Feb. 4, 1902 - August 26, 1974
Overview:
Charles Lindbergh is regarded as America’s greatest aviation hero. Flying non-stop between New York and Paris he accomplished a feat never before equaled. Facing tremendous media attention, he was one of the first Americans to be idolized by cameras, paving the way for future celebrities. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when men hoping to profit from his fame kidnapped his infant son. The world’s sympathies will always be with Charles Lindbergh.
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Charles Lindbergh - The World's Hero
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Country:
United States of America
Type
of hero: Trailblazer
Attributes:
Bravery, Pilot
Biography:
Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902 to Evangeline and Charles Lindbergh Sr. His parents separated when he was five and young Charles lived with his mother, although he was still able to spend time with his father. His father was an esteemed member of the House of Representatives. Learning a great deal from his grandfather, a dentist and inventor, Charles went for long walks in the woods. Like his grandfather he adopted a scientific approach to life, relying on facts, not emotions when confronted with problems.
Lindbergh was not a terrific student, attending eleven different schools in the span of nine years didn’t help either. However he did excel in physics, chemistry, and mechanical drawing. He was not very social and quite abash. He never had a girlfriend or many close friends for that matter. However when it came to machines he was never bashful. He loved working and tinkering with anything involving mechanics. Admitted to the University of Wisconsin he soon got bored with college life, preferring to be outdoors rather than studying textbooks. Aviation was a continued interest and soon Lindbergh went to his father and asked permission to join the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation, a flying school. His father tried to convince him otherwise but Lindbergh’s determination never faltered and soon Charles Sr. gave in.
At the aviation school he had not received as much instruction as he paid for ($500, a full years tuition at college), but he did learn a lot form working in the factory and flying with a man named Ira Biffle. When the only plane the school had was sold to a barnstormer, a person who attracts attention by flying around towns performing airplane stunts and offering rides for a fee, Lindbergh decided the best way to acquire more experience was to work as a mechanic and helper to Erold Bahl, owner of Erold Bahl’s barnstorming expedition. Lindbergh decided that in order to attract a larger crowd he would try to walk on the airplane's wings as the plane passed over the town. Sure enough a larger crowd was drawn and after taking a tour with Bahl he continued his quest to pilot his own plane and soon became a stuntman, thrilling audiences everywhere with parachute jumps and wingwalks. For his courage he was known as “Daredevil Lindbergh.”
Lindbergh soon bought his own plane for $500, a Curtiss JN-4D, nicknamed Jenny. His Dad, running for a seat in the United States Senate, thought he would get an extra boost if he campaigned by air. The campaign didn’t last very long as the plane nose-dived and crashed into the ground from fifty feet in the air. It was suspected that Charles Sr.’s political enemies had sabotaged the plane. Unfortunately Charles Sr. ended up losing the election.
Lindbergh enlisted in an Army Air Service Training School where he learned to fly acrobatics and was able to fly modern planes. While at the training school his father died of a brain tumor on May 24, 1924. Lindbergh graduated at the head of his class and took a job with an airmail service, flying mail between Chicago and Saint Louis.
Meanwhile there was an aeronautical race, over who could fly nonstop between Paris and New York. In 1919 Frenchman Raymond Orteig offered a prize of $25,000 for the first pilot to accomplish the feat. Many famous aviators were preparing to make the attempt and Lindbergh was drawn by all the attention surrounding the race. He decided to make the attempt and received financial aid from a St. Louis business that built a plane to his specifications. It was to be a small, single-engine plane, where other more powerful planes had failed. Several pilots had died even as Lindbergh was preparing for his own flight. He called his plane "The Spirit of St. Louis" and flew it from where it was built in San Diego to St. Louis, and then to New York. In the process he set a new record for the fastest flight across the country. This feat, as well as all the hoopla about the failed attempts to make the flight, drew tremendous media attention. Lindbergh lifted off from New York at 7:52 a.m. and after 33 hours of non-stop sleep deprived flight, through rain, sleet, and fog, Lindbergh landed on May 20, 1927 in Paris, France more than 3,500 miles away. When he landed in Paris tens of thousands of Frenchmen were waiting for him. When he arrived in New York he was thrown the largest tickertape parade in America’s history. He was awarded the Flying Cross and the Congressional Medal of honor by President Calvin Coolidge and was on the front page of every news story. The once shy, lonesome boy who loved mechanics, had become the biggest aviator hero in history, and his feat reached mythic proportions. He toured the world, promoting aviation and married Anne Morrow with whom they had a baby boy, Charles Jr. Sadly, Lindbergh’s fame and happiness was short lived. He was continually hounded by the press and had become what could be called a national treasure.
On March 1, 1932, men who hoped to profit from Lindbergh’s fame kidnapped Charles Jr. The kidnappers used a ladder to climb into the room and a ransom note was left. Touted as the crime of the century the kidnapping devastated the Lindbergh’s. Their baby’s body was found dead almost two months later. The men responsible for the crime were found. Bruno Hauptman was convicted and sentenced to the electric chair, while another suspect committed suicide, and the other died of tuberculosis.
Lindbergh died on August 26, 1974. He and his wife did have children again, and they lived healthy happy lives. Unfortunately, Lindbergh faced heavy scrutiny over his outspoken views prior to World War II. These views cost him the respect of many people. Even so, his son said in an issue of Time honoring the top 100 heroes and heroines of the century, “He never spoke with hatred or resentment against any groups or individuals, and in social discourse he was unfailingly courteous, compassionate and fair.”
In the last year’s of his life Lindbergh flew around the world promoting a balance between technological advancement and conservation. He believed that the airplanes he loved were partly responsible for modern technological warfare and the degradation of the environment. Lindbergh said, "If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes."
Citations
& References:
References
Budman, Matthew and Jay Stevenson, Ph.D. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Heroes. New York: Alpha Books, 1999, pp. 137-140
Giblin, James Cross. Charles A. Lindbergh A Human Hero. New York: Clarion Books, 1997
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