Gene Boyer (American, 20th C.) "Spirit of St. Louis" Signed and dated lower right. Original Pencil on Cold Press Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. Born February 4, 1902, Charles A. Lindbergh focused his life toward his 1927 rendezvous with destiny. Consumed with a desire to fly, he left school to study flying and in 1925 he accepted an Air Force reserve commission. Later, he served as an airmail pilot. However, it was on May 20, 1927, that the fate of the slim twenty-five year old pilot and his twenty-seven foot monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, were inextricably joined. Fast and well-built, the Spirit's beauty lay in its fifty hour range. And, its instability aloft was the saving grace which repeatedly nudged Lindbergh to consciousness as he dozed over the treacherous Atlantic. On May 21, 1927, after flying for 33-1/2 hours nonstop, Lindbergh reached Paris, completing man's first solo flight across the Atlantic. Greeted by a hundred thousand cheering Parisians, he was indeed the world's hero -- the Lone Eagle. In the following years, Lindbergh distinguished himself by flying more than fifty missions in World War II and by developing techniques that extended the capability and versatility of United States aircraft. Understandably, the world loved and admired Charles Lindbergh. Even after his death in 1974, the dedication, high moral standards, and courage exemplified by his life remained a constant inspiration to people the world over. Image Size: 7 x 15.5 in. Overall Size: 16 x 20 in. Unframed. (B96355)