Charles Lindbergh
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Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), known as "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle", was a pioneering United States airplane pilot famous for making the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.
[edit] Early life
Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan. His parents were Swedish immigrants. He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. His father, Charles August Lindbergh, was a lawyer and later a U.S. congressman who was against the United States entering into World War I; his mother was a teacher. While he was young, he was interested in machines. In 1922 he joined a pilot training program with Nebraska Aircraft, bought his own airplane, and became a stunt pilot. In 1924, he started training as a pilot with the United States Army Air Corps.
After finishing first in his class, Lindbergh took his first job as pilot of an airmail route in St. Louis. He flew the mail in an airplane.
In April 1923, while visiting friends in Lake Village, Arkansas, Lindbergh made his first ever flight over Lake Village and Lake Chicot.
[edit] First solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean
Lindbergh gained fame around the world as the first pilot to fly solo (alone) and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. He flying from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York, USA to Paris, France on May 20-May 21, 1927 in his single-engine airplane The Spirit of St. Louis. He needed 33.5 hours for the trip. When he arrived back in the United States, many warships and aircraft escorted him to Washington, D.C. where President Calvin Coolidge gave him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Lindbergh's act won him the Orteig Prize, which was 25,000 US dollars. A parade was held for him on 5th Avenue in New York City on June 13, 1927.[1] His public respect 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 is honored in aviation for mapping out polar air-routes, flying at high altitudes, and decreasing fuel use. These things are the basis of modern air travel.
[edit] Later life
Lindbergh married Anne Morrow in 1929. In 1932 he made headlines again, when his baby son, Charles Lindbergh III, was kidnapped and murdered. Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of the crime and later put to death in the electric chair. The Lindberghs later moved to Europe.
