Ryan NYP Uncovered Fuselage Truss with Engine and Fuel Tank (Plate #2940) (1927)

Construction photograph plate 2940 showing uncovered welded steel-tube fuselage frame with mounted engine and main fuel tank. — Ryan NYP Uncovered Fuselage Truss with Engine and Fuel Tank (Plate #2940) (1927) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

An essential historical construction photograph (negative plate #2940) capturing the structural assembly of the Spirit of St. Louis inside the Ryan Airlines factory loft at Dutch Flats. Supported on wooden saw horses, the bare, uncovered chrome-molybdenum steel-tube fuselage framework is shown with the Wright J-5C Whirlwind engine mounted to the nose ring and the large main fuselage fuel tank installed ahead of the cockpit position. The open truss reveals the cockpit framing, diagonal bracing wires, and structural members engineered by Donald A. Hall Sr. to withstand extreme overload takeoff stress.