This is the engine used by Charles Lindbergh to power his aircraft, the "Spirit of St. Louis" back on May 21, 1927. Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight in history, flying 3,610 miles between Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, and Paris in 33 hours, 30 minutes. Lindbergh won the $25,000 prize offered by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first aviator to fly an aircraft directly across the Atlantic between New York and Paris.
The Wright J-5C Whirlwind was developed after World War I, when the U.S. military ceased ordering Wright-built Hispano-Suiza V-8 engines in 1922. With its primary product no longer needed, The Wright company president Frederick Rentschler purchased the New York-based Lawrance Company, and assumed production of their successful seven-cylinder J-1 radial engine. Gradual improvements to the original J-1 design resulted in the J-5, known as the Whirlwind, in the middle 1920s.
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Photo Art: Griff Wason