The Spirit is known as the airplane that showed the world that aviation was a promising and reliable means of transportation. Lindbergh's flight changed aviation history and the course of history in general. Today we don't think twice about crossing the Atlantic in an airplane, but a mere 75 years ago non-stop transatlantic flight was thought by many to be impossible. In our effort to raise funds for this project we will be offering items for sale through our gift shop relating to Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis, including custom made note cards with original artwork by Penny Havard. We will also be offering full-size wing ribs that were built some twenty years ago when this project was initiated by Cole Palen.
Supplies are limited.
We will include the names of the top 100 donors to the project in a duplicate spinner of the one that will be used on our flying example. This spinner will be displayed in our museum and will represent the first spinner made for the original Spirit of St. Louis. The original spinner was signed by the workers at the Ryan Company who built the Spirit before it left San Diego to head to Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York. When it arrived in New York the spinner was found to have a crack, and was replaced before the Atlantic flight. The original signed spinner is now on display at the National Air and Space museum.