Charles Lindbergh Essay Research Paper Would you

Charles Lindbergh Essay, Research Paper

Would you like to be paid $25,000 for flying across the Atlantic Ocean alone. Sure, with today’s airplanes, that would be easy. But in Charles Lindbergh’s day, back in 1927, the evolution of planes was just beginning and it was going to take an adventurous man to complete such a daunting task. Many people, both before and after him, were cheered when they succeeded, or mourned when they died failing. Charles Lindbergh,the man who set the record for the flying across America in the shortest time, amazed the world when he

completed the first transatlantic flight. He lived the rest of his life as a pacifist, an aviation expert, and a nature conservationist. He went from being a hero, being called a traitor, and ended his life in seclusion from a corrupt world.

Charles Lindbergh showed his hard-working attitude throughout is entire life, which eventually made him famous. Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Evangaline Land Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh, an only child (Byers 421). He grew up on a farm near Little Falls, Minnesota,

his father being a Congressman representing the sixth district of the state (Norton), serving from 1907 – 1917 (Byers 421). Due to the fact that his parents separated when he was six, young Charles was only able to see “his father when he went to visit him in Washington, D.C.” (M., Eric) Charles still had a proper education and

upbringing. During his teenage years, Charles Lindbergh showed an early mechanical aptitude, and a dislike for “school, or any other formal education. He did not like the idea of other people telling him what he should learn.”

(M., Eric) After graduating from High School, he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, studying mechanical engineering, only to leave two years later to attend flight school (Byers 421). He first learned how to fly in Lincoln, Nebraska, and performed his first solo flight in 1923. Charles then bought a surplus Curtiss “Jenny” airplane. After the purchase, he went on to make exhibition flights and short hops across the United States, as

well as barnstormed, which is doing stunts in the air like loops and barrel rolls at county fairs for money (Byers 422). After he was finished barnstorming, he enlisted in the US Army for training to be in the Army Air Service Reserve in 1924 (Fetzer). A year later he graduated at the top of his class at the school at Brooks and Kelly

Fields, San Antonio, even after colliding with another student in the air (Fetzer)! He was then hired immediately by Robertson Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis as an airmail pilot (Fetzer). After the flights that made him famous and marrying Anne Morrow, he became an advisor with various aviation groups, and died in seclusion thanks to cancer in Maui on August 26, 1974 (Fetzer). The way he lived his life set the stage for Charles Lindbergh being able to

cross the Atlantic.

Although crossing the Atlantic was the most recognized of all of Lindbergh’s accomplishments, there were in fact other areas that he excelled in. It all started in 1919, when a man named Raymond Orteig offered a prize of $25,000, given to anyone that can fly solo across the Atlantic from New York to Paris (Worldbook). Up until

1927, no one had been able to accomplish such a feat. Some men had died trying, while others made it, although they were flying with someone else, which made the $25,000 prize void for them (Worldbook). Charles Lindbergh, who was living in San Diego at the time, decided upon hearing about the prize money and the

requirements to risk the flight, thus earning him one of his first nicknames, “The flying fool.” No one thought he could do it, except for him. What he was really doing it for was not for pride or the money, but for the sense of adventure(Worldbook). After his job as an airmail pilot, he had saved up $2,000, which was nowhere near the

amount needed to make the trip (Worldbook). His Curtiss “Jenny” didn’t have the range needed, nor the fuel consumption rate that would have let him make the trip. He talked to businessmen in St. Louis, who were inspired by Lindbergh’s speech and decided to give him the money needed to build a new plane (Worldbook). So the

Spirit of St. Louis was designed and created in San Diego, California (Worldbook). The airplane itself was a work of art. It was powered by a 220-horsepower engine, it had no parachute, radio, or any extra conceivable weight (Colonel). The extra room that was created was used for the fuel tank (Colonel). Even with all of this, the plane

barely made it over the telephone wires at the end of the field (Colonel). The name “Spirit of St. Louis” didn’t come from gratitude of the 9 businessmen, but the name came from the patron saint of Missouri (Worldbook). After the construction of the plane, Charles flew to New York in 20 hours and 21 minutes, which was record

breaking in itself (Worldbook). He then proceeded to Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, where there were others already there waiting for an improvement in weather. They were the America, piloted by Commander Byrd, who had flown over the North Pole in 1926, and the Bellanca Plane New York piloted by both Clarence

Chamberlain and Bert Acosta, who went on to set the record for a continuous flig

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