How amazing and beautiful is this? What happened to our country? Here's the history: An estimated 4 million people attended a ticker-taper parade through New York City in celebration of Col. Charles Lindbergh for being the first to make a solo nonstop flight from New York City to Paris. Lindbergh covered the 33.5 hour, 3,600 mile flight alone in a purpose-built, single-engine Ryan monoplane named, the Spirit of St. Louis.