Charles Lindbergh Trailer Joins RV/MH Museum Collection

Famed aviator Charles A. Lindbergh‘s personal 1939 travel trailer is now part of the RV/MH Museum‘s historic RV collection.

The Lindbergh trailer, valued at approximately $200,000, was donated to the museum by Californian Dennis Gibbs. Gibbs said that the trailer was custom built and owned by Charles Lindbergh, and it has never been refurbished and is in its original condition.

Designed in San Carlos, Calif., by an engineer of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, this trailer was custom-built for Charles Lindbergh, hence its name – the chassis serial number is CL001.

Skinned in aluminum to reduce weight and enhance appearance, the trailer boasts two axles, one at each end. The design gave the trailer a great deal of stability when parked for overnight stops and did not require that the tongue be supported on jacks when unhitched from the tow vehicle.

Most people will recall from history that on May 21, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Ryan NYP “Spirit of St. Louis 3,610 miles between Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, and Paris, France, in 33 hours, 30 minutes.

Another historic travel trailer is on display at the museum a few feet from the Lindbergh trailer that has ties to both Lindbergh and the famous aircraft “Spirit of St. Louis.” It’s the 1935 Bowlus Road Chief trailer, the personal trailer of Hawley Bowlus. Bowlus was the shop foreman/general manager for Ryan Airlines Corporation. He built the “Spirit of St. Louis”, the airplane Charles Lindbergh used to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop for the first time.

“The Lindbergh trailer is an exciting new addition to our historic RV collection and joins the Bowlus trailer and other historic RVs in the museum’s inventory,” says Darryl Searer, chairman and president of the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum. And even though people may have visited our museum in the past, the Lindbergh trailer will be an incentive to revisit the museum.”