Air Travel
A young Charles Lindbergh was trained in Lincoln and later became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean.
In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh, “Lucky Lindy,” flew nonstop from New York to Paris, completing the world’s first solo transatlantic flight. Lindbergh learned to fly at Ray Page’s Flying School in Lincoln, Nebraska. Before his transatlantic flight in “The Spirit of St. Louis,” Lindbergh was a barnstormer, flying from town to town and astounding rural residents with aerial acrobatics, such as loops, rolls, spins, dives, walking on the wings, and parachute jumping. Barnstormers dropped leaflets and buzzed small towns to draw a crowd for the next air show. Many people in Nebraska were impressed by the acrobatics, and some even paid $5 each for a plane ride. Air mail postal service started on the East Coast in 1918 and in 1921 expanded to California. The decade of the 1920s saw increased use of airplanes for mail, passenger, and freight service. Fourteen domestic airlines were founded in 1926.
Written by Claudia Reinhardt.
Charles Lindbergh’s airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis.
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