Airmail From Lucky Lindy

By Mary Carter
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT
CLAREMONT, NH –Parisian born Raymond Orteig owned two Manhattan hotels that were popular with French airmen stationed here during WWI. In 1919, Orteig offered a cash reward of $25,000 for the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris. Because planes at that time were ill-equipped for the challenge, the Orteig Prize, which was equivalent to nearly $450,000 today, was renewed in 1925.

Over the next two years, competitors suffered mishaps or death in their attempts. It wasn’t until the morning of May 27, 1927, that an unknown airmail pilot, with a single engine plane, quietly left Roosevelt Field on New York’s Long Island. Lacking extraneous equipment, copilots, a radio or a parachute, Charles Lindbergh and his famed Spirit of St. Louis landed in Paris 33 hours later. The world went wild.

A victory tour immediately followed with the July 26th leg being Concord, New Hampshire to Springfield, Vermont. The people of Claremont were ecstatic to learn that Lindbergh would fly overhead sometime that afternoon. Superintendent of Schools Albert B. Kellogg, an aviation enthusiast, positioned himself on the roof of the Sullivan Machinery Company. Peering through the glaring summer sun, Kellogg caught sight of the Spirit of St. Louis using the Connecticut River as its guide. It was 1:31 pm.

At Kellogg’s command, factory whistles blared, signaling hundreds of workers and families into the streets. Claremont’s Tremont Square was soon filled to capacity with eager townsfolk. Cheers of welcome arose as Lindbergh’s plane soared into sight. Circling overhead, a letter wrapped in canvas was dropped from the window of the plane. Landing “in the exact center of the square,” John M. Little retrieved the missive which read:

Aboard the Spirit of St. Louis On Tour

To the City of Claremont,

GREETINGS:

We regret exceedingly that the limited time and extensive itinerary of the United States tour prevents us from landing in your city.

We wish, however, to send this greeting from the air to express our sincere appreciation of your interest in the tour and in the promotion and expansion of commercial aeronautics in the United States.

We feel that we will be amply repaid for all of our efforts if each and every citizen in the United States cherishes an interest in flying and gives his earnest support to the air mail service and the establishment of airports and similar facilities. The concerted effort of the citizens of the United States in this direction will result in America taking its rightful place within a very short time as the world leader in commercial flying.

— CHARLES A. LINDBERGH

Another roaring lap above the rooftops of Claremont and Lindbergh flew across the river to Springfield, Vermont. There, he was greeted by a crowd of 30,000 at the Hartness Airfield. Following a banquet attended by 500 people, Lindbergh spent the evening at the home of inventor, aviator, industrialist and former Vermont Governor James Hartness, whose home lives on today as the popular Hartness House and Hotel on Front Street.

A mere four days after Lindbergh’s flyover, a dedicated group of Claremont residents, among them Elroy Barker, Roy Dodge, Fred Densmore, Frank Putnam, Edward Rossiter and George Tenney, announced their plans to establish a community landing field. And thus, in the shadow of a hero’s wings, the dreams of a Claremont Airport were preparing to take flight.