On May 20, 1927, twenty-five year old American aviator Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field (near New York City) in the Spirit of St. Louis, a plane he helped design. Thirty-three and a half hours later he landed in Paris a hero. Although other pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him, Lindbergh was the first to do it nonstop. His achievement brought him international fame, and $25,000 in prize money.
