Charles Lindbergh First Solo Flight Across the Atlantic

The $25,000 prize was beside the point, especially when ice on a wing or sleep could be fatal.

Charles Lindbergh had flown the Spirit of St. Louis from California to New York, so he was used to the air-cooled Whirlwind engine, a splendid name for something attached to little more than a flying gasoline can. But the Atlantic was ocean, with no chance of a soft landing for 4,000 miles. He crossed it in 33 1/2 hours, the first to do it solo and nonstop.

You'd think he'd brag. But Anne Morrow, who married him, recalled being captivated by his shyness. It burnished her image of his landing at Le Bourget airfield, "the picture of that mad crowd, that whole nation surging around his plane in Paris," she wrote. "I can see how they all worship him. ... His glance [was] keener, clearer and brighter than anyone else's, lit with a more intense fire." He was, she said, one of the "great bulldozers" of the century.

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.

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.