In front of the façade of the museum.

Statue

A  24 m (79 ft) high monument that was erected in 1963 with a sculpture depicting a lady who is attempting to fly. The memorial pays tribute to the pilots Charles Nungesser and François Coli, who tried to cross the Atlantic, as well as Charles Lindbergh who accomplished the flight.

In 1919, New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig offered the $25,000 Orteig Prize (approximately equivalent to $422,000 in 2022) to the first aviators to make a non-stop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris in the next five years. No one won the prize, so he renewed the offer in 1924. At that point, aviation technology was more advanced and many people were working toward winning it. Most were attempting to fly from New York to Paris, but a number of French aviators planned to fly from Paris to New York.

François Coli, age 45, was a World War I veteran and recipient of the French Legion of Honor, who had been making record-breaking flights around the Mediterranean Sea. He also had been planning a transatlantic flight since 1923. His original plans were to fly with his wartime comrade Paul Tarascon, a flying ace with 12 victories from the war. They became interested in the Orteig Prize in 1925, but in late 1926, an accident destroyed their Potez 25 biplane. Tarascon was badly burned and relinquished his place as pilot to 35-year-old Charles Nungesser, a highly experienced flying ace with over 40 victories, third highest among the French. He had been planning a solo crossing to win the Orteig Prize, but designer Pierre Levasseur insisted that he consider Coli as his navigator.

Nungesser and Coli took off at 5:17 am, on 8 May 1927 from Le Bourget Field in Paris, heading for New York, to compete for the Orteig Prize. During their attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight, they disappeared and were last seen over Ireland. The mainstream view was that L'Oiseau Blanc (the airplane they were in) crashed over the Atlantic due to a squall. Less than two weeks later, Charles Lindbergh successfully made the New York–Paris journey and claimed the prize in the Spirit of St. Louis.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.org

Source of photos: www.aerosteles.net, Google Maps, Air and Space Museum Twitter post

A L'HONNEUR

DE CEUX

QUI TENTERENT

ET DE CELUI

QUI ACCOMPLIT

NUNGESSER · COLI

· LINDBERGH · 

· 1927 ·

NEW YORK · PARIS

English translation:

IN HONOR

OF THOSE

WHO TRIED

AND OF THOSE

WHO ACCOMPLISHED

NUNGESSER · COLI

· LINDBERGH · 

· 1927 ·

NEW YORK · PARIS