This Day in History – May 20

I’m not generally one of those people who has a historical note for every day of the week (Heck, I’m not usually sure what day of the week it is!) but this is quite a day. Three events marked on this date have impacted the world and everyone in it who travels internationally, particularly trans-Atlantic.

1927

US Airmail pilot Charles Lindbergh took off from Long Island’s Roosevelt Field aboard his Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis. 33 hours and 30 minutes later, he landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris as a global hero, becoming the first person to fly solo, direct and non-stop “across the pond”. Lindbergh flew 3,610 miles to claim a $25,000 prize from New York hotelier Raymond Orteig who offered the bounty to the first aviator to fly directly across the Atlantic between New York and Paris. (NYP in the plane’s moniker stands for New York – Paris.)

1932

Amelia Earhart took a different route, though she intended to emulate Lindbergh’s flight. She departed Harbour Grace, Newfoundland bound for Paris in a single-engine Lockheed Vega B. High winds, ice and mechanical issues forced her down after just 15 hours, landing in a field in Culmore, Northern Ireland. Still, she had crossed the ocean and the US Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross as the first woman to complete a solo trans-Atlantic flight. She was also awarded the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover. Her landing place today is marked by a small museum, the Amelia Earhart Centre. She was also the first person to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii to Oakland, California, making that flight in January of 1935.

1939

Regular trans-Atlantic air service began when a Pan American Airways Boeing 314 “Clipper” sea plane took off from Port Washington, New York, bound for Marseille, France. The fare was US$375, equivalent to about $5,300 today, and the flight took just 29 hours. In comparison, today’s flights start around $2000 and take approximately 13 hours, in part because it’s rare to find a non-stop to Marseille. However, you could fly JFK (New York) to CDG (Paris) for under $1500 and less than 8 hours. We’ve come a long way, baby.