On May 21, 1927, my father was in the crowd of more than 100,000 people who gathered at this airfield near Paris to await the arrival of Charles Lindbergh at the end of his transatlantic solo flight, the first one ever.
So that’s why I decided to take a not-terribly-nice bicycle ride through some grimy suburbs out to Le Bourget, because of family history.
Of course nobody in that crowd, as they stood looking up at the empty sky for that one little aircraft to appear, could have imagined that air travel would ever burgeon into the global plague that it has become today. And none of them knew, yet, that Lindbergh would eventually out himself as a Nazi sympathizer. But at the time it was all very exciting, history-in-the-making, and I don’t want to knock it.
The Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget
I didn’t think I was going to like the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget, but parts of it turned out to be very interesting, especially the detailed exhibit on the history of manned balloon flight in the 18th and 19th centuries — which I was right in the mood for because I had just taken a ten-minute balloon flight in Paris the day before and had no trouble imagining myself as an intrepid balloonist, LOL.
Manned balloon flight
Model of a Montgolfier balloon
I remember hearing from my grandparents that in their childhood everyone considered balloon flight to be the most promising transportation technology for the decades to come. A time traveler from the late 19th century would no doubt be amazed at how few balloons there are in the skies today, and how many loud and stinking heavier-than-air machines.
In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers carried out the first successful manned flights of hot air balloons, which of course are documented in the museum.
Heavier-than-air flight
Though I am not a big fan of air travel today, I did enjoy the museum exhibits about early attempts at heavier-than-air flight, and the exhibits of early aircraft from the first third of the 20th century.
The nice thing about this part of the museum is that you can walk around on aerial ramps, as though you were walking up in the air among all these old planes.
Among the old planes
These early planes reminded me of the novel Vol de Nuit (in English Night Flight) by the French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), who is best known today as the author of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), written in 1943 and published posthumously in 1946.
Vol de nuit
Vol de Nuit is an earlier book, published in 1931 and based loosely on Saint-Exupéry’s experiences as an airmail pilot in Argentina during the first attempts to establish an airmail system with small planes between South America and Europe.
The Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975) visited Saint-Exupéry in Paris and obtained his permission to write an opera based on Vol de Nuit. The result, Volo di Notte, is a one-act opera that was first performed in 1940. I saw it several times in a fine production at the Frankfurt Opera in 2004, 2005 and 2012.
And now the news
At various places in the Air and Space Museum there are enlarged excerpts of old French newspapers, reporting dramatic news events from the era of the earliest heavier-than-air flights.
The newspapers in my photo are about two assassinations in the year 1914, one of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo in June 1914 and the other a month later of the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès in Paris.
A jet aircraft at Le Bourget
At Le Bourget I skipped the exhibits of obnoxious military aircraft, and I did not pay extra to go inside a Concorde or a Boeing, because I have always thought the Concorde was a stupid idea, and I’ve been in more than enough Boeings already.
My photos in this post are from 2006. I revised the text in 2017.
See also: Cycling to Le Bourget.
See my posts on the nearby city of Saint-Denis, France.
This is soooooo cool! Did your dad save any memorabilia?
No, he didn’t save any memorabilia, at least not that I know of.
Thanks for your visit and comment.
Want you to know two things…how much I admire your love of history that only may rival mine, and that you read me on a regular basis. I never take that…EVER…for granted.
You are so funny with your distaste of heavier than air craft. As a kid I was fascinated with balloons, likely because of reading William Pene du Bois’ Twenty One Balloons. I still love balloons and gifted my kiddo a 2-hour ride in one for their 16th birthday. I also think it would be silly to pay extra to see inside a Boeing – ha!! As if. I am curious about the Concord, I think *because* of its extravagance, not *in spite of.* The link to your father makes the whole trip charming, to think that he was there to watch Lindbergh’s arrival – very exciting.
My father remained a lifelong fan of Charles Lindbergh and his book “WE”, which was published just two months after his landing at Le Bourget.
Fascinating story!
Amityville Horrors are a series of book based on a true story of a guy killing his family members. Also one or more movies made using the base of the true story. I didn’t read the books or watch the movie–not my genre. 🙂
The sister city is Little Falls, Minnesota. Lindberg spent his early years in Little Falls.
Lindberg’s plane was built here and he flew it to New York from here. Thanks for remembering my tips.
Interesting reflections Don.
Of course I am not anti-Air Plane as you are and I do like Aero-Space Museums. We have a good one here too. Did you know that Lindberg’s flight actually began here in San Diego?
Le Bourget is the sister city of Amityville, New York! Wow! Have you heard of the Amityville Horrors?
No, I had never heard of the Amityville Horrors, but just googled. I see Le Bourget is also a sister city of Little Falls (Minnesota? New Jersey? New York?).
But I did know that Lindbergh’s flight actually began in San Diego, because I read about it in one of your VT tips several years ago.