Charles Lindberg

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902, in his grandfather's house in Detroit. The son of a lawyer and U.S. congressman, he grew up on a small farm in Minnesota (Lindbergh Biography, ONL). As a child, Lindbergh showed remarkable mechanical ability. He could understand every part of his motorcycle and car as he grew older.

After graduating high school, Lindbergh worked on the family farm for two years before enrolling in the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study Engineering (Charles Lindbergh biography, ONL). But, after two years, Lindbergh found something else that excited him. He was more interested in the expanding field of aviation (Lindbergh Biography, ONL). He left college to attend the Lincoln Flight School in Nebraska. Once graduated, he spent the next few years performing daredevil stunts at county fairs and carnivals as a barnstormer (Charles Lindbergh biography, ONL).

In 1924, on advice from his father, Lindbergh enlisted in the United States Army to be trained as an Army Service Reserve pilot. A year later he graduated first in his class and was hired by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis as an airmail pilot. Gaining a reputation for being a cautious and capable pilot, he flew the mail between St. Louis and Chicago (Lindbergh Biography, ONL).

During the course of his job, Lindbergh heard of the famed Orteig Prize. In 1919, Raymond Orteig, the owner of Brevoort and Lafayette hotels in New York City, made an offer to "flying buffs". Orteig offered a prize of $25,000 to the first aviator to fly nonstop from Paris to New York or New York to Paris. Before 1926, no one had even attempted the feat. But, as aviation technology developed, the challenge began appearing possible (Spirit of St. Louis, ONL).

Before becoming an airmail pilot, Lindbergh hadn't even heard of the Orteig Prize, but he immediately became interested