The Lindbergh Foundation announced on April 8 that its third annual on-line auction includes only one item – a ride in a replica of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis – with up to 12 possible winners.
The Experimental Aircraft Association’s Spirit of St. Louis replica is making a rare appearance during the weekend of the Lindbergh Foundation’s 2009 Lindbergh Award Celebration on May 15, 16, and 17 at the EAA AirVenture Pioneer Airport, exclusively for the winners of the Lindbergh Foundation’s on-line auction. The official start of the bidding process will be announced at a press conference on April 22 at Sun ‘n Fun.
“We are extremely grateful to EAA for making the Spirit available to us for our auction,” said Foundation Chairman John King. “The Spirit remains one of the most recognizable airplanes in the world, an icon of Charles Lindbergh’s famous record-setting New York-to-Paris flight. We hope the opportunity for a ride in this incredible aircraft will draw lots of excitement from the aviation community and increase the interest in the mission and programs of the Foundation as well.”
The original Spirit of St. Louis hangs in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Very few flying Spirit replicas exist, and the EAA replica is the only one capable of taking a passenger.
This Spirit replica will not make another public appearance until 2011.
For details and bidding instructions: http://www.lindberghfoundation.org