LINDBERGH Charles Augustus (1902-1974) - Lot 148

Lot 148
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60000 - 80000 EUR
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Result : 13 000EUR
LINDBERGH Charles Augustus (1902-1974) - Lot 148
LINDBERGH Charles Augustus (1902-1974) Set of technical drawings, notes, calculations and manuscripts concerning the Spirit of St Louis, three annotated flight logs, and maps,1927. More than 100 leaves in-4, in-folio and in-plano, handwritten, typed or printed, ink and pencils of various colors, in a half green morocco box, spine with black morocco pieces. Set of technical archives and maps relating to the construction of the Spirit of St. Louis and the preparation of its crossing of the North Atlantic from New York to Paris, on May 20 and 21, 1927. [Designed in San Diego (California) by Charles Lindbergh and the chief engineer of the Ryan Aviation company, Donald A. Hall (1898-1968), thanks to the support of several benefactors and financiers, the design of the monoplane was the subject of long reflections of which we present here the drafts and working documents. The main goal was to lighten the weight of the aircraft in order to carry a total of 1,700 liters of fuel, making it possible to cover the 5,808 kilometers separating New York from Paris. The Spirit of St. Louis took off on the morning of May 20, 1927, from Roosevelt Field on Long Island and landed at Le Bourget Airport 33 hours and 30 minutes later on May 21, 1927. Such a flight, solo and nonstop, was a first in human history]. This set includes: - preliminary notes (4 p. handwritten) signed "D. A. Hall," February 24 and 25, 1927, entitled "M-I for NYP [New York-Paris] Study-Preliminary," and 2 p. typewritten with handwritten notes by Hall. These preliminary notes address various technical points related to the design of a new model of aircraft adapted to the technical requirements of the Atlantic crossing, based on the existing Ryan M-2 model. - drawings of a wing (12 handwritten pages signed "D. A. Hall"), March 3 and 4, 1927, including a set of drawings relating in particular to the gas tanks that were to be inserted in the wing, and calculation tables integrating variables related to the lifting points of the wings, their resistance and the design of the spar, the main part integrating the structure of the latter. - studies on the weight of the Spirit of St. Louis (13 handwritten p.) including information on the weight of the aircraft, calculations and variables determined by the weight of the pilot, the fuel tanks installed in the wing and the fuselage, the propeller, the chassis, the engine, the pilot's supplies, etc., for a mass weight determined at 2,339 kg. - studies on the cruising speed (25 handwritten p., most of them signed by D. A. Hall), from April 26 to May 6, 1927, including 13 graphs and 8 calculation tables measuring the speed and fuel consumption, determined by confronting several factors: braking power and speed, engine RPM and gross weight with air speed, time and distance, etc. - studies on the landing gear (19 handwritten pages, 3 of them signed), from February 3 to April 9, 1927, a drawing on tracing paper representing the landing gear dated July 1952 and 1 typed bill on yellow paper, bearing the handwritten mention "Baker st.-oil San Diego". In parallel with their analysis of the weight of the aircraft, Hall and Lindbergh studied the question of the aircraft's landing gear, considering several extension and retraction systems. - Spirit of St. Louis plans and technical reports (15 p. printed in white on blue paper), May 6 to 25, 1927, including tables and graphs, and all the technical details of the new model, also known as the Ryan New York-Paris (acronym NYP). These precious documents are completed by 2 large plans of the plane, seen from the side (21,5 x 55,5 cm) and from above (56,5 x 85,5 cm). - last studies on the performance of the aircraft (4 p. ms by Hall with annotations by Lindbergh), May 4, 1927. Conceived by the engineer and completed by the pilot, these charts are the testimony of the last tests carried out before the final takeoff of the Spirit of St. Louis, centered in particular on the questions of weight, wind resistance and the number of revolutions per minute. - Correspondence and studies of the Wright Aeronautical Corporation: 2 L.S. from the chief engineer Kenneth M. Lane, March 24 and 25, 1927, addressed to the engineering department of Ryan Airlines in San Diego, about the consumption of the engine integrated in the prototype of the WrightBellancaWB-2 airplane, built by Giuseppe Bellanca in 1926; 3 p. dactylo. with annotations signed "K.M.L", March 24, 1927, about the cruising performance of the Ryan NYP. - miscellaneous documentation: charts, drawings, photographs, clippings, etc. With Hall's help, Lindbergh studied the five maps printed below to prepare for his crossing; three of them bear tests of air routes.
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