Charles Augustus Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh transformed aviation history when he flew alone across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris on 20 and 21 May 1927. Piloting the Spirit of St. Louis, he completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in approximately 33½ hours, an achievement that earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage and navigational skill.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, on 4 February 1902 and raised principally near Little Falls, Minnesota, Lindbergh entered Army flying training in 1924. He earned his pilot's wings in 1925 and subsequently served in the Army Air Corps Reserve, rising to colonel. His 1927 Medal of Honor recognized a hazardous peacetime aviation accomplishment rather than a battlefield action.

Lindbergh became a controversial national figure during the years preceding World War II because of his opposition to American intervention and his antisemitic public statements. After resigning his Army Air Corps Reserve commission in April 1941, he unsuccessfully sought reinstatement following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He contributed instead as a civilian adviser to American aircraft manufacturers and military aviation units.

In 1944, he traveled to the Pacific as a civilian technical representative. Flying approximately 50 combat missions with Marine Corps F4U Corsair squadrons and U.S. Army Air Forces P-38 Lightning units, he participated in bombing, strafing and escort operations against Japanese forces. On 28 July, he shot down a Japanese aircraft near Ceram, although official USAAF victory credit has not been established.

His technical work was particularly significant. By demonstrating improved P-38 engine-management methods, he helped extend fighter operating range. He also demonstrated substantially greater Corsair bomb-carrying capacity during attacks on Wotje Atoll in September 1944.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Lindbergh a brigadier general in the United States Air Force Reserve. His later work included aviation consulting, writing and environmental conservation. He died on 26 August 1974 in Hawaii, leaving a complex legacy encompassing extraordinary aviation accomplishments, controversial political views and substantial wartime technical contributions.

Medal of Honor citation

For displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, from New York City to Paris, France, 20-21 May 1927, by which Capt. Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible.