Slipstream: the autobiography of an air craftsmanWilson, Eugene E.
History
Slipstream: the autobiography of an air craftsman
Wilson, Eugene E.
Aircraft industry -- United States -- Biography; United States. Navy -- Aviation; Wilson, Eugene E., 1887-1974
The third suggestion offered Lindbergh had to do with aircraft
manufacture. It was suggested that after all the publicity on the
_Spirit of St. Louis_, a lot of craft of that model might be sold.
Perhaps the men from St. Louis who had backed Lindbergh on the flight
to Paris might finance an aircraft manufacturing company in St. Louis
of which the young pilot might become the president.
Lindbergh shook his head quickly. He had a crazy idea that he would
like to have his Paris flight redound to the benefit of aviation as a
whole. If he went into manufacture, that would put him in competition
with others in the business; he didn’t want to compete with them but
rather to help the whole aviation game along. If the flight was worth
anything at all, he would like to see it advance aviation. He didn’t
appear to be interested in trying to make money out of it.
By the time Charles Lindbergh had received his friends’ advice, the
Martin T4M had finished its run successfully and landed at Anacostia.
Soon the _Sylph_ put back to the Navy Yard and we all got into cars
to ride up to Mr. Hoover’s house. Mrs. Hoover met us at the door and
showed most of the group out onto the porch. Four of us remained
behind to sit down around a table and hear a report from the agent of
Mr. George Palmer Putnam.
Charles Lindbergh took his seat at the head of a table. On his
right sat a keen young Army pilot, Lt. Robert Douglas, who had been
a student aviator with Lindbergh at Kelly Field. I sat down at
Lindbergh’s left while Mr. Putnam’s representative stood at the end
of the table opposite him. The man from Putnam’s held the galley
proof in his hand and displayed considerable pride over it. The
galley had been struck off in record time.
It seemed that the book really divided into three parts: the first
had to do with Lindbergh’s early life; the second part reviewed his
flight training, his barnstorming, and his experience as an air-mail
pilot; the third part, which covered the technical aspects of the
New York-Paris flight, had been prepared by someone in the publicity
department of the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, makers of the
engine of the _Spirit of St. Louis_.
The first part had been written by a journalist who had accompanied
Lindbergh on the trip home in the cruiser _Memphis_. This section
of the book was considered to be the meat of the cocoanut and had
been well advertised. It was the part of Lindbergh’s life not
already widely publicized. Mr. Putnam’s representative hoped Colonel
Lindbergh would not find it necessary to make changes in it; its
author would be disappointed. Of course, corrections of typographical
errors were in order but extensive revisions would delay publication,
and time was of the essence. Some parts of this section might sound
a little overdone to the colonel, but, after all, that was what sold
books and the publisher had already committed himself to the public
in forecasting a few sensations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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