A “LINDY” STORY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12536, 24 April 1935, Page 5

A “LINDY” STORY

“SUM” READY TO LIGHT ON GLACIER IN ’23. RUT—THEY SAW HIS PLANE. BOULDER, Colo., Mar. 9. For lOOOdoi. Col. Charles Lindbergh once was willing to risk landing a plane on a glacier in the Colorado Rockies. He was then just “Slim’’ Lindbergh. The time was 1923. The story was told to-day by Fred A. Fair, Boulder, engineer. Air. Fair, said a Denver Interurban Railway Company offered lOOOdoi. to the first pilot who would land his ship on St. \ rain Glacier, as a means of calling attention to the region's scenic attractions. Several fliers looked over the ice field and shook their heads. Rut one day Roto- Filer, a Boiilder youth, came and informed him : “I’ve found your flier.” Mr. Fair and Filer went to the improvised landing field in a pasture where “Slim” Lindbergh was taking up passengers: “That ship was a wreck if I ever saw one,” said Air. Fair. “It creaked with age. The canvas was tattered; frayed edges fluttered in the breeze. Blit the engine purred smoothly and it circled gracefully in flight. ’ Mr. Fair described Lindbergh as a “long hungry-]ooking youngster with a bashful grin.” “He looked me in five eye and said, ‘Sure, I’ll land on the glacier. I’ll guarantee it. I know I. can do it and L certainly could use that lOOOdoi. .1 don’t care if 1 never get her off there. You can see for yourself it wouldn’t he much loss.” But Air Fnir said lie turned him down. “I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, hut the ■ ship looked like a suicide to me,”, he said. When a move was started, following Lindbergh’s Paris flight, to name a, Colorado peak after him, Mr Fair suggested a 12,000-foot, sharp-tipped mountain -hear St. A rain . • The suggestion was adopted mid now Lindbergh ’Peak overlooks the icy slope on which a young barnstormer was ready to gamble with safety for lOOOdoi.