The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-05-30
BY CHARLES A. LINDBERGH
In an Official Air Mail Service Report


Field at 1920 p. m., November 3, ar
rived at Springfield, ILL.,, at 5:15
and after five-minute stop for mail
took the air again and headed for
Peoria.
The ceiling at Springfield was
about 500 feet, and the weather re-
port from Peoria, which was tele-
phoned to st. Louis earlier in the
afternoon, gave the flying conditions
as entirely passable.
encountered darkness about 25
miles north of Springfield. The cell
ing had lowered to around 400 feet
and light snow was falling. At
South Pekin the forward visibility
of ground lights from a l50-foot alti-
tude was less than 1-2 mile and over
Pekin the town lights were indistinct
from 200 feet above. After passing
Pekin | flew at an altimeter reading
of 600 feet for about five minutes,
when the lightness of the haze below
indicated that was over Peoria.
Twice ] could see lights on the
ground and descended to less than
200 feet before they disappeared
from view. | tried to bank around
one group of lights, but was unable
to turn quickly enough to keep them
in sight.
On to Chicago
After circling in the vicinity Of
Peoria for 80 minutes decided to
try to find better weather conditions
by flying northeast toward Chicago.
! had ferried a ship from Chicago to
St. Louis in the early afternoon and
at that time the ceiling and visibility
were much better near Chicago than
elsewhere along the route.
Enough gasoline for about one hour
and ten minutes flying remained in
the main tank and twenty minutes
in the reserve. This was hardly
enough to return to st. Louis even
had | been able to navigate directly
to the field by dead reckoning and
flying blind the greater portion of
the way. The only lights along our
route ut present are on the field at
Peoria, consequently, unless | could
pick up beacon on the Transconti-
mental route my only alternative
would be to drop the parachute flare
and land by its light together with
what little assistance the wing lights
would be in the snow and rain. The
territory towards Chicago was much
more favorable for night landing
than that around St. Louis,
Flare Fails to Work
flew northeast at about 1000 feet
for thirty minutes then dropped
down to 600 feet. There were nu-
merous breaks in the clouds this time
and occasionally ground lights could
be seen from over 500 feet. l passed
over the lights of small town and
a few minutes later came to a fairly
clear place in the clouds. I pulled
up to about 600 feet, released the
parachute flare, whipped the ship
around to get into the wind and
under the flare which lit at once but
instead of floating down slowly, drop
ped like a rock For an instant |
saw the ground, then total darkness
My ship was in steep bank and for
few seconds after being blinded by
the intense light ! had trouble right
ing it. then tried to find the ground
with the wing lights, but their glare
was worse than useless in the haze.
When about ten minutes gas re-
manned in the pressure tank and still
could not see the faintest outline of
any OOJCSt Ou tuc kIOOuu j uecl0cO
to leave the ship rather than attempt
to land blindly. turned back south
west toward less populated country
and started climbing in an attempt
to get over the clouds before jump
ing.
The Last Chance
The main tank went dry at 1881,
and the reserve at $40. The altimeter
then registered approximately $4,000
feet yet the top of the clouds was
apparently several thousand feet
higher. ! rolled the stabilizer, cut
the switches, pulled the ship up into
. stall, and was about to 20 out over
the right side Of the cockpit when
the right wing began to drop. In
this position the plane would gather
speed and spiral to the right, possibly
striking my parachute after its first
turn. returned to the controls and
sitter fighting the plane dove over
the left side Of the cQekpit while fhe