Beschreibung:

LINDBERGH, Charles A. Printed Gnomonic Map of Pacific Ocean, initialed ("C.A.L.") and INSCRIBED "CHART FOR ALTERNATE FLIGHT ACROSS PACIFIC. SAN DIEGO - 1927." Washington, D.C., U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office, 1899. 39½ x 34 in., with Navy Department stamp dated 7 November 1925 . LINDBERGH'S EVEN GRANDER FALL-BACK PLAN: FLYING ACROSS THE PACIFIC If someone beat him to the Paris prize, Lindbergh planned an even bolder, almost mind-boggling endeavor: a solo flight across the Pacific. Here is a map he used for that "Plan B." Gnomonic maps display the features of the earth as if seen through a distorting lens, with the distortions meant to account for the curvature of the earth and the pilot's line of vision from the air. Among the more accessible explanations on how to use the chart (printed along the bottom edge) is a passage that reads: "A straight line drawn between any two points or places on this chart represents an arc of the great circle passing through them, and is, therefore, the shortest possible Trackline between them and shows at once all the geographic localities through which the most direct route passes." Lindbergh was little more than a layman himself on navigational matters in 1927, and he was still boning up on crucial skills needed for either his Atlantic or Pacific venture, such as course plotting and long-duration night flying. While still engaged in planning and preparation, his two main Paris competitors seemed to be surging ahead. But Commander Richard E. Byrd's plane crashed on a test flight, knocking him out of commission. More serious was the French team of Francois Coli and Charles Nungesser. They took off on 8 May 1927, and Lindbergh's Paris hopes sank. He turned his mind back to the intricacies of this gnomonic chart. However a few days later, news arrived that Coli and Nungesser had ditched in the Atlantic. Lindbergh's path was open.