http://www.e-telescope.gr/en/cat06/art06_070807/art06_070807_3.htm I think that this is where it went wrong.
Lt Taylor believed he was flying over the Florida Keys
“Both my compasses are out and I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am over land, but it's broken. I'm sure I'm in the Keys, but I don't know how far down and I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale”
Lt Cox radioed this...
“Put the sun on your port wing if you are in the Keys and fly up the coast until you get to Miami…
both of Lt Taylors compasses were malfunctioning , these pilots
were taught to find direction using the sun and their wristwatch
ie...point the hour hand at the sun , and 1/2 way between the hour hand and 12:00 on the wristwatch is due south.
If Lt Taylor could see the sun durring his flight , he would have
known which direction he was traveling in.
the weather was not bad that day , he should have been able to
see the sun , and find his way back.
he departed Ft Lauterdale at 2:10 P.M. and headed east
91 degrees.
everything was going fine until he turned left at his second waypoint and he was on a heading of 346 degrees.
I think that this is when Lt Cox sudgested that he put the sun on his port wing and fly up the coast...
at (A) he turned right to a heading of apx 40 degrees and this is when everything went wrong.
If he thought he was in the keys then a 360 degree heading would have put him over florida.
or would have put him over the grand bahamas and he would have recognized the terain.