Born February 4, 1902,
Detroit, Michigan
Died Auqust 26, 1974,
Maui, Hawaii

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 4, 1902, and spent his childhood in Little Falls, Minnesota. His father, a Swedish immigrant, was elected to Congress in 1907 and served five terms representing the sixth district of Minnesota, where he was a leading isolationist.

Becomes aviator

Lindbergh attended public and private schools in Washington, D.C., and Minnesota. He entered the University of Wisconsin in 1920 but dropped out after two years and entered flying school in Lincoln, Nebraska. After fewer than eight hours of instruction, he began flying barnstorming flights with a stunt aviator in Nebraska and made his first parachute jump in June 1922. Lindbergh bought his first plane, a World War I Curtiss Jenny, for $500, making his first solo flight in April 1923. In 1924 he signed up to take flight training at Brooks Army Base in...