ANNETTA RAMSAY 2023-05-17 07:19:21
Lindbergh flew over Denton in 1927 to much fanfare.
Denton residents poured out of homes when the fire siren signaled Charles “Lucky Lindy” Lindbergh’s arrival on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 1927. Lindbergh flew over downtown Denton, around the Normal College, now the University of North Texas, and circled over public school buildings, now Calhoun Middle School. He swooped twice over swooning young women in front of Old Main at the College of Industrial Arts, now Texas Woman’s University. (Lindbergh was still an eligible bachelor who wouldn’t meet his future wife until December of 1927.)
Finally, Lindbergh circled Denton’s courthouse and dropped a note on the lawn that was displayed at the Denton Record-Chronicle office. He apologized that his itinerary prevented him from landing: “This message from the air is sent to express our sincere appreciation for your interest in the tour and in the promotion and expansion of commercial aeronautics in the United States.” Lindbergh hoped America would become the world aviation leader.
Bennett Woolley was 5 years old when Lindbergh flew over Denton. He vividly recalled the event 75 years later. “My grandfather highly regarded his heroism and bravery, so when he was scheduled to fly over Denton, we were out in the yard waiting to greet him because the school was directly north of our Oak Street house. He flew over treetops and waved to us from the cabin of the Spirit of Saint Louis.”
Wooley’s family waved and shouted, “Hello Lindy!” Woolley said his grandfather, Jim Christal, corresponded with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh. When Christal heard about Lindbergh’s plan to barnstorm the country, he wrote his pen pal, asking him to include Denton in his itinerary. Denton was on the cutting edge of aviation with an airstrip on the outskirts of town, now Fulton Street in front of Denton High School.
Lindbergh went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to international fame after making the first solo transatlantic flight from New York City to Paris. Other aircraft had crossed the Atlantic, but Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize for his 33½-hour flight between New York and Paris.
The highly publicized flight was a turning point in aviation history. His plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, was a flying gas can that held a staggering 450 gallons of fuel. When Lindbergh reached Paris, ecstatic Parisians plucked him from the cockpit and carried him on their shoulders for 30 minutes, while souvenir hunters stripped part of the canvas skin from his plane.
Multimillionaire aviation enthusiast Harry Guggenheim told Lindbergh before he left New York, “When you get back, look me up.” He later admitted he didn’t believe Lindbergh would survive.
The Guggenheim family funded Lindbergh’s three-month American tour to 92 cities in 48 states. Lindbergh made 147 speeches and rode 1,290 miles in parades. According to Air Force historian Richard Hallion, millions of people witnessed Lindbergh’s tour. Airmail usage exploded, and Americans began to see airplanes as a form of travel.
Annetta Ramsay, Ph.D., has lived and worked in Denton for many years.
This story previously appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle.
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