On a sleepy Saturday morning in 1927, a plane suddenly dropped from the sky over Craig, CO and buzzed the downtown shops. Planes were still a rare sight no matter where you lived, especially planes situated just feet above your rural town!
The plane made a hard U-turn and realigned itself for another swoop over the quickly gathering crowd. Printed beneath the wings was “N-X-211”. An uncontrollable excitement began to materialize among the spectators. Could it really be?!
On the next pass, nearly clipping the rooftops, the plane suddenly made a hard bank directly above the crowd. And there it was. “Spirit of St. Louis” was neatly inscribed in front of the cockpit. The most famous person in the entire world was situated mere feet above the town of Craig.
Just 4 months earlier, nobody had ever heard of 25 year-old Charles A. Lindbergh. But on May 21, 1927, the entire world awoke to headlines proclaiming “LINDBERGH DOES IT!” and “WORLD HERO” after he became the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a monumental “landed on the moon” type of moment. Lindbergh’s feat had swung open the door to the viability and acceptance of air travel. Transportation would never be the same.
And now here he was; a man of near-mythical proportions was waving down to the people gathered on Craig’s Yampa Avenue. Lindbergh had just published a book detailing his record flight and was on an 82-city promotional tour in all 48 states. He had left Cheyenne, WY that morning and was on his way to Salt Lake City.
On Lindbergh’s 6th and final pass over the crowd, he held out his hand and dropped something that slowly floated towards the earth and landed in front of Craig National Bank (where Victory Vision is located today). It was a message from Lindbergh and was hand addressed to “City of Craig Colo”. The letter explained that, while he regretted he couldn’t land at every city, he was thankful for the support. Underneath the letter, signed by the legend himself, was the name Charles A. Lindbergh.
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