Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), known as “Lucky Lindy” and “The Lone Eagle”, was an accomplished American airplane pilot best known for his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.

EARLY YEARS

Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan. His parents are Swedish immigrants. He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. His father, Charles August Lindbergh, was a lawyer and later member of the US Congress who opposed US entry into the First World War; his mother was a teacher. As a child, he was interested in machinery.

After learning to fly at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation in Lincoln, Lindbergh spent two years as an aerobatic pilot. He went from place to place demonstrating the flight action. He performed daring stunts and wowed the audience who attended his performances.

Eager to fly more sophisticated aircraft, Lindbergh enlisted in the US Army as an air cadet. After a year of intensive training, he graduated in March 1925 as a second lieutenant. Lindbergh’s father did not live to see his son graduate.

Because there was little need for Army pilots during peacetime, Lindbergh looked for work elsewhere. He was employed by a commercial aircraft company to pioneer air routes for the US government, which would begin air service for the first time in 1926.

THE REAL CHALLENGE

American businessman Raymond Orteig, who was born in France, looks forward to the day when the United States and France will be linked by aviation.

In an effort to facilitate that connection, Orteig poses a challenge. He would pay $25,000 to the first pilot who could fly non-stop between New York and Paris.

Lindbergh took Ortieg’s challenge seriously. He analyzed data from previous failures and decided that the key to success was an aircraft that was as light as possible, using a single engine and carrying only one pilot.

THE MONUMENTAL FLIGHT

On May 20, 1927, Lindbergh departed from Long Island, New York at 07:52. After a night of heavy rain, the weather had cleared. Lindbergh took the opportunity. The crowd of 500 spectators cheered him on as he left.

Lindbergh flew through several storms in the North Atlantic. When darkness fell and he was exhausted, Lindbergh took the plane to a higher altitude so he could see the stars, keeping himself oriented. As exhaustion swept over him, he wet his feet, sang loudly, and even slapped himself in the face.

After flying through the night and the next day, Lindbergh finally saw the fishing boats and the rugged Irish coast. He made it to Europe.

On May 21, 1927, Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris and had completed his first solo flight, a non-stop transatlantic flight. Just 33 and a half hours earlier, his single-engine monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, having taken off from Roosevelt Field, traveled 5,800 kilometers.

IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT

Lindbergh’s action, called the Lindbergh boom, at that time made the aviation industry share prices and interest in the aviation world skyrocket.

Lindbergh’s main achievement was not that he was the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean by plane. However, he does so on its own without the help of a navigator and connects two international cities, New York and Paris.

Before Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris, dozens of other aviation pioneers had tried to complete this crossing.

in 1919 British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew non-stop from Newfoundland to Ireland on the Vickers Vimy biplane.

Description at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where the plane is on display, said Lindbergh was greeted by about 100,000 people upon landing.

The following year, on April 30, he flew Spirit St Louis, from St. Louis to Washington D.C., the plane’s last flight before being given to the Smithsonian.

FAMILY TRAGEDY

However, Lindbergh’s life journey was not as smooth as his career in aviation.

On March 1, 1932, Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son was kidnapped. Mysteriously the baby was kidnapped from his home in New Jersey. The family received thousands of offers of help, including from notorious American gangster Al Capone.

The search finally ended in May 1932, when the body of Lindbergh’s slain infant was found only a few kilometers from his home.

The FBI investigated the kidnapping and led to the electric chair execution of the accused Bruno Richard Hauptmann.