Then, at 7:52 on the rainy morning of May 20, Charles A Lindbergh lifted his heavily overloaded Ryan monoplane from the muddy sod of Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York to begin a solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris. He landed at Le Bourget airport near the French capital about ten o'clock on the clear night of May 21, after a flight of about 33 1/2 hours. He was the winner of the $25,000 Orteig Prize.

The Orteig Prize

Sitting in the cockpit of his DH on his mail route between St. Louis and Chicago, Lindbergh had thought much about the prize posted in 1919 by Raymond Orteig. It was to be awarded to the first aviator to make "a flight from New York to Paris or the shores of France, without stop." The offer was to stand for five years. No one attempted the flight during the first period. When the time expired, Orteig renewed the offer for another five years.

Lindbergh was confident that if he could obtain an airplane that would carry sufficient fuel and power it with the Wright Whirlwind J-5 engine of 225 hp, he could make the Atlantic crossing successfully.

The story of the flight and the obstacles Lindbergh encountered are history. An interesting bit was the refusal of Walter Beech to sell Lindbergh a Travel Air monoplane for the attempt. Beech wanted no part of the bad publicity should the attempt fail. Belanca also refused to sell Lindbergh an airplane, thinking this mailpilot/barnstormer had no chance of a successful finish. It must have been utter misery for Beech and Belanca to see the rich fruits of victory go to Ryan.

The enthusiasm and hero-worship aroused by the Lindbergh flight was world-wide. In the United States it reached the point of near-hysteria. Lindbergh's successful accomplishment was made possible by four incontrovertible factors that together solved the problem of crossing the Atlantic by air:

The Pilot's Physical Condition
was good enough to enable him to stay awake and concentrate on maintaining compass headings for more than 33 1/2 hours.

The Airplane
was capable of holding enough fuel and taking off with the additional weight for the flight.

The Ryan NYP, "Spirit Of St. Louis," is the most celebrated single engine aircraft in the history of aviation.

Designed by Ryan Airlines, a San Diego company, that occupied two floors of a fish cannery on the San Diego waterfront; they produced the high-winged monoplane the M-2, which performed admirably on West Coast mail routes. The "Spirit" was based on the M-2 and designed for one purpose - to fly non-stop to Paris.

The plane was precisely tailored to the man who would fly it. Don Hall, Ryan's chief engineer even designed the cockpit to Lindbergh's dimensions and calculated the pilot's weight as 170 lbs. The price, including Whirlwind J-5C engine came to $10,580.

The plane would have a maximum range of 4,000 miles and carried 425 gallons of fuel - more than enough to reach Paris. To support the load of fuel the plane would start out with, Hall widened and strengthened the undercarriage, basing his design on one "borrowed," with the aid of a flashlight in the dead of night, from a Fokker FVII hangared nearby. Upon completion on April 28, 1927 the "Spirit" weighed in at 2,150 lbs empty. It stood 9 feet, 8 inches high, 27 feet, 8 inches long and had a 46 foot wing span.

Today, Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" is housed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. It is one of the museum's most popular attractions.

The Wright Whirlwind J-5 Engine
developing 225 hp at takeoff, was capable of operating continuously for 33 1/2 hours.

Designed by Charles L. Lawrance, the Whirlwind was one of the most reliable aircraft engines in the world. The significance of the Whirlwind was acknowledged in the awarding of the Collier Trophy, America's most respected aviation award for 1927. The prize in that year went not to the pilot who had flown the Atlantic but to Charles L. Lawrance the designer of the engine that made it possible.

The Enroute Weather
which was instrument conditions in some areas, but never worse than flyable for at least 33 1/2 hours.

The impact of the flight on aviation was incredible. Lindbergh returned to the United States aboard the USS Memphis. The airplane had been recovered, courtesy of the French, because souvenir hunters had stripped fabric from the Ryan. Lindbergh flew the Spirit on a tour of the major cities in the United States and Mexico.

There were other record setting flights as hazardous and nearly as significant as Lindbergh's that were completed successfully within a relatively short period following the retirement of the Orteig Prize. They held the spotlight but briefly and seemed only to enhance the Lindbergh image.

By the way, Lindbergh was not the first person to fly across the Atlantic. Over 100 people preceded him. He was the first to fly the Atlantic solo. In September, 1936 Beryl Markham became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west, taking off in England and crash-landing in Nova Scotia twenty-one hours later.