Lithuania is marking the 90th anniversary of the legendary trans-Atlantic flight by two aviators, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, on their self-customised plane Lituanica.
For the occasion, the The Museum of Energy and Technology in Vilnius is displaying a replica of the plane, accompanied by an exhibition relating the story of Darius and Girėnas’ feat.
Visitors will be invited to start the plane themselves and experience how the pilots felt as they embarked on their historic journey across the Atlantic in a small Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker. In addition, a unique exhibit – an authentic wing of Lituanica – is on display.
Darius and Girėnas, both American-Lithuanians, set out to cover 8,000 kilometres from New York to Kaunas – the capital of Lithuania at the time – without stopping.
Lituanica took off on the morning of July 15, 1933, with 3,000 litres of fuel and 100 litres of grease – the overloaded plane barely made it off the ground. The pilots took four litres of water, six sandwiches, fruit, coffee, vodka and cigarettes for two days.
They gave least attention to their own safety, flying without lights, using a torch to illuminate instrument readings in the cockpit, and having no radio equipment.
Although Lituanica successfully crossed the Atlantic, it never made it to Kaunas, unfortunately. On July 17, it crashed in eastern Germany, some 600 kilometres from its destination.
Although the causes of Lituanica’s crash are still unclear today, numerous investigations have suggested various causes: running out of fuel, extremely bad weather conditions and pilot fatigue.
Despite the failure, Darius and Girėnas became national heroes. Numerous sites in Kaunas and across Lithuania bear their names and their image was used on the 10-litas notes.
To commemorate the 90-year anniversary of the flight of Lituanica, guides Karolina Koroliova-Barkova and Andrius Šatas came up with the idea of creating an interactive aircraft replica on the roof terrace of the Museum of Energy and Technology.
“At the time, aviation technology had not been perfected, the first flights were dangerous and spectacular, and the first pilots were brave, even a little crazy, risking their lives,” said Šatas.
For reference, the museum used another replica of Lituanica, held by the Lithuanian Aviation Museum, and the remains of Lituanica itself at the Vytautas Magnus War Museum in Kaunas.
“Darius and Girėnas are closely linked to Kaunas. However, their flight, which is so important nationally, has not been presented in the capital city – this is a lacuna in Vilnius museums, which we wanted to address now, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the flight,” said Koroliova-Barkova.
Even before Lituanica, Darius and Girėnas had experienced air crashes, which did not deter them from further flights.
“Their motivation is indescribable, this mentality is still fascinating. Today we take air travel for granted, whereas then it was a matter of life and death,” said Šatas. “You realise this when you get into a claustrophobic cockpit, flying at 300 km/h over the ocean. It is only from these human mistakes that we have learnt and perfected aviation technology so that we can travel around the world safely.”
