EAA Replica Spirit of St Louis Over Oshkosh WI-Stills and Video

Flight of EAA's Spirit of St Louis west of Oshkosh, WI, July 2008. Piloting the Spirit is Sean Elliott, EAA's Director of Flight Operations. In the back seat (Lindberg's actual location) is Winnebago RC Flyers President, Dave Hable. Midway through the flight, Sean took the Spirit over the Winnebago RC Flyers' RC flying field (still photo).

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Spirit
• of
• St
• Louis

[tirpae]

Sorry, but since this has two seats and a windshield (among other things), I can't consider this to be a "replica" of the Spirit of St. Louis.

[ytdhable]

Well, if it had only one seat and no windscreen, it would certainly be more "accurate", but you can't dismiss it as "not a replica". (When not flying, it has panels covering the windscreen which replicate the original.) EAA didn't build this airplane only to be an exact replication of what Lindberg flew, although it is incredibly close. It is virtually a flying classroom and history lesson.

[Titan752]

Is this replica as difficult to handle as the original? A beautiful flight video performed in a classic aircraft! The 'Spirit " is one of my favorites! I own four different scalemodels ofd her! Would love to fly in one of these full-scale replicas! What a dream come true!

[ytdhable]

The simple answer is YES, the Spirit replica is as difficult to fly as the original. It is very unstable. As an example, when you pull the stick back a bit to climb, start to nose up, then return the stick to neutral, the Spirit will continue to climb until it stalls. The pilot needs to "correct" the climb by using down elevator. . Thanks for viewing!!

[rlewis1946]

@ytdhable In general, what design elements would the original designer of the aircraft had to have changed/improved to make the aircraft more stable? 450 gallons of gas?... There was no room for error on that take-off, was there...?!

Thanks for posting this video of a classic all Americans should remember!!

Roy Lewis Atlanta, Georgia USA

[mindeloman]

@ytdhable It's many years ago that I read "The Spirit if St. Louis". I seem to remember Lindbergh wanting instability designed into it. I think it had something to do with keeping him awake on such a long journey by keeping his hands full. Being designed for a specific task you'd expect that. It definitely wasn't a pleasure cruiser for weekend pilots. Contrary to the movie he never fell asleep or even came close to it. Did anyone other than Lindbergh ever pilot the SOSL?

[doginstine]

@Titan752 But at least it did not have to carry 450 gal;s. of gas.

[skinnywhop87]

that's amazing, I'm a lil disputed to which my favorite plane in history is, either the Spirit of St louis or the Fokker DVII.... lol guess they're both tied for first

[Rollercoster77]

How is the Glow Doing?

[Rollercoster77]

That is so Cool!!!!