ON THIS DAY

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May 21, 1927

First nonstop solo transatlantic flight made by Charles Lindbergh

In the early morning of Friday, May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, his destination, Le Bourget Aerodrome, about 7 miles (11 km) outside Paris and 3,610 miles (5,810 km) from his starting point.

His plane, dubbed the Spirit of St. Louis, was a fabric-covered, single-seat, single-engine high-wing monoplane designed jointly by Lindbergh. For its transatlantic flight, the Spirit was loaded with 450 U.S. gallons (1,700 litres) of fuel that was filtered repeatedly to avoid fuel line blockage. The fuel load was a thousand pounds heavier than any the Spirit had lifted during a test flight, and the fully loaded airplane weighed 5,200 pounds (2,400 kg).

Over the 33.5 hours of the flight, the aircraft fought icing, flew blind through fog for several hours, and Lindbergh navigated only by dead reckoning (he was not proficient at navigating by the sun and stars and he rejected radio navigation gear as heavy and unreliable). He was fortunate that the winds over the Atlantic cancelled each other out, giving him zero wind drift—and thus accurate navigation during the long flight over featureless ocean.

On arriving at Paris, Lindbergh initially mistook it for some large industrial complex because of the bright lights spreading out in all directions‍—‌in fact the headlights of tens of thousands of spectators' cars caught in "the largest traffic jam in Paris history" in their attempt to be present for Lindbergh's landing.

A crowd estimated at 150,000 stormed the field after his landing, dragged Lindbergh out of the cockpit, and carried him around above their heads for "nearly half an hour." Before the police could intervene the souvenir mad spectators stripped the plane of everything which could be taken, and were cutting off pieces of linen when a squad of soldiers with fixed bayonets quickly surrounded the plane, providing guard as it was wheeled into a shed.

Lindbergh later presented the plane to the Smithsonian Institution where for more than eight decades it has been on display, hanging for 48 years (1928–76) in the Arts and Industries Building, and since 1976 hanging in the atrium of the National Air and Space Museum.

Lindbergh with the Spirit of St. Louis prior to his flight

Spirit of St-Louis photographed at National Air and Space Museum.

(Not something I would want to fly solo across the Atlantic non-stop and without navigation equipment or radio).

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