Q. Whose one-hour stop in Chattanooga captured the attention of the city in 1927?
A. Charles Lindbergh, who on May 20-21, 1927, made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, visited Chattanooga on Oct. 5 of that year. Lindbergh piloted his famous Spirit of St. Louis aircraft into the city’s first commercial airfield, Marr Field, at 10:30 a.m. and flew out one hour later. Marr Field, dedicated in 1919, was between the railroad and Dodson Avenue north of Glass Street in East Chattanooga, according to chattanoogahistory.com.
Headlines in the Oct. 6, 1927, edition of the Chattanooga Daily Times proclaimed “Airman’s Smile Wins the Heart of Chattanooga” and “Given Noisy Welcome at Marr Field and on Broad Street.” The paper reported “throngs … lined the city streets in the greatest public demonstration staged for an individual in Chattanooga.”
In a five-minute address before a crowd at the corner of 11th and Broad streets, Lindbergh predicted the establishment of passenger air routes and said, “I hope in the future you will devote a part of your interest to aeronautics in this city and put on a program of activity which will result in the establishment of an adequate airport in Chattanooga,” the paper reported.
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