Although just 22 years old, Lindbergh was already a skilled pilot when he enlisted in the Army Air Service in 1924. A year later, he graduated from flight training school in San Antonio at the top of his class. After completing his army service, he took a job as chief pilot with the Robertson Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis, inaugurating a commercial airmail route between that city and Chicago. By his mid-twenties, Lindbergh had logged hundreds of hours in the air and been forced to parachute to safety at least four times. Still, the fearless young flyer's greatest--and most dangerous--adventure was yet to come.

Nearly a day later, with great relief, Lindbergh spotted the South-western coast of Ireland. He flew over the British Commonwealth republic, then over England and the English Channel.

Thirty-three and one-half hours and 3,610 miles (5,810 kilometres) after leaving New York, Lindbergh made aviation history when he landed at Le Bourget field near Paris at 10:21 p.m. The exhausted young flyer was instantly mobbed by thousands of jubilant admirers from whom he literally had to be rescued by French police.

For the next five years, "Lucky Lindy" or "the Lone Eagle," as Lindbergh now was known to an adoring public, continued to live a hero's life. He flew the Spirit of St. Louis to all 48 states to promote the neophyte commercial aviation industry, then took it on a goodwill tour of Latin America.

Less than two years later, however, America's Golden Couple was visited by tragedy. Bruno Hauptmann, a German immigrant carpenter, kidnapped Charles Jr. from their suburban New Jersey home. Although a ransom was demanded and paid, the Lindbergh's 20-month-old son was never returned and was later found dead. Hauptmann was subsequently arrested, tried, convicted on capital charges, and executed.

The kidnapping and murder of the first-born son of America's hero brought wide and sensational press coverage. To escape the unwelcome publicity, Lindbergh moved his family--which now included three-year-old son Jon--to Kent, England.

While living in Europe, Lindbergh was invited by the Nazi government to inspect the German aircraft industry, whose size and capabilities for building advanced combat aircraft greatly impressed him. Adolf Hitler awarded the famed American aviator a German medal of honour. Although Lindbergh was harshly criticized by U.S. critics of the Nazi regime, he refused to return the medal, and later described the German dictator as "undoubtedly a great man."

In 1941, Lindbergh became a spokesman for the America First movement. He gave speeches and radio broadcasts for the isolationist group, in which he criticized Jews, the British, and supporters of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for allegedly trying to drag the United States into the burgeoning world war. Publicly castigated by the president as a traitor and defeatist, Lindbergh angrily resigned his commission in the Army Air Corps.

But after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in December 1941, Lindbergh stopped his speechmaking and tried to rejoin the military. Roosevelt blocked the move. However, in 1944, in the guise of civilian test pilot, Lindbergh flew some 50 combat missions over the South Pacific before senior commanders learned of the ruse and grounded him.

In May 1945, following the Allied victory in Europe, Lindbergh received a rare chance to officially redeem himself. The U.S. government asked him to once again assess Germany's air capabilities, this time focusing on its V-2 rocket program. Lindbergh gratefully obliged. Aware of Lindbergh's war service and his historic contributions to flight, President Dwight D. Eisenhower later restored Lindbergh's military commission, promoting him to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

In 1953, Lindbergh published The Spirit of St. Louis. The dramatic account of his historic 1927 flight was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1954. In the postwar years, Lindbergh also became a commercial adviser to Pan American World Airways and Boeing Aircraft Corporation and served as a consultant to the air force chief of staff. However, he now kept a low public profile--until the 1960s, when the cause of conservation led him to re-enter public life. In July 1964 Lindbergh published an article in the popular magazine Reader's Digest titled "Is Civilization Progress?" in which he emerged as an advocate for conservation. He expressed the belief that the quality of life could be preserved and improved only if technology and conservation were successfully balanced. Travelling round the world, Lindbergh worked to help the indigenous tribes of the Philippines and Africa and to save the humpback and blue whale, which were in danger of extinction. He opposed the development of supersonic passenger aircraft because he feared the effect they would have on the environment.

In 1977, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his solo flight, the Charles A. Lindbergh Fund was created by friends of Lindbergh at The Explorers Club in New York City. The foundation's mission was both to further Lindbergh's belief in balance between technology and conservation and to honour him as a flyer and for his other aeronautical achievements. In 1994, the name of the foundation was changed to the Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation to reflect the couple's shared vision.