todayinhistory:

May 20th 1927: Lindbergh begins first solo flight across Atlantic

On this day in 1927 at 7.52am, Charles Lindbergh set off from Long Island in New York on the world’s first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He landed in Paris at 10.22pm the next day. He covered nearly 3,600 miles in a purpose built single seat plane the Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh wanted the Orteig Prize, a $25,000 reward  offered by Raymond Orteig for the first non-stop solo flight between New York and Paris; many died in the pursuit of the prize, but Lindbergh won it.  Lindbergh was a US Air Mail pilot before his fame from this historic flight, for which he was awarded a Medal of Honor.

(via pl0nk3r)