Charles Lindbergh 1930 color added 2016 #1
by David Lee Guss
Title
Charles Lindbergh 1930 color added 2016 #1
Artist
David Lee Guss
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
"Lindbergh toured German aviation facilities, where the commander of the Luftwaffe, SA-Gruppenfuhrer Hermann Goring convinced Lindbergh the Luftwaffe was far more powerful than it was. With the approval of Goring and Ernst Udet, Lindbergh was the first American permitted to examine the Luftwaffe's newest bomber, the Junkers Ju 88, and Germany's front-line fighter aircraft, the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Lindbergh received the unprecedented opportunity to pilot the Bf 109. Lindbergh said of the fighter that he knew 'of no other pursuit plane which combines simplicity of construction with such excellent performance characteristics.' Colonel Lindbergh inspected all the types of military aircraft Germany was to use in 1939 and 1940.
Goring presenting Lindbergh with a medal on behalf of Adolf Hitler in October 1938
Lindbergh reported to the U.S. military that Germany was leading in metal construction, low-wing designs, dirigibles, and diesel engines. Lindbergh also undertook a survey of aviation in the Soviet Union in 1938, and his findings were included in air intelligence reports long before the outbreak of World War II. The American ambassador to Germany, Hugh Wilson, invited Lindbergh to dinner with Goring at the American embassy in Berlin in 1938. The dinner included diplomats and three of the greatest minds of German aviation, Ernst Heinkel, Adolf Baeumker, and Dr. Willy Messerschmitt.
For Lindbergh's 1927 flight and services to aviation, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, Goring presented him with the Commander Cross of the Order of the German Eagle. (Henry Ford received the same award earlier in July.) Lindbergh's acceptance of the medal caused controversy after Kristallnacht, an anti-Jewish pogrom that broke out in Germany a few weeks later. Lindbergh declined to return the medal, later writing (according to A. Scott Berg): 'It seems to me that the returning of decorations, which were given in times of peace and as a gesture of friendship, can have no constructive effect. If I were to return the German medal, it seems to me that it would be an unnecessary insult. Even if war develops between us, I can see no gain in indulging in a spitting contest before that war begins.'"
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November 2nd, 2016
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