CHARLES LINDBERGH

The Big Adventure
During the years after World War I, the ultimate adventure had got to be to fly nonstop from New York to Paris.

Raymond Orteig, a wealthy French hotel proprietor in New York, had in the early 1920s offered a prize of twenty-five thousand dollars to "the first aviator who shall cross the Atlantic in a land or watercraft (heavier than air) from Paris or the shores of France to New York, or from New York to Paris or the shores of France without stop".

Many had taken up the challenge and several lost their lives in the process. When Charles Lindbergh declared his intention to win the prize, the unknown airmail pilot was considered to be the dark horse. How could the slender 25-year-old with a meagre backing of nine St. Louis businessmen do what no man had been able to do before him.

Take off
Charles Lindbergh's small Ryan monoplane took off from the muddy Roosevelt Field on Long Island on May 20, 1927. There were a number of spectators and friends to see him off, most of them convinced that this was the last they were seeing of "Slim".

To keep the aircraft as light as possible and to leave more room for gasoline, Lindbergh brought neither a parachute nor a radio. He did not even bring a sextant or any night flight instruments. And he only packed five sandwiches and a quart of water for himself.

In his memoirs he notes: "I've never made an over-water flight before. In fact, I've never really done any long distance flying at all. My navigation has always been carried out with maps which I checked with landmarks on the grounds".

The last-minute preparations for the flight had not left any time for sleep on the night prior to departure. But Lindbergh chose not to postpone his flight as the weather forecasts for the next day or two were favourable.

In his 18th hour log Lindbergh notes "I've lost command of my eyelids. They shut and I shake myself and lift them with my fingers. I stare at the instruments, wrinkled forehead, muscles tense. I've got to find some way to stay alert. There's no alternative but death and failure."

Fifteen hours later he writes "I've levelled off at four thousand feet watching for the luminosity in the sky that will mark the city of Paris. Within the hour, I'll land ...and strangely haven't the slightest desire to sleep. My eyes are no longer salted stones. There's not an ache in my body".
Charles Lindbergh made it on course and landed at Le Bourget airfield outside Paris ahead of schedule, 33 1/2 hours after his take-off from New York. There were thousands of Parisians waiting for "Lucky Lindy" to land even though it was after ten at night. Charles Lindbergh had done what no man had done before him and his life would never be the same again.

All over the world bells rang, whistles sounded and people were near hysteria over this gigantic leap mankind had taken.

World fame
Four million people turned out to greet Lindbergh when he returned to New York. Crowds followed him wherever he went. Songs were written about him, streets and schools were named after him. He received medals, trophies, certificates, automobiles, watches, precious metals and more than four million letters and postcards. He refused film- and other offers totalling 7 1/2 million dollars and gave gifts he had received worth over 2 million dollars to museum.

The New York Times complimented him in an editorial for "keeping his head when millions hailed him as a hero, when all the women lost their hearts to him, and when decorations were pinned on his coat by admiring governments ... a more modest bearing, a more unaffected presence, a manlier, kindlier, sinp1er character no idol has ever displayed." Never was America prouder of a son.

The man
Charles Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1902. His grandfather had been a member of the Swedish parliament and a friend of King Karl XV before emigrating to the United States. Måns Olsson Lindbergh fought in the Civil War and received a special citation from President Lincoln.

His son, Charles Lindbergh Senior, was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time when young Charles was four years old. He was re-elected four times.

Although Charles parents separated when he was five, they were both actively involved in the upbringing of their only child. Charles father taught him how to fish and hunt and hike and make fires and paddle a canoe. Charles learned to swim when he was caught in the Mississippi rapids, he could' handle a gun at seven and he drove the family Ford at 12.

After failing at school, Charles took over the running of the Lindholm family farm when he was 16. This was at the onset of World War I. Whenever he could take time off the farm, Charles would drive or tinker with his Excelsior motorcycle. His mechanical abilities eventually steered him to an engineering course at the University of Wisconsin which he failed at the age of 20.

His parents were not too happy when he took up flying, touring county and state fairs performing such stints as wing-walk ing and parachuting. His mother Evangeline, who was a chemistry teacher by profession, however, later accompanied him on many of his flights. In 1924 Lindbergh entered the U. S. Army flying school in San Antonio, Texas and then started working as an airmail pilot - one of the best trainings he could have had for his ultimate flight. So when he eventually took up Raymond Orteig's challenge, he was no novice. But the New York - Pariss flight hod to be a feat for even the most experienced pilot.

And Charles Lindbergh was honoured accordingly. All hearts beat for "Lindy" and he was whisked off on a 46 state flying public relations tour. It is estimated that 30 million people saw Charles Lindbergh and "The Spirit of St Louis" on this tour.

The kidnapping
He also flew to all the Latin American countries and and on this tour he met and fell in love with the daughter of the US Ambassador to Mexico. Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh were secretly married in 1929 and Charles Jr was born one year later. The romance and the birth of their child was almost like a fairy tale with not much of a fairy-tale ending. Baby Charles was kidnapped before he had reached his first birthday from the family's Highfield Manor in New Jersey.

Although the Lindberghs by now had started to shun publicity, the distraught father mobilized all media in the hunt for his child. Many radio stations cancelled all programming and broadcast updates of the search for baby Charles day and night. The Lindberghs received more than 8000 tips in one month, and twelve thousand letters from people who believed that their dreams held the key to solving the mystery. Highfield Manor was taken over by the police headed by "Storming Norman's" father Norman Schwartzkopf, journalists and a bevy of private detectives and mobsters all claiming to have leads and contacts with the kidnappers.

The ransom note and other notes to follow, always with three interloping circles, pinpointed someone of German extraction as the kidnapper and eventually a petty criminal called Bruno Richard Hauptmann was taken into custody. By then a $ 50 000 ransom had been paid out and baby Charles had been found dead not far from the Lindbergh estate.

The enigmatic Hauptmann who had a hypnotic stance that fascinated women said little at the sensational trial that drew a crowd of more than 100 000 on its first day. He was executed by electric chair and he never revealed whether he had an accomplice within the Lindbergh household, something many suspected. Not to mention such conspiracy theories as that Hauptmann was framed and that it was really Anne Morrow's jealous sister who was the real culprit.

Life goes on
Anne Morrow Lindbergh who had been pregnant through the whole ordeal gave birth to a second son who was named Jon. Concerns for his security led the Lindbergh family to move to a manor in England in 1935. Eventually Charles Lindbergh purchased a secluded island off the coast of Brittany in France. He continued to work for TAT (later TWA) and Pan Am to promote commercial flights and in the process, he hoped, understanding and friendship among nations.

By now Lindbergh's wife Anne was an accomplished aviator in her own right and the couple accomplished many recordsetting flights. One time they travelled together for five and a half months around the globe, living on their sea plane. They often wore some sort of disguise when they travelled to avoid being recognized.

The Lone Eagle
During a trip to Germany in 1938 Lindbergh was decorated with the Service Cross of the German Eagle by flying ace Hermann Gbring, who also happened to be second in command to Adolf Hitler. Lindbergh who is said to have not been fore-warned about the medal and who did not understand the speech of the German field marshall was later severely criticized for accepting the medal.

He received more criticism from President Roosevelt when he later propagated for the US to stay out of WW 2 just like his father had before him fought for the US to stay. out of WW l. As a protest Lindbergh resigned his commission in the air force.

When Lindbergh charged that "the three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jews and the Roosevelt administration ... the Jews greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government . . ." the "Lone Eagle" was charged with being anti-semitic and a Nazi.

All the same, with no publicity and no rank Lindbergh made many dangerous missions for the US during the war and received the Congressional Medal of honor after V-J Day. By now Charles Lindbergh was also an accomplished inventor in the aeronautical and rocket field. He also designed an aeronautical watch for Longines. His medical inventions included a pump for perfusing living organs which was an early breakthrough in transplant technology. Lindbergh also became an environmentalist of note and he was a director of the World Wildlife Fund long before the movement had become fashionable.

The stubborn Swede
The privacy of the five Lindbergh children, Jon, Land. Scott, Anne and Reeve was vigorously protected and they grew up to be as publicity-shy as their parents.

Jon did not know that he had had an older brother until he read an article about the kidnapping at age ten. Today he is a record-setting deep-sea diver and inventor, active in underwater exploration. Scott who was a hippy in his youth, much to his father's dismay, has converted his chateau in France into a primate study and rehabilitation center.

Charles Lindbergh was a stubborn Swede who never smoked, or tasted alcohol and who stoically tried to guard his privacy. He rarely gave interviews and never made any comments to the press during the kidnapping ordeal and when the American media turned against him for his anti-war sentiments.

It was only when Charles Lindbergh got round to writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Spirit of St Louis" in 1954 that the public heard from the man himself. The book became a best-seller and was filmed with James Stewart in the main role. Through the many other books Charles and above all by his wife Anne-Morrow-Lindbergh who was an accomplished writer, wrote the public gradually got a better perspective on this extraordinary couple with so many spectacular achievements.

Charles Lindbergh died of lymphatic cancer at his home on Maui in August 1974 with his family gathered around him. When he understood that he had only a short time left to live, he had decided to leave the hospital on the East Coast and make the arduous trip to Maui much to the dismay of his doctors. On Maui he planned his burial to the minutest detail with his wife Anne. He chose a space for the grave and asked to be buried in a simple coffin wearing a plain shirt and khaki trousers, his outfit of choice during his fantastic life.