SANDY KOZEL

The Spirit is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution‘s National Air and Space Museum in
Washington, D.C..

On May 20, 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob W. Davis (above) 
received a patent for “Improvements in Fastening Pocket-
Openings.”

This was riveted denim work pants under the name Levi
Strauss & Co., a popular blue jean company that is still in
business today.

At 7:52 a.m., American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh took off
from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, on the world’s
first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the first
ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris.

Lindbergh, a young airmail pilot, was a dark horse when he
entered a competition with a $25,000 payoff to fly nonstop
from New York to Paris. He ordered a small monoplane,
configured it to his own design, and christened it the Spirit
of St. Louis in tribute to his sponsor–the St. Louis Chamber
of Commerce.

Lindbergh’s achievement made him an international celebrity
and won widespread public acceptance of the airplane and
commercial aviation.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt plot the cross-Channel
landing that would become D-Day—May 1, 1944.

That date would prove a bit premature, as bad weather
became a factor.

The D-Day invasion ended up taking place on June 6, 1944.

Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935)

T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia,
died as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an
assumed name.

The legendary war hero, author and archaeological scholar
succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six
days before.

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 film, starring Peter
O’Toole, based on the wartime activities of T.E.
Lawrence.