Lituanica

Steponas Darius (* 1896, † 1933) and Stasys Girėnas (* 1893, † 1933) were Lithuanian pilots with U.S. citizenship who followed the example of Charles Lindbergh's non-stop and the Atlantic crossing.

Your flight went down in the history of aviation and his tragic end then moved the world, and particularly the Lithuanian nation. Following their plan, they launched on July 15, 1933 by New York from across the Atlantic Ocean to land in Lithuania after a total of 7,186 kilometers in Kaunas. However, after 6411 km and 37 hours 11 minutes in the air, their plane crashed from never clarified reasons.

In terms of the distance covered her flight was to Russell Boardman and John Polando (New York- Istanbul, 1931) is the second longest non-stop flight and in terms of flight duration of the fourth longest of the time. Although Darius and Stasys Steponas Girėnas had no navigation equipment other than a compass and flew under unfavorable weather conditions, but their flight was one of the most accurate navigational this time.

Flight

On June 18, 1932 Darius and Girėnas bought a used machine of the type " Bellanca CH -300 Pacemaker ", serial number 137, Model No. Nc -688 E, which was designed as a six- seater. The aircraft was rebuilt in the workshop of EM Laird. New, longer wings were attached, as well as a longer tailplane and aerodynamic wheel fairings. The hull was given a new textile coating.

To be prepared for the planned long-haul flight, and two additional fuel tanks were (220 or 185 U.S. gallons) installed with a capacity of 833 and 700 liters in the fuselage. In addition, the wing had two fuel tanks, each with 333 liters ( 88 U.S. gallons) capacity and in the cabin under the pilot's seat was a 95 -liter oil tank (25 U.S. gallons).

The aircraft was orange. On the sides of the machine, the names were painted by sponsors. The flyer dubbed the aircraft on the name Lituanica (Latin Lithuanian ).

It was planned from New York Newfoundland Atlantic - Ireland - London -Amsterdam- Swinoujscie - Königsberg with a total of 7,186 air miles to reach Kaunas. After the Flyers on July 15, 1933 were started on schedule at 6:24 Local time clock from Floyd Bennett Airport in New York, they crossed in the next 24 hours successfully the Atlantic Ocean. Due to adverse weather conditions over Ireland then they changed their course to the north and reached Germany via Scotland and the North Sea. On 17 July at 0:36 clock in the morning local time in Kuhdamm near Soldin in what was then East Brandenburg (now Pszczelnik near Myślibórz, Poland) crashed the two pilots. After 37 hours and 11 minutes they were at the time of the accident only 650 kilometers away from their destination Kaunas in Lithuania.

A Lithuanian commission of inquiry could not clarify the cause of the accident. It was found that the pilots were properly qualified and the aircraft had been adequately equipped. The preparation of the flight was carried out with great precision. It was assumed that difficult weather conditions or a machine defect led to the crash. However, during the disaster was the aircraft engine and there was enough fuel on board.

On July 19, a German plane transferred the bodies of the pilots and the wreckage of the Lituanica to Lithuania. The flight of the Lithuanian aviation pioneers was in the former, nationalist time for the fledgling republic a state event; great was the consternation about the crash. At the funeral arranged by the state for the two airmen in Kaunas, then the capital of Lithuania, attended by some 60,000 people. 1936, the Lithuanian government decided to build a mausoleum for the two airmen in Kaunas.

The aircraft can be seen at Vytautas Magnus Military Museum in Kaunas.

Today the portraits of Darius and Girėnas adorn the 10 - litas note, the back shows her plane. For the 60th anniversary of the first transatlantic flight from New York to Kuhdamm a 10- Litu commemorative coin (copper - nickel, edition 4500 pieces) was published in 1993 with their portraits. There are in every major Lithuanian city of a ' Dariaus ir Girėno gatvė ' ( Darius and Girenas Street); the largest football stadium in the country in Kaunas has been named in their honor.