Charles A. Lindbergh was the first person to fly across the Atlantic
Ocean. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 4, 1902. His
father was a five-term U.S. congressman who represented Minnesota.
Educated in public and private schools throughout Washington, D.C.,
and Minnesota, Lindbergh entered the University of Wisconsin in
1920. He dropped out after two years and entered flying school in
Nebraska. With fewer than eight hours of instruction, he began barnstorming (trick flying) with a stunt aviator and made his first parachute
jump in 1922.
After serving in the U.S. Army Air Service Reserve, he began flying
air mail service between Chicago, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, in
1926. During one of these flights, Lindbergh decided he wanted to join
a contest to be the first person to fly nonstop from New York to Paris,
France. If he won, he would be awarded $25,000. Lindbergh approached
a group of St. Louis businessmen to raise funds for a plane and to pay
for expenses. In their honor, he named his plane Spirit of St. Louis.
Takes flight
As part of his preparation for the contest, Lindbergh went through sleep
deprivation training. He would stay awake first for twenty-four hours at
a time and gradually increased that time to forty hours.
Lindbergh flew to New York and took off for Paris at 7:52 AM on
May 20, 1927. Nervousness had prevented him from sleeping the night
before the flight, and as he flew over the North Atlantic Ocean, he was plagued with the need to sleep. At one point, he
dozed off and awoke to find himself skimming
the ocean waves. With no radio onboard, no one
back on land knew if he was dead or alive. On
May 21, he flew over the southern coast of
Ireland and knew he was safe.
Sets a record
Lindbergh landed in Paris after a flight that
lasted thirty-three hours, twenty-nine minutes,
and thirty seconds. He had flown 3,610 miles
(5,810 kilometers) without stopping and
instantly became an international hero. He won
many awards and was given a ticker-tape parade
in New York and St. Louis. Lindbergh toured
the United States, traveling to seventy-five cities
and visiting with leaders and other important
figureheads. On May 27, 1929, he married Ann
Morrow. She flew with him to foreign countries
to meet with royalty.
Lindbergh was a private man, who did not enjoy his fame. After
marrying, he took a job as a technical adviser to an airline and bought
property in New Jersey. He and his wife lived there peacefully and welcomed their first child, a son, into the family. In 1932, their world was
shattered when baby Charles was kidnapped. The media was relentless in
covering the story. The baby’s body was found several months later, and
an unemployed German immigrant, Bruno Hauptmann (1899–1936),
was found guilty and executed.
Escapes to Europe
By 1935, the Lindberghs had other children, but the continuous press
interference in their lives made them feel harassed. They moved to
England that year in hopes of regaining their privacy. Once overseas,
Lindbergh traveled. In 1938 and 1939, he visited Germany, where the
Nazi government decorated him. He publicly praised the Nazis for
building what he believed was an unbeatable military while criticizing
the lack of military readiness by western democracies. When he and his
family moved back to the United States in late 1939, he spoke out against America’s stance of neutrality (taking no sides) in World War II
(1939–45). His comments were perceived as un-American and stirred
controversy with the American public as well as U.S. president Franklin
D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45), and he was forced to
resign his Air Service Reserve commission.
After Japan attacked the United States in 1941, it became clear that
America needed to boost industrial production as much as possible, as
quickly as possible. Several automakers, including General Motors and
Chrysler, agreed to help build military aircraft. Automaker Henry Ford
(1863–1947) of Ford Motor Company became the leader in wartime
aircraft production. He hired good friend Lindbergh in 1942 to serve as
a technical advisor for aircraft operations in the South Pacific.
Lindbergh’s job was to troubleshoot technical problems arising with the
production of the bombers, and he used his expertise to help redesign the
nose and gun mount of the plane. Once the war was over, it was revealed
that Lindbergh had been involved with the U.S. Air Force on secret
projects and had flown on about fifty combat missions as a civilian.
Beginning in 1947, he was officially welcomed back by the Air Force and
served as a special advisor. This, combined with the popularity of several
books written by his wife, restored Lindbergh’s reputation with the
American public.
Lindbergh’s own book, The Spirit of St. Louis, won a Pulitzer Prize in
1953. He and his wife built a house on a quiet property on the island of Maui, Hawaii, and it was there he died on August 26, 1974.