Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) (nicknamed "Slim", "Lucky Lindy", and "The Lone Eagle") was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.

As a 25-year-old U.S. Air Mail pilot, Lindbergh emerged from obscurity to virtually instantaneous world fame as the result of his Orteig Prize-winning solo non-stop flight on May 20–21, 1927, from Roosevelt Field located in Garden City on New York's Long Island to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France, a distance of nearly 3,600 statute miles (5,800 km), in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh, a U.S. Army reserve officer, was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his historic exploit.

Charles Lindbergh served in the Missouri National Guard and Reserves. During World War II he flew combat missions in the Pacific with Marine Ace Joe Foss and Army Ace Thomas McGuire. While on a mission with McGuire he shot down one Japanese plane, but because as a civilian advisor such combat missions were not authorized, it was not officially credited to him. Charles Lindbergh held the record in the Caterpillar Club (airmen forced to bail out of an airplane) with FOUR emergency jumps

Awards

• Medal of Honor
• Congressional Gold Medal
• Pulitzer Prize
• Orteig Prize
• Legion of Honour (France)
• Air Force Cross (UK)
• Distinguished Flying Cross (US)

Medal of Honor

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Captain Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., United States Army Air Corps (Reserve), for displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the "Spirit of St. Louis," from New York City to Paris, France, 20 - 21 May 1927, by which Captain Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible.

General Orders: War Department, General Orders 5 (1928) Act of Congress

Action Date: May 20 & 21, 1927

Service: Army Air Corps Reserve

Rank: Captain

Division: Air Corps (Reserve)

Distinguished Flying Cross

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Captain (Air Corps) Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., U.S. Army Air Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight and in recognition of his courage, his skill, and his resourcefulness in piloting unaccompanied The Spirit of St. Louis from New York City across the Atlantic Ocean to Paris, France, on 20 - 21 May 1927, a distance of 3,600 miles, the longest nonstop flight ever made by man.

General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 8 (1927)

Action Date: May 20 - 21, 1927

Service: Army Air Corps Reserve

Rank: Captain

-------------------- Charles Augustus Lindbergh (4 February 1902 – 26 August 1974), known as "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle," was an American pilot famous for the first solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic, from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Paris in 1927 in the "Spirit of St. Louis." In the ensuing deluge of notoriety, Lindbergh became the world's best-known aviator.