,509 --> 00:48:34,477 For the summer of 1927, 503 00:48:34,611 --> 00:48:37,705 he crisscrosses America in the Spirit of St. Louis, 504 00:48:37,848 --> 00:48:42,182 on a crusade to convince the public to take to the skies. 505 00:48:50,060 --> 00:48:54,793 30 million Americans in 82 cities throng to hear his message, 506 00:48:54,932 --> 00:48:58,231 new converts to the aviation revolution. 507 00:48:59,736 --> 00:49:02,534 Lindbergh heralds the dawn of a new era. 508 00:49:02,673 --> 00:49:06,404 By 1928, the air mail service triples its load 509 00:49:06,543 --> 00:49:08,909 and the passenger business carries four times 510 00:49:09,046 --> 00:49:12,641 as many people than before Lindbergh's Paris flight. 511 00:49:12,783 --> 00:49:15,547 His dream is fulfiilled. 512 00:49:19,156 --> 00:49:23,684 Those who once soared above Lindbergh now fade in his shadow. 513 00:49:23,827 --> 00:49:29,197 On June 29, Richard Byrd and his crew of three fiinally take off for France 514 00:49:29,333 --> 00:49:32,131 in their 100,000 dollar plane. 515 00:49:35,772 --> 00:49:39,264 Byrd forcelands off the Normandy coast. 516 00:49:39,776 --> 00:49:42,973 Few take notice of his clumsy flight. 517 00:49:45,749 --> 00:49:49,116 The contest to unite the continents has already been won, 518 00:49:49,252 --> 00:49:51,846 by the graceful Lone Eagle. 519 00:49:58,295 --> 00:50:01,264 Charles Lindbergh spends the rest of his life in the air, 520 00:50:01,398 --> 00:50:04,094 promoting the cause of aviation. 521 00:50:08,939 --> 00:50:12,272 At the age of 27, Lindbergh marries. 522 00:50:14,177 --> 00:50:16,236 With his wife, author Anne Morrow, 523 00:50:16,380 --> 00:50:20,544 he maps new flight routes across the Atlantic and Pacific. 524 00:50:24,254 --> 00:50:28,691 The young couple opens the skies for air travelers of today. 525 00:50:33,330 --> 00:50:37,858 Lindbergh would also endure agonizing personal tragedy. 526 00:50:41,505 --> 00:50:46,408 The kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh's baby son in 1932. 527 00:50:48,111 --> 00:50:53,743 And outrage following his speeches opposing war with Nazi Germany. 528 00:50:54,618 --> 00:50:58,179 But Charles Lindbergh's legacy is not controversy. 529 00:50:58,321 --> 00:51:00,221 It is courage. 530 00:51:02,793 --> 00:51:06,194 The daring of a twentyfiveyear old air mail pilot 531 00:51:06,329 --> 00:51:11,392 who believed he could change the world, and did. 532 00:51:23,847 --> 00:51:26,145 "When the Spirit of St. Louis flew to Paris, 533 00:51:26,283 --> 00:51:27,716 aviation was shouldering its way 534 00:51:27,851 --> 00:51:31,343 from the stage of invention to the stage of usefulness. 535 00:51:36,026 --> 00:51:39,723 I believed that aviation had a brilliant future. 536 00:51:44,734 --> 00:51:49,762 Technically, we have accomplished our objectives, passed beyond them. 537 00:51:49,906 --> 00:51:54,275 We actually live today in our dreams of yesterday 538 00:51:58,949 --> 00:52:02,680 and living those dreams, we dream again."