On May 21, 1927, 25-year old Charles Augustus Lindbergh landed his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, in Paris, France. It was a record-breaking 33 1/2-hour non-stop, solo flight from New York City.
Instantly, Lindbergh, who grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River in Little Falls, Minnesota, became one of the most famous men in the world.
In 1919, American businessman, Raymond Orteig, announced a $25,000 prize to the first Allied aviator to fly nonstop from Paris to New York, or reverse. His intent was to stimulate advances in the relatively new field of aviation.
Lindbergh, who had been flying airmail routes across the Midwest, decided to take up the challenge. He purchased a customized Ryan single-engine monoplane and named it in honor of the St. Louis men who helped provide funding.
Six aviators had died
By the time Lindbergh was ready for his flight, six well-known aviators had already lost their lives in pursuit of the Orteig prize.
On May 20, 1927, he set out to do what no one else could. At 7:51 a.m. Lindbergh took off from New York’s Roosevelt Field. The plane was loaded with 450 gallons of gasoline, weighing about 2,750 pounds. During takeoff, the plane bounced twice before becoming airborne, clearing the telephone wires at the end of the runway by just 20 feet.
The route took Lindbergh along the coast of New England and toward Canada before crossing the Atlantic. Photographers jumped in planes and followed him as far as they could. Once over the ocean, Lindbergh had to use “dead reckoning,” which meant navigating with a compass instead of maps or landmarks.
For the next 15 hours, there would be no updates. Fears of his demise would surface.
“The world was on edge,” said Melissa Peterson, manager of the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic site in Little Falls. “People of all ages sat around the radio waiting for news, hoping that Lindbergh would appear.”
Finally Paris!
Fighting off sleep and an ice storm, Lindbergh was thrilled to see fishing boats the next morning off the coast of Ireland. The news quickly spread across Europe and the U.S. that Lindbergh had been spotted.
Eagerly awaiting his arrival in Paris, crowds began to gather at the Le Bourget airfield. Lindbergh expected the field to be dark since he was flying at night, but the crowd came with lights. Confused, Lindbergh circled the airfield a few times before landing at 10:24 p.m.
In his autobiography, Lindbergh wrote, “I start to taxi back toward the floodlights and hangars. But the entire field ahead is covered with running figures!” More than 10,000 people rushed toward his plane. The papers dubbed him “Lucky Lindy.”
Tour his home
After his famous flight, Lindbergh continued to promote aviation. He also became a world-renowned author, environmentalist and scientist. He died in August 1974.
Visitors to the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic site, a national historic landmark, can tour his boyhood home, explore visitor-center exhibits, including a Spirit of St. Louis flight simulator, and walk an interpretive trail along the river, where Lindbergh walked and played as a boy.
Jessica Kohen was the media relations manager for Minnesota Historical Society. This article first appeared in the May 2015 issue of Minnesota Good Age.