33 heures pour Paris

Charles Augustus Lindbergh ( February 4th, 1902 - August 26th, 1974 ) was born in Detroit ( Michigan, United States ). He spent most of his childhood in Little Falls ( Minnesota ) and Washington, D.C. From an early age, Charles A. Lindbergh had exhibited an interest in the mechanics of motorized transportation, including his family's Saxon Six automobile, and later his Excelsior motorbike. By the time he started college as a mechanical engineering student, he had also become fascinated with flying, though he " had never been close enough to a plane to touch it ". 

After quitting college in February 1922, Charles Lindbergh enrolled at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation's Flying School in Lincoln and flew for the first time on April 9th, as a passenger in a two - seat Lincoln Standard " Tourabout " biplane trainer piloted by Otto Timm ( 1893 - 1978 ). His solo flight came in May 1923 at Souther Field ( Americus, Georgia ). After joining the United States Army Air Service, Charles A. Lindbergh graduated first overall in his class in March 1925, thereby earning his Army pilot's wings and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Service Reserve Corps. 

In October 1925, he was hired by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation ( R.A.C. ) to first lay out and then serve as Chief Pilot for the newly designated 278 - mile ( 447 km ) Contract Air Mail Route to provide service between St. Louis ( Missouri ) and Chicago ( Illinois ). Although still flying as an Air Mail pilot, Charles A. Lindbergh took part in the first successful nonstop transatlantic flight New York City - Paris. Piloting The Spirit of St. Louis, he took off from Roosevelt Field ( Long Island ) on May 20th, 1927, and landed successfully at Le Bourget Aerodrome ( France ) the day after. Charles A. Lindbergh received unprecedented adulation after his historic flight. 

At the request of the United States military, Charles A. Lindbergh traveled to Nazi Germany several times between 1936 and 1938 to evaluate German aviation. He also undertook a survey of aviation in the Soviet Union in 1938. In late 1940, Charles A. Lindbergh became spokesman of the non - interventionist America First Committee ( an anti - war organization using  antisemitic and pro - fascist rhetoric ). Because of his trips to Nazi Germany, combined with a belief in eugenics, Charles A. Lindbergh was suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer. 

In 1943, he joined United Aircraft as an engineering consultant, and later, was sent to the Far East Theatre. In his six months in the Pacific in 1944, Charles A. Lindbergh took part in fighter bomber raids on Japanese positions, flying 50 combat missions ( as a civilian ). On July 28th, he managed to shot down a Japanese observation plane. By the end of the war, he returned to Europe and became involved in the exfiltration of Nazi scientists. After the war, Charles A. Lindbergh toured the Nazi concentration camps and later wrote that he was disgusted and angered. 

In later life, he was heavily involved in conservation movements, and was deeply concerned about the negative impacts of new technologies on the natural world and native peoples. 

( source : Wikipedia )