Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (1902-1974) American Aviator.
Lindbergh was born in Detroit, grew up in rurualMinnesota. After training as a USA military aviator, he worked as a civilian air-mail pilot in the 1920s. Lindberg gained sudden great international fame as the first pilot to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic, flying from New York to Paris on May 20-May 21, 1927 in his custom built airplane The Spirit of Saint Louis. This accomplishment won him the Orteig prize of $25,000. His public stature following this flight was such that he became an important voice on behalf of aviation activities until his death. He served on a variety of national and international boards and committees, including the central committee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the United States.
Following the infamous kidnapping and murder of his two year old son in 1932, Lindbergh became an expatriate living in Europe. In Europe during the rise of fascism, Lindbergh assisted American aviation authorities by providing them with information about European technological developments. After 1936 he was especially important in warning the U.S. of the rise of Nazi air power. As war loomed in Europe he was a prominent speaker in favor of an Isolationist policy for the USA, but when his country went to war he assisted with the war effort in the 1940s by serving as a consultant to aviation companies and the government. After World War II he lived quietly in Connecticut, and then spent his final years in Hawaii.