Day in the life
This historic flight That challenged The limitations of aviation New York to Paris, 20-21 MAY 1927
Fly solo across the Atlantic
In 1919, hotel owner Raymond Orteig, offered a $25,000 reward to the first aviator or aviators to fly from New York City to Paris, or vice-versa. He had been inspired by a speech given by flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, discussing the friendship between America and France, at a dinner for the Aero Club of America.
The race was on and various attempts were made by different aviation teams, all of whom failed to complete the race. Funded by bankers in St Louis Missouri, Charles Lindbergh decided to attempt the transatlantic flight solo, to avoid inevitable fighting with a co-pilot, and forewent equipment that added weight to his plane, such as radios and a parachute. His success spurred on other pilots, with many aviation records broken during 1927.
Preparing The fuel
Up bright and early for the biggest adventure of his life, Charles Lindbergh arrived at his hangar at Curtiss Field to watch his plane’s gas tank being pumped with fuel. He also listened out for the weather reports to determine whether it would be safe to conduct the flight. The reports all indicated fine, clear weather with very little wind.
Towing The Plane
Encouraged by the good weather reports Lindbergh had his plane, the Spirit of St Louis, wheeled from the Curtiss Field hangar and onto the runway at Roosevelt Field. Patrolmen helped to escort the plane towards the runway while crowds started to gather with excitement with the news that Lindbergh was going to set off later that morning.
Taking off
With 1,704 litres to be pumped into the plane’s tank, it took a few more hours for the plane to be ready. Once this was completed, Lindbergh set off down the runway in front 500 onlookers and lifted off into the sky. The plane gathered speed slowly and only just cleared the telephone wires at the end by about six metres.
making Progess
After five hours of flight, Lindbergh had travelled over 400 miles away from New York, over the Gulf of Maine and towards Nova Scotia.
Lindbergh had begun to feel tired mid-way through this first leg of the journey and descended until he was flying ten feet above the water, to keep his mind clear. Wind velocity started to increase to 30mph.
flying over canada
As Lindbergh flew over a mountain range a storm front approached, but luckily his course moved him away from the edge of the storm. Now passed Nova Scotia, Lindbergh flew along the southern coast of Newfoundland.
Since mid-afternoon he had been struggling to keep his eyes open.
stay awake
As nightfall descended, the sea was covered by fog and Lindbergh raised his plane from an altitude of 800 feet to 7,500 feet in order to stay above it. He flew into a thunderhead cloud but had to quickly change direction when ice started to form on the plane. Lindbergh also kept the plane’s windows open and hoped that the cold air would help to keep him awake.
over halfway
With around 15 hours left to go, Lindbergh was over half way through his ambitious flight. He was exhausted as daylight broke and he fell asleep with his eyes open numerous times, awakening unsure of the seconds or minutes that had passed – Lindbergh also experienced hallucinations. After hours of trying to stay above the fog, it finally began to clear up.
Towards ireland
After more than 24 hours in the sky, Lindbergh pushed past the tiredness and felt more awake. He had seen fishing boats in the sea below and lowered the plane to ask for directions, but none of the fisherman surfaced to talk to him. Looking at his charts, Lindbergh realised that he was approaching the south of Ireland, two and a half hours ahead of schedule.
arrival in Paris
As he approached the English coast, Lindbergh realised how close he was to reaching his target and increased his air speed to 110mph, hoping to reach France in daylight – he was no longer tired. At 10:22pm local time Lindbergh made his historic touch down at the Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris after just over 33 hours of flying and was greeted by a crowd of around 150,000 people.