![]() After nearly dinging up the plane with an attempted takeoff, he taxied back to the hangars and asked Mr. Although he had some dual instruction time to his credit, he did not advertise the fact that he had not actually soloed. Once the job was done, Lindbergh took the plane out to the field and taxied around for awhile, getting the feel of it. During the next week, Charles Lindbergh slept in the deserted barracks and during the day he watched intently as his plane was assembled. Curtis Patrick and Bill Paulsen, two local men employed by Mr. "No objections whatsoever." Messer replied and he had his chief mechanic, Orville Walker, assist with the assembly. Would you mind his setting it up here in the hangar?" "Glenn", said Wyche, "I've sold this airplane to this young man. For that, they went to see the man who had sold Wyche the planes, Glenn Messer, down at hangar number seven. The problem was that it left no room for the assembly of the plane. His young buyer had over a hundred from which to chose. ![]() ![]() Wyche had his hangar full of crated Jennies. Altimeters could be bought in lots of 200 for around a dime each and propellers were going for around twenty-six cents. Wyche could snap up a load of Jennys for about fifty dollars apiece. The week that Slim's motorcycle had arrived, the last of the military personnel were pulling out. Souther Field was completing its transition from one of the Army Air Corps' favorite pilot training bases to a mecca for would-be barnstormers looking for a deal on an airplane still in the crate. But the war had ended and the main activity at the airfield had become the surplus airplane auctions. Over a hundred thousand meals had been served to workers there during the airport's hurried construction. Souther Field had been a beehive of activity during the war. Slim, as he was called by his friends, intended to talk to a Mr. Word had gotten around among the flyers there that brand new Jennies could be had in Americus. He had saved the money for the past several months while working as a wing walker for a flying circus in Jacksonville, Florida. On it rode a tall, thin young man with five hundred dollars in his boots. One warm May afternoon in 1923, a smokey brown cloud of dust rose above the flat, middle Georgia cotton patch as a blue Harley Davidson motorcycle made its way toward the entrance to Souther Field. Source: Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia. Louis" from New York to Paris and into aviation history. Four years later Lindbergh flew alone in the "Spirit of St. He practiced take-offs and landings for a week then having filled up with forty gallons of gas, he set course for Montgomery, Alabama, to start his barnstorming career. Lindbergh had less than 20 hours instruction when he soloed. He chose a Curtiss JN4 "Jenny." He got the plane with a brand-new OX-5 engine, a fresh coat of olive drab dope, and an extra 20 gallon fuel tank for $500. Charles Lindbergh had come to Americus to purchase a surplus aircraft from the World War I training center. The "Lone Eagle" first flew solo in early May, 1923 from Souther Field. The following text is from the Historical Marker at Monument Charles Lindbergh's First Solo Flight & First Plane
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