Lindbergh

Spirit of St. Louis Spare Parts Up For Sale

What price old airline parts? When those pieces are part of the historic Spirit of St. Louis, the long-range aircraft flown by Charles Lindbergh during his historic solo flight across the Atlantic, they are worth quite a lot. Paul Fraser Collectibles is selling off pieces owned by Lindbergh's trusted engineer, Kenneth Lane. Before Lindbergh took his plane on a tour around the U.S. he gave Lane a 'survival kit' of parts of the plane. Lane gave most of the kit to the Smithsonian where the Sprit of St. Louis is exhibited but he had extracted parts used on the solo flight which he thought were becoming unreliable or would not last the whole tour.

These historic parts include two spark plugs which Lane believed had less than a year's worth left in them, a rocker arm from the Wright J5-C "Whirlwind" engine (serial no. 7331), and three shock absorber bungee cords stretched by the heavy transatlantic fuel load all housed in a specially made wood case. Paul Fraser Collectibles is selling this kit for £125,000.

Tags: charles lindbergh, lindbergh, paul fraser collectibles, spirit of st louis

Longines Lindbergh's Atlantic Voyage Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Honestly I don't know if I can take another Lindbergh themed watch from Longines. Yes, I know that back in the 1930s Longines made a special watch for Charles and he wore it on his famous trans-Atlantic flight. And like Omega with the Moon watch, Longines has been trying hard to squeeze this fact for all its worth. Maybe it is because these watches aren't particularly interesting, or perhaps because the theme seems too staid, but I just stopped caring myself about this a while ago. Nobody cares about the "excitement of flying over the Atlantic," because these days, people do it daily. Whereas, going to the Moon is still, sort of a big deal.

What I do want to see is "Lindbergh's Baby Watch." There, the caseback of the watch will open to reveal the missing kid, not just the movement. Of course that will never happen, but I can dream. Longines seems to be quite lacking in innovation in the men' watch department. There have probably been better Lindbergh themed Longines watches in the past, but here is the skinny on this latest one.

It isn't very skinny at all at 47.5mm wide in either steel or 18k rose gold. Like a pocket watch, the case has a hinge at the back which opens to a sapphire crystal view of the ETA A07.231 automatic 30 minute chronograph movement. Pushing in the crown opens up the back of the watch. The dial is really more of the same from what we have seen with these style of watches. Bi-compax chronograph layout, blued steel hands, and a "vintage colored" dial with "railroad style hands" and tachymeter scale around the periphery of the dial. I usually don't say this about many watches, but this watch is just a bit too big. Almost 48mm in this classic style will just look a bit silly on wrists. Yes, 47.5mm wide is the size of the original Longines Lindbergh watch, for Charles Lindbergh... fine, for the collectors sake leave it that size. Strap is brown alligator leather. It bores me to death, but hey, Longines has got to do what they need to do, to keep on ticking.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: atlantic voyage, AtlanticVoyage, Lindbergh, Longines, watch

Erik Lindbergh Sculpture

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

As might be suspected of anyone with the last name of Lindbergh, Erik Lindbergh is a Renaissance man. Aero-News Network has a piece on the man who is a pilot, philanthropist and artist. Lindbergh, who has flown a Columbia 350 across the Atlantic and is part of theRocket Racing League also works in wood and other materials to create limited edition sculptures. He creates many different pieces but particularly interesting are his rockets and planes. The Timecapsule Rocket, shown here is six feet tall and has a removable plug at the bottom to store artifacts or cremated remains. The rocket is a limited edition of 25 and sells for $9,850.

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Tags: lindbergh, rockets, sculpture, space