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Monday, May 21, 2018

LUCKY LINDY FLIES ALL ALONE IN A LITTLE PLANE ALL HIS OWN

LINDBERGH COMPLETES 1ST SOLO TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT 

Paris (JFK+50) Charles A. Lindbergh* landed safely at Le Bourget Field here in Paris on May 21, 1927 after a 33 1/2 hour flight from New York City.

Lindbergh, born in Detroit, Michigan in 1902, became the first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and the first to fly non-stop from New York to Paris.

Lucky Lindy was greeted by an excited crowd of 150,000 who carried him around above their heads for about thirty minutes.  Lindbergh's aircraft was called The Spirit of St. Louis**.

*Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974) was born in Detroit, Michigan but grew up in Minnesota & Washington D.C.  CAL studied mechanical engineering before pursuing a career as an aviator.  He joined the Robertson Aircraft Company as an airmail pilot in 1925.

**The Spirit of St. Louis (NX-211) was a single engine, single seat monoplane which flew 3600 miles in the 1st trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.  It was built by Ryan Airlines in San Diego.  SOSL is on permanent display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C.

JFK+50 NOTE:

"Lucky Lindy Flies All Alone In A Little Plane All His Own" is a line from the song "Lucky Lindy" recorded by Vernon Dalhart (1929-30).  Click on You Tube recording below.


Charles A. Lindbergh
Spirit of St. Louis (1927)
Restored by Crisco 1492 (2013)
Library of Congress Image