Charles Lindbergh's Exceptional Flyinging

When you get on a plane to leave for vacation, you never think about the people who have gotten us to that point. Flying has evolved over the past one hundred years and Charles Lindbergh was one of the people who helped make it what it is today. On February 4, 1902, Charles Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan. He and his family moved to Minnesota when their house in Detroit burned down. He lived part of his childhood near Little Falls, on a farm. However, the rest of his childhood was spent in Washington D.C. because his father served as a congressman from 1907-1917 (Charles,1). When he was very little, he saw a barnstormer show and ever since then he was intrigued and interested in becoming a pilot (Robinson, 2) “Lindbergh showed exceptional

The technology was not developed enough for flights across oceans. However, people did attempt it and there was yet for a successful transAtlantic flight. The idea of flying from New York to Paris was interested many people, including French businessman, Raymond Orteig. Orteig would reward whoever could complete the transAtlantic flight successfully, a $25,000 prize. Charles Lindbergh was so determined to do it but he did not have the money for a new plane. So, he had nine local businessmen help him to pay for the new plane. The plane was built by Ryan Aeronautical Company in San Diego. He named the plane “The Spirit of St. Louis.” Lindbergh did a test run of the plane from San Diego, where it was built, to New York, only stopping in St. Louis for one night (Charles, 1). Ten days later, he decided to attempt his transAtlantic flight, flying out of Roosevelt field at 7:52AM. Lindbergh barely had any sleep the night before, but that did not stop him from trying. The weather was good at first, but later on, he debated on turning back due to icy conditions. Lindbergh’s route was known as the “great circle.” Instead of going in a straight line from New York to Paris, the map shows a slight curve in his route. This makes it look much longer, but in fact, it was a shorter route than going straight across. To do this, he flew along the coast of Newfoundland and over Ireland (Robinson, 5). His flight took 33 ½ hours and he

In the early 1930’s, Charles Lindbergh invented an artificial heart. He created a device of pumps that could keep tissues in the organs alive. Many people believe he was capable of creating this because of his mechanical ability. All of these things caused Lindbergh’s fame to grow. He and his family had little to no privacy. March, 1932, his twenty month old son was kidnapped while they lived in New Jersey. The press was too much to handle so Lindbergh, his wife and three year old son moved to Europe (Charles, 2). There, he received a German medal of honor from a Nazi official, Hermann Goering. This caused some criticism by many American people. One year later, he returned to the United States. He was very opposed to America entering WWII. “After the war, Lindbergh withdrew from public attention.” August 26, 1974, Charles Lindbergh died of cancer in his home in Maui (Charles,