The National Geographic Magazine

INDIANS INSPECTING THE "SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS" AT TULSA

Inclosures were erected at almost every stopping place where there were no hangars or where, as in this case, the city wished to leave the ship on
display. A strong barrier was necessary to keep the plane from being demolished by pressure of the eager crowds. Another reason for these inclosures
was to keep away the vast number of people who forgot that Colonel Lindbergh could not possibly shake hands with each one or give an autograph
to all of those who requested these souvenirs of his visit.

poisoning. One day, while flying at the low altitude which this work requires, he became unconscious and crashed. The spot where the plane struck the ground was still visible when we flew over and Love circled around it for 10 minutes, explaining just how it had happened. Precautions are now taken against poisoning in work of this kind.

ROUGHEST AIR OF TOUR ENCOUNTERED BESIDE STONE MOUNTAIN

Atlanta was the next stop. As we left on the following day for Spartanburg we flew by Stone Mountain, on the side of which the Confederate Memorial is being carved. We had a very close view of the men working on the side of the mountain, and of the outlines of the memorial. At this place we experienced the roughest air encountered during the tour, caused by the air currents descending the side of the cliff.

Just before we left the mountain, we flew over the top of it and were surprised to note the same sensation usually experienced in looking over the edge of a high building. None of us had ever felt this before while flying, although many people believe the feeling to be a part of flying. We decided it was caused by our looking down over the edge and seeing the cliff pass suddenly beneath us only a few feet away.

In order to accommodate the large number of people who wished to attend the banquet, the committee at Spartanburg secured the dining room of Converse College. The girl students had been glad to offer their dining room for Colonel Lindbergh, even though it meant that they had to content themselves with a "bag supper" in their rooms. The only condition which they made was that Colonel Lindbergh on his way to the dining room should walk down a lane formed by all the fair students.

I neglected to explain this proviso to him until he was entering the hall of the building, and for a moment I thought he was going to make a hasty retreat. How ever, followed closely by the rest of the party, he hurriedly walked the gauntlet of a thousand admiring feminine eyes.

Atlanta and Spartanburg, like the next five cities visited, are to be stopping points on the air-mail route from New York to

Atlanta. After March 1 fast mail planes will be flying back and forth at night over the completely lighted airway connecting these cities. Good airports have already been established at most of these places.

A touch stop was made at Greensboro before reaching Winston-Salem. The city of High Point joined with the others of the Tri-Cities in a general program at Winston-Salem. Here we added Kusterer to our party in the advance plane. He had finished all his work and had come back to see how we followed his plans.

At Richmond we were met by Mr. Guggenheim, who had come down from New York to witness a day's program. During the week-end at this city Colonel Lindbergh took Governor Byrd and Mr. Guggenheim for a flight in the Spirit of St. Louis.

An unannounced visit was made at Washington on Monday, and on Tuesday we left for Baltimore. There was a very low "ceiling" and it was raining heavily in spots, but we made the short flight with only a few detours.

THE LAST "OFFICIAL" DAY

From Baltimore to Atlantic City was another flight under gray skies. On this trip the advance plane carried Clarence M. Young, Director of the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, as a passenger.

Flying back across the Delaware, we landed at Wilmington with but one more stop before the end. The last city was Philadelphia, where every detail was well carried out. The last "official" day ended satisfactorily for all of us.

We had expected that the tour would be somewhat of a strain, especially near the end, for we were averaging more time than air-mail pilots during the same period. However, the nicety with which the many details of the program were carried out by the cities pleasantly surprised us. and we ended the journey feeling better than at the halfway point.

Along the entire route the greatest credit should be given those in charge of policing at airports, handling of parades, arranging banquets, and making explanations to the countless hundreds who insisted on personal interviews with Colonel Lindbergh.

So efficient was the policing at some places that some members of the party

C. C. Maidment, mechanic on the tour, is shown about to "pull through" the propeller on the Spirit of St. Louis. This ship does not have a starter, as this would have meant much more weight during the transatlantic flight. Many modern planes are equipped with starters. At many of the touch stops the assembled crowds surpassed the population of the town, as throngs of people came from remote sections, many of them starting the day before, to catch a glimpse of Colonel Lindbergh, even though he was to remain but a few minutes at the airport.

had difficulty in identifying themselves. At Philadelphia this was well illustrated. Phil Love accidentally became separated from the rest of the party near the speaker's stand at the Sesquicentennial Stadium. Kusterer and I, on the stand, caught sight of his arguing with a giant of a policeman who even refused to look at his card.

We held a little conference and decided to see if Love's powers of persuasion would prove effective. When we last saw him he was still engaged in a heated argument and did not seem to have much suc

cess.

Half an hour after we reached the hotel one of the plain-clothes men at the door. to our suite came in rather disturbed. "There is a red-headed fellow out here that acts pretty mad," he told us. "We started to put him out, but we wanted to be sure we were right. Would you mind taking a look at him?"

Kusterer and I went out and found our pilot in a very aggrieved state. We were strongly tempted to tell the policeman

that we had never seen him before, but realizing that we had one more flight to make with him, we decided it was safer to let him in.

RELIABILITY AND PUNCTUALITY OF
AIRPLANES PROVED

Now that the end of the tour was at hand, we did not know whether to be glad or sorry.

Soon we were in the air for the last flight, and in a little while were over Mitchel Field, slipping down for a landing. We taxied into a space at one side. A few minutes later the wheels of the Spirit of St. Louis rested on the hangar floor they had left more than three months previously.

The United States Tour was over. We had proved what we set out to do that modern airplanes with present-day engines can keep to regular schedules as successfully as railroad trains. Some of the facts of the tour bear out this statement. We had no mechanical trouble of any kind. With one exception, we kept to the

In the lower right corner of the photograph is the shadow of the advance plane, from which this picture was taken. The steamer Sprague was headed up the Mississippi, toward Memphis. After circling the steamer for several minutes, the advance plane straightened out toward Memphis, where it arrived within 20 minutes. It took the steamer four hours to cover the distance.

PART OF THE FLOODED AREA BELOW MEMPHIS Dropping down the Mississippi, both planes flew along the banks to look over the recently devastated areas. This was one of the places where the flood waters had not receded. The steamer W. M. Rees is pushing heavily loaded barges upstream.

C. C. Maidment, mechanic on the tour, is shown about to "pull through" the propeller on the Spirit of St. Louis. This ship does not have a starter, as this would have meant much more weight during the transatlantic flight. Many modern planes are equipped with starters. At many of the touch stops the assembled crowds surpassed the population of the town, as throngs of people came from remote sections, many of them starting the day before, to catch a glimpse of Colonel Lindbergh, even though he was to remain but a few minutes at the airport.

had difficulty in identifying themselves. At Philadelphia this was well illustrated. Phil Love accidentally became separated from the rest of the party near the speaker's stand at the Sesquicentennial Stadium. Kusterer and I, on the stand, caught sight of his arguing with a giant of a policeman who even refused to look at his card.

We held a little conference and decided to see if Love's powers of persuasion would prove effective. When we last saw him he was still engaged in a heated argument and did not seem to have much success.

Half an hour after we reached the hotel one of the plain-clothes men at the door to our suite came in rather disturbed. "There is a red-headed fellow out here that acts pretty mad," he told us. "We started to put him out, but we wanted to be sure we were right. Would you mind taking a look at him?"