Breaking Down the Walls

Eiffel Tower

Charles Lindbergh (or “Lucky Linny”) was born on February 4, 1902, in Detroit, Michigan. Many people consider him the first real hero of the 20th century. He became a hero when at the age of 25 he was the first person to make a nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1927.

He was the youngest of four brothers and two sisters and grew up during the second half of his father’s life (meaning that his life was half over).

In 1923 he flew his first solo flight in a normal aircraft. In 1926 he was hired as an airmail pilot. During this career he had narrow escapes from death, crash landing in fields and swamps and four times he made parachute jumps to save his life. However, in 1927 he was the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris. He flew a plane called “The Spirit Of Saint Louis” and he had no radar, no co-pilot, and no radio! He left with only five sandwiches and a bottle of water. He said, "If I get to Paris, I won't need any more, if I don't, I won't need any more." He flew 3,610 miles in 36 hours. If you would like to see the plane, you should go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

In 1929, he met the U.S. ambassador to Mexico's daughter named Anne Morrow, and they got married. They flew around the world exploring and mapping places. In 1930, Charles invented an artificial heart that could keep parts of the body alive without an internal supply of blood or oxygen. Sadly, in 1932 his son Charles was kidnapped and murdered. Charles was angry and wanted to find out who had killed him. Three years later, in 1935, a man named Bruno Hauptmann was convicted and prosecuted of the murder. In 1941, Charles resigned from the Air Force Commission, and then was denied reinstatement after U.S. entered World War II. In 1954 he gladly accepted the Pulitzer Prize. In 1974 Charles Lindbergh died in Maui, Hawaii.