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Our American Stories

How Charles Lindbergh Became America’s Most Famous Airman

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, Before he became the most famous pilot in the world, Charles Lindbergh was a barnstormer, a daredevil wing walker, and a U.S. airmail pilot flying dangerous routes with little margin for error. Long before his historic Atlantic crossing, Lindbergh learned to trust machines, weather, and his own instincts in the air.

Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute shares the lesser-known story of Lindbergh’s early years and the unlikely experiences that prepared him to attempt what no one else dared: flying solo across the Atlantic when others insisted it could only be done with a crew.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.5

Guaranteed Human.

0:14.1

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,

0:18.4

the show where America is the star and the American people. To search for the Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.

0:22.6

To search for The Our American Stories podcast, go to the IHeart Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:29.7

Up next, the story of a man who had over 200 songs written about him and was the first to fly across the Atlantic.

0:37.2

We're talking about Charles Limburg.

0:39.6

Here to tell the story is Kirk Higgins, the Senior Director of Content at the Bill

0:44.7

of Rights Institute.

0:46.2

You can check out their great curriculum on American history at mybri.org.

0:52.7

That's mybri.org. Let's get into the story. Take it away, Kirk.

0:59.4

It was the evening of May 19th, 1927. In 25-year-old aviator, Charles Limburg was being

1:06.0

hounded by the New York press as he made his way to a Broadway play.

1:11.1

Limburg hoped that the play would relieve him of some stress,

1:14.2

but there's a little chance of that.

1:16.3

He was preparing a historic attempt

1:18.1

to be the first person to fly nonstop from New York to Paris,

1:22.0

but the stormy weather across the Northern Atlantic

1:24.2

hadn't been cooperating lately.

1:30.4

Lindberg never made it to his Broadway play.

1:32.8

Before it had even begun, he received one of the most significant meteorological reports

1:37.7

of the century.

...

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