Still more contributions by Charles Lindbergh have come to light.

Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh became one of the best-known and often best-loved citizens in American history when he became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1927. But he was a tremendously versatile individual who contributed in many other ways beyond his historic flight.

Sadly, the time came when some identified Lindbergh as sympathetic to German murderer Adolf Hitler. A pacifist, Lindbergh attempted to support appeasement rather than conflict, an approach both vilified and impossible, as it turned out.

In whatever he did, Lindbergh, who lost a son to a kidnapper, was an extremely private person. He didn’t seek the spotlight and quietly worked for many worthwhile ventures. Now new evidence has come to light to re-emphasize his contributions.

The Lone Eagle secretly aided the U.S. military during World War II by testing the effects of high-altitude flight on humans. Once-classified government research by Lindbergh and others helped keep wartime pilots and air crew members alive at altitudes reaching an unprecedented 40,000 feet and established the first procedures for surviving parachute jumps from such heights.

Evidence of the work was unveiled recently at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., as part of a display on secret aviation research done there since the war. The pilot’s grandson, Erik Lindbergh, said he was astonished to discover his family’s history with Mayo. The research also led to the development and improvement of an in-flight oxygen tank, a parachute tank and flight suits that could be heated in sub-zero temperatures. Many a U.S. flier benefited from such innovations.

“A lot of very basic aviation science that holds true to this day was done in Rochester,” says Dr. Jan Stepanek, an aviation medicine specialist who compiled a display from research material.

Lucky Lindy contributed to the welfare of his country and its people in many ways that even his relatives did now know about. His brief brush with the Nazis and Hitler was unfortunate, but never costly to the country.

Then, typically, Lindbergh turned his attention to doing good things for America, including working hard in the environmental field. Even superheroes make mistakes, but the Lindbergh record is one that should outweigh any doubts about his merits as one of the greatest citizens our nation has produced.