Dear Friend,

I am pleased to extend a very special invitation to you as one who, more than most, knows the challenge and joy of aviation and the history of powered flight.

It is my privilege to inform you that, in recognition of your interest in aviation and space exploration, the Director of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. has reserved space for the permanent placement of your name on The National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor in the National Air and Space Museum's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

With your agreement, your name will be prominently displayed, and forever honored, as an experienced aviation enthusiast as well as one who volunteered to serve in the construction of the world's greatest monument to the first century of powered flight -- the Smithsonian Institution's new Udvar-Hazy Center.

I will tell you more about the exciting new Udvar-Hazy Center in just a moment. But first, let me share a personal reason why I hope you will accept the offer to have your name, or the name of a friend or family member, engraved on the new National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor along with other leaders and icons of America's aviation and space history. You will be remembered and immortalized with aviation and space exploration heroes like the Wright brothers, Eddie Rickenbacker, Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Dick Rutan, and many many more.

For me and my family, the National Air and Space Museum and The National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor have special meaning.

It was at dawn on a wet and dreary day in May 1927 that a tiny purpose-built monoplane struggled and climbed into the low clouds from a muddy potato field on Long Island, NY.

The little plane's top speed was barely more than 120 miles per hour. Yet she had been designed to compete in a race against time, a race that had already claimed the lives of nearly a dozen of the best pioneers from the days of early aviation.

At the controls of the fuel-laden aircraft was a young pilot who, 33 hours later, electrified the world when he landed at Le Bourget Airport near Paris -- becoming the first man to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic from New York to Paris.

The plane was the Spirit of St. Louis. The tall, handsome, and shy young pilot was my father, Charles Lindbergh.

It's been more than seventy-five years since my father flew from America's shores into the annals of history. But to those of us who love flying today -- who know the unique thrill and joy of being one with a machine, high in the sky, with the wind, the sun, and the clouds -- there is always the special knowledge that we are privileged members of a long continuous line of bold aviators, a line that stretches back before Charles Lindbergh to that December day in 1903 when the Wright brothers first launched their fragile Flyer from the blustery beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Now, like my father back in 1927, we're engaged in a new race against time.

The Centennial of Powered Flight has come and gone – this celebration of a remarkable century in which we Americans led the way as humankind slipped the surly bonds of earth, visited the Moon, and sent wondrous unmanned craft like Voyager and Pioneer to the far reaches of the universe – but the limitless boundaries of the next century are just beginning. We can all take pride that a major event in December 2003, the culmination of the Centennial, was the opening of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.

To reserve the right to have your name engraved on the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor, and to be remembered as a benefactor who helped complete the construction of the largest museum in the world, may I ask you to join with me in making a generous contribution to the national drive to complete the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center?

You've probably heard about the Udvar-Hazy Center already. In the planning stages for years, it's been designed to display the hundreds of rare and historic aircraft and space vehicles acquired and stored by the Smithsonian Institution over the years. This new facility opened to the public on December 15, 2003, and in the first fifteen months had over 2 million visitors.

The Udvar-Hazy Center opened as the home to over 85 historic and rare aircraft including the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, an SR-71 Blackbird supersonic spy plane, an Air France Concorde supersonic transport, veteran fighters and bombers from World War II, the Korean conflict, and Vietnam, the unique Northrop N-1M Flying Wing, and the centerpiece of the Udvar-Hazy Center -- the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise. Eventually there will be over 200 aircraft and 135 space vehicles on display in this world-class facility.

Congress voted funds that enabled the Smithsonian Institution to design and plan the Center that is built on a 176.6-acre parcel of land on the Washington Dulles International Airport. But there was no Federal funding to build the 760,000 square-foot museum and preservation facility. Through the generous support of thousands of friends and supporters, we have been able to construct the aviation and space hangars, but much more remains to be done! Yet to be built is the state-of-the-art preservation and restoration hangar which will allow museum specialists to restore aircraft the size of three B-24 Liberators at one time. In addition, the completed museum will include an archives center for researchers and a collections processing center.

Each of these facilities is important to the overall preservation of our nation's collection of rare and historic aircraft and space vehicles.

I want to stress that no Federal funding has been provided for the construction of the Udvar-Hazy Center. The important air and space preservation and restoration facility must be built entirely with voluntary contributions from citizens who care deeply about aviation's past, present, and future. That makes your personal reply to this special invitation very important.

The National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor at the Udvar-Hazy Center provides you a unique opportunity to honor friends and family members who have an interest in aviation or space exploration as well as honor the memory of those who, through flight, sacrificed their lives in the service of our nation to preserve democracy and freedom.

Because of extreme space limitations on the Museum's National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor, we are asking for a $100 fee for the privilege of adding the name of you, a family member, or a revered friend on the Wall of Honor. Your donation will be used to support the construction of the rest of the Udvar-Hazy Center and help to preserve and restore the many aircraft and space exploration artifacts in the Museum's collection.

I'm pleased to report that several spirited enthusiasts have already pledged gifts ranging from $100 to over $10,000. How much you decide to pledge, above the minimum, is up to you. However, gifts of $500 or more will receive special placement and recognition on the Wall of Honor, and if you enclose a photograph of the individual to be honored, this will be included along with an Honoree Profile in the National Air and Space Museum's collection for all time.

Once your pledge is fulfilled you will receive a special National Air and Space Museum certificate as a display keepsake to confirm that the honoree's name is engraved on the National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor.

Imagine the swell of pride you and your family members will feel when you see your name or that of a friend or family member – a well-deserved lasting tribute -- prominently featured among the great pioneers of American aviation.

I know that feeling myself. Each time I see the Spirit of St. Louis aloft in the Milestones of Flight gallery at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, I marvel at the accomplishments of my father.

Here at the Udvar-Hazy Center, new generations of Americans and visitors will not only have the opportunity to learn about the rare and historic air and space craft, but also the important role that thousands of individuals have played in this century to make flight and space travel a reality!

The National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and the National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor will serve as a wonderful monument to them all, and I am happy to extend this special invitation to you.

I hope you will be generous in your reply and join with me in support of these important efforts today.

Sincerely yours,
Reeve Lindbergh

P.S. My mother, author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, also was an accomplished pilot and flew with my father for many years. In 1993, she visited the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. to see the Spirit of St. Louis once again, plus the Lockheed Sirius Tingmissartoq that she and my father had flown together in the 1930s. Just like the millions of people who visit each year, she was deeply moved by the reverent sense of history the National Air and Space Museum presents to each visitor.

It is truly a magnificent shrine to aviation, and I sincerely hope you will join with me in expanding the reach and scope of the National Air and Space Museum by supporting the drive to complete the construction of the Udvar-Hazy Center.