Myth: Charles Lindbergh was the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic

Fact: The first to actually make the trip were two British pilots in 1919 and then later by both a British and German dirigible (64 passengers between the two). This made him actually the 67th to make the trip. While Lindbergh wasn’t the first to make the trip nonstop, he was the first to do it solo which was no easy feat considering it was a nearly 34 hour trip and he didn’t have autopilot, GPS, or any modern form of navigation. On top of that, he hardly slept the night before due to pre-flight preparations and no-doubt a bit of excitement. Some estimates claim that he was awake for 55 hours straight.