MLA Research Paper

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 airplane when it seemed I had escaped mortality to look down on earth like a God." (Charles A. Lindbergh, 1927)

Charles Lindbergh was an American aviator who 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. Charles Lindbergh was born on Feb. 4, 1902, in Detroit. He grew up on a farm near Minnesota. 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. Fascinated with aviation, he earned his pilot's license, and in 1923 bought a Jenny to take up barnstorming. (Helen Janes Pp. 50)

In 1924, Lindbergh entered a U.S. Army flying school at San Antonio, Texas. He graduated first in his class the following year, then became the first air mail pilot between Chicago, Illinois, and St, Louis, Missouri. He became the first three-time member of the Caterpillar Club, that exclusive fraternity of people who had saved their lives with parachutes. In 1925, he began flying mail between St. Louis and Chicago. While making the mail runs, he decided to attempt the premier aviation challenge of his day. New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig had offered $25,000 to the first person to fly nonstop from New York to Paris, and Lindbergh thought he could do it.

Several flyers had been killed or injured attempting the flight, but that didn't discourage Lindbergh. He persuaded nine St. Louis businessmen to finance a plane incorporating features of his own design. In their honor, he called the craft the "Spirit of St. Louis".

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. Thousands of cheering people had gathered to meet him. He had flown more than 3,600 miles 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. The press nicknamed Mr. Lindbergh "Lucky Lindy" and the "Lone Eagle" and he instantly became a hero. (Helen Janes Pp. 51)

With success under ...