Charles+Lindbergh

Charles A. Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born February 4, 1902 in Detroit, Michigan. He was the only child of Swedish immigrant and U.S. Congressman, Charles August Lindbergh and school teacher Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh. His parents divorced when he was seven, and consequently, he attended over a dozen schools from California to Washington D.C by the time he was in his teens. As a child, Lindbergh was fascinated by the mechanical aspect of transportation, which would later lead him to a passion which would bring him world fame, flying. As a mechanical engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lindbergh began to develop an interest in flying, even though he “had never been close enough to a plane to touch it.” After two years, he dropped out of the engineering program and traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska. There he enrolled in a flying school operated by the Nebraska Flying Corporation. He arrived in Lincoln on April 1, 1922. Nine days after his arrival, Lindbergh experienced his first flight, as a passenger in a two seat “//Tourabout//” plane. He began his first formal flying lessons soon after. However, he was never able to fly solo during his time at the Nebraska Flying Corporation because he did not have the money to post bond, a practice enforced by the President of the company in case any of the novice pilots damaged the school’s only trainer plane. In order to gain more experience and earn money, Lindbergh left the school in the summer and early fall to barnstorm across Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. He worked briefly as a airplane mechanic in Billings, Montana at the Billings Municipal Airport. With the onset of winter, he returned to his father’s home and did not fly again for six months. Lindbergh experienced his first solo flight at a former Army training field in Americus, Georgia. He had come to purchase his first airplane, a World War I surplus “//Jenny.//” Lindbergh spent about a week at the field, practicing before he flew from Americus to Montgomery, Alabama in his first solo cross country flight, where he spent the entirety of 1923 barnstorming under the name “Daredevil Lindbergh” in his newly purchased Jenny. He experienced several aviation milestones within a little more than a month, when he experienced his first nighttime flight near Lake Village, Arkansas. In October 1923, Lindbergh flew his plane to Iowa, where he sold it to one of his flying students. However, when he returned to Lincoln, he and fellow pilot Leon Klink continued to barnstorm throughout the South in Klink’s plane. The two pilots parted company several months later, in San Antonio, Texas. Lindbergh was ordered there on March 19, 1924, by the United States Army Air Service where he was to begin a year of military flight training at Kelly Field and Brooks Field. Eight days before Army graduation, Lindbergh experienced his worst flying crash. He was involved in a midair collision and was forced to bail out. Only 28 of the 104 original flying cadets graduated, with Lindbergh being first in his class in March 1925. He earned his Army pilot wings and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Service Reserve Corps. Because the Army did not need active service pilots, Lindbergh returned to his civilian occupation as a barnstormer and flight instructor, as well as serving part time in an Observation Squadron of the Missouri National Guard. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. In October 1925, Lindbergh was hired as a pilot for mail planes by Robertson Aircraft Corporation (RAC) where he had been previously working as a flight instructor. He continued here as chief airmail pilot until February 1927, when he left for San Diego to oversee the construction of his new plane, the //Spirit of St. Louis.// In 1919, New York businessman Raymond Orteig offered a $25,000 cash prize for the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris. Several attempts had been made, many ending in tragedy. The challenge became somewhat of a national obsession. However, in 1927, the feat still had not been accomplished. Lindbergh contacted and convinced a group of St. Louis businessmen to finance him in an attempt to with the Orteig prize. Lindbergh began his search for a suitable plan which would be able to make the rigorous transatlantic flight. He chose Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego. He oversaw the design modifications and construction of his plane. The plane was finished in surprisingly quickly, in just over two months. In May 1927, Lindbergh took off from Southern California in his newly finished plane, headed for New York. He stopped briefly in St. Louis to refuel his plane, and set a new California to New York record, flying it in just 22 hours. On the morning of May 20, 1927, Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis were ready. For food he took five sandwiches, noting “If I get to Paris, I won't need any more. And if I don't get to Paris, I won't need any more, either.” His plane, loaded with 451 gallons of fuel, struggled to get off the ground, barely clearing the telephone lines at the end of the runway. At St. John’s, Newfoundland, the now 25 year old pilot was hidden from the world. He was forced to fly blind, at one point when he encountered fog and sleet at an altitude of 1500 feet. Other times, he flew only 10 feet above the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Lindbergh touched down at Paris’ Le Bourget Field, after 33 hours and 30 minutes of non-stop flying, covering a distance of 3,610 miles. He was met by thousands of people as he landed in Paris, and was immediately an international hero. Before Lindbergh returned to the States, he completed a series of small flights around Europe, and was honored by the kings of Belgium and Britain. The President of France honored him with the French [|Légion d'honneur]. He was returned to the United States by the US Navy cruiser, //Memphis//, where he was received by President Coolidge, who awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross, the largest ticker tape parade ever in New York, and the $25,000 prize money from Raymond Orteig. The U.S. Postal Office issued a 10 cent Airmail stamp featuring Lindbergh’s plane and the route he took, in honor of his accomplishment. After his world famous flight, Lindbergh embarked on a three-month cross country tour of the United States, for the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics and served on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. And the rest…is history.