The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1928-08-23
~ - An Epic of the Air
wv Col. Charles
Lindbergh
Copyright
CHAPTER XVII

about 200 yards from the bush, in
which it was possible to land
slow ship. I landed at Camp Kear-
nv and sent for one of the cabin
Hisso Standards used by the Ryan
Airlines for their passenger SER
vice between San Diego and Los
Angeles. :
When the Standard arrived I
flew over and landed in the clear
ing near the lost board which was
clearly visible from the air; but,
after a fifteen minute search, /
was unable to locate it from the
ground in the thick mesquite. So
/ took off my coat and spread it
over the top of another bush, then
took the air again with the STAN
dard to locate the board in rela-
ion to the coat.
I had no difficulty in locating
them both and found them to be
about fifty yards apart. I landed
again but could not locate the
board, so moved my coat to the
spot where I thought it should be
and took off again. This time I
had placed the coat within twen-
ty feet of the data board, but it
required several minutes search in
the thick mesquite to finally locate
it.
After I returned to Camp Kear-
ny with the Standard, we made
preparations for the weight tests
of the Spirit of st. Louis.
The tests were to be made start
ing with light load and increas-
ing the weight carried by about
fifty gallons of fuel for each test
up to 500 gallons, which was to be
the maximum load tested. The
plane passed its tests easily and
took off with 800 gallons in twenty
seconds or 1923 feet, and made
maximum speed of 1875 miles per
hour. The tests were made in a
quartering wind, varying from two
to nine miles per hour, and at an
elevation of about six hundred
feet above the sea level.
The final flight ended at dusk,
and the plane was left under guard
on the field over night. The next
morning, after most of the gaso-
line had been drained, I flew it
back to Dutch Flats, where final
preparations were made for the
flight to st. Louis.
I was delayed four days at San
Diego by a general storm area ov-
er the United States that would
greatly jeopardize the success of
an overnight nonstop flight to st.
Louis. From this flight I expected
to obtain some very important da-
ia for use on the final hop from
New York.
On the afternoon of May g.,
Dean Blake, chief of the San Di-
ego Weather Bureau, predicted
favorable flying conditions for the
succeeding day. The next morn
ing I took the plane to Rockwell
Field, and at 1855 p. m. (Pacifc
Time) took off from North Is
land with $50 gallons of gasoline
for the flight to st. Louis, escorted
by two Army observation planes
and one of the Ryan monoplanes.
We circled North Island and San
Diego, then headed on a compass
course for st. Louis.
ihC oluP pdSSeu over Tile HfSC
ridge of mountains, about four
thousand feet, very easily with re-
duced throttle. The escorting
planes turned back at the noun
tains, and l passed on over the
desert and the Salton Sea alone.
And at sunset I was over the des-
erts and mountains of western
Arizona.
The moon was well above the
horizon, and, with the exception
of short period before dawn. II
was able to distinguish the con-
tour OF the country the entire
night. ] flew a compass course,
passing alternately over snow
capped ridges, deserts and fertile
valleys. One of the mountain
ranges was over $4,000 feet high
and completely snowcovered.
cleared this range by about five
hundred feet and went on over the
plains beyond.
The mountains passed quickly
and long before daybreak | was
flying over the prairies of West
ern Kansas. At 8 a. M, Central
Standard time, passed over Lam
pert Field and landed at $50 a.
m, May IL, fourteen hours and
twenty-five minutes after leaving
the Pacific Coast.
Inc weather during the entire
distance had been exactly as Dean
Blake had predicted. Ism
AT 8:13 the next morning (Mav
Eth. | took off from Lambert
Field for New York. The win5
was west and the weather clear
Tor the greater part of the dis
lance. Over the AIleghanys, how
ever, the sky was overcast and
some OF the mountain tops were
IN low hanging clouds and / fol-