Marin Co. man seeks to repeat Lindbergh's historic NYC-Paris flight

NOVATO, San Jose (KGO) -- It's a typical hanger at Gnoss Field in Novato. Inside is a man, who on May 20, 2017, may very well have much of the world watching him.

Robert Ragozzino of Marin County is building a replica of the Spirit of Saint Louis. On the 90th anniversary next year, he plans to duplicate Charles Lindbergh's historic solo flight from New York to Paris.

In 1927, a young pilot later nicknamed Lucky Lindy flew into history. Next year's the 90th anniversary.

That hasn't been done since.

When Lindbergh lifted off from New York he aimed to win a race, a prize and prove aviation to be safe. When he landed in Paris hours later, his life had changed.

"The Lindbergh flight is the dawn of modern aviation. Lindbergh hung it out there 33 hours alone in a hand crafted machine and the world changed," said Ragozzino.

The machine will be what Ragozzino describes as a slightly safer version mounted with cameras and uplinked to satellites so the world can watch.

With builder John Lanoue, they pulled the old blueprints and set to work.

Everything is hand-made.

It's not enough to make the parts by hand. Sometimes, they had to first the tool to make the parts.

They're doing it with just two investors funding the project, essentially an airplane built to make one flight and then go to a museum.