Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994 TAG: 9403020074
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LISA J. ADAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHESHIRE, CONN. LENGTH: Medium
He was young, handsome - and in the minds of a country enchanted by the mystery and wonder of flight - a hero.
When Charles Lindbergh toured the United States in 1927 after his first solo flight across the Atlantic, he ignited a passion for aviation in small towns and big cities alike.
"When he came into town it was hard to control people," says Ev Cassagneres, a recognized expert on Lindbergh's airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, and other aircraft built by the airplane's manufacturer, California-based Ryan Airlines, Inc.
"Schools were let out, kids were carted to see him. Some made arrangements to have him fly over their town or their schools if he couldn't land there, and he accommodated them."
Cassagneres has written two books on Ryan aircraft. And he has spent the past 20 years trying to capture, and document, the "good-will" tours Lindbergh made after his Atlantic flight - first in Canada and the United States, and then through Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Cuba.
His goal is to tell the complete history of the Spirit, its design and construction, every stop the airplane ever made, every physical and mechanical change the airplane experienced, and the profound and lasting impact Lindbergh had on the future of aeronautics.
"First off, he was a hero," Cassagneres says. "Everyone fell in love with the guy, not only because of what he did, but because of his character. He was a Minnesota farm boy who was highly intelligent and humble. He believed in aviation and was convinced that it was the way to go. Because of his visits, the politicians said, `Let's build that airport. It can bring business in.' "
Cassagneres, a pilot himself, operates an engineering and drafting firm out of his home in Cheshire. He owned three open-cockpit airplanes and is considered an expert on Ryan Airlines, now known as Teledyne-Ryan Aeronautical Co., based in San Diego, Calif., and every airplane the company ever produced.
"I doubt there is anyone on this planet who knows more about the aircraft," says Robert van der Linden, a curator in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, who is responsible for displaying and preserving the Spirit of St. Louis airplane.
In February 1968, Cassagneres reaped his first reward for his research on Ryan aircraft and the Spirit of St. Louis - a telephone call and dinner invitation from Charles Lindbergh himself.
"It was a thrill," Cassagneres says. "I felt right at home with him. Even though he was a world-famous celebrity, he was friendly. A fine, down-to-earth person."
The project to document the history of Lindbergh's plane is a race against time. Cassagneres is looking for anyone who has anecdotes, photographs or personal stories about the stops Lindbergh made during his tours before the airplane was retired to the Smithsonian.
"The people I need to reach are in their 70s," he says. "They're dying off, and I'm desperate to reach the survivors and their offspring. I also want to get in touch with mechanics who worked on the aircraft. Are they still around? Are their sons and daughters still around? Maybe they remember or have pictures."
Cassagneres' metal file cabinets are overflowing with what he says is the largest documented and organized collection of photographs on the Spirit of St. Louis. A nearly finished model of the Spirit - which a friend spent 14 years assembling - sits inside a Plexiglas case.
Cassagneres wasn't even born when Lindbergh took his trans-Atlantic flight. But the excitement about Lindbergh was still simmering when he was a boy. Like others on his street, he built a model of the Spirit. Later he became a pilot himself.
"The Spirit of St. Louis is sometimes called the icon of American historical aircraft," he says. "So to be the first person to be documenting and writing the history of that airplane is pretty exciting. I'm very proud of it."
by CNB