Airman to Earthmen

The German people could not know that Charles Augustus Lindbergh was coming to them with high seriousness to deliver a great message last week. In fact they could not know when he was coming, if at all. The Colonel had made his usual request for privacy and for the first time since LINDBERGH became a magic name this request had been made to someone who could and would grant it, HITLER. At a word from Der Fuehrer it became impossible for any German paper to mention that a borrowed British Gipsy-Moth had taken off from Penshurst, Kent at 10:15 a. m. with the Colonel at the controls and was about to land him for the first time on German soil. As a further precaution, Der Fuehrer permitted Colonel & Mrs. Lindbergh to land at fearsome Staaken, the military airfield ten miles from Berlin which an ordinary German civilian would no more think of approaching unbidden than he would think of committing High Treason.

At Staaken 15 huge German bombers were lined up as if at attention. Special customs guards had gone to the military field for the sole purpose of inspecting the Lindbergh baggage, of verifying how much money was in the Lindbergh wallet. Due at 5 p. m., the Gipsy-Moth alighted at precisely 5:05. Thereupon the entire German Press began grinding out under huge headlines that "the character of Colonel Lindbergh symbolizes the heroic qualities which Adolf Hitler is seeking to impress on German youth."

Strength and Intelligence. Recently Colonel Lindbergh dined with King Edward and his close friend War Minister Alfred Duff Cooper, the British leader in arousing public opinion to the horrors of a German air attack (see p. 17). Adolf Hitler is the leader in arousing Germans to the horrors of a Russian or French air attack. For years Der Fuehrer and German Air Minister Hermann Wilhelm Goering have been staging the world's most realistic fake air raids, gouging holes in the middle of German streets in which fake air bombs are planted, exploding smoke bombs to simulate gas bombs, starting controlled fires resembling those ignited by Thermite bombs,* sending stretcher-bearers to bandage "wounded" Germans and handing gas masks around the Fatherland. Therefore last week the German people were among the ripest in the world for the surprise message suddenly delivered in Berlin by Colonel Lindbergh and promptly slapped by Chancellor Hitler onto the front page of his personal newsorgan Der Volkische Beobachter ("The Popular Observer"). Observed Charles Augustus Lindbergh, addressing a bounteous luncheon of the Aero Club:

"We who are in aviation carry a heavy responsibility on our shoulders, for while we have been drawing the world closer together in peace, we have stripped the armor from every nation in war.

''It is no longer possible to shield the heart of a country with its army. An army no more can stop an air attack than a suit of mail can stop a rifle bullet.

"Aviation has, I believe, created the most fundamental change ever made in war. It has abolished what we call general warfare. It has turned defense into attack.

"We no longer can protect our families with an army. Our libraries, our museums and every one of the institutions we value most are laid bare to bombardments.

"Aviation has brought revolutionary changes to a world already staggering with changes. It is our responsibility to make sure in so doing we don't destroy the very things which we wish to protect. . . .

"As I travel over Europe I am more than ever impressed with the seriousness of the situation which confronts us. When I see that within a day or two damage can be done which no time ever can replace, I begin to realize we must look for a new type of security, a security which is dynamic, not static--a security which rests in intelligence not in forts. And in the fact that intelligence must be combined with aviation I find some cause for hope. It requires more intellect to operate an airplane than to dig a trench or shoot a rifle.

"Education which is required in aviation must also teach the value of civilized institutions. Our responsibility in creating a great force for destruction may be some-what relieved by knowing that we have allied this thought with intelligence and education and that we have moved that power farther away from ignorance. I find some cause for hope in the belief that the power which must be bound to knowledge is less dangerous to civilization than that which is barbaric. It is the responsibility of aviation to further the combination of strength and intelligence."

"All Honor!" While every German could read the full Lindbergh text in his morning paper, no Briton could read the full text in his--the reason being nothing more sinister than that even the wealthiest British Press lords are habitually too parsimonious to order the full text of anything from abroad. Since most Britons assumed that Colonel Lindbergh, the Empire's guest, was thinking of the safety of his own home in Britain, gratitude for what he had said gushed. "I think Lindbergh's speech was wholesome and timely. All honor to him!" wrote London News-Pundit Henry Wickham Steed. "I wonder whether the Nazi authorities have allowed the full report of his speech to be printed and broadcast. . . . Colonel Lindbergh's frank, truthful and courageous words have rendered a notable service to Europe and perhaps to the entire world."

Meanwhile in Germany the Colonel kept up his chosen work, raised his glass at a dinner of German pursuit plane pilots in this toast, "Here's to bombers, may they fly slower; and here's to pursuit planes, may they fly swifter!''

At latest reports the Lindberghs had not yet banqueted with German bomber pilots but were enjoying themselves hugely. They visited Olympic Village, the Colonel taking a sprint around the running track, poking into every corner of the U. S. Olympic Team's quarters, pausing to watch some storks and laughing at the antics of the Australian team's mascot kangaroo.

With that comradeship which makes aviators of the world virtually an international elite, with the common herd of groundfolk more or less at their future mercy, German war aircraft factories opened to Colonel Lindbergh. He was permitted to inspect and fly German bombers. He learned enough German secrets to have hanged him ten times over had he been a Jew instead of the most popular of Nordics.

Since, after all, Adolf Hitler and Hermann Wilhelm Goering have the rank and dignity of statesmen, and since, after all, Charles Augustus Lindbergh is only a civilian aviator, the German Chancellor and the Prussian Premier did not go to Berlin to greet him, remained on rustic vacation in south Germany. They did announce that "in principle" they would receive the Colonel whenever he is in their vicinity, did send their personal aides to escort him, click heels and kiss Mrs. Lindbergh's hand.

In many lands editorial writers were stimulated by the Lindbergh Message to voice in various ways the thought that if Presidents and Premiers only had the intelligence required to take an airplane engine apart, put it together again, get it started and pilot the plane, they might also be able to make the League of Nations and a good many other things work.

* After the Armistice quantities of tiny 2-lb. bombs were discovered in Germany by Allied commissioners. They were found to be Thermite bombs which do not explode but silently produce one of the hottest known chemical reactions, easily burning through a slate roof. Many authorities on the next war consider that while gas bombs will wreak gruesome horror, more actual damage will be done by Thermite bombs.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.