Lindbergh devised new high altitude flying to save fuel and crossed the Atlantic in his biplane the Spirit of St. Louis.
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Junior was the son of a Senator. His father wanted him to be an engineer, but he dropped out to devote his time to his true love, flying. He bought an old WWI era “Jenny” pilot trainer biplane, and went on a barnstorming tour as a stunt pilot. Young Lindbergh enjoyed the thrills and travel offered by this lifestyle. But he was also something of an intellectual although a self educated one. He was a pioneer of high altitude flying, and fuel saving techniques, and a pilot for the U.S. Mail in the early days of air mail.
In 1927, these experiences allowed him to become the first man to fly solo non-stop from New York to Paris. His transatlantic flight brought him instant notoriety in the international press. His fame and his knowledge made him an expert consultant on aviation to the U.S. military. In this capacity he traveled to France, Germany, and the Soviet Union throughout the 1930’s, reporting what he observed back to Washington. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor, the American Congressional Medal of Honor, and a German medal of honor for his aviation achievements.
In many ways he gets something of a negative reputation in many popular history movie and novel portrayals as a Nazi sympathizer. He was a isolationist, and a man of his time in many of his racial opinions, although he was surprisingly pro-Negro for his time. One must realize that he was a naturalized Swede only a generation or so removed from his European roots which gave him something of an affinity for Northern European culture, and that all his isolationist and pacifist speeches predate the declaration of war on Germany. His isolationism was a part of a fairly widely held and once respectable view which became something of a minority in the turmoil of the late 1930’s. Roosevelt and his cabinet are very much present at the root of this view which helped them politically. Politics is one area where Lindbergh seems to have been very naïve.
He demonstrated his true sentiments and American patriotism by serving as a civilian consultant in the Pacific where he made great technical and procedural contributions to the war effort, and even flew a few combat missions. He proved himself to the men in the trenches during the war, whatever the spin was in Washington where he had been kicked out of the Air Corps. Eisenhower would later reinstate him in the Air Corps as a Brigadier General.
Besides his aviation accomplishments Lindbergh is also famous as a pioneer in the field of devices to preserve human organs intended for transplant, and the concepts that would eventually lead to the artificial heart. Best know for his Spirit of St. Louis flight early in life his name is tarnished by the kidnapping and murder of his eldest son, and his pre-war politics. Despite these blemishes a true look at Charles Lindbergh reveals a long life well spent in the service of his country and mankind. He died in 1974. Lindbergh Field is named for him.
