Charles A. Levine
| Charles Albert Levine | |
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Levine in 1927
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| Born | 17 March 1897 North Adams, Massachusetts |
| Died | December 6, 1991 (aged 94) Washington, D.C. |
| Known for | Transatlantic Flight |
| Spouse(s) | Grace Nova Levine |
| Children | Eloyse Levine; and Ardith Levine Polley |
Charles Albert Levine (March 17, 1897 – December 6, 1991) was the first passenger aboard a transatlantic flight. He was ready to cross the Atlantic to claim the Orteig prize but a court battle over who was going to be in the airplane allowed Charles Lindbergh to leave first.
Levine was born on March 17, 1897, in North Adams, Massachusetts. He joined his father in selling scrap metal, later forming his own company buying and recycling World War I surplus brass shell casings. By 1927, at age 30, he was a millionaire.
Levine and Giuseppe Mario Bellanca formed the Columbia Aircraft Company. Levine hired pilots Bert Acosta, Eroll Boyd, John Wycliff Isemann, Burr Leyson, and Roger Q. Williams at $200 a week to perform a series of publicity record attempts for the company.
Levine entered the competition for an Orteig prize for the first person to complete a nonstop flight from New York to Paris. His Bellanca designed prototype aircraft, named Columbia, was ready for weeks, The co-pilot for the effort, Lloyd W. Bertaud, was displaced to accommodate Levine and went to court to be reinstated. Levine got the order lifted, but it was hours after Charles Lindbergh, in the Spirit of St. Louis, had left Roosevelt Field on Long Island. Levine's plane was still in its hangar at the same airport. Lindbergh won the prize on May 20, 1927. The following day Levine announced that his airplane would fly farther on a $15,000 transatlantic flight challenge from America to Germany and carry a passenger. The pilot was Clarence Chamberlin, and Levine would be the passenger. In an oft-repeated situation, Levine told his wife he was just going up for a test flight. His lawyer notified her by a letter of his intentions after they took off and kept going. On June 4, 1927 The Columbia took off on its transatlantic flight from America to Berlin, Germany with Levine, as the first passenger to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. The Columbia did not reach Berlin, but landed 100 miles short in a field at Eisleben, Germany. The trip was 315 miles (507 km) and 9 hours and 6 minutes longer than Lindbergh's transatlantic crossing.
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