Charles Lindbergh Press Release and Letter

This collection consists of two items relating to Charles Augustus Lindbergh. The first is an undated, six page, draft press release handwritten and signed by Lindbergh. The second item is a typed and signed letter, dated September 24, 1937, from Lindbergh to Miss [Katherine] Keyhoe thanking her for an invitation for he and Mrs. Lindbergh to spend a few days with her in Baihar, India, and explaining why they were not able to do so.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902--1974) began his flying career in 1922, studying aeronautics with the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation. In 1924 he enrolled as a flying cadet in the Army Air Service at Brooks Field, Texas and in 1926 became a airmail pilot, flying the route from St. Louis to Chicago. In 1927 he obtained backing to compete for the Raymond Orteig prize of $25,000 offered for the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris. Lindbergh took off on May 20, 1927, flying alone in the Ryan NYP Spirit of St Louis. Thirty-three hours thirty minutes later, he landed at Le Bourget Field near Paris, where over 100,000 people had gathered to give him an enthusiastic welcome. After the flight Lindbergh flew to various countries as part of a goodwill tour. Donald Edward Keyhoe (1897--1988) was a retired US Marine Corps aviator who in the 1920s was an editor with the Coast and Geodetic Survey and information officer with the Civil Aeronautics Branch of the US Department of Commerce. Keyhoe served as an aide to Charles Lindbergh in 1927. Keyhoe later wrote of this experience in Flying with Lindbergh.