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| P-47 Thunderbolt painting by Keith Woodock |
Working with the bomber
manufacturer Ford during World War II, Lindbergh became interested in the problems
plaguing high-altitude aviation. While he was testing a P-47 Thunderbolt — an
Air Force fighter that could reach 40,000 feet and 430 mph — Lindbergh’s oxygen
ran out with no warning at 36,000 feet.
The gages appeared fine, but
Lindbergh had trained extensively with oxygen deprivation, and sensed a
characteristic shift in pulse and vision, “that vagueness of mind and emptiness
of breath which warn a pilot of serious lack of oxygen.”
Blacking out, he shoved the stick
forward into a power dive. Aware only dimly of the shrieking wind outside his
cockpit, Lindbergh came to in the increasing air density and found that his
plane had dropped 20,000 feet.
After he landed, a mechanic
discovered that the pressure gage was 50 pounds too high. “That had caused all
my trouble — a quarter-inch error of a needle,” Lindbergh wrote.
Source:
‘Lindbergh’ by A. Scott Berg
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