driedrot t1_iqzpi1x wrote
I never understood why Lindbergh's solo flight was such a big deal. We remember Edmund Hillary more than Reinhold Messner, and Roald Amundsen more than Erling Kagge. But Lindbergh is far more famous than Alcock and Brown, who crossed the Atlantic 8 year before him.
Accurate_Western_346 t1_ir003ox wrote
Planes up until the 80's-90's required a crew of at least 2 or 3 depending on how big (pilot, copilot, flight engineer/radio, mechanic was optional in some) so going alone was a lot of work for a single person.
Cold_Situation_7803 t1_iqzumoy wrote
The NC-4 made the first transatlantic flight about a month prior to Alcock & Brown’s non-stop flight, but it is also not mentioned. I guess Lindbergh’s flight being solo really captured the public’s imagination.
ash_274 t1_ir0u7pz wrote
The one-crew, one-engine thing is what made it special.
Consensus at the time was that it was dumb/impossible to cross that distance with a single-engine plane, but Lindbergh pointed out that none of the multi-engine aircraft of the day, with that range, could fly any significant distance without all engines functioning; so multiple engines were just multiple potential points of failure.
Cold_Situation_7803 t1_iqzun55 wrote
The NC-4 made the first transatlantic flight about a month prior to Alcock & Brown’s non-stop flight, but it is also not mentioned. I guess Lindbergh’s flight being solo really captured the public’s imagination.
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