National pride and a thirst for aerial trailblazing dubbed the “Lindbergh effect” spurred the advances that mark what is known in retrospect as the Golden Age of Aviation, the 1930s. It was one of the most exciting and productive periods in aviation history. In Europe, competition for the Schneider Trophy drove speeds to rarefied heights, and in the U.S. ever more spectacular air circuses and air-racing events fed the public’s hunger for derring-do during the Depression. And once again impending war advanced aviation technology, just as it had in the 1910s, this time in the form of Germany’s veiled efforts to ensure military air superiority when push came to shove.
Charles Lindbergh’s epic intercontinental solo flight in 1927 and his subsequent tour of every state in the union reignited a passion for aviation in the U.S. that had dimmed since the initial euphoria of the Wrights’ achievement. Europe had paced aeronautical progress thus far, but progress became more balanced from 1927 onwards, with both the new and old worlds striving to reach ever farther, ever higher, ever faster.
