Lindbergh Flies Alone from New York to Paris

In the early months of 1927, airmail pilot Charles Lindbergh sought an aircraft capable of securing the 25,000 dollar Orteig Prize, offered for the first nonstop crossing between New York and Paris. Lindbergh contacted Ryan Airlines in San Diego, California. The firm was owned by Benjamin Franklin Mahoney, who had acquired it from founder T. Claude Ryan in 1926. Mahoney and chief engineer Donald A. Hall accepted the challenge, agreeing to deliver a specialized, long-range aircraft within two months. The venture was underwritten by a group of St. Louis businessmen who backed Lindbergh's attempt.

Hall based the experimental craft, formally designated the Ryan NYP, on the company's existing M-2 mailplane. Constructing the plane in sixty days required severe compromises to meet the exacting weight and range demands of nonstop flight. Built with a fabric-covered metal tube fuselage and fabric-covered wooden wings, the monoplane incorporated a 46-foot wingspan to lift a heavy load of more than 400 gallons of fuel. The powerplant chosen was a 223-horsepower Wright J-5C Whirlwind radial engine, a type regarded as highly reliable.