Biography about charles lindbergh

Spirit of St. Louis

Earlier pilots had crossed the Atlantic in stages, but most planes of the era weren’t equipped to carry enough fuel to make the trip without stopping to fuel up.

Lindbergh decided, with the backing of several people in St.

Louis, to compete for the Orteig Prize—a $25,000 reward put up by French hotelier Raymond Orteig for the first person to fly an airplane non-stop from New York to Paris.

Ryan Airlines of San Diego retrofitted one of their Ryan M-2 aircraft for Lindbergh’s flight.

The customized plane, dubbed a Ryan NYP (for New York-Paris), had a longer fuselage, a longer wingspan and additional struts to accommodate the weight of extra fuel.

The engine powering the plane was a Wright J5-C manufactured by Wright Aeronautical, the aircraft manufacturer founded by the Wright brothers.

Lindbergh had his plane, now named Spirit of St.

Louis in honor of his financial backers, custom-built with extra fuel tanks in the plane’s nose and wings.

One gas tank, mo