The Ninety Sixth Anniversary

AUGUST 24, 2023

BY RICHARD DUROSE

IT WAS NINETY-SIX YEARS AGO

August 25, 2023, marks the ninety-sixth anniversary of Paul Redfern’s flight as described in More Than A Man Can Stand, as well as the ninety-sixth anniversary of all of the dozen flights I wrote about in the book, 1927, A Brilliant Year in Aviation, and Mildred Doran’s flight which is the subject of my book, Shooting Star.

Some of the flights were successful, like Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight to France, and some were failures, and some were more than failures, one could say they were disastrous. But all were heroic in that the pilots were willing to get in an airplane and attempt a flight over an ocean. Until 1927, those flights had never been attempted before. The preparation for the flights was rudimentary, but with a little luck they could have been triumphant.

1927 was the pinnacle of the roaring twenties.  Businessmen were universally successful.  Prices were going up every week. Profits were soaring. It was common to use borrowed money to invest in just about any venture, whether it was real estate, stock market, or tangible goods. Everyone, it seemed, was getting rich.

Every long-distance flight attracted massive crowds.  There were throngs at every take-off and if the flight was successful, well-wishers lined the streets of every celebratory parade.  There was a euphoria surrounding aviation and any attempt to set new records. The ticker-tape parade honoring Charles Lindbergh in New York brought out over 100,000 people.

The only similarity in recent days are the space flights of the 1960s and 70s where millions of people gathered along the east coast of Florida to watch the launch of the rockets carrying astronauts.  I lived in Orlando during that time about 40 miles from Cape Canaveral where the launches took place.  Crowds gathered along the coast to the North and South of the Cape and as far away as Orlando just to get a short glimpse of the liftoff.

Other than space travel there has not been the enthusiasm shown for flights since the twenties. In 1927 every week brought another flight over another ocean.  It was wild.   Since Lindbergh’s success in early 1927 everyone expected the next flights to also succeed.  But many of them did not. For example, more aviators were lost in the Dole Race than made it to Honolulu. By the end of the year, the public soured on long-distance flights. Too many brave aviators had been lost. Laws were passed attempting to mandate better preparation. Editorials lambasted the crazy attempts by some of the poor aviators intoxicated with the smell of victory.

One can argue whether aviation in 1927 was or was not a success story.  However, it was a year like no other before or since.