Ryan NYP Cockpit Instrument Board and Main Fuel Tank Installation (1927)

Workshop photograph of uncovered fuselage frame showing instrument panel mounted behind main fuel tank. — Ryan NYP Cockpit Instrument Board and Main Fuel Tank Installation (1927) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

An archival factory engineering photograph showing the uncovered fuselage frame and cockpit interior of the Spirit of St. Louis inside the Ryan workshop. Mounted directly behind the curved aluminum bulkhead of the 425-gallon main fuel tank, the black oval instrument board displays the Pioneer magnetic compass, altimeter, airspeed indicator, engine tachometer, liquid column inclinometer, and throttle quadrant linkages within the welded chrome-molybdenum steel-tube truss.