Charles Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was a pioneering United States aviator famous for piloting the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.

Later life

After World War II he lived quietly in Connecticut as a consultant both to the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and to Pan American World Airways. His 1953 book The Spirit of St. Louis, recounting his non-stop transatlantic flight, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954. Dwight D. Eisenhower restored his assignment with the Army Air Corps and making him Brigadier General in 1954. In the 1960s, he became a spokesman for the conservation of the natural world, speaking in favor of the protection of whales, against super-sonic transport planes and was instrumental in establishing protections for the primitive Filipino group the Tasaday.

Related Topics:
World War II - Connecticut - Pan American World Airways - 1953 - The Spirit of St. Louis - Pulitzer Prize - Dwight D. Eisenhower - Brigadier General - Filipino - Tasaday

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From 1957 until his death in 1974, Lindbergh had an affair with a woman 24 years his junior, the German hat maker Brigitte Hesshaimer. They had three children together: Dyrk (born 1958), Astrid (born 1960), and David (born 1967). The two managed to keep the affair completely secret; even the children did not know the true identity of their father, whom they met sporadically when he came to visit. Astrid later read a magazine article about Lindbergh and found snapshots and more than a hundred letters written from him to her mother. She disclosed the affair in 2003, two years after both Brigitte Hesshaimer and Anne Morrow Lindbergh had died. DNA tests have confirmed the truth of these assertions.

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Besides, Lindbergh had sexual relationships with Brigitte Hesshaimer?s sister Marietta (with two children, Vago, born 1962, and Christoph, born 1966) and with his private secretary Valeska (again with two children, a son, born 1959, and a daughter, born 1961). So Lindbergh had in all seven children out of wedlock, a fact that has been connected with his statement after the murder of his son, "that there will still be many Lindberghs". Indeed, many believe that the tragic kidnapping and death of his son Charles Augustus psychologically influenced him to foster these children in secret so as to compensate for his terrible loss.

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Lindbergh spent his final years on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where he died of cancer on August 26, 1974. He was buried on the grounds of the Palapala Ho'omau Church. His epitaph, which quotes Psalms 139:9, reads: Charles A. Lindbergh Born: Michigan, 1902. Died: Maui, 1974. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. — CAL

Related Topics:
Hawaii - Maui - Cancer - August 26 - 1974 - Epitaph - Psalms

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The Lindbergh Terminal at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport was named after him and a replica of The Spirit of St. Louis hangs there. He also lent his name to San Diego's Lindbergh Field, which is also known now as San Diego International Airport.

Related Topics:
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport - Lindbergh Field - San Diego International Airport

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