On 20 May 1927, Charles Lindbergh left Long Island, New York, for Le Bourget, France (near Paris), becoming the first person to complete a nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He flew 3,610 miles in 33 1/2 hours.
His single-engine plane, the Spirt of St. Louis (so-named because of his business supporters), “was designed with one thought in mind: to get to Paris.”
“Lucky Lindy” and his “Spirit of St. Louis” landed at Curtiss Field on Long Island, New York, on May 12, 1927. En route, pilot and plane had already broken the existing record for the fastest transcontinental flight. Eight days later, Lindbergh and his silver plane were poised to set new records as they took off from Roosevelt Field. Fighting fog, icing, and sleep deprivation, Lindbergh landed safely at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 10:22pm on May 21, 1927.
Exactly five years later, 20 May 1932, Amelia Earhart left Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, on her solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic. She landed landed 15 hours later near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in cow pasture belonging to the Gallagher family. Her goal had been Paris. (Lindbergh had flown over Ireland.)
However, her plane’s exhaust manifold broke four hours after departure; “flames shooting from the vent threatened the success of the flight” for the next 10+ hours. After her altimeter malfunctioned, Earhart flew “blind” for five hours.
I had plenty of fuel and could have kept right on to Paris, maybe further, but my motor was straining; so after sighting land, which I knew must be Ireland, I decided to come down.
#scitech, #science, #society (119/365)
📷 Smithsonian
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