Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis
The Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis is the single-seat monoplane Ryan Airlines built in San Diego in 1927 for Charles A. Lindbergh's attempt on the Orteig Prize. Designed by Donald A. Hall from the Ryan M-2, it carried Lindbergh on the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight, from New York to Paris on May 20-21, 1927. After a year of exhibition flying it was presented to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains on display.
Why It Mattered
In May 1927, the Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis carried Charles A. Lindbergh on the first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic, from New York to Paris. The flight won the $25,000 prize Raymond Orteig had offered in 1919 for the first nonstop flight between New York City and Paris. Coming after several unsuccessful attempts by others, some of them fatal, it persuaded a broad public that air travel could be safe and reliable, and interest in aviation surged. The Smithsonian ranks the worldwide reaction second only to the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 among aviation events.
Design Notes
The NYP — New York to Paris — was a one-off design by Donald A. Hall of Ryan Airlines, developed from the company's standard M-2 monoplane. The wingspan was increased by 10 feet and the fuselage lengthened, with the structure redesigned, so the aircraft could lift a far greater fuel load. The main fuel tank was placed at the center of gravity, ahead of a cockpit moved rearward for safety, so Lindbergh could see forward only with a periscope, or by turning the aircraft and looking out a side window. Power came from a single Wright Whirlwind J-5C radial engine. Working to a tight deadline, Hall and the Ryan staff completed the aircraft in about 60 days.
Operational History
The Spirit of St. Louis first flew on April 28, 1927, at Dutch Flats in San Diego. After test flights, Lindbergh flew it to New York on May 10–12, stopping once at St. Louis; the 21 hours, 40 minutes set a transcontinental record. On the morning of May 20, 1927, he took off alone for Paris and landed at Le Bourget Field 33 hours and 30 minutes later, 3,610 miles away, where a crowd of about 100,000 waited. The aircraft returned to the United States aboard the U.S.S. Memphis on June 11, and from July 20 to October 23 Lindbergh took it on a tour of the United States. That December he flew it from Washington to Mexico City and on through Central America and the Caribbean; from Mexico City onward, flags of the countries visited were painted on the cowling. The final flight came on April 30, 1928, from St. Louis to Washington, D.C., where Lindbergh presented the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution.
Afterlife
Presented to the Smithsonian in 1928, the Spirit of St. Louis went on display in the Arts and Industries Building. It moved to the National Air and Space Museum when that museum opened in 1976. It remains there today, on display in the Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight gallery in Washington, D.C. The museum occasionally lowers the suspended aircraft to the floor for preservation work; in January 2015 it came down for the first time since 1992, spending about five months at eye level. Only one NYP was built; the replicas that have appeared since are separate aircraft, and the original has not flown since 1928.