Orteig Prize

The Orteig Prize was a $25,000 reward ($335,125 as of 2012) offered on May 19 1919, by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first allied aviator(s) to fly non-stop from New York City to Paris or vice-versa. The offer was made in a letter to Alan Ramsay Hawley president of the Aero Club of America.

"Gentlemen: As a stimulus to the courageous aviators, I desire to offer, through the auspices and regulations of the Aero Club of America, a prize of $25,000 to the first aviator of any Allied Country crossing the Atlantic in one flight, from Paris to New York or New York to Paris, all other details in your care.

Yours very sincerely,

Raymond Orteig"

The Aero Club replied on May 26 with Orteig confirming his offer three days later. His offer was accepted by the Aero Club who set up a formal structure to administer the competition. On offer for five years, it attracted no competitors. After it's original term had expired Orteig reissued the prize on June 1 1925 by depositing $25,000 in negotiable securities at the Bryant Bank with the awarding put under the control of a seven member board of trustees. By then the state of aviation technology had advanced to the point that numerous competitors vied for the prize.

Several famous aviators made unsuccessful attempts at the New York–Paris flight before relatively unknown American Charles Lindbergh won the prize in 1927 in his aircraft Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh chose to fly solo, although this was not a requirement of the prize and required him to be at the controls for more than 30 hours. Lindbergh was the first American ever to cross the Atlantic non-stop in a fixed-wing aircraft (rather than an airship), and he promptly became a national hero. His flight was followed by the "Lindbergh boom", as public interest in air travel bloomed and aviation stocks skyrocketed.

Lindbergh pursued a risky strategy for the competition, depending on a single engined plane, instead of the tri-motors most other groups favored. He also developed a plan to fly the plane solo which allowed him to avoid the personality conflicts that helped delay at least one group. To save weight which had contributed to the crashes of other contributors, Lindbergh also dispensed with non-essential equipment like radios, sextant and parachute (although he brought an inflatable raft). The final key to his success was his decision to fly into weather conditions that were clearing but not clear enough for others to consider safe. Lindbergh was quoted as saying "What kind of man would live where there is no danger? I don't believe in taking foolish chances. But nothing can be accomplished by not taking a chance at all."

Although advancing public interest and aviation technology, the Prize occasioned expenses many times the value of the prize. Moreover, lives were lost by men who were competing to win the prize. Six men lost their lives in three separate crashes. Another three men were injured in a fourth crash. During the spring and summer of 1927, 40 pilots would attempt various long-distance over-ocean flights, leading to 21 deaths during the attempts. For example, seven lives were lost in August 1927 in the Orteig Prize-inspired $25,000 Dole Air Race to fly from San Francisco to Hawaii.

1927 saw a number of aviation first and new records. The record for longest time in the air, longest flight distance, and longest overwater flight would be set and all would exceed Lindbergh's effort. However, no flyer gained the fame that Lindbergh did for winning the Orteig Prize.

The Orteig Prize inspired the $10 million Ansari X Prize for repeated suborbital commercial spaceflights.