The Lindbergh Foundation announced that its third annual online auction includes only one item—a ride in the Spirit of St. Louis. There will be up to 12 winners selected. The EAA Spirit of St. Louis
Only 12 Flights Available Through this Exclusive Online Auction
replica is making a rare appearance during the weekend of the Lindbergh Foundation’s 2009 Lindbergh Award Celebration on May 15, 16 and 17 at the EAA AirVenture Pioneer Airport (or Weeks Hangar), exclusively for the winners of the Lindbergh Foundation’s online auction. The bidding process kicked off during a press conference on April 22 at Sun ‘n Fun 2009.
“We are extremely grateful to EAA for making the Spirit available to us for our auction,” said Foundation chairman John King, co-chairman of King Schools. “The Spirit remains one of the most recognizable airplanes in the world, an icon of Charles Lindbergh’s famous record-setting New York-to-Paris flight. We hope the opportunity for a ride in this incredible aircraft will draw lots of excitement from the aviation community and increase the interest in the mission and programs of the Foundation as well.”
The original Spirit of St. Louis hangs in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Very few flying Spirit replicas exist, and the EAA replica is the only one in the world capable of taking a passenger.
The EAA built their Spirit of St. Louis replica from scratch with painstaking detail, using the “Morrow” plans from the Smithsonian Institution. However, in this unique replica the EAA customized the airplane by installing a forward pilot station in place of Lindbergh’s large fuel tank. This means the EAA pilot commands the aircraft from up front so the lucky passenger can experience flight in the aircraft from the actual “Lindbergh seat” position, providing a view that is exactly the way Lindbergh himself would have seen it. Pilots will enjoy logging “stick time” in this historic time machine through the fully functioning dual flight controls. This Spirit replica will not make another public appearance until 2011.
For complete details and bidding instructions, visit the Lindbergh Foundation’s Web site at: [http://www.lindberghfoundation.org].
The Lindbergh Foundation
The Lindbergh Foundation is a public 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Anoka, Minn., which supports great innovations that foster the environment for a planet in balance. The Lindbergh Foundation also values individual initiative and accomplishments. Its programs are devoted to supporting, honoring and educating individuals through three major programs: the annual honorary Lindbergh Award, presented to individuals for significant contributions toward balancing nature and scientific innovation in their work; the Lindbergh Grants program, which provides grants in amounts up to $10,580 (the cost of building the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927) for research or education projects that will make important contributions to the technology/environment balance; and a variety of educational events and publications centered on the “balance” theme.