Extracting the Wing onto a Boxcar (1927)

A crew of men carefully maneuvering the massive, completed Spirit of St. Louis wing out of a second-story factory window onto an unused train boxcar. — Extracting the Wing onto a Boxcar (1927) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

One of the most famous, ingenious moments of the 1927 build, photographed and originally copyrighted by designer Donald A. Hall Sr. Too large for the factory doors, the 46-foot wing was saved from a sledgehammer and instead carefully slid out a second-story window onto an unused Santa Fe train boxcar for extraction.