Lindbergh was working as a mail pilot when he heard of the $25,000 prize for the first flight between New York and Paris offered by Raymond Orteig in 1919. Backed by a group of St. Louis businessmen, Lindbergh ordered a suitably modified version Ryan M-2, later to be known as NYP (New York to Paris). Lindbergh opted for a solo flight to keep the weight down.

Other teams had already tried and had either failed or met disaster. Late in April the aircraft was completed and Lindbergh flew it from San Diego to New York from May 10th to 12th, making only one stop, at St. Louis, setting a new transcontinental record.

After waiting a week for favorable weather, Lindbergh equipped himself with four sandwiches, two canteens of water and 451 gallons of gas before bouncing down the muddy dirt runway at Roosevelt Field, Long Island. The plane barely cleared the telephone wires at end of the runway and the small crowd present at dawn on May 20th thought they had witnessed a miracle.

After 33 hours and 30 minutes, he touched down at Le Bourget at 10:22 on the evening of May 21th and the plane was rushed by a crowd of 100,000 people. His 3,610 miles lone flight electrified the nation and inspired enthusiastic interest in aviation.