Published: May 19, 2008 08:15 am         

Pilot aims to re-enact Lindbergh's famous flight

NORMAN, Okla. — Gerald Ragozzino has this enduring image in his mind that just won’t go away.

It’s an impression that’s lasted 40 years. He’s leaving for work at the Max Westheimer Airport where he taught flying. There’s a little boy in shorts and a T-shirt peering through the chain link fence separating his home on the airport grounds from the flight line.

That little boy, his son Robert, watches as father and students take off into the skies above Norman. It’ll be Gerald and hundreds of others doing the watching next May when Robert takes off from a New York airport bound for Paris in a re-enactment of Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 epic solo flight.

The pilot, who has logged more than 10,000 hours in everything from jets to a Stearman bi-plane, plans to fly a hand-built replica of the “Spirit of St. Louis” Ryan aircraft flown by Lindbergh in 1927 over the same route.



The plane’s shell, stripped to its wood and green metal frame, sets inside a hangar at Westheimer Field. If it were fully built, it would stand nose-to-nose against Ragozzino’s bright yellow Stearman bi-plane that he flew around the world solo in 2000.

“A lot of people think the glory years of aviation are over but I’m here to tell you it’s alive and well right here at Max Westheimer in Hangar A2,” the younger Ragozzino told a Norman Chamber of Commerce aviation committee this past week.

He bought an incomplete Ryan in California and hauled it to the Norman hangar. It’s one of about a dozen worldwide. He’s seen them all and researched Lucky Lindy’s life and flights. He even bought a Web site devoted to Lindbergh.

“Our plan is to finish the airplane in its most identical state,” he said.

A few modifications are in order. It’ll have a slightly larger engine. The cotton covering will be replaced with nylon and it’ll carry more fuel.

“This airplane is one giant flying fuel tank,” he said. “It’s a 400-gallon flying bomb.”



He’ll have better instrumentation and hopes to send back live footage through a webcam and satellite imagery. Viewers around the world can follow the flight’s progress.

At night, he’ll fly higher but the daylight will be spent just over the water’s edge at somewhere around 100 miles per hour. That altitude helped break the monotony on his around the world flight in 2000.

“If you fly it at above 500 or 1,000 feet, it’s boring. If you fly it at 10 feet, every minute is exciting.”

Safety is paramount. His blood, sweat and dollars put into the project can’t be replaced. He joked that he’s practicing staying awake by worrying at night.

He’s still looking for sponsorships and has raised little toward the $135,000 project’s costs. He’s looking for donations.

If the winds are with him, he will likely shave some time off Lindbergh’s 1927 record. Unlike Lindbergh, Ragozzino doesn’t have foreign competition pushing him. He will make the flight when he thinks pilot and plane are ready.

“Once we get the plane completed, I think everything will go without a hitch. I like to think we can make it by next May but that may be extended.”



Andy Rieger writes for The Norman (Okla.) Transcript. Contact him at editor@normantranscript.com