ArnoldAirSociety
Col Charles A. Lindbergh Squadron
News And Events
6-25 MAR 08
SIUE & SLU Spring Breaks. Enjoy the time off!
21-25 MAR 08
NATCON in Chicago
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on 4 Feb 1902 in Detroit, Michigan. Lindbergh was raised in Little Falls, Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River. He studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. After two years, he dropeed out due to poor frades. He then became a student at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation where he went up in an aircraft for the first time in April 1922. One year later, he made is first solo flight. Lindberg then enrolled in the United States Air Service Reserve as a cadet. In 1925, he graduated from the Army Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas at the age of twenty-three. Afterward, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Service Reserve. Lindbergh then accepted a position as the head pilot for the Robertson Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis to Chicago under contract for the government. A year later, Lindbergh set out to win the Orteig Prize of $25000 by being the first person to make a solo, non-stop transatlantic flight. He had Donald A. Hall design and build the "Spirit of St. Louis" for the trip. On 10 May 1927, Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Airfield in New York and flew non-stop to Lebourget Airport, Paris in 33.5 hours.
In May of 1929, Lindbergh married Anne Morrow. They had six children, one of which was kidnapped and murdered as a baby 1932. Lindbergh was a Colonel in the Army Air Corps Reserve, but retired after he was criticized for his views on American intervention in Europe and after recommending that the United States form an alliance with Germany. Despite this, he did serve in World War II as a civilian consultant in which he flew at least fifty missions over the Pacific. He was awarded a special commendation for his participation in the war and in the following years, he was of great help to the Air Force in research work.
After the war, Lindbergh moved his family to Connecticut and then to Hawaii. He continued to serve as a consultant to Pan American Airlines and to the Department of Defense. He was a respected member of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as as well as a number of other aeronautical boards. He received many awards during his lifetime including the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1927 for his flight across the Atlantic. In 1954, Lindbergh was re-commissioned and promoted to Brigadier General by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1953, Lindbergh was awarded the Pulitzer prize for his autobiography entitled The Spirit of St. Louis. On 26 Aug 1974, Charles A. Lindbergh died of cancer at the age of 72 in Maui, Hawaii.
Actives Fall 2007
Actives Spring 2008
