CHARLES AUGUSTUS LINDBERGH my view…

CHARLES AUGUSTUS LINDBERGH my view…

Lindbergh flies nearly 10,000 miles from Washington DC to get to St. Louis!   Lindbergh became LOST!  

Bolling Field near Washington, D.C. was the beginning of a two-month odyssey taking Charles Augustus Lindbergh and The Spirit of St. Louis over thirteen countries as the United States unofficial mega-ambassador.   Lindberg’s flight would amass another 125 hours more on the Wright Whirlwind J-5C 223-hp radial engine that had faithfully taken him across the wide Atlantic into fame and fortune beyond.

Following his May 27, 1927 solo Atlantic crossing, Lindbergh toured the United States in The Spirit of St. Louis.   He covered over 30,000 miles proving again the utility of air travel.   He was confident of his and his aircraft’s ability to tour Central and South America and he was eager to make the flight.

Likely, no one before or since has generated enthusiasm for aviation such as Lindbergh accomplished in those waning days of the roaring ‘20s.  He became an instant icon, a celebrity larger than life.

Lindbergh was not perfect.   Some rather controversial secrets have emerged that would be of chagrin to The Lone Eagle.  His children discovered they had several brothers and sisters in Germany and Switzerland.  Lindberg thought his secrets would go to the grave with him and his death from cancer August 26, 1974 was a well planned ending to a Mega-Superstar life.

Nearly 50 years before, on December 13, 1927, ‘Spirit’s’ tail skid cut through the mud for nearly 2000 feet before running on just the wheels another 1000 feet or so before lifting up under the golden glow of the noon-day sun.  The smooth J-5C purred along as day became night over the Carolina mountains.   Lindbergh’s third great journey had begun.

Finally, around midnight Lindbergh was able to enjoy the glow of the moon.   The sky was mostly overcast with occasional lights on the ground.   Instrument flight was necessary as there was no discernible horizon.  This was of some concern…

“I had never done so much of it before, even on the flight to Paris.  By instrument flying, I mean the use of instruments in the dark to keep the plane level and on its course.”  Lindbergh was flying along the Gulf using the earth inductor compass to stay close to his planned route.

Lindbergh’s earth inductor compass was a relatively new invention in 1927.  It determined direction using the principle of electromagnetic induction with the Earth’s magnetic field acting as the induction field for an electric generator.

Now over the Gulf Coast, fog became a problem forcing him down lower over the water.    Often less than one hundred feet and as often forced to fly solely on instruments.

Since his Paris flight, Lindbergh had added a sensitive altimeter without which blind flying at 100 – 150 feet would have been impossible.

On his flight across the Atlantic, Lindbergh flew from west to east against the sun and north of the 50º north latitude which reduced his night flying to between 5 and 6 hours.  However, he now was flying generally north to south for nearly 14 hours of darkness.

LOST!

Truly a Lone Eagle, he eventually saw Tampico but low fog forced him to climb setting a course for Mexico City.  With few natural landmarks visible, and inaccurate maps of Mexico obtained in the US, Lindbergh exacerbated a navigation error.  Then he magnified a course correction by changing course the wrong direction.   He was lost in Mexico!

Finally realizing his mistake he made several attempts to identify towns with absolutely no success.  Climbing to 12,000 feet, he eventually identified Nevado de Toluca a stratovolcano that last erupted in 1350 BC.  Mt. Toluca is over 15,000 feet above sea level.

Lindbergh was thinking of how to promote the now common signs on the tops of prominent buildings to identify the town to aviators still unaware of what the future would bring in the form of navigational positioning beamed to earth from satellites.

He discovered his position as 30 miles west of Mexico City.  Finally, 27 hours 15 minutes after leaving Bolling Field and 1 hour 15 minutes past his ETA, Lindbergh was greeted by the President of Mexico and his future father-in-law, Ambassador Morrow.

The next day Lindbergh was the guest of several Mexican pilots touring the area around Mexico City.  Many feasts and events were thrust upon Lindbergh as he became the world’s first true Super Star since another, larger than life person, graced Earth nearly 2000 years before.

Lindbergh was seeing the wonders of Mexico in perfect weather.   He attended bull fights and climbed the Aztec ruins from the Toltec civilization.  He saw the floating gardens in Xochimilco which seemed like a trip through a primitive Venice.

Once a huge inland fresh water sea, the area was a series of canals separating small islands.  Gradually, after the time of Cortez, the lake was drained leaving just a few of these magnificent beauty spots.

The President of Mexico was treated to his first flight.   As they lifted off the rarified air of the Mexico City airport, the Mexican president remarked that he could now see why the ancients had chosen this spot for their cultural center.

Lindbergh’s mother had flown into Mexico City accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. William Bushell Stout, designer of the Tri-Motor Ford AT.  They had flown from Detroit to Mexico City in a Tri-Motor Ford 3AT.

A few days later Lindbergh departed for Guatemalan capitol.   With accurate maps provided by his new Mexican pilot pals, he had easy navigation, along an airway called an airline, to Guatemala City.

His views of the panoramic vistas of tall ancient volcanos framed by fog and mist were visible everywhere.  Several were active with smoke wafting from their peaks.

Lindbergh took note of the difference between these high rugged mountains and those of the Rocky Mountains chiefly being the vegetation. Some were covered entirely with palm trees.

Some cultivated fields were above 10,000 feet above sea level with some 45º sloping from the peak.  He found this sight an impressive one from what he had seen elsewhere.

Another observation impressed Lindbergh.   There were few places he could safely put down should his engine fail.   The J-5C purred on over some totally uninhabited places stretching 50 miles at a time between human occupation.

Lindbergh made note that, while commercial air travel is practical here, it should be flown  by triple-motored ships.   At this point, Lindbergh was relying totally on his earth inductor compass for for navigation.

It was a smooth flight taking just 7 hours to fly the 675 miles from Mexico City.   Seeing the crowd there, Lindbergh decided to “drag the field.”  We used to do this at some airports where deer and antelope were prevalent back when I flew for the historic Frontier Airlines.  Still the crowd had surrounded The Spirit of St. Louis by the time he stopped in front of the hangar.

Warm official greetings were the norm at every stop as he flew thru Central America and South America.   Most countries not only welcomed Lindberg, they made him a citizen!

His next stop was Belize arriving to a fog covered landscape.   Only glimpses of houses were visible thru the few holes in the clouds.

Next he became the first land plane to fly over British Honduras.  Here he again was treated to festive banquets before departing for El Salvador, a country full of a labyrinth of ridges and deep canyons and wonderfully hospitable people.

A squadron of El Salvadorian airplanes saw him off as he departed for Tegucigalpa and thru the roughest air in his flying experience.  The strength of the little Ryan was apparent after gusts pitched the aircraft up, down, and sideways seemingly simultaneously.   Lindbergh cracked his head on the top of the cabin and his goggles were unceremoniously tossed to the back.

Climbing, the ride smoothed considerably at 6,000 feet.  Nearing Tegucigalpa, it was raining hard.  Again, Lindbergh “dragged the field” and landed.

Following a two-day visit, Lindberg departed for Managua.  Smoking volcanos marked the route and he found his first Nicaraguan landmark, León, near the Pacific coast.  A land of many volcanos, Lindbergh marveled at the uniqueness of those in Nicaragua.

Managua was easy to locate due to its position near Lake Nicaragua.  Ever vigilant for potential air routes, Lindbergh concluded that Tegucigalpa and Managua could easily support commercial air service.   There are many landing places along the way.

US Marine aircraft were then based at Managua albeit he did not explain the reason for their presence.  The Marines gave Lindbergh a warm welcome.

Leaving Nicaragua for San Jose, Costa Rica, Lindbergh flew over Lake Nicaragua.  Rain and clouds forced him to fly as low as 50 feet providing a good view of the jungle along with some apprehension from the absence of landing spots.

Lindbergh saw orchids and air plants hanging from the trees.  There were scores of birds in many varieties, sizes, and colors.  His awe of the beauty was tempered by his concern of their being no suitable emergency landing places.   The J-5C purred on…

Costa Rica proved to be one of Latin America’s most prosperous republics.   His fame preceding him, Lindbergh was force to circle until the police, with sabers drawn, could contain the crowd.

Having seen Panama as a youngster, he was anxious to see it again.  He marveled at the changes in science and technology since then.   His first trip to Panama took many days traveling by steamer.   In all, his flying time to this point was a mere two days.

Lindbergh would later report that travel through this rugged country was not only feasible, it would soon be a common means of transport.  One of his surprises was discovering how many spoke fluent English.   This leads to the question as to the need for American’s, these days, to “press one for English…”

On his earlier visit, huge steam shovels were excavating the Culebra Cut carrying out the last earth excavations before filling the canal.  Now he felt privileged to be one of the first to see the Panama Canal from the air.  He marveled at the geographic paradox of seeing two oceans at once.

Writing his notes on the margin of his maps,  he cruised along the coast of the Gulf of Darien flying at the speed of smell, 95 mph.  A head wind slowed his time enroute to Cartagena and it took another 5 hours to reach Bogotá.

Looking down he spotted one of the Junkers used by the Germans providing commercial air service down the Magdalena River.   Lindbergh now had to circumnavigate clouds with several detours before finding an opening to pass thru the mountains at 9800 feet.

Madrid Field was the name of the Bogotá airport.  It is now called El Dorado International Airport.  Lindbergh circled several times landing mid afternoon.  He was amazed to discover more air-mindedness with the Columbians than then existed in many larger cities in America.  The German commercial airlines are often booked full many weeks ahead of their scheduled flights.

January 29th was the day he departed on a 665 mile flight to Caracas.  By the end of the second hour clouds forced him to reverse course.  Eventually, he was able to cross a ridge between the clouds at 12000 feet.

Free of the rugged mountains, he was now over the llanos, the Spanish word for “plains,” where it was flat and he could have landed anywhere.   The llanos is some 1000 feet above the sea and was filled with thousands of cattle.

He spotted several herds of smaller animals thought to be pigs.   They were peccaries, that we call Javelina.   They are a species all their own and not actually related to the pig family albeit they have pig-like snouts they use to root like pigs do.

Lindbergh saw herds of cattle, peccaries and antelope across the llanos. Flying along he spotted large flocks of large birds later thought to be flamingos.   He was racing with the sun for Maracay Flying Field.

Soon, he spotted the mountains around Caracas.  He knew he would have to cross these to get to the city.  It took another two hours before he could find a way around the seaside.   It became a worry that he might not be able to get into Maracay before sunset.   Then he would need to find an emergency field.   He was in a race with time.

“My throttle was wide-open as I neared Caracas.”  The coast was becoming rougher and the safer landing sand beach disappeared.  The railroad, his best navigational aid, was covered by fog.  “I kept on along the coast for several miles then backtracked at Maracay a few minutes before sunset.”

This was 72 year before Hugo Chávez became the evil dictator of Venezuela and the people there “could not have treated a stranger more handsomely.”   Lindbergh had the honor of laying a wreath at the tomb of Simón Bolívar in the National Pantheon.

Early in the morning of January 31st, Lindbergh would take to the air saying good-by to the South American Continent.   He would fly a swinging arc over the Lesser Antilles to St. Thomas, a thousand mile trip.   He would fight a head wind on this leg of his journey and it would require a high power setting.

He would fly over Grenada and for 400 miles an island of some sort would be in view.  Some were thickly populated some not so depending on the amount of vegetation.  From Saba Island he steered straight across 120 miles of water for St. Thomas.

He dropped low over the steamer Amsterdam.  Thirty miles away the Virgin Islands lifted their green heads from the blue water and he landed at St. Thomas.  “It was then 4:50 PM, 60th meridian time, which is 30 minutes ahead of Maracay time.   I had made the flight in ten hours and fifteen minutes.”

From St. Thomas to San Juan, Porto Rico it is but a short 80 mile flight.   The Governor of the Virgin Islands requested Lindberg alter his flight plan to include a fly-over of St. Croix on the way to Porto Rico.

Again, he made note of the fact that an uncomfortable boat trip is slow and uncertain while air travel is only thirty minutes between St. Thomas and St. Croix.  More notes to the margin of his maps.

The water around these islands are crystalline clear blue with many fishing boats in view.  The West Indies offer some of the best fishing in the world.

Lindbergh landed in San Juan around 2 PM.   Sitting for a few moments, he reflected on the facility with which and air line could be established connecting North and South America.  He thought even short routes between the islands could be profitable.

Airlines would have to compete with established rail transport.  But, “even if a plane lost a day or two, it would still have the advantage over ground and water travel.”

All during this sojourn, Lindberg would send dispatches he had written enroute.  Usually, he would write in between his viewing jungle, clearings and farms, as well as small cities distinct against the green background of tropical mountains.  He would note cumulus clouds floating above with mottled earth below forming a pattern of broken shadows.

Soon he would reach the oldest city in the New World, Santo Domingo.  In 1514 the cathedral was begun.  It holds the tomb of Columbus!   Columbus’ brother, Bartholomew, founded Santo Domingo in 1496.

Next point he aimed for was Port au Prince.  He could not resist comparing the difference between the modern airplane and the Pinta, Niña, and Santa María.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti provided views of thatched roofs high on steep mountains with rich modern villas, trim and comfortable, stood in the plains and valleys near the towns.  Foot traffic was everywhere.

The culture suddenly switched from Spanish to French.  Yet, again, many spoke fluent English.   …press one.

One agriculture enigma was his discovery of cotton growing on 8 foot high trees.  They are perennial and do not require planting each year such as found in Arizona and other cotton producing states.

By the time Lindbergh left Haiti for Cuba, his second longest flight since leaving Mexico City,  The Spirit of St. Louis had logged a total of 459 hours.   It was the 8th of February.  Spirit had made 167 flights and flown nearly 40,000 miles.

The airplane was in excellent condition and had not required anything beyond minor parts and repairs.   Extraordinary, for that time in the early history of aviation not even 25 years had passed since the Wright Brother’s started all this.

Lindbergh estimated an aircraft life of some 150,000 miles.   He did not elaborate that it could or would be more following overhaul and/or restoration.

Soon he was over the Guantánamo Valley with no clue that some 80 years later it would be famous for the prison holding terrorist who had threatened harm or had caused harm to his country.

Below there was banana plantations and vast fields of sugar cane.  Cuba appeared thickly inhabited.  Many small towns were in view as he cruised along in relatively smooth air.

On board he carried three sacks of mail.   One from Santo Domingo.  The mail had sat in the airplane the two days he toured Port au Prince, but still arrived days sooner than had it come by boat.

Lindbergh was clearly excited about the prospects of opening the region to air commerce.   He felt it was ripe with unlimited attractions both climatic and he anticipated air commerce would soon develop bringing people closer and sooner between the two Americas.

He landed in Havana mid afternoon February 8th.  Already air commerce was in progress with several Tri-Motored aircraft flying between Havana and Key West.  Lindbergh inspected his airplane relieved to note that all that was needed for his flight home was fuel.

He planned to fly to Key West, up the Gulf coast to a point where a compass heading to St. Louis was practical.  Departing on February 13th was notable to Lindbergh.  It was just two months prior that he departed Bolling Field for Mexico City.   He had made his last flight as a mail pilot between St. Louis and Chicago just a year before.

It was raining in Havana as he lifted off.  As he neared northern Florida the clouds had forced him to fly just above the tree tops.   Over Georgia he was forced onto his instruments with no outside visibility that continued past Alabama.

Weather improved over Tennessee and Kentucky, but as he neared St. Louis the weather lowered to the point he had to fly around the city as some buildings were obscured by clouds.

He followed the Missouri River to St. Charles.  Then, following a paved road he was familiar with, he flew to Lambert Field.   It was 5:10 central time when he landed.   His flight from Havana was 15 hours 35 minutes.

Lindbergh would make many more significant flights and would play an important role in science, commerce, and aviation/space.   His flights would take him around the globe.

Undaunted, he would make a difference saving countless lives of pilots flying the B-24, P-38 and the ubiquitous bent-winged Corsair during WWII with fuel conservation techniques.   Lindbergh was a resolute civilian consultant flying fighters in the Pacific with Joe Foss and Tommy McGuire. While he was there to show combat pilots how to extend their range, Lindberg would splash at least one Jap much to the vexation of President Roosevelt and Hap Arnold.  Some estimates show he flew on as many as 32 combat missions.

The Lone Eagle was a complex man with varied interests.   All in all he was a good fellow.

Billy Walker ©

More:

Knights of the Round Engines

At the Quilted Bear, Scottsdale

– Charles Augustus Lindbergh –

Compiled By Billy Walker

March 14, 2007

Most people know quite a lot about Lindbergh and his meteoric rise to become the world’s first “superstar” celebrity.  Most of us here this morning know that the Winslow airport is named after Lindbergh.  San Diego’s Lindbergh field and some 79 other streets, airports, hotels, etc., are named for Lindbergh as well.

Lindbergh accomplished much and his interests in science were quite varied.  Powerful people and corporate giants clamored for his participation.  He was responsive to only a few.  One was an early airline he helped develop. Lindbergh performed aerial surveys to ascertain the best routes for the early air carriers. One of those intercontinental stops was the present day Winslow – Lindberg airport.

On a personal note, Winslow was a stop for the old Frontier Airlines and I had the pleasure of landing there countless times.  The world’s greatest burrito came from a little Mexican lady’s kitchen at the airport and we would take back dozen’s that had been pre-ordered by crews aware of this delicacy…

Lindbergh was instrumental in the start of T-A-T (Transcontinental Air Transport) which merged with Western Air Express and became known as TWA.  Along with Anne, he made 8 transcontinental flights for T-A-T.

However, few know of his 1929 Arizona connection.  Interestingly, Lindbergh combined aviation with numerous other interests.  In the summer of 1929, while flying home to New Jersey in their Curtis “Falcon”, Anne and Charles sighted Pueblo Indian ruins high on the cliffs of Arizona’s Canyon De Chelly. They landed and photographed the ruins with staff members of the Carnegie Institute, ruins never before visited by white men and thus demonstrate the value of aircraft in archaeological work.

The Lindbergh’s greatest challenge was in avoiding the paparazzi.  In fact, their archaeological adventure was cut short when reporters discovered their airplane at a field camp near Pecos, New Mexico.

Following Lindbergh’s famous flight Congress struck a new medal The Distinguished Flying Cross. Charles A. Lindbergh was the recipient of the first DFC.  Several here this morning were awarded this same honor.

I have compiled the Charles Augustus Lindbergh story from a variety of sources.  I hope you enjoy the read…

The life of an aviator seemed to me ideal. It involved skill. It brought adventure. It made use of the latest developments of science. Mechanical engineers were fettered to factories and drafting boards while pilots have the freedom of wind with the expanse of sky. There were times in an aeroplane when it seemed I had escaped mortality to look down on earth like a God.
– Charles A. Lindbergh, 1927

Charles Augustus Lindbergh-Overview

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, (1902-1974), an American aviator, made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, 1927. Other pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him. But Lindbergh was the first person to do it alone nonstop.

Lindbergh’s feat gained him immediate, international fame. The press named him “Lucky Lindy” and the “Lone Eagle.” Americans and Europeans idolized the shy, slim young man and showered him with honors.

Before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Lindbergh campaigned against voluntary American involvement in World War II. Many Americans criticized him for his noninvolvement beliefs. After the war, he avoided publicity until the late 1960’s, when he spoke out for the conservation of natural resources. Lindbergh served as an adviser in the aviation industry from the days of wood and wire airplanes to supersonic jets.

Born on Feb. 4, 1902, in Detroit

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on Feb. 4, 1902, in Detroit. He grew up on a farm near Little Falls, Minn. He was the son of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Sr., a lawyer, and his wife, Evangeline Lodge Land. Lindbergh’s father served as a U.S. congressman from Minnesota from 1907 to 1917.

In childhood, Lindbergh showed exceptional mechanical ability. At the age of 18 years, he entered the University of Wisconsin to study engineering. However, Lindbergh was more interested in the exciting, young field of aviation than he was in school. After two years, he left school to become a barnstormer, a pilot who performed daredevil stunts at fairs.

Enlisted in the United States Army

In 1924, Lindbergh enlisted in the United States Army so that he could be trained as an Army Air Service Reserve pilot. In 1925, he graduated from the Army’s flight-training school at Brooks and Kelly fields, near San Antonio, as the best pilot in his class.  Lindbergh almost didn’t make it!

After Lindbergh completed his Army training, the Robertson Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis hired him to fly the mail between St. Louis and Chicago. He gained a reputation as a cautious and capable pilot.

Only one man can say he was accidentally bumped from the sky by Charles Lindbergh. It was in 1925 before Lindbergh became Lucky Lindy, first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean back when he was just a goofy flight-school cadet in Texas. Lindbergh’s account of the mishap has been published in biographies, aviation magazines, school textbooks and newspapers. Yet the man Lindbergh knocked from the air has never told his story for the record.

So, meet retired Col. Charles Dawson McAllister. He turned 100 in October, 1995, and he lived in Orlando FL for nearly 50 years. You will read more about McAllister in the Ralph Johnson story.

In 1995 he was a walking, talking piece of history. He and Lindbergh were the first people ever to survive a mid-air plane collision. They were the 12th and 13th people to save their lives with parachutes, becoming official members of the Caterpillar Club, so named because the parachutes were made of silk. He is also a story-teller with an amazing recall. As he sits in his Orlando home leather shoes shining like a mirror, trousers creased sharp as a blade he remembers events of past 90 years as though the occurred yesterday.

He was associated with Lindbergh three times over the decades, the first time in flight school. He met Lindbergh again in World War II and in 1954 in Orlando FL. His collision with Lindbergh has its roots in Logansport IN where McAllister grew up and fell in love with flight. “I saw my first plane when I was 14 years old in the summer of 1910,” he said. The images of that evening would stay with him to this day.

“The sun was just going down behind a slow rise in the west, a big, red sun sitting on the horizon,” he said. The pilot took off, barely getting the plane off the ground.

“He went just over the horizon right into that setting sun,” McAllister said, still marveling at the sight. The seeds were sewn. He would become a flier. First, though, he joined the army during World War I and became a lieutenant. When the war ended, he finished college at Purdue University, graduating in 1920. That summer he moved to Winter Garden, an orange growing center west of Orlando, and worked for a citrus company now known as Roper Growers Cooperative. McAllister’s sister had married into the Roper family.

Citrus had no appeal for McAllister. When he had the chance to join the regular army as a career officer, he did. He became a lieutenant in a field artillery unit in Washington. In February, 1924, the seeds of that 1910 Indiana night germinated, and McAllister was accepted into Army flying school at Brooks Field in Texas. So was Lindbergh.

“Actually, he came down to Brooks Field in an old ram-shackled plane, put together with bailing wire,” McAllister said. The plane was so decrepit a corporal ordered it off the field, historical records show.

McAllister and Lindbergh were in the first class to receive parachutes. They needed them. 

On March 26, 1925, McAllister, 29 and Lindbergh, 22, were paired for a three-plane training run. Their instructor was the enemy. Lindbergh was the left-wing and McAllister the right, both behind a leader.

Lindbergh wrote in his account that after the leader pulled up, he kept diving at the target. When he pulled up, he hit the bottom of McAllister’s plane. Lindbergh saw McAllister get ready to jump and then bailed out himself. McAllister remembers the crash a bit differently. He said he planned to watch Lindbergh, who had the habit of ignoring the instructor and doing as he pleased. “But I took my eyes off Lindbergh,” he said, and when he looked back, Lindbergh was underneath. “I yanked back and tried to avoid him. The planes locked together, so we just jumped out.” They floated earthward and into the record-books, and the two men met on the ground.

What did Lindbergh say? “He didn’t say anything. I did all the talking,” McAllister said. Within an hour, both were back in the air. Nine days later they graduated from flight school.

The next time the two met, Lindbergh was the world-famous flier who had crossed the Atlantic in May 1927 and the grieving father whose son had been kidnaped and killed in 1932.

World War II had begun. Henry Ford had asked Lindbergh to help design a factory for building B-24 bombers in Detroit. Lindbergh went cross-country to learn about the bomber, and on April 16, 1942, he ended up in Albuquerque, NM, to see McAllister, who ran the nation’s only B-24 training program.

Henry Ford with Lindbergh

“He had matured a lot,” McAllister said. But he remembers Lindbergh as having little time for pleasantries.

“He was a non-drinker, was a very naive sort of fellow. There were a lot of things he wasn’t interested in and didn’t want to learn,” McAllister said. They met in a hotel, did not mention their collision, and talked about the bombers.

Lindbergh had fonder memories of their meeting. In The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, published in 1970 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, he wrote: “Breakfast with Colonel [C.D.] McAllister at 7:30, (I received a note of invitation from him when I arrived at the hotel last night.) McAllister and I collided our SE-5s while we were attacking an observation plane during maneuvers at Kelley Field in 1925. We both had to jump but landed without injury. McAllister, who was a student officer at the time was a bit stuffy about it and claimed I ran into him. I didn’t think so, and thought he was out of place in the three ship formation we were flying. However it hadn’t occurred to me to question who was at fault. We had been doing a dangerous type of flying, and our C.O. and instructors took it as a matter of course.

“Since I was a cadet in 1925 and McAllister an officer, I had no opportunity of getting to know him well. But this morning I found him to be an interesting and pleasant friend. If he ever held any resentment toward me, as I was told was the case, there was certainly no trace of it remaining. And all during the day he went out of his way to be as considerate and helpful as possible.”

The last time the men met was in April, 1954, when Lindbergh visited Orlando to scout for a potential site near Wekiva Springs for the US Air Force Academy. Because McAllister knew Lindbergh, officials prevailed on the then-retired colonel to accompany Lindbergh around the city. A photograph of the two was published in the Orlando Sentinel. “Every state in the union, I guess, wanted the Air Force Academy,” McAllister said. But despite his efforts, the academy was awarded to Colorado, where it is today.

McAllister flew 6,200 hours for the Army before he retired, and he flew 5,000 hours in his own planes. His best flying memory was in 1960 when he was 64 and flew 19,000 miles to the southern tip of South America. The trip took three weeks. “I think in some respects it was the premiere flying of my career,” he said.

He has one wish as he approaches the century mark. He is a member of the Order of Daedalians, a society of pilots of heavier-than-air craft no blimps or balloons. The title founder-member is reserved for men who won their wings and military commissions before the World War I armistice on November 11, 1918. McAllister would like to find an unknowing pilot who is eligible.

While he waits to find one, McAllister will tell his stories and play his two rounds of golf a week. It’s ironic, but his favorite plane of the 130 that he has piloted is the very model he was flying when Lindbergh collided with him in 1925, as SE-5.

Like McAllister, they aren’t making them that way any more.

Orteig prize

In 1919, a New York City hotel owner named Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 to the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. Several pilots were killed or injured while competing for the Orteig prize. By 1927, it had still not been won. Lindbergh believed he could win it if he had the right airplane. He persuaded nine St. Louis businessmen to help him finance the cost of a plane. Lindbergh chose Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego to manufacture a special plane, which he helped design. He named the plane the Spirit of St. Louis. On May 10-11, 1927, Lindbergh tested the plane by flying from San Diego to New York City, with an overnight stop in St. Louis. The flight took 20 hours 21 minutes, a transcontinental record.

May 20, 1927

On May 20, Lindbergh took off in the Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field, near New York City, at 7:52 A.M. He landed at Le Bourget Field, near Paris, on May 21 at 10:21 P.M. Paris time (5:21 P.M. New York time). Thousands of cheering people had gathered to meet him. He had flown more than 3,600 miles (5,790 kilometers) in 33 1/2 hours.

Lindbergh’s heroic flight thrilled people throughout the world. He was honored with awards, celebrations, and parades. President Calvin Coolidge gave Lindbergh the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the flight

In 1927, Lindbergh published We, a book about his transatlantic flight. The title referred to Lindbergh and his plane. Lindbergh flew throughout the United States to encourage air-mindedness on behalf of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Lindbergh learned about the pioneer rocket research of Robert H. Goddard, a Clark University physics professor. Lindbergh persuaded the Guggenheim family to support Goddard’s experiments, which later led to the development of missiles, satellites, and space travel. Lindbergh also worked for several airlines as a technical adviser.

Guggenheim Tour

Before Charles Lindbergh left for Paris, Harry Guggenheim, a North Shore multimillionaire and aviation enthusiast, visited him at Curtiss Field. “When you get back from your flight, look me up,” said Guggenheim, who later admitted he didn’t think there was much chance Lindbergh would survive the trip.

Lindbergh remembered and did call upon his return. It was the beginning of a friendship that would have a profound impact on the development of aviation in the United States. The two decided Lindbergh would make a three-month tour of the United States, paid for by a fund Harry and his father, Daniel, had set up earlier to encourage aviation-related research.

Daniel Guggenheim Fund sponsored Lindbergh on a three month nation-wide tour. Flying the “Spirit of St. Louis,” he touched down in 49 states, visited 92 cities, gave 147 speeches, and rode 1,290 miles in parades.

“Lindbergh was seen by literally millions of people as he flew around the country,” said Richard P. Hallion, historian for the Air Force and the author of a book on the Guggenheims. “Airmail usage exploded overnight as a result,” and the public began to view airplanes as a viable means of travel.

In addition, Lindbergh spent a month at Guggenheim’s Sands Point mansion, Falaise, while writing “We,” his best-selling 1927 account of his trip.

He met Anne Spencer Morrow (photos 1931 & 1975)

        

 

At the request of the U.S. government, Lindbergh flew to various Latin-American countries in December 1927 as a symbol of American good will. While in Mexico, he met Anne Spencer Morrow, the daughter of Dwight W. Morrow, the American ambassador there. Lindbergh married Anne Morrow in 1929. He taught her to fly, and they went on many flying expeditions together throughout the world, charting new routes for various airlines. Anne Morrow Lindbergh also became famous for her poetry and other writings.

Lindbergh invented an artificial heart

We’ve all but forgotten the medical work Lindbergh did a few years later. In 1930 a relative suffered heart trouble. Doctors couldn’t operate without stopping the heart, but that would kill him. That struck Lindbergh as a solvable problem. So he talked to Alexis Carrel, who held the Nobel Prize for his work in organ transplants and suturing blood vessels.

Lindbergh invented an “artificial heart,” which was actually a perfusion pump, between 1931 and 1935. He developed it for Alexis Carrel, a French surgeon and biologist whose research included experiments in keeping organs alive outside the body. Lindbergh’s device could pump the substances necessary for life throughout the tissues of an organ.

Charles Augustus, Jr. kidnapping

On March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs’ 20-month-old son, Charles Augustus, Jr., was kidnapped from the family home in New Jersey. About ten weeks later, his body was found.  In 1934, police arrested a carpenter, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, and charged him with the murder. Hauptmann was convicted of the crime. He was executed in 1936.

The press sensationalized the tragedy. Reporters, photographers, and curious onlookers pestered the Lindbergh’s constantly. In 1935, after the Hauptmann trial, Lindbergh, his wife, and their 3-year-old son, Jon, moved to Europe in search of privacy and safety.

The Lindbergh kidnapping led Congress to pass the “Lindbergh law.” This law makes kidnapping a federal offense if the victim is taken across state lines or if the mail service is used for ransom demands.

German medal of honor

While in Europe, Lindbergh was invited by the governments of France and Germany to tour the aircraft industries of their countries. Lindbergh was especially impressed with the highly advanced aircraft industry of Nazi Germany. In 1938, Hermann Goering, a high Nazi official, presented Lindbergh with a German medal of honor. Lindbergh’s acceptance of the medal caused an outcry in the United States among critics of Nazism.

Opposed voluntary American entry into World War II

Lindbergh and his family returned to the United States in 1939. In 1941, he joined the America First Committee, an organization that opposed voluntary American entry into World War II. Lindbergh became a leading spokesman for the committee. He criticized President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s foreign policies. He also charged that British, Jewish, and pro-Roosevelt groups were leading America into war. Lindbergh resigned his commission in the Army Air Corps after Roosevelt publicly denounced him. Some Americans accused Lindbergh of being a Nazi sympathizer because he refused to return the medal he had accepted.

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Lindbergh stopped his noninvolvement activity. He tried to reenlist, but his request was refused. He then served as a technical adviser and test pilot for the Ford Motor Company and United Aircraft Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation).

50 combat missions

In April 1944, Lindbergh went to the Pacific war area as an adviser to the United States Army and Navy. Although he was a civilian, he flew about 50 combat missions. Lindbergh also developed cruise control techniques that increased the capabilities of American fighter planes.

His contributions to aviation before, during, and after WWII are legendary.  During the War he was involved with Ford Motor Company in improving the B-24.  He was instrumental in helping achieve long distances out of the P-38 and F-4U Corsair in the Pacific.  It is believed he shot down at least two Jap fighters.

He flew with Tommy McGuire in his famous P-38Fighter group, the 475^th and became friends with Knights of the Round Engines founder, Joe Foss.  He flew the Corsair with Foss out of Emirau with VMF-115.  Joe called Lindberg “Charlie.” Lindbergh was Foss’ boyhood “hero” having seen Lindbergh in South Dakota when Foss was a farm-boy.

Lindberg with Joe Foss in the South Pacific flying the F4U “Corsair”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above with Tommy McGuire in the South Pacific flying the P-38 “Lightening”

Withdrew from public attention

After the War, Lindbergh withdrew from public attention. He worked as a consultant to the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. President Dwight D. Eisenhower restored Lindbergh’s commission and appointed him a brigadier general in the Air Force in 1954. Pan American World Airways also hired Lindbergh as a consultant. He advised the airline on its purchase of jet transports and eventually helped design the Boeing 747 jet. In 1953, Lindbergh published The Spirit of St. Louis, an expanded account of his 1927 transatlantic flight. The book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1954.

Conservation movement

Lindbergh traveled widely and developed an interest in the cultures of peoples in Africa and the Philippines. In the late 1960’s, he ended his years of silence to speak out for the conservation movement. He especially campaigned for the protection of humpback and blue whales, two species of whales in danger of extinction. Lindbergh opposed the development of supersonic transport planes because he feared the effects the planes might have on the earth’s atmosphere.

Died of cancer on Aug. 26, 1974

Lindbergh died of cancer on Aug. 26, 1974, in his home on the Hawaiian island of Maui. After his death, he was buried on the beautiful grounds of the Palapala Ho’omau Church. The Autobiography of Values, a collection of Lindbergh’s writings, was published in 1978.

Palapalo Ho’omau Church Cemetery

Charles Lindbergh lived his last days on the lush Hana coast. Today he lies at rest on the serene grounds of the Palapala Ho’omau Church in beautiful Kipahulu. The limestone coral church was built in 1857. Lindbergh’s grave is under the shade of a Java plum tree. Before he died, he sketched a simple design for his grave and coffin.

The inscription reads: Charles A. Lindbergh Born: Michigan, 1902. Died: Maui, 1974. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. — CAL

CHARLES AUGUSTUS LINDBERGH TIMELINE
(a chronology of key events detailed in Lindbergh, by A. Scott Berg)

February 4, 1902 – Charles Augustus Lindbergh is born in Detroit, Michigan, of Swedish, English, Irish and Scottish ancestry to Charles August Lindbergh, a lawyer, and Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh, a teacher.

March 1902 – Lindbergh’s parents return to their home in Little Falls, Minnesota with five-week-old Charles.

November 1906 – Lindbergh’s father is elected to represent Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

June 15, 1918 – Lindbergh collects his diploma from Little Falls High School.

Fall 1920 – Lindbergh starts his studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

February 2, 1922 – Two days short of his 20th birthday, Lindbergh, an undisciplined student, is dropped from the University of Wisconsin. He eventually signs on with the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation, where he hopes to learn every aspect of airplane building, maintenance, and flying.

Spring/Summer 1923 – Lindbergh, now a pilot, barnstorms his way around the midwest.

March 1924 – Lindbergh enlists in the Army Air Service and begins training. He graduates, first in his class, from the Army’s Advanced Flying School and is commissioned as a second lieutenant. At loose ends because few squadrons need new pilots, he decides to head for St. Louis, where he begins working as a test pilot, barnstormer, stunt flyer and mail pilot.

Fall 1926 – Bored with mail flying, Lindbergh dreams of capturing the $25,000 Orteig Prize that will be given to the first aviator to fly nonstop between New York and Paris. He starts searching for the financial backers necessary to sponsor his flight. Time is of the essence because several other teams of pilots in the U.S. and France, including U.S. Navy Commander Richard Byrd, are preparing their own transatlantic flights.

April 1927 – Construction on Lindbergh’s plane, built by the Ryan Aeronautical Company in San Diego, is completed, and Lindbergh conducts a series of test flights.

Officially known as the “Ryan NYP” (for New York to Paris), the single engine monoplane was designed by DONALD A. HALL of Ryan Airlines and was named the “Spirit of St. Louis” in honor of Lindbergh’s supporters from the St. Louis Raquette Club in his then hometown of St. Louis, Missouri . To save design time, the NYP was loosely based on the company’s 1926 Ryan M-2 mailplane with the main difference being the 4,000 mile range of the NYP and, as a non-standard design, the government assigned it the registration number N-X-211 (for “experimental”). Hall documented his design in “Engineering Data on the Spirit of St. Louis” which he prepared for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics  (NACA) and is included as an appendix to Lindbergh’s 1953 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Spirit of St. Louis.

B.F. “Frank” Mahoney and Claude Ryan had co-founded the company as an airline in 1925 and the latter remained with the company after Mahoney bought out his interest in 1926; although, there is some dispute as to how involved Ryan may have been in its management after selling his share. It is known, however, that Hawley Bowlus was the factory manager who oversaw construction of the Ryan NYP, and that Mahoney was the sole owner at the time of Hall’s hiring.

The Spirit was designed and built in San Diego to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris which Lindbergh would win in the single engine monoplane. Hall and Ryan Airlines staff worked closely with Lindbergh to design and build the Spirit in just 60 days. Although what was actually paid to Ryan Airlines for the project is not clear, Mahoney offered to do it at cost. After first approaching several major aircraft manufacturers without success, in early February 1927, Lindbergh, who as a U.S. Air Mail pilot familiar with the good record of the M-1 with Pacific Air Transport, wired, “Can you construct Whirlwind engine plane capable flying nonstop between New York and Paris …?”

Mahoney was away from the factory, but Ryan answered, “Can build plane similar M-1 but larger wings… delivery about three months.” Lindbergh wired back that due to competition, delivery in less than three months was essential. Many years later, Jon van der Linde, chief mechanic of Ryan Airlines, recalled, “But nothing fazed B.F. Mahoney, the young sportsman who had just bought Ryan.” Mahoney telegraphed Lindbergh back the same day: “Can complete in two months.”

Lindbergh arrived in San Diego on February 23 and toured the factory with Mahoney meeting factory manager, Bowlus, chief engineer Donald Hall, and sales manager A.J. Edwards. After further discussions between Mahoney, Hall and Lindbergh, Mahoney offered to build the Spirit for $10,580, restating his commitment to deliver it in 60 days. Lindbergh himself contributed $2,000 toward the cost of the Spirit that he had saved from his earnings as an Air Mail pilot for Robertson Aircraft Corporation.

Lindbergh was convinced: “I believe in Hall’s ability; I like Mahoney’s enthusiasm. I have confidence in the character of the workmen I’ve met.” He then went to the airfield to familiarize himself with a Ryan aircraft, either an M-1 or an M-2, then telegraphed his St. Louis backers and recommended the deal, which was quickly approved.

May 12, 1927 – Lindbergh arrives in New York. He had crossed the entire country in less than twenty-two hours of flying time. The media takes a shine to Lindbergh, not only because he is physically the most attractive of all the fliers attempting the New York/Paris flight but because he is the only one attempting the journey on his own.

May 20, 1927 – At 7:54 am, Lindbergh, who has not slept in almost twenty-four hours, takes off from Long Island’s Roosevelt Field.

May 21, 1927 – At 10:54 pm, Lindbergh lands at Le Bourget airfield near Paris. A human tidal wave of spectators, 150,000 strong, is there to greet him and Lindbergh is quickly caught up in the riptide of the masses. Overnight, the modern wonders of communication transform the 25-year “boy” into the most famous man on earth.

June 10, 1927 – Lindbergh returns to the U.S. on board the U.S.S. Memphis. He gets his first taste of the reception that lies ahead: a convoy of four destroyers, two army blimps, and 40 airplanes accompany the Memphis up Chesapeake Bay. Hundreds of thousands turn out to honor Lindbergh as he receives the first Distinguished Flying Cross from President Coolidge.

June 13, 1927 – More than four million people turn out for events honoring the flier in New York. By this time, Lindbergh has become the most photographed man in the world.

December 13, 1927 – Lindbergh departs from Washington, D.C. for a nonstop flight to Mexico City. He is making the trip at the invitation of the new U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Dwight Morrow, who hopes to lessen tensions between the two countries. While staying at the embassy for Christmas he meets Anne Morrow, one of the ambassador’s daughters.

Spring 1928 – Lindbergh flies the “Spirit of St. Louis” to Washington, DC, where he donates it to the Smithsonian Institution for permanent exhibition.

May 27, 1929 – Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh are wed.

Summer, 1929 – Anne & Charles Arizona Archaeological Adventure.

1929  – Winslow – Lindberg field  was founded by  Transcontinental Air Transport as a landing site for a transcontinental air route. It has also been used as a training base for World War II pilots. The airport is not currently served by any commercial airlines. The US Forest Service operates an firefighting Air Tanker base there as well.

August 23, 1948 – Lindbergh’s book, Of Flight and Life, is published.

April 7, 1954 – In a private ceremony in Washington, D.C., Lindbergh is sworn in as a Brigadier General. He also serves on a congressional commission to select a permanent location for the United States Air Force Academy. He adds even more to his prestige later in the year when he completes his autobiography, The Spirit of St. Louis. The book becomes an overwhelming bestseller and receives the Pulitzer Prize.

1962 – Lindbergh becomes increasingly interested in the impact that “civilization” is having on the earth and its wilderness areas, indigenous tribes, and wildlife.

July 1964 – Lindbergh debuts as an advocate for conservation with a Reader’s Digest article entitled “Is Civilization Progress?” By this time, ecological matters consume practically all of his reading and writing time.

Summer 1969 – Lindbergh, who has fallen in love with the Hawaiian islands, begins building a home on Maui.

October 1972 – During a routine examination, Lindbergh’s doctor discovers an abnormal node that proves to be cancerous. He undergoes radiation therapy at the end of January and recuperates in Hawaii. He also arranges with the state and church authorities to secure a 30-foot wide burial plot near his home.

August 26, 1974 – Lindbergh dies in Hawaii.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh Biography

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the widow of aviator and conservationist Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., was a noted writer and aviation pioneer.

Born June 22, 1906 in Englewood, New Jersey, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was the daughter of businessman, ambassador, and U.S. Senator Dwight Morrow and poet and women’s education advocate Elizabeth Cutter Morrow. Her family spent summers at the seashore: Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod and later on the island of North Haven off the coast of Maine. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in 1928, and married Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., on May 27, 1929.

Six children were born to the Lindbergh’s — Charles A., III (deceased, 1932), Jon, Land, Anne (deceased, 1993), Scott and Reeve.

Much time during the early years of the Lindbergh’s’ marriage was spent flying. Anne served as her husband’s co-pilot, navigator and radio operator on history-making explorations, charting potential air routes for commercial airlines. They made air surveys across the continent and in the Caribbean to pioneer Pan American’s air mail service. In 1931, they journeyed, in a single-engine airplane, over uncharted routes from Canada and Alaska to Japan and China, which she chronicled in her first book, North to the Orient. They then completed, in the same single-engine Lockheed “Sirius,” a five-and-one-half-month, 30,000-mile survey of North and South Atlantic air routes in 1933 (the subject of Anne Lindbergh’s book, Listen! the Wind). Charles characterized this expedition as more difficult and hazardous than his epic New York-to-Paris flight in 1927 in the “Spirit of St. Louis.”

The National Geographic Society awarded its Hubbard Gold Medal to Anne Lindbergh in 1934 for her accomplishments in 40,000 miles of exploratory flying over five continents with her husband. A year earlier, she had been honored with the Cross of Honor of the U.S. Flag Association for her part in the survey of transatlantic air routes. In 1993, Women in Aerospace presented her with a special Aerospace Explorer Award in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the aerospace field.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh was also the first licensed woman glider pilot in the United States.

In addition to North to the Orient and Listen! the Wind, Anne Lindbergh is the author of 11 other published books. They include Earth Shine, in which she wrote of being at Cape Kennedy for the first moon-orbiting flight and how that Apollo 8 flight and the pictures it sent back of Earth gave humankind “a new sense of Earth’s richness and beauty;” The Steep Ascent, a novel that tells the story of a perilous flight made by a husband and wife; the inspirational and widely read Gift from the Sea, perhaps her best-known work; and five volumes of diaries and letters from the years 1922-1944.

Smith College, Amherst College, the University of Rochester and Gustavus Adolphus College have all presented honorary degrees to Mrs. Lindbergh. In addition, she has also been inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey. She is also a recipient of the Christopher Award for the fifth volume of her diaries, War Within and Without.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh died February 7, 2001 at her second home in Vermont.

Biography of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Sr. 1859–1924 (Father)

Charles August Lindbergh was born in Stockholm, Sweden on January 20, 1859, the eldest of the seven children of August and Louise Lindbergh. Charles Lindbergh graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1883. Following his graduation he practiced law in Little Falls, Minnesota until 1909 when he was elected to Congress from the sixth congressional district. He held this seat through 1916. Lindbergh was elected on the Republican ticket and soon became one of the leaders of the progressive Republicans in Congress. His activities as a member of this group included the attempt to unseat Joseph Cannon as Speaker of the House; the investigation of the “money trust”; opposition to the reciprocal trade policies of the Taft administration; and opposition to the Wilson administration’s attempts to aid the allies during the first years of World War I. Lindbergh’s main concern, however, was the monetary policies of both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Lindbergh ran, and was defeated, in several subsequent elections: 1916 (United States Senate), 1918 (governor of Minnesota), 1920 (Congress), 1923 (special United States Senate election), and 1924 (governor of Minnesota) during which campaign he died. In the 1910s and 1920s, Lindbergh began a number of political magazines and newspapers, all of which failed. One paper of note was called the Lindbergh National Farmer. Books and pamphlets written by Lindbergh, which were widely distributed, include Why Is Your Country at War?, The Economic Pinch, and Who and What Caused the Panic? His anti-war writings and speeches during World War I caused him to be branded as a traitor and affected the outcome of the 1918 gubernatorial election. At the time, Lindbergh was prevented from speaking in many parts of the state and was opposed by many powerful public opinion forming agencies in the state.

Following his congressional career, Lindbergh maintained law offices in Little Falls and Minneapolis, Minnesota but much of his time was devoted to politics, to writing, and to real estate ventures in Florida and Minnesota. Lindbergh represented a number of individuals living in the eastern United States who owned real estate in Minnesota. He made real estate investments of his own in Florida.

In 1887 Charles A. Lindbergh married Mary LaFond, daughter of Moses LaFond, a prominent man in Little Falls. Together they had two daughters, Lillian and Eva. Mary LaFond Lindbergh died in 1898. In 1901 Charles married Evangeline Lodge Land, daughter of C. H. Land of Detroit, Michigan. Charles Augustus Lindbergh was their only child. Charles August Lindbergh died in Crookston, Minnesota on May 24, 1924; Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh died in 1954.

BIOGRAPHY OF EVA LINDBERGH CHRISTIE SPAETH 

Biography of Eva Lindbergh Christie Spaeth, 1892–1985 (Sister)

Reprinted from the Minnesota Historical Society

Eva Lindbergh, daughter of Mary LaFond and Charles August Lindbergh, was born in Little Falls in 1892. She graduated from Carleton College in 1914, after which she taught school in Akeley, Minnesota. From 1914 to 1916 she worked in her father’s congressional office. In 1916 she married George West Christie and the couple moved to Red Lake Falls, Minnesota where they edited and published the Red Lake Falls Gazette. Together they had two children: George Christie and Lillian Christie Johnson. George Christie, Sr. died in 1956. After his death and until 1968, Eva continued to publish the paper. On June 6, 1970 she married G. Howard Spaeth, who had been the Minnesota commissioner of taxation. Eva died on January 28, 1985.

Resources:  The internet and:

Flight; The Spirit of St. Louis; Autobiography of Values, by Charles A. Lindbergh

North to the Orient; Listen the Wind, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Uncommon Friends by James Newton

A Proud American by Joe & DeDe Foss

Interview Joe Foss and Bill Bullock by Billy Walker

The Ghosts of Hopwell by Jim Fischer

Charles A. Lindbergh a Human Hero  by James Giblin

Notes by Billy Walker