Charles Lindbergh American pilot Date of Birth: 04.02.1902 Country: USA

1. Biography of Charles Lindbergh
2. The Transatlantic Flight
3. The Lindbergh Kidnapping
4. Later Years and Legacy

Biography of Charles Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, the third child of Swedish immigrants Carl and Evangeline, was born on February 4, 1902, in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a congressman and pacifist who opposed the United States' involvement in World War I, while his mother was a chemistry teacher. Due to his parents' divorce, Charles attended numerous schools during his childhood and adolescence, ranging from Washington, D.C., to California.

In the late 1920s, Lindbergh enrolled at the Engineering College of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, he left during his second year to begin flight training in Lincoln, Nebraska, in March 1922. Fascinated by various forms of transportation from an early age, Lindbergh had a particular passion for the "Saxon Six" automobile owned by his family. He also owned his own motorcycle, an "Excelsior." During his college years, Lindbergh turned his gaze to the sky and became enamored with flying machines. After just two months of training, he took his first flight on April 9, 1922, as a passenger.

The Transatlantic Flight

Charles Lindbergh, a virtually unknown 25-year-old pilot working in airmail transportation, gained instant worldwide fame after completing a transatlantic flight on May 20-21, 1927. He became the first person in aviation history to take off from New York and arrive in Paris on the same day. Lindbergh was awarded the Orteig Prize for his achievement. He flew 5,800 km from Roosevelt Airport in Garden City, Long Island, New York, to Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France, piloting a single-seat, single-engine monoplane called the "Spirit of St. Louis," which was built by Ryan Airlines.

As a reserve officer in the United States Army Air Corps, Lindbergh received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration in the United States, for his historic feat.

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

In March 1932, Lindbergh's 20-month-old son, Charles Lindbergh Jr., was kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded a $50,000 ransom. Although the ransom was paid, the child was not returned to the family. On May 12, 1932, the boy's body was discovered in a wooded area. This tragic incident became known as the "Crime of the Century." In 1934, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a German immigrant and carpenter, was arrested as the presumed murderer. The highly publicized trial raised numerous questions, but despite all appeals and pleas for clemency, Hauptmann, who maintained his innocence, was executed by electric chair on April 3, 1936.

Later Years and Legacy

Before the United States officially entered World War II, Lindbergh openly advocated for his country to stay out of the conflict. Although he was a leader of the America First Committee, an anti-war movement, he wholeheartedly supported the military efforts following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lindbergh made approximately 50 flights over the Pacific Theater of Operations as a civilian consultant.

Lindbergh spent his final years on the island of Maui, Hawaii, where he died from lymphoma on August 26, 1974, at the age of 72. He left a lasting legacy as a pioneering aviator and a symbol of American aviation.