On May 20-21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop solo air crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean flying from New York’s Roosevelt Field to Le Bourget Field near Paris, France.  The flight lasted 33 ½ hours and covered 3,600 miles.

The heavily modified Ryan bore the name “Spirit of St. Louis” after the city of its sponsors.  Lindbergh kept a close eye on its construction saving weight by eliminating any item he thought to be unessential.  There was no radio, fuel gauge or parachute.

After completing the flight, Lucky Lindy’s silver monoplane became, for millions, the image of ‘the airplane’.  Its simple design was reproduced in endless permutations in every medium and material.  I have tried to convey, in this painting, the sunrise ‘calm before the storm’ and a sense of the loneliness he must have experienced in that long, sleepless journey.