Charles Lindbergh's kidnapping nightmare
His remarkable flight and the wreckage that followed
“You know what you want,” Evangeline Lindbergh wrote in reply to a letter from her son Charles. She couldn’t help adding a mother’s doubt: “…is a plane a wise investment & has the occupation of pilot any future?”
The 6’ 2 1/2” Lindbergh, nicknamed Slim, was performing stunts on planes that barnstormed from town to town. Billing himself as the “aerial daredevil Lindbergh,” he eked out a living, skydiving and walking on wings. He even toyed with the idea of hanging from a plane by his teeth. His dream, he told his mother, was to buy his own flying machine.
Yes, the occupation of pilot had a future — and thanks to Lindbergh, that future would be brighter than anyone realized.
The improbable arc of Lindbergh’s …
