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Old Rhinbeck Aerodrome's Spirit of St Louis

Regarding 'Spirit of St. Louis' reproductions:

- An exact copy of the 'Spirit', dubbed the Ryan NYP-2, was built by Ryan for a Japanese news paper company, shortly after Lindbergh's transatlantic flight - https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/4590583644/in/photolist-7ZDWzS
After achieving a number of record-breaking flights itself, in 1928, it was destroyed in a crash.

- A number of Ryan B-1 "Broughman" aircraft were converted over the years into 'Spirit of St. Louis' reproductions. The first instance was as early as 1938, for the film "Men With Wings".

- Three Ryan B-1 "Broughman" aircraft were converted into 'Spirit of St. Louis' reproductions for the 1957 Jimmy Stewart film, "Spirit of St. Louis" - all survive today, on static display. (Another, slightly scaled-down, non-flying replica was also built for the movie, and it also survives today.)

- Frank Tallman had a reproduction built and flown for the 40th Anniversary in 1967 - it was named "Spirit 2". That aircraft would then be displayed at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, until 1978 when it was destroyed by fire.

- The San Diego Air & Space Museum had another reproduction built after losing their first one, which they named "Spirit 3". It flew for the first time in 1979, and was displayed for many years before flying again in 2003, for the 75th Anniversary of the historic flight - it has since been displayed static again.

- The EAA Museum has built two different reproductions. One was built from a Ryan Broughman and was flown in 1977, to mark the 50th Anniversary of Lindbergh's flight - it has since been displayed static inside the EAA Museum. The second one began as a scratch-built/from the ground-up reproduction, starting in 1977, and first flying in 1990 - this one still flies today.

- David Cannavo built a reproduction in 1979, and it was purchased by Kermit Weeks in 1995. Weeks flew the aircraft shortly after purchasing it, but it hasn't been flown in many years. (This aircraft was sent to Paris for static display at an airshow back in 2013, before returning back to Florida - in the lead-up to this event, some work was done to make the aircraft more accurate to the original.)

- There was a replica that was built/operated out of Estonia, first flying in 1997 to mark the 70th Anniversary, but in 2003, shortly after takeoff at an air show in the UK, it suffered structural failure, killing the pilot/owner.

- The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome has one of the most authentic/accurate reproductions of the 'Spirit' ever built, now completed and soon to fly.

- JNE Aviation (John Norman) is well advanced on what is/will be the absolute "definitive" reproduction of the 'Spirit' - likely to be completed within the next year.
 
Wow! Good info. I'm going to save it with my other "Spirit" stuff. More birds built that I would have guessed.

Another question: Didn't Pete Bowers (in his historical aircraft articles) say that a "reproduction" could only be built by the original manufacturer (or builder) and that the others were technically "copies"? So the one built for the Japanese was a reproduction and the others copies? Or did I imagine that?

Thanks
Norm
 
In-case you don't read it on the ORA Facebook page, here is a great report of the day's flight, written by Clay Hammond, who has been one of the individuals directly involved with the project.

"Spirit of Saint Louis first flight. - I thought a recap of the day might be in order. Morning broke clear and calm, no wind, blue sky. Ken had finished last items on checklist to completion. No reason not to. Frost this morning, but forecasted temps in the 50's by lunch hour. We pulled the Robin out about 11 and shot an hour's worth of landings with Ken in the back seat again and the cardboard blocking the forward view. After getting to the point where he felt a groove setting in we called it good and Ken decided to give it a go. Ken, Mike DiGiacomio, and I had a short discussion briefing the intended flight and Ken's intention to climb up overhead, circle for a short period, feel out the aircraft, and then return for the first landing. Crew pulled the NYP out and Ken climbed in. We commenced with starting procedure. Took three proppers and ten minutes to get it going, still figuring that out a little. Warmed it up for 15 minutes or so. Good sound, good temps using an infared thermometer, ready to go. Tim Haggerty and I climbed in the Robin to fly a high cover and to get some stand off photography. Launched in the Robin and started climbing for altitude. Five minutes later observed Ryan pull onto runway lane and start its roll. Ken climbed up to altitude promptly, around 3000 feet, we circled above him the whole time, making it a point to deconflict and also observe for other traffic. Tim was shooting with a nice long lens the entire time. Observed Ken do a couple stalls, steep turns, dutch rolls...feeling it out. He circled for a while longer and then started heading down. We in Robin descended in trail, staying off the right rear quarter. Ken made one low pass to shoot the approach at speed one time, and for the benefit of those on the ground, then came around for the landing. Stayed on his wing all the way around. NYP lined up on the runway, descended nicely down into the notch, rounded out just beyond the road and proceeded to float, and float, and floated some more. Touched down about even with the sausage factory. Rolled out and down the north end a ways. Mike D was down there to wing run and assist if needed. Circled around into pattern and landed the Robin. Shut down and walked over to Ken, who was cooling down the Whirlwind on the NYP. He said the stalls are extremely docile, no tendency to drop a wing, everything straight ahead and sets up into a steady and stable mush rather than any hard break. Better visibility than Robin, which is good! Means the Robin served as a good trainer, making the job harder than it was. Ken stated that on takeoff he noticed a great deal of nose heaviness, to the point that he subsequently inputted full aft trim and kept it there for entire flight, yet was still holding back pressure on the stick at all power settings. In calculating the weight and balance for the NYP on paper, everything had pointed towards a tail heavy situation, leading us to install a significant amount of lead ballast in the nose section just ahead of the firewall. After the flight Ken has decided to remove half of this weight to bring the aircraft into better trim. No adjustments necessary for roll or yaw tendencies. Additional test flights ahead to dial in the pitch. All in all Ken stated that it is a wonderful flying machine that he is very happy with!"

Hopefully we'll see some air-to-air photos/video at some point!

As related in a recent "Flying Magazine" article about the ORA Spirit of St. Louis, it is actually a closer match to the way the original Spirit looked at the time of the Trans-Atlantic flight, than the current configuration/look of the original as it is displayed at the Smithsonian (due to later modifications and other work that was done to it following the Atlantic flight).
 
BTW, I don't know if the ORA Spirit of St. Louis will ever venture out of Old Rhinebeck airspace, visit other airshows, etc., but the John Norman (JNE) Spirit of St. Louis, which is being built as an absolute clone of the original (even more so than the ORA example), will be flown on a nation-wide tour in 2017, like Lindbergh did after the NY to Paris flight. Of course 2017 will be marking the 90th anniversary of the original Atlantic flight and 48-State tour. The family of one of my childhood friends still has an original photo, passed down through a couple generations, of the original Spirit of St. Louis at one of its stops here in Minnesota back in 1927.
 
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Here are some fantastic air-to-air images by Tim Haggerty from today's first flight, as shared on the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Facebook page:







 
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