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Spirit of St. Louis

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Spirit of St. Louis
Ryan NYP
Illustration of the Spirit of St. Louis
Role Long-range aircraft [for record attempt]
Manufacturer Ryan Airlines
Designer Donald A. Hall
First flight 28 April 1927
Retired 30 April 1928
Primary user Charles Lindbergh
Produced 1927
Number built 1
Developed from Ryan M-2
Career
Registration N-X-211
Preserved at National Air and Space Museum

The Spirit of St. Louis (Registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built single engine, single seat monoplane that was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.[1]

Lindbergh took off in the Spirit from Roosevelt Airfield, Garden City (Long Island), New York and landed 33 hours, 30 minutes later at Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris, France.

Design and development

Officially known as the Ryan NYP (for New York to Paris), the single-engine monoplane was designed by Donald A. Hall of the aircraft manufacturer Ryan Airlines located in San Diego, California. To save design time the NYP was loosely based on the company's 1926 Ryan M-2 mail-plane with the main difference being the 4,000 mile range of the NYP. Hall documented his design in "Engineering Data on the Spirit of St. Louis" which he prepared for the US NACA and is included as an appendix to Lindbergh's 1953 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Spirit of St. Louis.

In 1927, the company was owned by Benjamin Franklin Mahoney who had co-founded it as an airline in 1925 with T. Claude Ryan. The latter remained with the company after Mahoney bought out his interest in 1926, but there is some dispute as to how involved Ryan may have been in its management after selling his share. It is known, however, that Hawley Bowlus was the factory manager who oversaw construction of the Ryan NYP, and that B.F. Mahoney was the sole owner at the time of Donald A. Hall's hiring. Although the "Spirit" was designed and built in San Diego for a flight from New York to Paris, it was named after the city of St. Louis, Missouri because both Lindbergh and his financial backers lived in that city. The flight was inspired by the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris which Lindbergh would win in the monoplane. (The three earlier failed attempts made prior to Lindbergh's flight, in which a total of six aircrew were killed, all involved biplanes.) Hall and Ryan Airlines' staff worked closely with Lindbergh to design and build the Spirit in just 60 days. Although what was actually paid to Ryan Aeronautical for the project isn't clear, Mahoney offered to do it "at cost."

Design

Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis at Roosevelt Field

Lindbergh believed that multiple engines resulted in a greater chance of failure while a single-engine design would give him greater range. To increase fuel efficiency, the Spirit of St. Louis was also one of the most advanced and aerodynamically streamlined designs of its era.

Lindbergh believed that a flight made in a single-seat monoplane designed around the dependable Wright J-5C "Whirlwind" radial engine provided the best chance of success. The Ryan NYP had a fuel capacity of 450 US gallons (2,385 lbs) which was necessary in order to have the range to make the anticipated flight non-stop. The large main fuel tank was placed in the forward section of the fuselage, in front of the pilot, which improved the center of gravity. Locating fuel tanks at the front reduced the risk of the pilot being crushed to death in crash, thus there was no front windshield, and the pilot's view was limited to the side windows. A periscope was installed to provide a forward view, as a precaution against hitting ship masts, trees, or structures while flying at low altitude; however, it is unclear whether the periscope was used during the flight. Lindbergh also used special navigation instruments such as the Earth Inductor Compass as its main instrument, allowing Lindbergh to navigate while taking account of the magnetic declination of the earth.

Lindbergh sat in a cramped cockpit which was 94 centimeters wide by 81 centimeters long and 130 centimeters high (36 x 32 x 51 inches). The cockpit was so small, Lindbergh could not stretch his legs. The Spirit of St. Louis was powered by a 223 horsepower, air-cooled, 9-cylinder Wright J-5C "Whirlwind" radial engine. The engine was rated for a maximum operating time of 9,000 hours (more than one year if operated continuously), and had a special mechanism that could keep it clean for the entire New York-to-Paris flight. It was also, for its day, very fuel efficient enabling longer flights carrying less fuel weight for given distances.[2] Another key feature of Lindbergh's radial engine was that it was rated to self-lubricate the engine's valves for 40 hours continuously. Lubricating, or "greasing," the moving external engine parts was a necessity most aeronautical engines of the day required to be done manually by the pilot or ground crew prior to every flight and would have been otherwise somehow required during such a long flight[2].

The engine was built at Wright Aeronautical in Paterson, New Jersey by a 24-year old engine builder, Tom Rutledge, who was disappointed that he was assigned to the unknown aviator Charles Lindbergh. Four days after the flight he received a letter of congratulations from the Wright management.[3][2] His estate owns pictures of historical interest.[4]

The race to win the Prize required time saving design compromises. The original wingspan of the Ryan M2 was increased by 10 ft and redesigned to create a surface area large enough to lift 450 gallons (1,703 liters) of fuel (carried in five fuel tanks: left wing, right wing, mid wing, nose and in available payload space) along with the lone pilot and minimum necessary gear.

However, Donald A. Hall decided that the empenage (tail assembly) and wing control surfaces would not be altered from his original Ryan M-2 design, thus minimizing redesign time that was not available without delaying the flight. The result was a less aerodynamic stability which the experienced Lindbergh nevertheless approved. There is dispute regarding whether Hall and Lindbergh also preferred this design since the estimated 40-hour flight would be very challenging in terms of pilot fatigue.[citation needed] More than likely, Hall and Lindbergh together weighed the advantages and disadvantages of this setup, determining that some level of instability would help keep Lindbergh awake. This indeed resulted in a less than optimally stable design that tended to randomly introduce unanticipated pitch, yaw, and bank (roll) elements into its overall flight characteristics. The stiff wicker seat in the cockpit was also purposely uncomfortable, though custom fitted to Lindbergh's tall and lanky frame. Lindbergh later wrote in his account, The Spirit of St. Louis, about how these random unanticipated movements helped keep him awake at various times during the flight.

Sample of the treated fabric from the Spirit of St. Louis

Lindbergh also insisted that unnecessary weight be eliminated. For example, he carried no radio in order to save weight. Radios were quite unreliable at the time in any case. Also, although he was an airmail pilot, he refused to carry souvenir letters on the transatlantic journey, insisting that every spare ounce be devoted to fuel. The fuselage was made of treated fabric over a metal-tube frame, while the wings were made of fabric over a wood frame.

A small, left-facing swastika was painted on the inside of the nosecone of the Spirit of St. Louis along with the names of all the Ryan Aircraft Co. employees who designed and built it. It was meant as a message of good luck prior to Lindbergh's solo Atlantic crossing as the symbol was often used as a popular good luck charm with early aviators and others.[5] The inside of the nosecone can be viewed on the original Spirit of St. Louis at the National Air and Space Museum.

Legacy

Lindbergh's transatlantic flight made him an instant celebrity and media star. In successfully winning the Orteig Prize, his solitary flight seemed to stir the public's imagination. He wrote: "I was astonished at the effect my successful landing in France had on the nations of the world. It was like a match lighting a bonfire" [6].

He subsequently flew the Spirit of St. Louis to Belgium and England before President Calvin Coolidge sent a Navy cruiser to bring Lindbergh and the Spirit back to the United States. Lindbergh then flew the Spirit of St. Louis on promotional and goodwill tours across the United States and Latin America. The final flight of the Spirit of St. Louis took place on April 30, 1928, when Lindbergh flew from St. Louis to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., where he presented the Spirit to the Smithsonian Institution where it remains on display today at the National Air and Space Museum.

Aftermath

Although Ryan capitalized on the notoriety of the NYP special, an offshoot the Ryan B-1 Brougham emerged as a five-seater with the same J-5 engine but modified with a conventional cockpit layout and a shorter wingspan. Under the newly restructured B.F. Mahoney Company, further development continued with the six-place Model B-7 utilizing a 420 hp engine and the Model C-1 with the basic 220 hp engine. In 1928, Mahoney built a DeLuxe B-2 as a gift for Charles Lindbergh. [7]

While these further developments were only superficially comparable to the Spirit of St. Louis, an exact duplicate was built 45 days after the transatlantic flight, the NYP-2, ordered by the Japanese newspaper Mainichi. The NYP-2 carrying serial number 29 was registered as J-BACC and achieved a number of record-breaking flights early in 1928 before a crash ended its career.[7]

Replicas

The 1938 Paramount film Men with Wings starring Ray Milland featured a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis fashioned from a Ryan B-1 "Brougham"[8] similar to one presented to Lindbergh by the manufacturer, the Mahoney Aircraft Corporation, shortly after the Spirit was retired in April, 1928.[9][10] All three replicas survived with B-153 on display at the Missouri History Museum, in St. Louis, B-156 is part of the collection at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and B-159 belongs to the Cradle of Aviation Museum located in Garden City, Long Island, New York, not far from the site of Roosevelt Field from which the original departed in 1927.[11]Reputed to have been flown by Lindbergh during the film's production, the connection to Lindbergh is now considered a myth.[12] A 90% static replica was also built in 1956 for the film by the Warner Brothers Movie studio which is now on display at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. [13]

Spirit of St. Louis replica at EAA Museum

The Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin produced two Spirit replicas powered by Continental R-670-4 radial engines, the first in 1977 (which was a conversion from a B-1 Brougham) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic Ocean and subsequent tour of the United States. This example is now on display in the main museum gallery while a second replica built from scratch was started in 1977 was first flown in November 1990 continues to fly at air shows and commemorative events. Both of the EAA replicas were registered under the original's N-X-211.

On the 40th anniversary of Lindbergh's flight a new replica was built by Frank Tallman, it first flew on 24 April 1967 and was named Spirit 2.[13] Spirit 2 appeared at the 1967 Paris Air Show and made several flights over Paris.[13] In 1972 Spirit 2 was bought for $50,000 by the San Diego Aerospace Museum and placed on public display until it was destroyed by arson in 1978.[13] The museum built a replacement named Spirit 3 which first flew on 28 April 1979, it made seven flights before being placed on display. In August 2003 the Spirit 3 was removed from display and was flown as a 75th Anniversary tribute to Lindbergh.[13]

The San Diego Museum also built a non-flying example which was fitted with an original Wright J-5 engine which was placed on display at the San Diego International Airport in 1999.[13]

Another airworthy replica was built by David Cannavo and first flown in 1979 powered by a Lycoming R-680 engine. In 1995 it was bought by Kermit Weeks for his Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, Florida.

Another Spirit of St. Louis static replica was built in 2002 and is on display at the Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport. [14] The Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum at Rantoul, Illinois has a static replica built by museum volunteers.[13]. Two replicas are also found in Germany, one at the Frankfurt International Airport with the second in a private collection.[15] Another European-based replica of the Spirit (Registration ES-XCL), which had been built and certified in Estonia in 1997, was written off when structural failure shortly after taking off at an air show in Coventry, England, on 31 May 2003, resulted in a fatal crash killing its owner-pilot, veteran (22,000+ hours) Swedish Saab 340 captain Pierre Holländer.[16][17][18]

The original Spirit of St. Louis is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, in the main atrium on the same side as the Bell X-1 and SpaceShipOne. It was presented to the Smithsonian Institution by Lindbergh in May 1928.

Specifications (Ryan NYP)

Data from [19][20]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

Notes

  1. ^ National Air and Space Museum, Milestones of Flight Exhibits: Spirit of St. Louis
  2. ^ a b c "History Detectives" aired in the PBS "World" timeslot, airdate: 11 May 2008[1], Template:I Note: This PBS program confirms through three documents and several experts that the uncle of two brothers, now in possession of the letter (image on 1st reference), did indeed build the J5 Rotary Aeronautical Engine of the Spirit of St. Louis.
  3. ^ "non-Lindbergh foundation webpage on Tom Rutledge." "Photos from the estate of Tom Rutledge" Note: See photo of the letter of congratulations on this site. Retrieved: 11 May 2008.
  4. ^ pictures of historical interest
  5. ^ During this period, the swastika (which has neolithic origins) was a widely-used symbol of good luck and was not yet associated in the United States with the German Nazi Party which was still a largely unknown organization outside of Europe at this time.
  6. ^ Nevin 1980, p. 99.
  7. ^ a b Bowers 1967, p. 71.
  8. ^ Cassagneres 2002, p. 140.
  9. ^ "B.F. Mahoney was the 'mystery man' behind the Ryan company that built Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis." Joseph D. Tekulsk
  10. ^ Charles Lindbergh and his Ryan Brougham B-1 (NX4215)
  11. ^ Cassagneres 2002, pp. 142–143.
  12. ^ Cassagneres 2002, p. 143.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, Rod (2003). "Preserving the Spirit". Air-Britain Aviation World. 55 (4): 66. ISSN 0950-7434. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ Cassagneres 2002, pp. 143–145.
  15. ^ Cassagneres 2002, p. 146.
  16. ^ "Pilot killed in air show crash." BBC News, 1 June 2003.
  17. ^ "Accident Report, Spirit of St Louis Replica (Ryan M1/M2 NYP), ES-XCL." Civil Aviation Authority, 12 February 2004. Note: Even though the airframe only had 191 total hours, the accident investigation revealed the cause of the crash to be a metal fatigue failure of the starboard wing's "wishbone" strut resulting from a faulty weld.
  18. ^ Last flight image of "Spirit of St. Louis" replica ES-XCL at Coventry, England, 31 May 2003.
  19. ^ Hall 1927
  20. ^ a b Schiff 2002. Note: Article gives history of the Spirit and Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, technical details of the aircraft, and a pilot's narrative of flying a replica. Cite error: The named reference "Schiff 2002" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

Bibliography

  • Bowers, Peter M. "The Many Splendid Spirits of St. Louis." Air Progress, Volume 20, No. 6, June 1967.
  • Cassagneres, Ev. The Untold Story of the Spirit of St. Louis: From the Drawing Board to the Smithsonian. New Brighton, Minnesota: Flying Book International, 2002. ISBN 0-911139-32-X.
  • Hall, Donald A. Technical Preparation of the Airplane "Spirit of St. Louis" N.A.C.A. Technical Note #257 Washington: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, July 1927. Retrieved: 18 May 2007.
  • Hall, Nova S. Spirit and Creator: The Mysterious Man Behind Lindbergh's Flight to Paris. Sheffield, Maryland: ATN Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-97029644-4.
  • Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
  • Nevin, David, ed. The Pathfinders (The Epic of Flight, v. 2). Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980. ISBN 0-8094-3256-0.
  • Schiff, Barry. "The Spirit Flies On: Remembering the Flight that Changed the Course of History." AOPA Pilot, May 2002. Retrieved: 18 May 2007.
  • Wohl, Robert. The Spectacle of Flight: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1920–1950. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-30010-692-0.