ALS signed “Charles A. Lindbergh,” three pages, 8.5 x 11, May 22, 1963. Letter to noted early spaceflight advocate G. Edward Pendray. In part: “Of course I would be glad to read the article you are writing about Daniel Guggenheim and the Foundation. The only problem here is to give you an address where the manuscript will reach me quickly, as I plan to do a good deal of traveling this summer. If you have mimeographed copies, then it would be best to send one to me at Scotts Cove, Darien, Connecticut; and one to me at Les Monts-de-Corsier, Vaud, Switzerland…Please don’t put anything in the mail that would involve serious inconvenience if it didn’t reach me quickly, and please be sure that either your name or the Guggenheim name is on the envelope.
You ask about my recollections of the Fund. I believe I first heard about it when I was a mail pilot on the St. Louis–Chicago route. I remember clearly being informed by the fact that a great foundation had been established to encourage the development of aviation. I believe one of the most important results from the establishment of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund, certainly one of the most important results, lay in the confidence it implied in civil aviation in these early years, and in the respectability it gave to the profession.
As I feel sure you remember, the announcement of a multi-million dollar fund, created by a successful and influential businessman, had an extraordinary effect on morale and went far in supporting the claims of those of us who believed that airplanes had a brilliant future.
Before ending this letter, I want to tell you what a great help I think you have been through the years in connection with Lehman’s biography of Robert Goddard. You have contributed skillfully, and in major ways to both the accuracy and the interest of the chapters.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed in Lindbergh’s hand. The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics was founded in 1926 and disbursed over $3 million in aeronautic research grants over the next four years; the Fund also handled all the details of Lindbergh’s three-month tour of the United States after his epic 1927 transatlantic flight to Paris. In addition to lengthy content on the Guggenheim Fund, Lindbergh’s mention of rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard enhances the desirability of this letter even further.
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