Much later, after his and his wife’s deaths, it would come to public knowledge that Lindbergh also had several other families across Europe, although he did not marry the women, they all bore him children who knew nothing of his identity until much later, if at all.

Charles Lindbergh Fact Sheet: Who was Charles Lindbergh? The following short biography and fact sheet provides interesting facts about the life, times and history of Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh Fact File Biography: Lifespan: 1902 - 1974 *** Full Name: Charles Augustus Lindbergh *** Nickname: Slim, Lucky Lindy and The Long Eagle *** Occupation: American Aviator, Explorer, Social Activist, Author, Inventor and Military Officer *** Date of Birth: Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4th 1902 *** Place of Birth: Charles Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA *** Family background: His father was Charles August Lindbergh and his mother Evangeline Lodge Land. His father had emigrated from Sweden and his mother was from Detroit. When he was just seven years old his parents separated. It would be the second failed marriage of his fathers who having been married previously had two children, two daughters Mary and Evangeline *** Early life and childhood: He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota and in Washington D.C. *** Education: Charles Lindbergh attended a number of schools during his childhood, Little Falls Senior High School, Force School, Sidwell Friends School as well as Redondo Union High School and began attending the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but quite ***

Charles Lindbergh Fact 1: Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4th 1902 and during the 20th century period in history when there were world changing events happening including the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 2: When he dropped out of college he did so, so he could start taking flying lessons.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 3: From an early age he had an interest in the mechanics of motorized vehicles including the family car and his own motorbike.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 4: In February of 1922 he enrolled at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation’s flying school and by April was flying for the first time. Shortly after that he began taking fly lessons.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 5: Unable to afford the extra money it would cost him to take his solo flight he left to earn some money and gain some much need flight experience. He began barnstorming as a parachutist and wing walker and spent several months travelling across Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Montana and Wyoming.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 6: As winter approached he returned home to Minnesota where his father lived.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 7: The following year in May 1923 he went to buy a World War I surplus Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplane. Feeling confident, he had a half an hours lesson with another pilot he took Jenny up on his first solo flight.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 8: He spent the next week practicing before he took off across country from Georgia to Alabama. As he had done previously, he began barnstorming but this time he was flying his own plane. Several weeks after this, he also flew for the first time at night near Lake Village in Arkansas.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 9: In 1924 he was ordered to report for military flight training at Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas in the United States Army Air Service.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 10: Having had a few minor crashes in his plane, in 1825, just eight days before his graduation, he was involved in a mid-air collision and was forced to bail out.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 11: He did nevertheless graduate, earning his Army pilots wings as well a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Service Reserve Corps. As there was no current need for active-duty pilots he went off barnstorming again but this time also instructing.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 12: In late 1925 he began working for the Robertson Aircraft Corporation in St Louis as a pilot for the Contract Air Mail Route.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 13: He piloted these mail runs for a couple of years before he began to plan, design and oversee the construction of the Spirit of St Louis.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 14: On May 20th of 1927 at 5.25am Charles Lindbergh aboard the Spirit of St Louis took flight from Roosevelt Field out of New York’s Long Island.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 15: Having flown for thirty three and a half hours landed at Le Bourget Airport on May 21st of 1927 at 10.22pm. Lindbergh had flown 10,000 feet over storm clouds and 10 feet across wave tops, he flew blind through fog as well as trying to avoid the aircraft icing and then trying to locate the airfield for his landing, having not seen his destination on any map, all he knew was that it was located seven miles northeast of Paris. His arrival in Paris was met with lights from ten thousand cars as well as a spectator crowd of an estimated one hundred and fifty thousand people. So excited were the crown when he landed they carried him around above their heads for close to an hour.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 16: On his return to the United States he was treated like a hero, a tickertape parade was held, President Calvin Coolidge presented him with Distinguished Flying Cross, the U.S. Post Office Department issued a special 10 cent Air Mail stamp in his honor and in December of 1927 he was awarded the Medal of Honor by a Special Act of congress.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 17: Post flight he completely rewrote a book that had been ghostwritten for him, “WE”, but when he read it so unsatisfied was he with the text, he re-wrote it in longhand, himself. He also took the Spirit of St Louis on a state’s wide tour promoted aviation and followed by a tour of Latin America.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 18: Several years after his world changing solo flight his eldest child, then only twenty months old, was kidnapped from the family home. Although the ransom was paid, the body of the small child was found completely by chance and the ransom money was also traced to a man of German nationality who was arrested, charged, tried and convicted of the murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. He was executed on April 3rd 1936 by electrocution in Trenton State Prison.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 19: The family after that were rarely left alone to get on with their lives in peace and so the decision was made for them to make plans to quietly leave America for exile in Europe. In December of 1935 they left Pier 60 of West 20th Street, Manhattan bound for Liverpool, England under false names.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 20: The Lindberghs returned to the US in April 1939.  During WW2 Charles Lindbergh flew 50 combat missions in the Pacific in the capacity of a civilian aviation consultant.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 21: After WW2 ended Charles Lindbergh became a prolific writer, notably wining the Pulitzer Prize in 1954.

Charles Lindbergh Fact 22: Charles Augustus Lindbergh died on August 26th 1974 of lymphoma aged seventy two. He was laid to rest on the grounds of Palapala Ho’omau Church in Kipajulu on Maui the second largest of Hawaii’s islands.

Influence and Legacy of Charles Lindbergh: Having made the decision to fly from New York to Paris, France, he made his preparations carefully, six other aviators had already lost their lives. The flight was not uneventful but was successful. What the success meant was good publicity for air travel and promoted air travel for everyday passenger use.