New book about Lindbergh

[PinkHarrier]

Dan Hampton's book is quite gripping but on p76 he says that the ailerons on the Spirit are used to make the aircraft climb, not the elevators. Is this correct?
Cheers

[evansb]

Power is used to make the aircraft climb. Elevators control pitch. Ailerons control roll. My basic flight instructor sarcastically said "...elevators are used to induce a stall, whether intentional or not".

In other words, if you want the aircraft to climb, increase power. If you want the aircraft to descend, reduce power.

Written by the publisher on the cover flap of the book, "Overnight, as he navigated by the stars through storms across the featureless ocean..." is probably not accurate, as Charles Lindbergh did not carry a sextant. As a solo pilot and flying under cloud he wouldn't have been able a star shot on the trans-Atlantic flight. Regardless, Lindbergh was not proficient in celestial navigation. One year after the historical flight, he got lost flying from Havana to Florida, after which, in May 1928, Navy Lieutenant Commander Philip V.H. Weems took Charles Lindbergh on a series of flights to teach him a new way to navigate.

Read more at http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/even-lindbergh-got-lost-3381643/#xuoiRzIi0o1oAaZq.99

[Consol]

I didn't know much more about Lindbergh apart from the film with Jimmy Stewart and the kidnap and Nazi sympathizer stories until I read Bill Bryson's book 1927. The main thrust of it is that Lindbergh was just a strange character with little public persona or charisma but was still carried as a hero (and a huge one) in the culture and euphoria of the age.

[Cazalet33]

Weems is one of my heros.

Nevertheless, the bit in the cited article was this:
Out of fuel, the airplane was forced to land in the ocean hundreds of miles short of Hawaii. The crew spent a valiant 10 days sailing their flying boat to the Hawaiian island of Kauai, in what was perhaps the greatest feat of seamanship ever accomplished by airmen.

I'd like to know more of that yarn.

[Discorde]

The 'Spirit of St Louis' was the book that inspired me to follow a career in aviation. Lindbergh's nav was by dead reckoning and he admitted that there was an element of luck in his coasting in over SW Ireland just a few miles from his plan. I was saddened in later years to learn of CL's more unpleasant character flaws.

From 'Handling Light Aircraft':

4.17.1 Function of elevators

We have seen that the elevators can be used to make the aircraft adopt and maintain any desired pitch attitude. In practice, the attitude is chosen to achieve either one of two purposes, depending on the phase of flight. They are:

(a) to control the vertical flight path of the aircraft, such as during level flight;

(b) to control the IAS, such as during climbing and descending flight.

In case (a) of course, IAS is controlled by engine power setting. In case (b) the engine power setting determines whether the aircraft climbs, flies level or descends.

[cavuman1]

In 1973 I was visiting the National Air Museum. This was three years before the opening of the National Air and Space Museum, my favorite building and the most visited museum on this planet!

I was marveling at the Spirit of St. Louis when my gaze was drawn to an elderly, tall lanky man who was standing next to and partially obscured by one of the building's support columns. He, too, was seemingly mesmerized by the grey high-winged monoplane.

It was the Lone Eagle! :eek: I was not ten feet from him and I could not muster the courage to waltz over and shake his hand! He died less than a year later. :{

I did manage to shake the hand of Admiral Alan B. Shepard at a signing of his book Moon Shot in 1994. I purchased two volumes, both of which he signed. As he stood to hand me the books, I shook his hand and said "Thanks for lighting the candle, Admiral!" He fixed me with his steel blue Ice Commander eyes and offered a hint of a smile. I assure you that remains an indelible memory: I touched the man who commanded Apollo 14 and hit a very long seven iron on the plains of Fra Mauro. I touched the man who pissed his space suit on Project Mercury's Freedom 7... :D

- Ed

[PinkHarrier]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the advice to add power to climb ( I flew sailplanes, so not an option). However I take it that the author must have had a memory lapse when he suggested to use the airlerons to climb. He should have employed a knowledgeable proof reader.