Charles Albert Levine
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Charles Albert Levine (March 17, 1897 – December 6, 1991) was the first passenger aboard a transatlantic flight.
Charles Albert Levine was born on March 17, 1897, in North Adams, Massachusetts. Levine in 1927, at age 30, was a millionaire, who had made his money buying and selling World War I surplus materiel. He had purchased all the empty brass shell casings for recycling. He entered the competition for a Orteig prize for the first person to complete a nonstop flight from New York to Paris. He had a 225-horsepower Bellanca aircraft, named Columbia, ready for weeks, but Chamberlin’s original co-pilot, Lloyd Bertaud, went to court to be reinstated as the co-pilot for the trip. 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, but the following day Levine announced that his airplane would fly farther into Europe and carry a passenger. The pilot was Clarence Chamberlin, and he would be the passenger.
After a series of bad business investments and losses in the stock market crash of 1929; the federal government sued him for half a million dollars in back taxes. He was arrested in 1932 on a charge of violating the Workmen's Compensation Law, and he received a suspended sentence but was arrested again in 1933 on a counterfeiting charge that was later dismissed. In 1934, after his release he was charged with smuggling an illegal German-Jewish alien into the United States from Mexico and spent 150 days in jail. That same year, he attempted suicide. He was the father of two children: Eloyse Levine; and Ardith Levine Polley, and he divorced their mother in 1935. In 1937 he was charged with smuggling 2,000 pounds of tungsten powder from Canada, and he served two years in federal prison, and was fined $5,000. In 1944, $209.56 was paid with the rest of the money still being owed to the Court. The Assistant United States Attorney on November 18, 1958, deemed that the debt was not collectible, and the case was closed.
On 6 December 1991, Levine died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. age 94.
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[edit] Timeline
- 1897 Birth
- 1927 Transcontinental flight
- 1927 Mabel Boll become mistress
- 1930 Arrested for selling counterfeit coins in Vienna, Austria on November 19th
- 1930 Charges dropped on December 6th
- 1932 Arrested for grand larceny and forgery on February 17th
- 1932 Arrested for violating Workmen's Compensation Laws in Mineola, Long Island on April 8th
- 1933 Suspended sentence on January 24th
- 1933 Arrested for passing counterfeit money in Jersey City, New Jersey
- 1934 Charges dropped for counterfeiting on July 23rd
- 1934 Suicide attempt
- 1935 Charges dropped for grand larceny and forgery
- 1935 Divorce
- 1937 Arrested for smuggling 2,000 pounds of Tungsten on December 30th
- 1937 Served 18 months in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania prison
- 1944 Pays fine of $209.56
- 1958 Collection attempt for fines dropped by US Government
- 1991 Death on December 6th
[edit] Periodicals
- Washington Post; Paris, August 28, 1927 (Associated Press) The strain of the long wait at Le Bourget for good weather is beginning to have an effect on the nerves of the transatlantic fliers. A heated discussion between the French flier Drouhin and Charles Levine occurred today, and at one time it looked as if there would be another pugilistic encounter, which would have made Levine's record two on consecutive days.
- Los Angeles Times; December 18, 1938; Levine Convicted in Smuggling Case. New York, December 17, 1938. Charles A. Levine, first trans-Atlantic airplane passenger, was convicted today in Federal court of conspiracy and smuggling and concealing tungsten powder brought into this country from Canada. The maximum penalty is seven years' imprisonment and $15,000 fine. Judge Goddard granted a motion from Levine's release in bail of $2500 until Monday, when he will be sentenced.
- New York Times; December 18, 1991; Charles A. Levine, 94, Is Dead; First Transatlantic Air Passenger. Charles A. Levine, who became aviation’s first trans-Atlantic passenger in 1927 when he sponsored an attempt to beat Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh to Europe, died December 6 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. He was 94 years old and had moved to Washington from New York City this fall.
[edit] References
- Short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process in which Capt. W. G. R. Hinchliffe (1894-1928) and Charles A. Levine (1897-1991) are interviewed at the Clapham Studios in London just before their return flight to the U.S.
- Farewell Address by Mr. Levine and Capt. Hinchliffe Just Before Their Return Trip to America (1927) at the Internet Movie Database
