I lifted this from my Facebook feed and thought it was worth sharing: "This is the cockpit in which Charles Lindbergh sat while piloting the first aircraft to make a solo non-stop transatlantic flight, the Spirit of Saint Louis, in May of 1927. Note the periscope used instead of a forward window. The Spirit was designed and built in San Diego to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize, which was offered by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first aviator to cross the Atlantic non-stop, either from New York to Paris or vice versa."

Simply amazed he was able to make the crossing.The wicker chair must have been uncomfortable as hell.

I can barley stand sitting in a regular passenger airline from New York to Paris for a 6-7 hour flight and he was cooped up in there for 33 and 1/2 hours. Seeing what he sat in and on for that journey must have been really tough. I’m surprised they couldn’t have come up with something a little more comfortable to sit on. 

Aside from that, todays children of the magenta line wouldn’t even consider a feat like that with such rudimentary navigation 😂😂

It's the periscope that gets me. How the heck, can you judge a landing through a periscope?

23 hours ago, Brammer said:

The wicker chair must have been uncomfortable as hell.

That would have been an advantage.

a) it was lightweight = more fuel 

b) uncomfortable as hell = less chance of going to sleep at the controls.

Apart from actually making a successful crossing, I think the amazing thing is actually arriving at Le Bourget.

Alcock and Brown ended up in a bog in Ireland.

Edited June 19, 20232 yr by DD_Arthur

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_St._Louis_(book)

There is a free version online.  Project Gutenberg, I believe.  I can't find the link at the moment.

I have no idea how many times I've read this book since I was 12.  Right now I can't believe I never did a book report on it in school! 😄 

I once read a book on the defeat of the Spanish Armada and turned in a book report in both English and History classes. 😄 😄 Same report both classes, slightly different grade.

Hook

14 hours ago, Penzoil3 said:

It's the periscope that gets me. How the heck, can you judge a landing through a periscope?

Yeah, and that as well. I can’t imagine flying with my face up against the periscope to see where I’m going, then having to back my head away to monitor speed and altitude, and go back and fourth doing that. In a way it’s a miracle that he successfully made the journey.

12 hours ago, cmpbellsjc said:

In a way it’s a miracle that he successfully made the journey.

I suppose that without depth perception, landing was a real challenge!

28 minutes ago, n4gix said:

I suppose that without depth perception, landing was a real challenge!

Hard to tell on that pic, but did he have side windows to look out of?  Bet he used a white and red cane to feel the touchdown!

3 hours ago, charliearon said:

Hard to tell on that pic, but did he have side windows to look out of?  Bet he used a white and red cane to feel the touchdown!

What appear to be windows are actually access ports to the wings. The only outside view is that tiny periscope. (Was simulated in FS9, IIRC.)

On 6/20/2023 at 1:25 PM, n4gix said:

I suppose that without depth perception, landing was a real challenge!

Having been blind in my left eye since birth depth perception is something  you learn. It has never prevented me from flying airplanes and helicopters (in real life) or driving most  everything from motorcycles to Semi trucks. 

However, in my advanced years I'm much more cautious  than in years passed.

Ah, remember this guy when I first see it in FS2004, haven't learnt that history back then but my first thought in that cockpit is like: where should I supports to go?

On 6/21/2023 at 1:25 AM, n4gix said:

I suppose that without depth perception, landing was a real challenge!

There are lot of layer to human's depth perception, binocular is only part of the story and only works up to like 2~3m not much relevant to land an airplane, Most LvD simulators don't even try to simulate that.

And mirrors actually can provide some binocular stereoscopic.

10 hours ago, 188AHC said:

However, in my advanced years I'm much more cautious  than in years passed.

Thank you, Rick. I've learned something new from your comment. I had no idea about your left eye blindness.

13 hours ago, 188AHC said:

Having been blind in my left eye since birth depth perception is something  you learn. It has never prevented me from flying airplanes and helicopters (in real life) or driving most  everything from motorcycles to Semi trucks. 

However, in my advanced years I'm much more cautious  than in years passed.

Yes, adaptive depth perception; they told me when I was a kid. I have basically the same problem, being born with a congenital cataract,and retinopathy in my left eye. Finally got the cataract removed about 10 years ago, after the right eye developed one, and was fixed. Too late to affect the retinopathy though. Today, they'd have that cataract out before a kid was 6 weeks old, most likely.

   But if you're born that way, it's just normal to you. I did, and do everything everybody else does. We just can't get a commercial pilots license, or so I was told...

Edited June 25, 20232 yr by Penzoil3