Telegraph Key, Radio, Lockheed Sirius "Tingmissartoq", Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, took this telegraph key and other radio equipment on their 1931 flight to the Orient and 1933 survey flights across the North and South Atlantic. Because they were flying over vast stretches of unchartered territory in Canada, Alaska, and Siberia during their 1931 flight and Greenland, Africa, and Brazil during their 1933 flight, the Lindberghs relied on radio and navigation equipment to help them find their remote destinations.Anne, who served as co-pilot, operated all of the radio equipment during the Lindberghs' two trans-global flights, performing an impressive daily workload, and set a telegraph transmission distance record. Prior to the 1931 flight she worked hard to learn Morse code and earn her radio operator's license. She used this telegraph key to send Morse code messages to radio stations along their route. In order to earn her radio operator's license she had to transmit and receive messages in Morse code at 15 words per minute, but she eventually became much more efficient.