Born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 4, 1902, Charles A. Lindbergh spent his childhood in Little Falls, Minnesota. He also lived in Washington, D.C., while his father served in the U.S. Congress. From 1920 to 1922, Lindbergh attended the University of Wisconsin, but he dropped out to go to an aviation school in Lincoln, Nebraska. After fewer than eight hours of instruction, he began flying with a stunt aviator and made his first parachute jump in June 1922. Lindbergh bought his first plane for $500 and made his first solo flight in April 1923. The following year he went through flight training in San Antonio, Texas, and in 1925 he was commissioned in the U.S. Air Service Reserve. He began flying air mail service flights between Chicago and St. Louis on April 15, 1926.

Lindbergh soon learned of a $25,000 prize being offered to the first person to fly nonstop from New...