To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the event that I believe was the most significant in aviation history, the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by Charles Lindbergh in 1927, EAA constructed a replica of the plane Lucky Lindy flew across the pond in, the Spirit of St. Louis. That 1977 replica was popular and flew a lot. While it was the spitting image of the original, which hangs in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., EAA’s version was a little more user-friendly to fly. And fly it did! So much that EAA eventually retired it and placed it in a place of honor in its Oshkosh EAA Aviation Museum. The requests for it continued apace, however, so in the early ’90s, EAA constructed a second replica, which is flying to this day. EAA was founded in 1953, 50 years after the Wrights’ first flight and about 25 years after Lindy’s hop, but its mission has long been to celebrate the history of flight, 50 years before its formation and before. The organization’s commitment to that history is on prominent display every time the Spirit flies.
