| Spirit of St. Louis Ryan NYP | |
|---|---|
 The Spirit at the National Air and Space Museum | |
| General information | |
| Type | Long-range aircraft [for record attempt] |
| Manufacturer | Ryan Airlines |
| Designer | |
| Owners | Charles Lindbergh |
| Number built | 1 (not including later replicas and reproductions) |
| Registration | N-X-211 |
| Flights | 174 |
| Total hours | 489 hours, 28 minutes |
| History | |
| First flight | April 28, 1927 |
| Retired | April 30, 1928 |
| Developed from | Ryan M-2 |
| Preserved at | National Air and Space Museum |
The Spirit of St. Louis (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France, for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.[1]
Lindbergh took off in the Spirit from Roosevelt Airfield, Garden City, New York, and landed 33 hours, 30 minutes later at Aéroport Le Bourget in Paris, France, a distance of approximately 3,600 miles (5,800 km).[2] He also flew this aircraft on numerous occasions, delivering mail in and out of the United States. One of the best-known aircraft in the world, the Spirit was built by Ryan Airlines in San Diego, California, owned and operated at the time by Benjamin Franklin Mahoney, who had purchased it from its founder, T. Claude Ryan, in 1926. The Spirit is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.. The exhibit, Pioneers of Flight, is closed for renovations until Spring 2025.[3]
- ^ "Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis". National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
- ^ Jackson 2012, pp. 512–516.
- ^ "Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight". airandspace.si.edu. February 1, 2024. Retrieved April 11, 2024.