The airport started commercial operations in 1919 and was Paris's only airport until the construction of
Orly Airport in 1932. It is famous as the landing site for
Charles Lindbergh's historic solo
transatlantic crossing in 1927 in the
Spirit of St. Louis, and had been the departure point two weeks earlier for the French biplane ''
L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird)'', which took off in an attempt at a transatlantic flight, but then mysteriously disappeared.
Howard Hughes flew the second nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1939, landing at Le Bourget and thereafter continuing onward to
Moscow. On 25 June 1940,
Adolf Hitler began his first and only tour of Paris, with
Albert Speer and an entourage, from Le Bourget Airport. Due to capacity constraints at Le Bourget,
Air France transferred all of its operations to
Orly in 1952. The
Paris Air Show was first held at Le Bourget in 1953, having previously been held at the
Grand Palais prior to World War II, and at Orly after the war. On 16 June 1961, the
Soviet ballet dancer
Rudolf Nureyev defected at Le Bourget Airport. In 1977, Le Bourget was closed to international airline traffic and in 1980 to regional airline traffic, but continues serving both domestic and international business aviation. Since 1975, Le Bourget Airport has hosted the
Musée de l'air et de l'espace, France's main state-owned aviation museum. Following the discontinuation of regular commercial traffic in 1977, space available to house museum collections and displays has progressively increased. The airport hosts a statue commemorating Frenchwoman
Raymonde de Laroche who was the first woman to earn a pilot's licence. There is also a monument honouring Lindbergh, as well as
Nungesser and
Coli, pilots of
The White Bird. On 14 April 2016, the
Groupe ADP rolled out the
Connect 2020 corporate strategy and the commercial brand
Paris Aéroport was applied to all Parisian airports, including Le Bourget airport. Le Bourget has been called "The
Teterboro of Europe" because of the role it plays in accepting all business aviation flights into Paris, and the associated support base. ==Facilities==