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60 free Charles Lindbergh trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Charles Lindbergh trivia quiz covers the air mail pilot who became the most famous man on Earth in 33 hours. It starts with the flight: the Orteig Prize and the men who died chasing it, the plane Ryan built in 60 days with a periscope instead of a windscreen, Dingle Bay, the mob at Le Bourget, Coolidge's medals and Time's first Man of the Year. Then it follows the tour of all 48 states, the marriage to Anne Morrow and the perfusion pump built with Alexis Carrel. The second half is darker: the ladder under the nursery window, the ransom in gold certificates, Jafsie and Al Capone, Hauptmann's trial and the Lindbergh Law; the years in Kent, the Nazi contacts, America First and the Des Moines speech; then the 50 Pacific combat missions, the Pulitzer, James Stewart on film, the environmental crusades, Apollo 11, the grave on Maui and the German families revealed by DNA. About a third of the questions are easy; the rest reward anyone who has read A. Scott Berg. Try our aviation history and Amelia Earhart quizzes next. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Lindbergh, the Spirit of St. Louis, the kidnapping and related topics, and each explanation adds one more detail.
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Q 01In which year did Lindbergh make his famous nonstop flight from New York to Paris?
1927
It covered 3,600 miles in over 33 hours and was the first solo crossing of the Atlantic.
Q 02Lindbergh's aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was named in honour of what?
The city whose backers financed it
He had been flying the mail out of St. Louis when local businessmen agreed to fund the plane.
Q 03How much was the Orteig Prize that Lindbergh's flight won?
$25,000
Hotel owner Raymond Orteig had offered it in 1919 for the first nonstop New York-Paris flight.
Q 04Roughly how long did Lindbergh's New York to Paris flight take?
Over 33 hours
He had barely slept the night before and began to hallucinate during the flight.
Q 05Which British pair had already flown the Atlantic nonstop in 1919, eight years before Lindbergh?
Alcock and Brown
They won the Daily Mail prize flying from Newfoundland to Ireland; Lindbergh's was the first solo crossing.
Q 06In which city was Lindbergh born in 1902?
Detroit
He grew up mostly in Little Falls, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C.
Q 07What was the occupation of Lindbergh's father, Charles August Lindbergh?
US congressman
He was born Carl Månsson in Sweden and emigrated to Minnesota as an infant.
Q 08Lindbergh dropped out of which college in his sophomore year to learn to fly?
Wisconsin
He enrolled at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation's flying school in Lincoln in 1922.
Q 09Under what stage name did he barnstorm across the Midwest in 1923?
Daredevil Lindbergh
He had started out as a wing walker and parachutist before buying his own war-surplus Jenny for $500.
Q 10How much did Lindbergh pay for his first plane, a war-surplus Curtiss JN-4 'Jenny', in 1923?
$500
He made his first solo flight in it at Souther Field in Americus, Georgia.
Q 11Where did Lindbergh graduate first in his class from Army flight training in 1925?
Brooks and Kelly Fields, Texas
Only 18 of 104 cadets who started the year finished.
Q 12What job was Lindbergh doing when he began planning his Atlantic flight?
US Air Mail pilot
He flew the St. Louis to Chicago route in surplus de Havilland DH-4s.
Q 13Which small San Diego firm built the plane for the flight?
Ryan Airlines
Chief engineer Donald Hall and the staff built it in just 60 days for $10,580.
Q 21How big was the crowd said to have stormed the airfield when Lindbergh landed in Paris?
About 150,000
Souvenir hunters damaged the plane before French soldiers got it to a hangar.
Q 22Which two French war heroes vanished flying Paris-New York two weeks before Lindbergh?
Nungesser and Coli
Their seaplane L'Oiseau Blanc was last reliably seen over the west coast of Ireland.
Q 23How many people died in crashes while competing for the Orteig Prize?
Six
René Fonck's Sikorsky crashed on takeoff in 1926, and Davis and Wooster died testing their American Legion.
Q 14How long did Ryan take to design and build the plane?
60 days
Owner Benjamin Franklin Mahoney had wired 'Can complete in two months.'
Q 15Why did Lindbergh's plane have no forward windscreen?
A fuel tank sat in front of the cockpit
A former submariner at Ryan installed a periscope so he could see ahead.
Q 16What was the registration number of Lindbergh's plane?
N-X-211
The X stood for 'experimental', since it was a nonstandard design.
Q 17What engine powered Lindbergh's plane?
A Wright Whirlwind radial
It produced 223 hp and the plane carried about 450 gallons of fuel.
Q 18What was deliberately uncomfortable about the cockpit of Lindbergh's plane?
Its stiff wicker seat
The seat was custom-fitted but meant to keep him awake.
Q 19What was the first European land Lindbergh saw on his flight?
Dingle Bay, Ireland
He veered off course to identify it as the southern tip of Ireland.
Q 20At which Paris airfield did Lindbergh land on 21 May 1927?
Le Bourget
A crowd of about 150,000 dragged him from the cockpit and carried him around for half an hour.
Q 24Which president presented Lindbergh with both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Medal of Honor?
Calvin Coolidge
He was also promoted to colonel in the Army Air Corps Reserve and given France's Legion of Honor.
Q 25Lindbergh was the first person ever named what by Time magazine?
Man of the Year
He was 25, and remained the youngest holder until Greta Thunberg in 2019.
Q 26Who finally broke Lindbergh's record as the youngest Time Person of the Year, in 2019?
Greta Thunberg
Lindbergh had held the record since appearing on the cover in January 1928.
Q 27What was the title of Lindbergh's 1927 autobiography, chosen by the publisher without his approval?
WE
He said it meant him and his backers, not him and his plane, as the press assumed.
Q 28How many US states did Lindbergh visit on his three-month Guggenheim tour in late 1927?
All 48
He gave 147 speeches to 30 million people in 82 cities.
Q 29Which Smithsonian museum has housed the Spirit of St. Louis since 1928?
National Air and Space Museum, Washington
Lindbergh flew it to Washington in April 1928 after his Latin American goodwill tour, and it has been displayed there ever since.
Q 30Lindbergh met his future wife Anne Morrow in which country, where her father was US ambassador?
Mexico
He was on a goodwill tour of Latin America; they married in 1929.