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| When it came to flying, Charles Lindbergh wrote, "It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you've wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane." Truly, Charles Lindbergh had found his calling. He took every opportunity to spend time in the air-flying with the Army Air Corps, barnstorming with Vera Mae's Flying Circus, and working as an airmail pilot. It was during one of these flights, soaring above cornfields and farmhouses, that he made a decision that would forever change his life. The 25-year old Minnesota native was determined to win the coveted $25,000 Orteig Prize, offered to the first aviator(s) to fly nonstop between New York and Paris. Nine St. Louisans joined him in this conviction and funded the building of the Spirit of St. Louis. On the morning of May 20, 1927, outfitted in his wool-lined flight suit, Lindbergh climbed into the Spirit of St. Louis at rain-dampened Roosevelt field in New York. Nearly crashing during take-off, clearing trees and telephone lines by a mere 20 feet, Lindbergh embarked upon the thirty-three and a half hour trip. By the time he landed he had become an international sensation. |
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