Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1962)
n SUNDAY. MAY 20. 1982 WEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD OHEGON 4 D - . . A Story of Two flights; And Changes in 35-Year Span (Editor's not: The Lone Eagle, Flying Fool. Lucky Lindbergh , . . these were nicknames which stirred the imagination of a nation 35 yean ago. Thay belong ad to a tlim. quiat young man who had just mada th firt non-itop flight acrom tha Atlantic. UPI raportar Robert J. Sarling racanily flaw tha Atlantic In a mod arn jat transport. Following it hii itory of tha two flights.) By ROBERT J. SERLING UPI Aviation Editor. New York -IUPII- The date was May 20, 1927. The hour 7:52 a.m. EST. A plane wad dled down a wet, muddy clay runway at an airport called Roosevelt field and finally lifted into the gray overcast. Charles A. Lindbergh was on his way to Paris, 3,640 milns away. The other day, another plane took off for Paris. It carried three pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator, a purs er, five hostesses and 72 pas sengers. It used a concrete runway 10,892 feet long at a New York airport called Idlcwild. This is the story of the two fliRhts and the 35 years of aviation progress that occur red between them. It was about an hour before the 10 a.m. departure time when Capt. John A. Michel son, a baldish, burly, cigar moking veteran of more than 17 years with Trans World Airlines, walked briskly into the crew briefing room. He had just gone over his flight plan. He had checked the voluminous weather re ports flowing in from a half dozen weather stations, two weather ships, about 25 other airliners that had been or were just over the north At lantic, and the Paris weather bureau itself. Fuel Consumption Working with a TWA dis patcher, he had judged how the winds, assigned cruising altitude, weather, and the weight of passengers, bag gage, cargo and mail would affect fuel consumption. He asked for 19,262 gallons, then added another 2,000 be cause Paris was predicting rain and overcast which might mean a landing delay. As usu al, the dispatcher tacked on an unofficial 100 gallons which airline pilots for years ft-!".:"-""" ' ' rrv" f. -.. 'fa . i V: asaMsfMKIaWWKNf . .V 'LONE EAGLE'-Thirty-fivc years have pass ed since Charles A. Lindberg, the "Lone Eagle" (shown at left in 1927 file picture), made his historic solo crossing of the At lantic. And trans-Atlantic flying has under- aWaa r or. i , Usaaf ' ... IgaaviAa'aw fnaii i :2 ft gone some startling changes since the days of the "Spirit of St. Louis." Lindberg is shown at right in a more recent file photo, made in 1958. (UPI) have referred to as "insur ance for my wife and kids." (Lindbergh merely jammed 450 gallons into the fuel tanks of his Spirit of St. Louis, as much as they would hold. His decision to take off was based on a single weather report which turned out to be so in accurate that he later said he never would have taken off if he had known what lay ahead.) Michclson nodded pleasant ly to his 10 crew members and introduced the flight deck personnel to the cabin attend ants "in case you don't know one another." "We estimate Paris in six hours and 45 minutes," Mi chclson announced. "Cruising altitude will be 33,000. The weather at Paris will be rain and overcast but we don't anticipate Hny problems. They are not forecasting any en route turbulence either, so you hostesses shouldn't have any trouble with meal service. Now, for those of you who haven't flown with me before, I want to know immediately if any problems arise in the cabin. Have you been over your emergency procedures?" The five hostesses nodded. Purser William Ledger arose. Who Works Whera "I want you girls to decide before we get on the plane who works first class and who works tourisl," he said. "Then I'm coming around to each of you and ask exactly what's your station in the event of an emergency. We'll serve a con tinental breakfast after we reach cruising altitude, then we'll show a movie, followed by cocktails and dinner. Any questions?" "I hope we all have a pleas ant trip," Michclson said. (These ll persons man a $8.5 million Boeing 707 jet liner. The little Ryan mono plane that Lindbergh flew cost less than $13,000 just about the cost of the nose section of a Boeing 707.) The TWA crew filed out of the briefing room to board a yellow crew bus. Behind them, in a wall cabinet, was displayed the identical emerg ency equipment their own jet liner would be carrying. A radar reflector that un folded like an umbrella. Six life rafts capable of carrying 152 persons. Life jackets. Po lice whistle. Gloves. Sea wa ter desalter. First aid kits. Signal flares. Mirror signaler. Fishing kit. Sunburn lotion. Yellow dye. Candy, chewing gum and vitamins. Flash lights. Pliers, repair kit. Stor age water. Radio transmitter. Inflation pumps. Oars. Life raft canopies. Protestant, Catholic and Jewish Bibles. (Lindbergh took along one air raft with a pump and re pair kit, a four-quart canteen t u favor''8 a The Continental Set By Angeliqua Perfume & Cologne Spray , Black Satin Pink While , Red ' Metered I Rctillable Was $6.00 NOW $3.88 Kodak Brownie 8mm Movie Projectors , d Remjn,ion Model 10, 1 only $44.50 now $22.25 6 Model A4, 1 only, $69.50 now $34.75 ELECTRIC RAZORS Was $18.50 gg Eastman Kodak 8mm Movie Cameras N0W Model 77 f2.3, 1 only $32.50 now $16.25 Model 142 f2.7, 2 only, $24.50 ...now $12.25 l-Jy rrlr Model 84 Turret f 1 .9, 1 only $59.50 now $29.75 ' Model 142H Kit, 3 only, $32.50 now $16.25 ELECTRIC RAZORS , . Was $18.50 8.83 Fully Automatic Eastman Molormatic 35mm Model 70 1 Only -$109.50 tfl Pf MEN'S 69-5 MANICURE Argus C-3 Matchmatic 35mm Camera SETS 1 Only-Modal 112 tna r $69.50 now S4.75 $4.85 Now $2.95 Bell & Howell Model 414 Director 8 MM MOVIE CAMERA with Zoom lens HERITAGE Was $199.95 $11 O OC NOW ITV3 Leather French rurnri Includes matched leather case-1 only MVS f J OQ Regularly sails $24.95-FREE NWW Add Federal Excise Tax on Merchandise 7JTXT i 11 i liiUJ. Free Delivery in Mcdford 7 '"ESCHIPTION W ,cncin- ooif-IMAI tMcrnnur cmnt I N. CINTRAl SPECIALIST! A m""v - wnlv"",L k'j-wu,..! jium.. B1A1. o Lata mm A." of water, a hunting knift, one hack-saw blade, a ball of cord and string with a large needle, five cans of Army emergency rations, a flashlight and four red flares. He had to be talk ed into carrying this much because he thought it added excessive weight.) At exactly 10 a.m. EST, the Idlewlld control tower told Michelson: "TWA 802, you are cleared to taxi." Five minutes later, the huge Boeing 707 trembled impa itently at the end of runway 26. The five flight deck mem bers finished checking off 163 separate before-takeoff items, from gear leveY lights to set ting and cross-checking alti meters and clocks. "TWA 802, cleared for take off." Pounds of Thrust Michelson jammed the four IhrnMlps fnrwnrH Npnrtv 17 - 000 pounds of thrust, the equivalent of 80,000 horse power, screamed through the spinning turbines. Co-pilot William Johnson called out the speed as flight 802 eained momentum The 707 would take off the very second it reached a speed predetermined by its gross load, the outside temperature, and a half-dozen other factors that dictated the exact mo ment when Michelson would pull back on the control yoke. "05, V-one!" (The maximum speed at which a takeoff can be aborted safely.) "160. Rotate!" 707 Moves Up Michelson hauled back on the yoke. At 166 knots, the nose came up. Behind the ground - gulping giant was more thnn 8,000 feet of run way. The 707 clawed upward. "Gear up!" sang out Mi chelson. Exactly 2n3,03 pounds of metal, ulass. fnhrin fnnH fiml and human beings were air- I borne. ' (The Spirit of St. Louis, called the "M-2" by its build ers, grossed 5,130 pounds ful ly loaded 1,000 pounds less than a single engine on a 707. It carried 450 gallons of fuel. Flight 802 burned more than that in the first three minutes after takeoff. Lindbergh used only 2.500 feet of runway and almost didn.'t make it.) Thirty minutes later, flight 802 was over Cape Cod and heading across the Atlantic at 33,000. The crew had set tled down to a routine mark ed by an incongruous combi nation of relaxation and alert ness. Michelson's eyes roved incessantly over his 211 in struments. The airspeed was 512 knots more than 550 miles an hour. Flight engineer Fred Moser at regular inter vals computed precious fuel consumption. (Lindbergh passed over Cape more lhan two hours after takeoff. He had only 11 flight instruments. His top airspeed for the enlire trip was less than 120 miles an hour. His altitude ranged from 50 to 10.000 feet.) Navisator John Larsen was using seven different means of determining and keeping position, Including the new Dopplcr system, which pro jects (our invisible beams to earth. When they bounce back, their pattern appears on an instrument thai records the plane's position relative to a pre-set course and the dis tance to destination. (Lindbergh's sole navigation instrument was a relatively new earth Inductor compass. He hit the coast of Ireland only 25 miles off his intended course, but admitted later it was mostly luck ) , Second Officer John Motel was handling communications. Four separate radios Twenty air traffic control position re ports to be made on the flight About a doen contacts with TWA radio. Five fresh weath er reports from no lesj than six European cities en route to Paris. (Lindbergh had no radio. His only voice contact during his trip came near the coast of Ireland when he swooped down near a fishing boat and yelled: "Which way is Ire lani?" They just waved.) In the first class cabin, the purser and two hostesses be gan preparing liquor and meal service while passengers watched a movie on a screen that dropped conveniently from the ceiling just ahead of the seats. The sound came from tiny earphones at each seat. Capt. Michelson asked the purser which movie was showing. "It's something with Elvis Presley," Ledger said. "Lindbergh didn't have it that rough," Michelson chuck led. After the movie, the first class passengers settled back for cocktails and dinner. They had a choice of seven entrees ranging from broiled Maine lobster to sirloin steak cooked to order, plus wine, cham pagne, appetizers, turtle soup, coffee and French pastry. The tourist section didn't have that much of a choice but they ate better than Lind bergh. (He took along, besides the water, two chocolate bars and five ham sandwiches. He ate only two of the latter.) Flight 802 touched down in Paris at 10:40 p.m. Paris time. It had taken just six hours and .' - . a a ' ' .. .',? . .. . i . i 5. "jrvvs v 'I mm m am 4 Mivh as j i an m K'-V, . if -f-ti Z IK ! ii If! i I s. m mi&k A Li MmtuM., -,,-.- . ,77,. - - , ... -1 Mirtnisi, ,,1 .iiwi SERVICE IMPROVED Like the size and speed of aircraft, in-flight food service has improved in the 35 years since Charles A. Lindberg first flew the Atlantic. At left are water, sandwiches and chocolate bars such as the "Lone Eagle" carried for his 33-hour journey. At right is the extensive Royal Am- s-A-J am bassador meal service steak cooked to or der, fresh vegetables, imported wines and champagne, and dessert that travelers en joy on Trans World Airlines flights between New York and Paris. TWA's jets make the trip in less than seven hours. (UPI) 40 minutes, five minutes less than the original estimate. For Capt. Michelson, it was the end of a trip he had made more than 1,300 limes. And flight 802 was trans-Atlantic trip number 52,662 for TWA alone since 1946. (At the end of six hours and 40 minutes, Lindbergh was only 600 miles out of New York. Ahead of him still lay more than 3,000 miles and 27 hours of peril and prayer. (At approximately this mo ment, John Michelson was a chubby-cheeked boy doing an arithmetic lesson in grammar school. He did not know It then, but what transpired on that day 35 years ago was to put a little bit of the Lone Eagle into him and every air man to come. And a little bit of the Spirit of St. Louis in the giant jets that would fol- I low.) Perl Funeral Home Named To Order Perl Funeral home, Med ford, has been appointed a member of the Order of tha Golden Rule in Medford. The order is an internation al affiliation of funeral direc tors having certain hish ideals of service and rigid eth'.-.i standards, order officials noted. The membership is not per manent and may be revoked at any time by the order. Each year, affiliation with the or der automatically expires, a"d the record of each member for the preceding year is con sidered before being read mitted to membership. BUCKHORN MINERAL SPRINGS AihUrnf. Ore. RbIbv health. rait, comfort. and hoipiUiity amldrt pleas ant surrounding!. HOT MINERAL BATHS for Rheumatism, Arthritis, Neu ritis and Nervousness. CARBON DIOXIDE VAPOR BATHS for High and Low Blood Pressure, Sinus, and Skin Eruptions, LODGE AND LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING CABINS at Reasonable Rates. Write for Reservations PHONE LONG DISTANCE Buckhorn Mineral Springs DR. HERMAN WEXLER, D C Director IZOs Buckhorn Springs Road Ashland. Oregon I Si , M ' ySK ill? L. FUJN time is FIESTA time! STRIKE Every Time With EXTRA LUSCIOUS Joiomeid.. ICE (KEAM Rogue River Valley folks really GO for Jorgensen's flavorful, smooth FIESTA. There's a flavor for every taste and it's so easy to serve, so easy to have on hand when family and friends gather for fun. After you enjoy an evening of bowling it's a perfect time to gather 'round heaping dishes of this luscious lea creaml And You Ger . . . NUTRIMIX . . . In FIESTA to give it added GOODNESS and wholesome nutrition. It's an EXCLUSIVE nutrient you'll find only in Jorgensen's rich, creamy FIESTA ICE CREAM! t: k . TOPS In Taste For Fine Dairy Products .1 ffU'Sftf, W mWtmm am la., t ii '".WL-JHtm Mr . '.i -. ."Jl (9
