A small bit of aviation news I caught on an aviation related Facebook group I haven't seen elsewhere: An organization fronted by Charles Lindbergh's grandson, Erik Lindbergh, is apparently moving to St. Louis. The news was first reported by a blog called The Aero Experience: Celebrating Midwest Aviation and appears to have been announced last week at the Historical Society Archive on Skinker. (Which is a heck of a neat building, by the way, if you haven't been there.) I cannot find any other reporting of it, save that it seems to show up in Lindbergh's Linkedin profile. He does seem to have been instrumental in helping to organize the Ansari X-Prize, which was a pretty big deal at the time. It very much helped to jump-start the private space industry. (And I suspect it was a big part of why a certain someone in that industry wants to name everything X. He didn't win the prize, but he founded his first X company just a couple of years before Burt Rutan won it.) Anyway, the foundation in question seems interested in cleaning up the aviation industry's presently somewhat dirty reputation; weaning it off the dino-juice. Not a lot of information yet. Just a bunch of glitzy websites. But it is . . . interesting. And I do think it's a laudable goal and I'm very much in favor of capitalizing on our already impressive connection to the industry. Anyone else know anything?
Erik Lindbergh's "Lindbergh Foundation" Moving to St. Louis
Erik Lindbergh's "Lindbergh Foundation" Moving to St. Louis
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IIRC, the X Prize itself originated in St. Louis.
Too bad Lindbergh's name has been tarnished a bit lately; might put a crimp in their fundraising.
Too bad Lindbergh's name has been tarnished a bit lately; might put a crimp in their fundraising.
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JFC, tarnished? He was a white-nationalist anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer. Screw him.
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kind of like the current campus rioters/protesters. Yes, screw them.- 1,610
If you ignore all of the three things I said, yes.whitherSTL wrote: ↑May 10, 2024
Lindbergh's legacy aside, kind of cool that an org whose goal is "decarbonizing aviation" will be moving here. Combined with newly formed Nidec Aerospace focusing on electric propulsion and the existing industry anchored by Boeing, seems like a good sign for St. Louis's role in the aerospace/aviation industry going forward. Hopefully they can start doling out grants and help get some more local startups going.
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I don’t think the campus protestors are white nationalists or Nazi sympathizers, unless you’re talking about Charlottesville.whitherSTL wrote: ↑May 10, 2024
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