Realizing the Dream of Flight of work was done to build landing fields, airplanes would have to be able to set down on water in summer and on snow in winter. Before a final decision to fly this route was taken, he cautioned, it would be necessary to assemble and study meteorological data covering a period of several years.36 The Lindberghs continued on to Ireland, then to Scandinavia. In mid-September 1933, while in Stockholm, Lindbergh again wrote to Trippe about the northern route. This time, Lindbergh was more pessimistic about the viability of the route, at least as a year-round mail service. “I believe,” he wrote, “that a transatlantic air route by way of Greenland and Iceland can be operated satisfactorily during at least part of the summer months” with existing equipment and be competitive with steamship schedules. However, it was questionable that operations could be conducted during the winter with sufficient regularity to expedite the mails to northern Europe.37 After visiting various countries in Europe, the Lindberghs flew south to cross the Atlantic from the Azores. Failing to find a sheltered harbor, they continued south to Bathhurst in British Gambia via the Canary Islands. On 6 December 1933, they covered the 1,875 miles to Natal, Brazil in 16 hours. Thirteen days later, the Lindberghs arrived back in Long Island, having traveled 30,000 miles and visited 21 countries. “Lindbergh’s detailed records of conditions at all places visited,” Captain Gene Banning—Pan American pilot and historian—has written, “enabled him to make an important contribution to Pan American’s development of Atlantic routes. He was also to advise on political situations and provide information on possible associations with European airlines.”38
ENTERING THE WAR In the short term, at least, the political problems along the route proved to be the major frustration for Trippe’s plans to span the Atlantic. In 1934, his tripartite agreement with the British and French airlines collapsed, and he turned his attention to the transpacific route. Igor Sikorsky had developed the longer-ranged S-42 that had been discussed with Lindbergh earlier. Tests of the new seaplane by Lindbergh revealed that it was capable of reaching Hawaii from San Francisco, but only under ideal conditions. Lindbergh also had reservations about the S-42’s handling techniques. “I do not believe it is a dangerous plane,” he advised operations manager Andre Priester in July 1934, but it “necessitates pilots who are also engineers.” Trippe, nonetheless, decided to press ahead.39
36 Letter from Lindbergh to Trippe (18 August 1933), Pan American Records, Box 507. 37 Letter from Lindbergh to Trippe (15 September 1933), Pan American Records, Box 507. 38 Banning, Pan American, p. 466. 39 Daley, American Saga, p. 225.
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