A report on Charles Lindbergh's legendary flight

A small one-engined plane with 'The Spirit of St. Louis' painted on the side lands at Le

Bourget field, in the midst of thousands of cheering spectators. A tall, thin, sandy haired,

twenty-five-year-old man emerges from the cockpit and timidly smiles. Modestly, he says 'well,

I made it.' (http://141.224.128.4) What this man has just accomplished is something nobody had

done before: fly nonstop over the Atlantic ocean alone. This was one of the many achievements

of this man we call Lindbergh, who created drama and interest in the lives of many people

across the globe.

        Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902, to Charles Lindbergh, Sr.,

and Evangeline Land Lodge. His father was a lawyer and later a U.S. congressman. His

mother taught chemistry at the local high school. Although he was born in Detroit, he grew up

on a farm near Little Falls, Minnesota. (World Book)

        Lindbergh was a whiz with mechanics. By age twelve, he was in charge of driving and

fixing the car. In high school, he assembled a tractor from a mail order kit. When he was

eighteen he entered the University of Wisconsin to study engineering. He found he was more

interested in flying, so after two years he became a barnstormer, which was a pilot who

performed daredevil stunts at fairs. (World Book)

        In 1924 Lindbergh enlisted in the U.S. Army so he could be trained to be a pilot. In

1925 he graduated as the top pilot in his class. He soon began working as a mail deliverer

between St. Louis and Chicago.

        Lindbergh soon heard of an offer given in 1919 by a hotel owner named Raymond

Orteig. The offer was this: the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris would receive

25,000 dollars. Nobody had succeeded...