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Charles Augustus Lindbergh is an American aviator, military officer, author, and nativist activist. At the age of twenty-five, he became an international sensation when he made the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight from New York City to Paris on 20-21 May 1927.

The son of a prominent US Congressman from Minnesota, Lindbergh worked as a stunt pilot before enlisting in the US Army Air Corps Reserve in 1924, earning the rank of second lieutenant in 1925. Later that year, he was hired as a US Air Mail pilot for the Greater St. Louis Area when New York hotelier Raymond Orteig renewed his $25,000 prize for the first pilot able to successfully complete a nonstop flight between New York City and Paris. Lindbergh took up the challenge and succeeded in May 1927, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for his historic flight. His achievement spurred significant global interest in both commercial aviation and air mail which revolutionized the aviation industry worldwide. He was honored as Time's first "Man of the Year" in 1928, was appointed to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1929 by President Herbert Hoover, and was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1930.

On 1 March 1932 Lindbergh's infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what American media soon dubbed the "Crime of the Century”. A two-year nationwide manhunt ensued for the killer, who was finally identified as German immigrant Richard Hauptmann in September 1934. Hauptmann went on trial for the murder in a circus-like atmosphere in Flemington, New Jersey on 2 January 1935, and was convicted and sentenced to death on 12 February. The death of his son drove Lindbergh into nativist politics, where he has become a prominent member of the America First Party (AFP).

History[]

Early Life and Education[]

Charles Lindbergh was born on 4 February 1902 in Detroit, Michigan as the only child of Charles August Lindbergh, a Swedish immigrant and US Congressman, and Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh, a high school chemistry teacher. The couple separated in 1909 when Lindbergh was just seven-years-old, and he spent his childhood and teenage years attending dozens of different schools from Washington DC to California as he moved from parent to parent. Lindbergh enrolled at the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin in 1920, but dropped out after just two years and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in March 1922 to pursue flight training.

Early Aviation Career[]

Lindbergh enrolled himself at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation's flying school in Lincoln and flew for the first time on 9 April 1922 as a passenger in a two-seat Lincoln Standard J biplane piloted by Otto Timm. To gain flight experience and earn money for further instruction, he left Lincoln in June and spent the next few months working as a stunt pilot in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Lindbergh flew his first solo flight in May 1923 at Souther Field in Americus, Georgia in an Army surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny he purchased for $500. He spent the remainder of that year performing under the name “Daredevil Lindbergh” and made his first night flight near Lake Village, Arkansas.

Daredevil Lindbergh

"Daredevil Lindbergh" in a reengined Standard J-1, c. 1925.

On 19 March 1924 Lindbergh reported to Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas to begin a year of military flight training with the US Army Air Service. He graduated first overall in his class in March 1925, earning his Army pilot’s wings and a commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Service Reserve Corps. The Army had no need for additional active-duty pilots, however, so Lindbergh returned to civilian aviation as a stunt pilot and flight instructor immediately after his graduation, although he also continued to do part-time military flying as a reserve officer by joining the 110th Observation Squadron, 35th Division, Missouri National Guard in St. Louis. He was promoted to first lieutenant in December 1925, and subsequently to captain in July 1926.

While working as a flying instructor at the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field in Anglum, Missouri, Lindbergh was hired by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation (RAC) in October 1925 to serve as chief pilot for the newly designated 278 mile Contract Air Mail Route #2 to provide service between St. Louis and Chicago. He opened service on the route on 15 April 1926 with three other RAC pilots: Philip R. Love, Thomas P. Nelson, and Harlan A. "Bud" Gurney.

First Solo Transatlantic Flight[]

On 22 May 1919, French-born New York hotelier Raymond Orteig offered a $25,000 prize to the first pilot able to successfully complete a nonstop flight between New York City and Paris. Several well-known and highly experienced aviators competed for the prize, including René Fonck, Noel Davis, Charles Nungesser, Clarence D. Chamberlain, and Russel E. Byrd, but none were successful and some died or disappeared during the attempt.

Lindbergh and the Spirit of St Louis

Lindbergh with the Spirit of St. Louis, shortly before his transatlantic flight.

Comparatively obscure, Lindbergh received the financial backing of two St. Louis businessmen who secured a $15,000 loan, to which Lindbergh contributed $2,000 from his own salary and another $1,000 donated by RAC. They enlisted the Ryan Aircraft Company of San Diego, California to design and build a custom monoplane to Lindbergh’s specifications. Dubbed the Spirit of St. Louis, the fabric-covered, single-seat, single-engine "Ryan NYP" high-wing monoplane flew for the first time in April 1927, and after a series of test flights Lindbergh took off from San Diego on 10 May, traveling nonstop to St. Louis in fourteen hours and twenty-five minutes before proceeding to New York.

At 7:52 a.m. on Friday, 20 May 1927, Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York in the Spirit of St. Louis with 450 gallons of fuel. Over the next 33½ hours, Lindbergh and his aircraft faced numerous challenges as he navigated only by dead reckoning, fighting icing and even flying blind through fog for several hours. The Spirit skimmed over storm clouds at 10,000 feet and wave tops at as low as 10 feet over the course of the flight. Lindbergh finally landed at Le Bourget Aerodrome at 10:22 p.m. on Saturday, 21 May, where a crowd of 150,000 people stormed the field, dragged him out of the cockpit, and carried him above their heads for around half an hour. Lindbergh's flight was certified by the National Aeronautic Association based on the readings from a sealed barograph placed inside the Spirit.

International Stardom[]

Lindbergh was immediately catapulted to international fame for his achievement and received unprecedented public adulation. Upon his return to the United States on 11 June 1927 aboard the Navy cruiser USS Memphis, a fleet of warships and multiple military aircraft escorted him up the Potomac River to the Washington Navy Yard, where President William G. MacAdoo awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. The US Post Office Department issued a 10-cent Air Mail stamp depicting the Spirit and a map of the flight to commemorate Lindbergh’s feat.

Lindbergh Time Magazine

Lindbergh on the cover of Time magazine.

On 13 June Lindbergh flew to New York City, where he was received at City Hall by Major Jimmy Walker and given a ticker-tape parade in his honor. He attended another ceremony hosted by New York Governor Al Smith and was the guest of honor at a 500-guest banquet and dance held at the Long Island estate of telecommunications magnate Clarence MacKay. The following evening, Lindbergh was honored with a grand banquet at the Hotel Commodore given by the Mayor's Committee on Receptions of the City of New York. He was officially awarded the check for the prize by Raymond Ortieg on 16 June, and was promoted to the rank of colonel in the Air Corps on 18 July. On 14 December 1927, a Special Act of Congress awarded Lindbergh the Medal of Honor despite the fact that it was usually awarded for heroism in combat. It was presented to Lindbergh by President MacAdoo at the White House on 21 March 1928.

Only two months after his endeavor, Lindbergh published his 318-page autobiography WE which related the "story of his life and his transatlantic flight together with his views on the future of aviation", and within its first year of circulation it sold over 650,000 copies. Between July and October 1927, Lindbergh visited eighty-two cities in all forty-eight states on a tour of the United States sponsored by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Between December 1927 and February 1928, he embarked on a “Good Will Tour” of sixteen different Latin American countries, during which time he met Anne Morrow, the daughter US Ambassador Dwight Morrow, while in Mexico City. He also became the first person to be honored as Time magazine’s "Man of the Year" when he appeared on the cover at age twenty-five on 2 January 1928.

Kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr.[]

Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow were married on 27 May 1929 at the Morrow estate in Englewood, New Jersey, where their first child, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., was born on 22 June 1930. Seeking to escape the constant spotlight brought on by their celebrity status, the Lindberghs built a new house in a secluded spot on Sourland Mountain in 1931, which they named “Highfields”.

Lindbergh Baby Poster

Missing Poster for Charles Lindbergh, Jr.

On the evening of 1 March 1932, Lindbergh's twenty-month-old son was abducted from his crib on the upper floor of the Lindberghs’ home. Lindbergh discovered a sealed envelope on the windowsill of the child’s room which contained a poorly written note demanding $25,000 in ransom, as well as pieces of a ladder and a baby’s blanket underneath the window. The morning after the kidnapping, authorities notified President Hoover of the crime and Attorney General William D. Mitchell announced that the Department of Justice would cooperate with the New Jersey authorities. The Bureau of Investigation was authorized to investigate the case, while the US Coast Guard, the US Customs Service, the US Immigration Service, and the Washington DC police were notified that their services may be required. New Jersey officials announced a $25,000 reward for the safe return of the child, while the Lindbergh family offered an additional $50,000 reward of their own.

On 6 March a new ransom note arrived by mail raising the sum to $70,000, and the Lindberghs contacted John F. Condon to serve as an intermediary to the kidnappers. Condon scheduled a meeting with the kidnappers at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where he was told the baby was safe and that the baby’s sleeping suit would be returned as proof. After another note arrived on 16 March with the promised sleeping suit, the Lindberghs agreed to pay the ransom on 2 April. A portion of the ransom money was paid in gold certificates, which were soon to be withdrawn from circulation and would therefore attract attention; the bills' serial numbers were also recorded.

On 12 May, the body of the child was discovered by delivery truck driver Orville Wilson by the side of the road in the woods not far from the Lindberghs’ home. A nationwide manhunt for the killer ensued, but investigators on the case soon found themselves at a standstill. With no developments and little evidence to go off, police turned their attention to tracking the ransom payments and distributed 250,000 pamphlets containing the bills' serial numbers to businesses in and around New York City. On 18 September 1934 a Manhattan bank teller reported a gold certificate from the ransom, and a license plate number written on the bill allowed it to be tracked to a nearby gas station. The license plate belonged to Richard Hauptmann, a German immigrant with a criminal record in Germany, who was arrested the next day and indicted on 24 September for extortion. Two weeks later, on 8 October, he was indicted for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.

Hauptmann Trial

Lindbergh testifies at the Hauptmann trial, 1935.

In what quickly became a media frenzy dubbed the “Trial of the Century”, Hauptmann was charged with capital murder and tried on 2 January 1935 at the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington, New Jersey. Evidence against Hauptmann included $14,000 of the ransom money found in his garage and testimony alleging that his handwriting was similar to that of the ransom notes. In his testimony, Hauptmann denied being guilty and claimed that the box of gold certificates had been left in his garage by a friend, Isidor Fisch, who had returned to Germany in December 1933 and died shortly after. Despite insisting on his innocence, Hauptmann was convicted on February 13 and immediately sentenced to death.

Grieved by the loss of his son, Lindbergh began to take an interest in nativist politics, leading him to the America First Party (AFP) of Louisiana Senator Huey Long. His fame and notoriety led Long to seriously consider him as his candidate for Vice President, although he eventually chose longtime ally William Lemke instead. Nevertheless, Lindbergh maintains a prominent position in the party and is considering a campaign for United States Senator in New Jersey.

See also[]

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