70 years ago... Charles Lindbergh's autobiographical book describing his historical 1927 flight over the Atlantic Ocean, was the inspiration for the 1957 movie "
The Spirit of St. Louis " ... a movie I first saw 50 years ago in 1973.
At that time I was already collecting aviation & spaceflight photos/lithos and grew a fascination for trans-Atlantic flights which always got faster ...
Remember Charles Lindberg's flight from Long island New York to Paris lasted
33 hours 30 minutes and the exact spot where he parked his single engined aircraft at Le Bourget airport in Paris became the aiming point for future crossings...
Most interestingly, actor James Stewart, like Charles Lindbergh, had been an USAAF pilot in WW II, flew B-47 SAC bombers and accompanied B-52 missions over Vietnam before eventually retiring from US Air Force as a
Brig General !
Compared to Lindbergh's 33 hours, the fastest transatlantic flight, made by a SR-71 Blackbird only took
1 hour 55 minutes (New York - London).
Wrist-watch-wise most interesting events (e.g. Lindberg's Longines Hour Angle aviator watch)
I have a series of autographed photographs on the
lesser-known subject of the May 1961 trans-Atlantic crossing made by the 3 men USAF crew onboard a stunning Mach 2 capable Convair B-58 Hustler SAC - Strategic Air Command bomber. Flight time:
3 hours 19 minutes
Some photos show the crew, Major William R. Payne - Aircraft Commander, Captain William L. Polhemus - Navigator, and Captain Raymond R. Wagener - Defensive Systems Officer, kneeling right at the spot where Lindberg parked his aircraft in May 1927.
They all wore a Rolex GMT-master 1675 pilot watch..;
.
![1961_B58_ROLEX-GMT-1675.jpg 1961_B58_ROLEX-GMT-1675.jpg](https://omegaforums.net/data/attachments/1543/1543114-af10d3113fcde189dc7ec024184b2939.jpg?hash=rxDTET_N4Y)