My son and I had a marvelous time at the massive AirVenture 2026 convention–I was too busy and exhausted looking at (and riding on) airplanes to post anything as you may have noticed. I can think of no better way to conclude the experience then by delving into the darkest corner of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh’s legacy. If you ask anyone today who Lindbergh was you may get a puzzled look followed by an awkward pause. But in 1927 he was the most famous and esteemed man in the world, all for having flown his single-engine plane across the pond to Europe. It was all downhill for Lindy from there, though. The kidnapping and murder of his infant son a few years later dominated the world headlines just as the flight had, and forever haunted the Lindbergh family. A few years later, he morphed into a political figure without a party and became famous again–and soon notorious–for promoting his views about America not entering the conflict in Europe that eventually became the Second World War. If anyone does know Lindbergh today it’s like not to be for the historic Atlantic crossing, nor for the Lindbergh kidnapping case. His legacy, alas, rests on his becoming a spokesmen for ‘America First’ movement. As such he was reviled for being a Nazi sympathizer which he wasn’t—not exactly that is—and the taint has never left him. What on earth was he doing mouthing off about such things anyway? He was an aviation savant, a genuine hero, a futurist who saw the upcoming development and use of rockets. Yet somehow he got on the wrong side of the most tumultuous moment in American history and that, more or less, was the end of things for Lindy with his public. People hissed when seeing him on screen at Newsreel theaters. Above is a short clip of him speaking at a 1940 Chicago rally. If he wasn’t exactly a Nazi, he was certainly anti-Semitic in the way that was common at that time; he’d profess admiration for certain ‘elements’ of Jewish culture while warning against too much wholesale acceptance of them which would yield power that would be used to promote foreign wars etc. etc. Perhaps the most important thing to be gleaned from this short clip, though, is his vocal range. His pitch is much higher than I expected and I would confidently place him in alto range. I highly recommend Scott Berg’s mammoth Lindbergh biography for further study–not about his voice (which he doesn’t mention) but for everything else Lindy-related. I read most of the book about the most famous aviator ever on the two plane rides I took yesterday to get home from the airplane festivities…