Clarence Chamberlin, Levine 1927 ORIGINAL Hat-1st Transatlantic Passenger Flight for Sale

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Clarence Chamberlin, Levine 1927 ORIGINAL Hat-1st Transatlantic Passenger Flight For Sale

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Clarence Chamberlin, Levine 1927 ORIGINAL Hat-1st Transatlantic Passenger Flight:
$124.99

This is a fantastic, circa 1927 hat celebrating the historic first transatlantic passenger flight of Clarence Chamberlin and Charles A. Levine. 'Flying Heroes, Chamberlin & Levine,' the Miss Columbia is pictured twice. Beyond rare, generally clean condition.

From Wikipedia on the Historic Flight:

Chamberlin and Acosta's successful endurance flight convinced Levine that an attempt at a crossing of the Atlantic was feasible and that the Orteig Prize was within reach. In Chamberlin and Acosta, Levine had a superb flying team; however, in a move that surprised many, Levine replaced Acosta with Lloyd W. Bertaud, an acclaimed pilot of the east, as the navigator. However, near constant arguments over the choice of crew, the route to be followed, and whether wireless equipment should be installed plagued preparations for the Trans-Atlantic flight. Yet, it still appeared that Chamberlin and Bertaud would beat Charles Lindbergh as the first people to successfully cross the Atlantic.

However, the Orteig Prize was not to be theirs. "In a move never explained, Levine dumped Bertaud, giving up his chance for history as a result. Bertaud was so upset he obtained a temporary restraining order preventing the Columbia from lifting off without him." Indeed, the court injunction against Levine and the "Miss Columbia" allowed Charles Lindbergh and his "Spirit of St. Louis" to take off for his Trans-Atlantic flight before Chamberlin. On May 19, Lindbergh even met with Chamberlin who gave him his weather charts for the Atlantic Ocean and on May 20, Lindbergh took off for Paris and his date with destiny. Chamberlin, on the other hand, was still grounded by the court injunction and bad weather.

When the court injunction was finally dropped, thanks to personal appeals from the plane's creator Giuseppe Bellanca, it was too late for the "Miss Columbia" and Chamberlin to be the first to make the historic Trans-Atlantic flight. Soon after this, Bellanca severed ties with Levine and announced that his "sole concern [had been] to prove that [his] plane, built in America and manned by Americans, could successfully make the New York-to-Paris flight… adding another stage to the experimental development of aviation in this country." However, while the injunction had been dropped, two questions remained to be answered: who would fly with Chamberlin? And what was the purpose of their flight going to be now that Lindbergh had beaten them for the Orteig Prize? Even Chamberlin's participation in the flight seemed uncertain. Levine had started to entertain doubts about Chamberlin, not because of his flying ability, but about his homely appearance, fearing he might not be photogenic enough to get much publicity.

Thankfully, Levine decided to keep Chamberlin, even with his homely looks. It was soon decided by the two men that since they could not achieve the distinction of being the first to cross the Atlantic via airplane, they would instead work to achieve the distance record and blow Lindbergh out of the water… or in this case, the sky. Exactly two weeks after Lindbergh's historic flight, the "Miss Columbia" was ready to take to the skies. The plane was grossly overloaded with 455 gallons of gasoline, food, water, and instrumentation, but in order for Chamberlin to beat the distance record, the overloading was a necessary evil. On June 4, 1927, Chamberlin was ready to begin his historic flight from Roosevelt Field; however, the plane still lacked a navigator. The plane was about to take off and Chamberlin still lacked a co-pilot. Literally minutes before the plane was to take off, the engine was even ticking over, Levine, who had been at the airfield with his wife to send off Chamberlin, made "as if to close the cabin door [but instead] suddenly climbed in to occupy the second seat… and without a single word of explanation either to his wife or to officials on the airfield, Levine gave the order for departure." Thus Chamberlin and the first Trans-Atlantic passenger took off into the history books.

Yet, from the beginning there were difficulties. Fog and strong winds soon caused the "Miss Columbia" to fly southward off course, even though they were able to roughly maintain a flight plan similar to that of Lindbergh's. However, as they were approaching the European continent they had a stroke of good luck in that they spotted the famous Cunard liner Mauretania. The ship had been on its way from Southampton to New York and utilizing a copy of the New York Times they had on board the plane they were able to ascertain the Mauretania's sailing date and thus calculate their position and realign themselves on a trajectory towards England and within hours, they had land in sight.

However, as soon as they reached Germany, they became lost once again. Urged on by Levine to reach Berlin, Chamberlin pushed the plane to the extreme. When the fuel finally ran out, they were forced to put down at Helfta near Eisleben at 5:35 A.M. (local time) after a non-stop flight of 3,911 miles in 42 hours 45 minutes, having beaten Lindbergh's record by just over 300 miles. Upon landing the locals gave the aviators some fuel and some really bad directions which forced them to take yet another emergency landing which shattered their wooden propeller. "One day and one new airscrew later, the "Miss Columbia" landed in Berlin to the cheers of 150,000 people." After the ceremony, "Chamberlin was informed that his mother was calling him from Omaha, Nebraska. It had been arranged by the American Telegraph Company and the Chicago Daily News… [and while] it was not a direct connection, Chamberlin would talk to the operator in London [who would] relay the message to Mrs. E. C. Chamberlin [and vice versa]. It was believed, at that time, that the call was the longest distance phone call ever completed."

Following their successful landing and reception in Berlin, "they set off on a short tour of European capitals visiting Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, and Zurich. Then they finally left for Paris, reaching the French capital on the last day of June. During the month since leaving New York on the 4th they had covered a grand total of 6,320 miles." In Paris, Levine disclosed his plans to Chamberlin to return by air to New York. "Well aware of the foolhardiness of such a scheme, Clarence Chamberlin wisely elected to return by sea and Levine began to look for another pilot." Levine had no luck in finding anyone foolhardy enough to take up the task, so he decided to do it himself. Levine, who had absolutely no flight experience, went rogue and took his plane into the sky heading for London. His scheme had aerodome officials on both sides of the English Channel frantic. After several failed attempts and near-misses, Levine was able to put down at the Croydon airfield. He then prudently made the decision to return with the plane to New York via ship.

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