Zenith Albatross Z-12 front view

1928 photo of front view of Zenith Albatross Z-12 with people lined up under the wings of the airplane. Prior to 1927, Zenith Corporation manufactured farm implements in Midway City, California, United States.[1] After learning of American aviator Charles Lindbergh's famed May 20–21, 1927 first solo transatlantic flight via non-stop fixed-wing aircraft flight between America and mainland Europe,[1] Zenith Corporation owners Charles Rocheville and Albin Peterson formed the Zenith Aircraft Corporation.[2] Three months later, by August 1927, Zenith Aircraft Corporation built a huge, lightweight tri-motor aircraft named Schofield Albatross in a hangar/factory at Midway City Airport.[2] To make its maiden flight some time in the fall of 1927, the Albatross, identified as Zenith Albatross Z-12,[1] had an externally braced wing spanning 90-ft and a fuselage designed to carry 14 passengers and baggage at a maximum speed of 100-mph.[2] Lindbergh considered buying the plane, but declined.[3] With no market for the then largest aircraft in the world,[3] the Zenith Albatross Z-12 eventually was sold to Hollywood and used to represent a crashed Fokker in the 1928 film Conquest directed by filmmaker Roy Del Ruth.[2] Zenith manufactured a second airplane, the Zenith Albatross Z-6, before the 1930s Great Depression affected the corporation and Zenith went back to manufacturing farm equipment in 1932.[1][3]