James Fitzmaurice

James FitzMaurice (January 6, 1898 - September 26, 1965) was an aviator pioneer. He was a member of the crew of the Bremen. The Bremen made the first successful Trans-Atlantic flight from East to West on April 12, 1928 - April 13, 1928.

Bremen flight

April 12-13, 1928 James flew in the crew of the Bremen on the first transatlantic flight from East to West. The crew consisted of

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Captain Hermann Köhl (15 Apr 1888 — 7 Oct 1938), pilot;

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Captain James Fitzmaurice, (6 Jan 1898 — 26 Sep 1965) co-pilot; and Baron Ehrenfried Guenther von Hünefeld (1 May 1892 — 4 Feb 1929), owner.

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• 12 Apr, 05:09 GMT: Started engine of the Bremen at Baldonnel Airport (about 19 km southwest of Dublin).
• 12 Apr, 05:38 GMT: Lifted off from Baldonnel Airport and headed west.
• 12 Apr, 07:05 GMT: The Bremen passed the Slyne Head lighthouse in Galway, started across the Atlantic, and headed for Mitchell Field, Long Island, New York while maintaining an altitude of 1500 feet (460 m) and an airspeed of 200 km/h (125 mph).
• 12 Apr, 09:00 GMT: The crew started their first meal aloft: hot bouillon and sandwiches.
• 12 Apr, 13:45 GMT: Bremen crossed the 30th meridian. Surface speed was over 90 knots (170 km/h).
• 12 Apr, 16:00 GMT: Bremen climbed to 2000 feet (610 m).
• 12 Apr, 21:00 GMT: Crew made their last drift calculation.

When the sun disappeared and the clouds obscured the stars, the Bremen climbed to 6000 feet (1800 m). Köhl estimated that they were then about three hours from land. If they had been able to stay on course, his estimate would have proven to have been correct. In fact, without the aid of the north star, they then relied on a magnetic compass and drifted far off course toward the north.

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• 13 Apr, 06:50 GMT: They saw Polaris again. James then estimated that their magnetic compass was in error by 40 degrees. Köhl immediately turned southwesterly to follow the east coast of North America towards Mitchell Field (New York), which was then about 1500 miles south of the Bremen. They flew among the Torngat Mountains of Labrador and then (without recognizing any landmarks) followed the George River upstream. In order to minimize the adverse effect of a strong southwest wind, Köhl descended into the George River Valley and flew at an altitude of ten meters (32 feet).
• 13 Apr, 14:00 GMT: The Bremen passed over the lakes at the source of the George. The crew saw nobody on the ground but people on the ground sighted the plane.
• 13 Apr, 15:00 GMT: The Bremen was seen flying over North West River on the shore of Lake Melville.
• 13 April: At about 17:50 GMT, with about two hours of fuel remaining, and only a global knowledge of their location, the crew spotted a lighthouse on an island; then a pack of dogs; then four people. It was Greenly Island in the Strait of Belle Isle. The Strait separates Newfoundland from Labrador and Quebec on the mainland. Greenly Island is about four miles inside the boundary of the Province of Quebec.

Köhl made a "perfect three-point landing" on a shallow, ice-covered, water reservoir (which James called a "lagoon"). Just as the Bremen came to a stop, it broke through the ice. The tail then projected about 20 feet (6 m) into the air. Everybody got wet but everybody was safe.

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The clock in the lighthouse was remembered (by the family of the lighthouse keeper) as indicating 2 pm Atlantic Time when the Bremen was first sighted from the ground. Captain Köhl and Baron von Hünefeld said that they were in the air 36½ hours. If their statements of elapsed time had an accuracy of better than one minute (unlikely), then the time of touchdown was 18:08 GMT or 13:08 EST or 14:08 Atlantic Time.

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Alfred Cormier of Long Point (Lourdes Blanc Sablon), who operated the local telegraph office from his home, made contact with Marconi station VCL at Point Amour in Labrador--18 miles (29 km) east of Long Point. From there, his message went through St. John's, Newfoundland (at 6:30 p.m.), and Louisburg, Nova Scotia. It was forwarded by land lines across Canada and via Radio Corp. of America station WCC at Chatham, Massachusetts, for transmission to New York City.

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The first message read: "German plane at Greenly Island, wind southeast, thick."

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A short time later, a second message was sent: "German plane Bremen landed Greenly Island, noon, slightly damaged, crew well."

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By 7:15 p.m., the story was in all the newsrooms of the eastern seaboard.

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