On July 7th in 1929, TAT inaugurated coast-to-coast air and rail service on the route laid out by Col. The fledgling commercial air carriers were eager to have Charles Lindbergh work for them, and he joined Transcontinental Air Transport Company (TAT) for $10,000 a year and stock in 1929. On its return to the U.S., 'Spirit of St Louis' was retired and to the Smithsonian.
One sack was carried from Santo Domingo and two from Port-au-Prince: both to Havana. While on this Caribbean trip, Basil Rowe, a friend and fellow pilot, asked him to carry some sacks of mail and this was the only time 'Spirit of St Louis' actually carried mail. On 3 December he 1928 flew from Washington to Mexico City, in the record time of 27hrs 15mins. (Two of the five known Trans Atlantic covers have come on the market).Īfter his historic flight, Lindbergh was offered the post as Technical Advisor to the President of Pan American, to pioneer routes around the Caribbean. It is thought that Lindbergh carried 5 covers only on this flight, although it is also believed that he was offered $1000 to carry a small package of mail, which he turned down because of his concern over weight. When it came time to depart, he decided against a radio and even ripped out pages of his notebook, giving him additional weight for fuel. Louis, he studied charts, weather, flight plans, and memorized any piece of information that could aid him in his trip. He obtained funding for a plane, and for months, between work on the small monoplane that was to become the Spirit of St. However, he was entering a race against time and every other enterprising pilot, and he had to be prepared. Although he was not the only pilot considering the feat, Lindbergh had many things going for him-an indomitable spirit and positive attitude as well as youth, energy, and a natural desire to rise to the challenge of a nonstop transcontinental flight. While flying mail from Chicago to St Louis, Lindbergh decided to compete for the $25,000 prize for the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris. Lindbergh achieved ninety-nine percent airmail delivery efficiency even without proper equipment and landing facilities.
During this period he twice had to bail out from the mail aircraft, and although on the first occasion the mail was destroyed, some of the mail is believed to have survived the second crash, as one piece has been found. Lindbergh flew a de Haviland DH-4 over the route, with stops at Springfield and Peoria. Whilst flying around St Louis Lindbergh had met two war veterans, Bob and Frank Robertson and together they applied for the Chicago to St Louis route, which was known as Contract Air Mail Route No 2.
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Failing any test would result in being "washed out." But Lindbergh proved himself by graduation in March of 1925, of the 104 cadets that had begun the program, all but eighteen had been washed out, and Lindbergh had achieved the highest ranking among his graduating class.Ĭover flown by Lindbergh on a commemorative airmail flight in 1929.īecause the Army was not recruiting pilots upon graduation, Lindbergh was free to find civilian employment.
He was expected to attend ground school, and for the first time in his life, his passion for flying had to be tempered with real and serious study. This time, he was shocked to learn that he had committed himself to more than flying. Flyers billed him as "Daredevil Lindbergh" and "Lucky Lindy." The following year, as a competent pilot, Lindbergh enlisted in the Army where they were accepting flying cadets. The next two summers he worked as a barnstormer-traveling around the western states, acting as a wingwalker and parachutist, and later sky diving. Lindbergh applied for an aviation program in 1922 at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation and began flight training.
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The file is in a PDF file format:Ĭharles Lindbergh dropped out of engineering school at the University of Wisconsin to learn how to fly. Louis to Chicago contract airmail service in April, 1926.Ĭertificate of the Oath of Mail Messengersĭownload Charles Lindbergh's Certificate of the Oath of Mail Messengers document dated April 28, 1926. transcontinental.Ĭharles Lindbergh loads the first sack of mail aboard a Robertson Aircraft Corporation DH 4 for the inaugural route of the St. In their frail Curtiss Jennies and postwar de Havillands, they battled wind, snow, and sleet to pioneer round-the-clock airmail service along the world's longest air route, the U.S.
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