Cold_Situation_7803 t1_iqzumoy wrote on October 4, 2022 at 9:24 AM

Reply to comment by driedrot in TIL that Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" aircraft had no front window due to fuel tank placement. The only forward vision was by a periscope. by p38-lightning

The NC-4 made the first transatlantic flight about a month prior to Alcock & Brown’s non-stop flight, but it is also not mentioned. I guess Lindbergh’s flight being solo really captured the public’s imagination.

ash_274 t1_ir0u7pz wrote on October 4, 2022 at 2:55 PM

The one-crew, one-engine thing is what made it special.

Consensus at the time was that it was dumb/impossible to cross that distance with a single-engine plane, but Lindbergh pointed out that none of the multi-engine aircraft of the day, with that range, could fly any significant distance without all engines functioning; so multiple engines were just multiple potential points of failure.