Charles Lindbergh

Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Swedish immigrants. He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. His father, Charles Lindbergh Sr., was a lawyer and later a U.S. Congressman who opposed the entry of the U.S. into World War I; his mother was a chemistry teacher. Early on, he showed an interest in machinery, especially aircraft. Lindbergh, for a short time, attended Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California [1].

In 1922, he quit a mechanical engineering program, joined a pilot and mechanics training program with Nebraska Aircraft, bought his own plane, a World War I-surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny", and became a stunt pilot. In 1924, he started training as a pilot with the Army Air Service. During this time he also held a job as an airline mechanic in Billings, Montana working at Logan International Airport.

After finishing first in his class, Lindbergh took his first job as lead pilot of an airmail route operated by Robertson Aircraft Co. of Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri. He flew the mail in a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane to Springfield, Peoria, and Chicago, Illinois. During his tenure on the mail route, he was renowned for delivering the mail under any circumstances. He even salvaged stashes of mail from his burning aircraft and immediately phoned Alexander Varney, Peoria's airport manager, to advise him to send a truck.

In April 1923, while visiting friends in Lake Village, Arkansas, Lindbergh made his first ever nighttime flight over Lake Village and Lake Chicot.


First solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean

Lindbergh drives through a parade in downtown Atlanta where crowds line the street on October 11, 1927.Lindbergh gained sudden great international fame as the first pilot to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York to Paris on May 20-May 21, 1927 in his single-engine aircraft The Spirit of St. Louis which had been designed by Donald Hall and custom built by Ryan Airlines of San Diego, California. He needed 33.5 hours for the trip. (His grandson Erik Lindbergh repeated this trip 75 years later in 2002 in 17 hours 17 minutes.) The President of France bestowed on him the French Legion of Honor and on his arrival back in the United States, a fleet of warships and aircraft escorted him to Washington, D.C. where President Calvin Coolidge awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. It was the first solo non-stop flight.

Lindbergh's accomplishment won him the Orteig Prize of $25,000 on offer since 1919. A ticker-tape parade was held for him down 5th Avenue in New York City on June 13, 1927.[2] His public stature following this flight was such that he became an important voice on behalf of aviation activities until his death. He served on a variety of national and international boards and committees, including the central committee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the United States. On March 21, 1929, he was presented the Medal of Honor for his historic trans-Atlantic flight.


Lindbergh's Medal of HonorThe massive publicity surrounding him and his flight boosted the aircraft industry and made a skeptical public take air travel seriously. Lindbergh is recognized in aviation for demonstrating and charting polar air-routes, high altitude flying techniques, and increasing aircraft flying range by decreasing fuel consumption. These innovations are the basis of modern intercontinental air travel.

Although Lindbergh was the first to fly solo from New York to Paris non-stop, he was not the first aviator on a Transatlantic heavier-than-air aircraft flight. That had been done first in stages by the crew of the NC-4, in May 1919, although their flying boat broke down and had to be repaired before continuing. The NC-4 flights took 19 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The first truly non-stop Transatlantic flight was achieved nearly eight years previously by two British fliers, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in their Vickers Vimy IV modified bomber on June 14/15th 1919. They flew from Lester's Field near St. Johns, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland (which, it must be noted, was a shorter flight than Lindbergh's) and in doing so won the Daily Mail prize of 10,000 pounds sterling which was presented to them by Winston Churchill. A statue celebrating this first non stop Transatlantic flight is to be seen at London Heathrow Airport. It has been estimated that 81 people had flown across the Atlantic before Lindbergh did.


Marriage, children, kidnapping
Main article: Lindbergh kidnapping
According to a Biography Channel profile on Lindbergh, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the daughter of diplomat Dwight Morrow, was the only woman he had ever asked out on a date. He taught her how to fly and did much of his exploring and charting of air-routes with her. They had six children: Charles, III. (1930-1932), Jon (b.1932), Land (b.1937), Anne (b.1940), Scott (b.1942) and Reeve (b.1945).

Charles Augustus Lindbergh III., 20 months old, was abducted on March 1, 1932, from their home. An infant corpse, presumed to be Charles Augustus Lindbergh III., was found on May 12 in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home, after a nationwide 10-week search and ransom negotiations with the kidnappers. More than three years later, a media circus ensued when the man accused of the murder, Bruno Hauptmann, went on trial in Flemington, New Jersey. Tired of being in the spotlight and still mourning the loss of their son, the Lindberghs moved to Europe in December 1935. Hauptmann, who maintained his innocence until the end, was found guilty and was executed on April 3, 1936.