Lindbergh was a superb pilot but not an experienced navigator. He had learned basic dead reckoning navigation in the Army using landmarks, compass and drift meter when over water, and acquired much experience flying the mail along a well-marked route between St. Louis and Chicago. He did not know more sophisticated techniques. Despite this, Lindbergh made landfall in Ireland within three miles of his planned target during his transatlantic flight so he had every expectation of landing on time. He was never late on his U.S. tour and now he was off to an inauspicious beginning to his Latin American tour.
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On the last leg of the Mexico tour, Lindbergh
took off from Havana at 1:35 on Feb. 13. 1928,
on what was to be a “routine” nonstop, 10 hour
flight to St. Louis. It was a clear night, and
Lindbergh climbed to 4,000 feet. He settled back
to enjoy the flight. Halfway across the Straits of
Florida, he noticed his compass becoming errat
ic. By this time, a haze formed, screening off the
horizon. Lindbergh made the following entry in
his flight log book:
“Both compasses malfunctioned over the Florida
Straits at night. The earth inductor needle wobbled
back and forth. The liquid compass card
rotated without stopping. Could recognize no
stars through the heavy haze.”
February 13, 1928,
and Lindbergh was flying on the western edge of
the triangle. With his magnetic compass rotating,
his earth inductor compass needle useless, and
not able to see the stars, Lindbergh could not tell
if he was flying north, south, east or west. He
attempted to climb toward a clear sky, but the
haze thickened as he increased his altitude. He
pondered a thought. . . “Should I spiral until daybreak,
when I could get a general direction from
the sun? This would prevent flying in the wrong
direction causing the ‘Spirit’ to be hundreds of
CAL/N-X-211 VOLUME MMV No. 3 PAGE 8
miles off course.” Shortly, the haze thickened
and Lindbergh had to descend to less than 1,000
ft. to keep in contact with the sea. He struggled
for hours through the darkness and haze.
Dawn finally came, but its diffused light did not
reveal the sun’s location. But, in the early light,
Lindbergh saw a narrow strip of land with more
water beyond. At first he thought it was the
Florida Keys, but nothing on his map of Florida
corresponded with what he saw below. Further
study of his maps, and the features below, convinced
him that he was flying over the Bahamas.
He couldn’t believe that he was some 300 miles
east of his intended course. Improved daylight
finally marked the east and he pointed the nose
of the “Spirit” in the direction of Florida.
Lindbergh made this entry in his log book:
“Located position, at daybreak, over Bahama
Islands, nearly 300 miles off course. Liquid compass
card kept rotating until the “Spirit of St.
Louis” reached the Florida coast.”
The “Spirit of St. Louis” with its large fuel tanks,
allowed Lindbergh to fly through the night. With
any other aircraft, he would have exhausted his
fuel supply, and he would have been lost at sea.
Instead, Lindbergh landed in St. Louis at 4:10
p.m. What was meant to be a routine, 10 hour
flight turned out to be a nightmarish flight taking
15 hours, 35 minutes.
