Airplane

Illustration of airplane in front of a cloud on a red background.

The illustration featured here resembles the “Spirit of St. Louis,” an airplane flown by Charles Lindbergh. He is known to be the first aviator to fly across the Atlantic alone. In 1919, Raymond Orteig set up a challenge in finding the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris for a prize of $25,000. Few tried to accomplish this challenge, but Charles Lindbergh was determined to win. After many months of searching for the right plane, the Ryan Airlines Corporation offered to build for Lindbergh a single-engine plane that would get to Paris. Named the “Spirit of St. Louis,” the plane was designed to have extra fuel tanks, increased wingspan to accommodate the additional weight, and have a maximum range of 4,000 miles, more than enough to reach the destination. Lindbergh made careful considerations in the plane’s weight, believing that less weight would increase fuel efficiency and increase the flying range. On April 28, 1927, the “Spirit of St. Louis” was completed, and on May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off towards Paris from Roosevelt Field. After traveling over 3,600 miles in 33.5 hours, Lindbergh landed safely at Le Bourget Field in Paris.