C. Townsend Ludington was aviation pioneer. His career began when he taught flying at the U.S. Naval Air Station in San Diego during WWI. He admired other pilots of the era, including Charles Lindbergh.
Lindbergh is best known for completing the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927. It took him 33½ hours to make the trip from New York to Paris. Lindbergh famously struggled to stay awake during the flight and navigated by using a periscope.
At only 25 years of age, Lindbergh became an immediate international celebrity.
30,000 Parisians greeted the aviator upon arrival. Lindbergh flew on to Belgium and England and then returned, by ship, to a hero’s welcome in Washington D.C.. New York City threw him a ticker tape parade.
See a silent film newsreel of "The Epic Trans-Atlantic Flight" online in the digital collection of the C. Townsend Ludington papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.