Sky’s the Limit
Today marks two important anniversaries in the history of aviation. On May 21, 1927, the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean was completed by American aviator Charles Lindbergh, who traveled from New York to Paris in the monoplane Spirit of St. Louis in 33.5 hours. Exactly five years later, American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to pilot an airplane solo across the Atlantic Ocean, flying her Lockheed Vega from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland, in a record time of 14 hours 56 minutes.
Born to Fly: The Daring Life of Amelia Earhart
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How the Airplane Was Invented
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital id. ppmsca 02545)
Lindbergh: Into the Wild Blue Yonder
National Archives, Washington, D.C. (7580923)
News and Notes
Romania, Portugal, and Poland headed to the polls earlier this week, and the American Red Cross celebrates a birthday.
In Romania, Nicusor Dan, the centrist mayor of Bucharest, defeated conservative George Simion on Sunday in an election that featured a record voter turnout. Meanwhile, two front-runners emerged in Poland’s presidential election. Liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and conservative historian Karol Nawrocki are headed for a runoff election on June 1. And Portugal’s general election delivered a minority government for the center-right Democratic Alliance, as the hard-right Chega party made significant gains.
The American Red CrossThe American Red Cross was founded on this day in 1881 by Clara Barton, who was inspired by the work of the International Red Cross. Barton was already well known for her altruism. In 1852 she established a free school in Bordentown, New Jersey. At the outbreak of the Civil War she organized facilities to recover soldiers’ lost baggage and secured medicine and supplies for those wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run—work that she continued to do throughout the war. In 1865, at the request of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, she set up a bureau of records to aid in the search for missing men.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZC4-10019)
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