Hi Bill.Have tried to download the picts i have from my flight. Left Santa Maria Island just after sunrise. stoped in a couple small runways as i headed up the slot. Landed at Cook field....Have a couple great shots coming in for landing( forgot to turn on landing lights though). Have some shots with B25 over water and Islands in back ground. Made strip where Cyclops is....Sadly Cyclops claimed one more aircraft.! Denver Dumper rests about half way up. Next time i will use full throtle to get over top. Anyways. was unable to get them downloaded. But will keep trying. Amanda.

Oh dear! Halfway up is about where we found the P-61. Sounds like you encountered the same thing that Red Southfield ran into - aside from the mountain, I mean: Gotta watch that density altitude in the tropics! Here's the story:On 10 January 1945, shortly before noon, with the temperature nearing 100 degrees at the Hollandia airfield, New Guinea, a pilot, radar operator and two passengers climbed aboard their newly acquired P-61B Black Widow in order to perform a proficiency flight. The two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines both roared to life, the wheel chocks were pulled away and the almost 15 ton aircraft began to taxi to the end of the main runway. After the crew completed their preflight checklist the brakes were released and the aircraft began its takeoff roll down the runway and then lifted off for its flight.At a mere two miles off the end of the Hollandia runway the summit of Mount Cyclops rose abruptly to 7000 feet above sea level. On this day the crew would put the vertical climbing performance of their new aircraft to the test. The pilot made two high speed passes low over the flat coral airstrip and then attempted to pull up and clear the 7000 foot summit of the Cyclops. With each pass the P-61 failed to clear the summit, but the pilot successfully turned away, abandoning both attempts. Upon failing to clear the summit for a second time, the pilot decided that he had to climb and gain altitude, which could be traded off for airspeed. After flying off completely out of sight for several minutes, the pilot pushed the P-61 into a full-speed dive and then reappeared for a third attempt flying by at maximum speed, whistling as it passed low over the airstrip, nearly cutting off the tops of the six foot tall kuni grass. He then pulled up and began to climb and to climb and to climb. Suddenly the twin 2.00 horsepower Pratt & Whitney, engines were silenced as the Black Widow stalled, clipping the tops of several trees and then pan-caking on to the side of the mountain, coming to rest on top of a large outcrop of rocks at a very precarious 55 degree angle. Surprisingly enough, only the radar operator sustained a rather severe forehead laceration. The remaining crewmembers were all lucky enough to escape the crash without major injuries.

Edited January 23, 201214 yr by rambow

Cool story.Glad everyone made out alive. I will be starting out again, from the begining of the flight ( Vancouver Island ). Will get some shots from the start of the trip this time. Also made copys of the black and whites of seven mile, will see if i can reproduce it as it looked then. Would be great addon for these flights. I hear another simmer is recreating Vella Lavella as it looked when VMF214 was their.