ALS signed “Lindbergh,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, Flying Cadets letterhead, September 21, 1924. Letter to his friend “Dub.” In part: “Glad you got away from the farm as I don’t think there is a very big future in farming. I thot [sic] you’d be married long ago. How did you miss it? I was transferred to the advanced school at Kelly Field on Sept. 15 and will be here, I hope, for six months. If I manage to survive that long I will be discharged as a 2nd Lt. Reserve. Also will have an A.P. rating instead of a J.A.P. This is a pretty stiff grind tho [sic]. If a fellow falls down a little in flying he is washed out. If he flunks one ground school subject he may be washed out. If he flunks two he is washed out; and the subjects are plenty hard too. At Brooks Field there were nine of us out of 42 that passed the exam in aerodynamics so they raised every mark ten points and then 20 passed. There were 104 of us started and now, after the first six months there are 33 left. I managed to get some good grades for a change and graduated from Brooks with an average of 93.35% making up a little for the flunks I got at Wisconsin. We had a stiff exam in applied aerodynamics here yesterday and I am afraid quite a few flunked. There were 24 subjects at Brooks Field and there will be more here. Some were short, taking about a week and others lasted nearly the entire course. We have been extreamly luckey [sic] in this class and no one has been killed altho [sic] there were several who should have been considering the crashes they had. If we get thru six more months without bumping anyone off, I beleive [sic] we will be the first class to do it. This is almost too much to hope for as Kelly always gets someone. At Brooks we flew mostly I.N.6.H. planes which can be crashed badly without always killing the pilot. Here we fly mostly D.H.4 planes with the HOOH.P. Liberty motor and when they crash they usually get whoever is in them.” In fine condition. Accompanied by a few related newspaper clippings.
When 22-year-old Charles Lindbergh enlisted in the US Army to become an Air Service Reserve pilot, he was one of 104 cadets who began the rigorous training program at Brooks Field in San Antonio. Quickly whittled down to only 33, the remaining cadets were transferred to Kelly Field to complete the advanced training and extraordinarily difficult course work—“There were 24 subjects at Brooks Field and there will be more here.” Noting how easy it is to be “washed out,” and how surprising it is that no one in his current class has been killed in training with the D.H.4 planes, which “usually get whoever is in them,” he proudly (but reservedly) remarks, “If we get thru six more months without bumping anyone off, I believe we will be the first class to do it.” By the end of the six months, only 19 cadets achieved success, earning the rank of second lieutenants in the Reserve Officer Corps: Lindbergh stood first in his class. With such a detailed first-hand account of his intense training in San Antonio, this is an extraordinary letter from the young cadet who would go on to become an aviation legend: the earliest Lindbergh we have ever offered! Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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