The Spirit of St. Louis was flown solo by Charles Lindbergh on May 20, 1927 and made on the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. The flight lasted 33 hours and 30 minutes and ended at Aeroport Le Bourget, a distance of approximately 3,600 miles (5,800 km) for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.

At 10:30 A.M. on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright achieved the first piloted, sustained, controlled and powered flight. His brother, Wilbur Wright, stood by and timed the flight with a stopwatch. The first flight lasted twelve seconds and the aircraft flew 100 yards. The location was Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. After four years of experiments with kites, gliders and wind tunnel testing, the Wright Brothers finally achieved their dream