Spirit of St. Louis Flown Trans-Atlantic Aircraft Linen 6x8-inch Acrylic Relic Display

On May 21st, 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris, a distance of 3600 miles. When he arrived in Paris, he and his aircraft, The Spirit of St. Louis, were mobbed by ecstatic well-wishers. Pieces of silver doped linen from the airplane were torn off as souvenirs, some of which were autographed by Lindbergh on the scene.

The Spirit of St. Louis underwent repairs in a hangar at Le Bourget over the next month, during which the original linen on the fuselage and tail plane was stripped and replaced with all new material. At least some of the original linen was cut up and made its way into lucky hands over the ensuing months and years.

In the 1930s, Col. George Burling Jarrett was already an icon within the emerging world of historic aviation thanks to his collection of original Great War aircraft, their public display on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, and his tireless work on most Hollywood aviation films of the day. There was no important airplane that Jarrett did not own a piece of, from the 1903 Wright Flyer, Richthofen’s Fokker Dr. I, Emelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, and Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Jarrett often shared portions of his collection with his friends, and on March 21st, 1937, he sent some of his Lindbergh linen, along with a descriptive letter, to Richard Boehme.

The silver doped linen fragment, at right, was among a vast quantity of historic aviation material acquired by Ron Cole from the Boehme Estate in 2022, the majority of which originated with Col. Jarrett between 1936 and 1973. As detailed by Jarrett in writing, this linen was among the skinning removed from the Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, France after Lindbergh's historic flight in 1927. It was on the aircraft during its trans-Atlantic flight.

Additional History:

This flight-original Spirit of St. Louis linen made its first appearance in the United States in the personal collection of Hollywood film pioneering sound engineer Joseph E. Aiken (1900 - July 16, 1969) in 1927. Aiken was famously a key procurer of historic aircraft that were featured in early sound films and was internationally known for possessing one of the most significant collections of U.S. Civil War memorabilia (another interest he shared with Jarrett). In George Jarrett's package sent to Richard Boehme, dated March 21st, 1937 (pictured, below), Jarrett writes, in part:

"Enclosed is what I can part with from [The] Spirit of St Louis. If you want it send $7 with your next correspondance (sic). As mentioned Lindy had his fuselage and tail re-covered while in Paris. Came to me from J.E. Aiken, who guards it pretty closely."

                                     

Each display includes details of this material's history and provenance, and the authenticity of every one of these pieces is absolutely guaranteed for life. 

Each is hand-signed & numbered (1 of 300) by the artist, Ron Cole. 

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