“Flying a good airplane doesn’t require near as much attention as a motor car” – Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh Biography

Charles Lindbergh was born on 4 February 1902 in Detroit, Michigan, USA but grew up in the Little Falls area of Minnesota and in Washington D.C. His father was Charles August Lindbergh, a Swedish immigrant who had arrived in the United States with his parents when he was a small child and went on to become a U.S. Congressman in 1907. His mother was Evangeline Lodge Land, a chemistry teacher who taught at various schools including Little Falls High School where Charles would graduate from in 1918. As his parents separated when he was only nine years old, Charles attended many other schools as he switched between living with his father in Washington and his mother in California. He enrolled in college in 1920 but dropped out before heading to Lincoln, Nebraska where he began flight training in March 1922.

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Charles had always demonstrated an interest in all things mechanical, especially motor cars and motorcycles and he soon became interested in flying too. He flew for the first time on 9 April 1922 after he enrolled with the flying school at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation. Soon after he started to take lessons but needed more money to become qualified enough to fly solo. This he raised by barnstorming, wing walking and parachuting. He first flew solo in May 1923 at a former army training field in Georgia, in an army surplus Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” which he bought for $500. After a week of practice, he took off for his first long-distance flight of some 140 miles when he headed west to Montgomery in Alabama.

In 1923 he took on the persona of “Daredevil Lindbergh” and spent most of the year barnstorming. During this time, Lindbergh also made his first nighttime flight while at Lake Village in Arkansas. As well as barnstorming he also provided ferry and transport services, flying a doctor on two occasions across the Wisconsin River which was impassable at the time due to flooding. He even flew his father who was running for the Senate to a campaign stop. 1923 didn’t go without mishap though. He broke a propeller on a couple of occasions and even once put his plane into a ditch, an incident that left him grounded for a week while he waited for repairs. Shortly after, he sold the “Jenny” to a student and headed off by train, eventually arriving at Brooks Field on 19 March 1924 where he commenced a year of flight training with the army. He graduated first in his class in March 1925, even though during his time there he had a dangerous near miss when he had to bail out of his S.E. 5 due to a mid-air collision during combat maneuvers. His successful graduation earned him his wings and the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. As the army didn’t need pilots at the time, Lindbergh went back to civilian life but would remain a reserve officer and occasionally flew a few hours for the military after joining the 110th Observation Squadron. He was promoted twice more, achieving the rank of captain in July 1926.

After also previously becoming a pilot with the Robertson Aircraft Corporation in 1925 where he was taken on to devise the route for an airmail contract between St. Louis and Chicago, he became their chief pilot and opened the service on 13 April 1926. He avoided serious injury after bailing out on two occasions, once due to bad weather and once due to mechanical problems, each time after landing, ensuring that the mail was located and sent on to its destination.

In February 1927 he headed off to San Diego, California where he oversaw the design and construction of the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane that would make him famous, after the Ryan Aircraft Company agreed to build it for $10580. It flew for the first time only 2 months later and test flights were made to St.