(February 4, 1902—August 26, 1974), American aviator, of international fame for being the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The son of U.S. Congressman, Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr., Charles attended the University of Wisconsin for three semesters, 1918–1920; studied aviation at Lincoln, Nebraska; made his first solo flight at Americus, Georgia, April 1923; and for a short time earned his living by barnstorming, performing daring exhibitions of aviation and giving passengers short rides.
In March 1924, he became a flying cadet in the United States Air Service Reserve, having been trained at Brooks and Kelly Air Fields, near San Antonio, Texas. He was hired as a test pilot by a St. Louis firm and on April 15, 1926, began flying a mail route to Chicago. Early in 1927, Lindbergh entered the contest to fly the first non-stop flight between New York City and Paris, which had a $25,000 prize, offered by hotel owner Raymond B. Orteig.
On May 10, 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew from San Diego to St. Louis, and then to New York, setting a coast-to-coast record. On May 20, 1927, 7:52am, he departed from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in his silver monoplane named The Spirit of St. Louis, and landed 33.5 hours later at LeBourget Field, Paris. At the age of 25 he performed the greatest aviation feat in history. He was decorated by the president of France, the king of Belgium; the king of England; and was given the Distinguished Flying Cross and was made a colonel in the Air Corps Reserve by President Calvin Coolidge.
In 1929, he married Anne Spencer Morrow, the daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Together they blazed an air route from New York to China, 1931; studied the North Atlantic coast for commercial flying lanes and bases, 1933; and surveyed an air route from England to India, 1937. In 1932, the Lindbergh’s child was kidnapped and killed, leading to them live in England for several years.
After first opposing the U.S. involvement in World War II, Charles Lindbergh served as a civilian employee in the Pacific War zone, flying over 50 missions by the war’s end. In 1954, he was named a brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his autobiographical work The Spirit of St. Louis. He published War Time Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, 1970, and made many contributions in the areas of aviation, medical research and conservation.
On February 1, 1954, in an address at the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, New York, Charles A. Lindbergh stated:
It was not the outer grandeur of the Roman but the inner simplicity of the Christian that lived though the ages.3538