Charles Augustus Lindbergh
1902-1974
American Aviator
Charles Lindbergh flew the first non-stop solo flight in a powered flying machine over the Atlantic Ocean in
1927.
He covered 3,600 miles (5,794 km) from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 30 minutes, an astonishing achievement for the time, and showed the possibilities of the airplane.
Charles Lindbergh grew up on a farm in Minnesota and was at the University of Wisconsin majoring in engineering when he becamefascinated by flying machines. After two years, he quit to learn to fly. He became a barnstormer and traveled to fairs and air shows giving demonstrations of flying. Wanting more instruction, he attended Army Flying School in Texas and became a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Service Reserve. Then he took a job with Robertson Aircraft in St. Louis. In 1926 he flew the inaugural flight of a new airmail route between St. Louis and Chicago.
Charles Lindbergh. (The Library of Congress. Reproduced with permission.)In 1919, a $25,000 prize had been offered for the first man to fly alone nonstop from New York to Paris. Still unclaimed in 1927, Lindbergh thought he could win it. He persuaded several St. Louis businessmen to put up money for a plane to be called the Spirit of St. Louis. When the plane was ready, Lindbergh flew it from San Diego to New York in a record 20 hours and 21 minutes.
On May 20, 1927, he took off from New York in bad weather on his historic flight, his plane loaded with extra fuel. Thirty-three hours and 30 minutes later he landed at Le Bourget Airport in Paris in the dark. He was astounded at the crowds of people who greeted him. He was given awards, celebrations and parades and became one of the world's most recognizable people. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Medal of Honor by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge.
Lindbergh toured the United States and the world promoting air travel and became technical advisor to several airlines. In Mexico City he met Anne Morrow, daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Dwight Morrow. They were married in 1929.
Lindbergh was a natural celebrity—young, tall, and good-looking with a beautiful wife and two sons—but in 1932 his life changed. His son Charles was kidnapped and found dead ten days later. Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the crime in 1934, though some still doubt he was guilty. The press sensationalized the tragedy and would not leave the bereaved parents alone. Besieged by photographers, reporters, and intruders, they fled to Europe in 1935 searching for privacy and safety.
In Germany and France, while his wife was earning stature as a writer, Lindbergh toured aircraft plants and was impressed with Adolf Hitler's industry. Lindbergh warned Europe about German air power but accepted a medal of honor from Hermann Göring, head of the German Air Force. This caused outrage in England and America. Lindbergh did himself further damage by stating that America should keep out of World War II and charging British forces and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt with pushing America into it. He was reviled and castigated, and he resigned from the Army. When war did begin in 1941, Lindbergh tried to reenlist. Rejected, he found ways to advise American air services and increase the proficiency planes and pilots.
After the war, President Eisenhower appointed Lindbergh a Brigadier General in the new Air Force. He published a Pulitzer Prizewinning book about his historic flight and then withdrew from public life. He settled in the town of Hana on the island of Maui, Hawaii, a place that is still difficult to reach by car boat or plane. He lived there in seclusion and wrote letters and articles on the preservation of whales and opposing the development of supersonic airplanes. He died of cancer in 1974 and is buried in Hana, Maui.
The First Transatlantic Flights
The early days of aviation were a time of prizes and the accomplishments necessary to claim them. Among the prizes were $25,000 for the first non-stop flight from the New World to Paris, £10,000 for the first non-stop crossing from the New World to any part of Britain, $10,000 for the first Australian to fly from London to Australia in under a month, and so forth. Among the accomplishments were those who won these prizes, the first flight across the North Pole in 1926, (although this accomplishment has recently been questioned), and others too numerous to mention.
The first flight across the Atlantic Ocean took place in May, 1919, when a U.S. Navy Curtiss Flying Boat flew from Newfoundland to England via the Azores and Portugal. A month later, John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew a Vickers bomber nonstop from Newfoundland to Ireland, where they crashed into a bog, becoming the first to cross the ocean non-stop. This flight was noteworthy because of the horrendous weather that plagued them during the entire trip and because of the incredibly primitive airplane they flew. Flying a fragile biplane with virtually no navigational equipment, Alcock and Brown flew for over 16 hours through severe storms before crash landing. By accomplishing this feat, they claimed a £10,000 prize offered by the London Daily Mail in 1913. In fact, although Charles Lindbergh was the first person to successfully cross the Atlantic non-stop and alone, over 30 aviators had flown this route before him in the preceding 8 years.
P. ANDREW KARAM
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