March 18, 1924.  They had originally planned to fly from Sacramento to Portland Oregon but in the morning there were very strong head winds so Major Martin decided that they would instead try to reach Eugene Oregon.  After an hours flying they were only 40 miles from Sacramento...

March 29, 2017.  Getting ready fly this next leg I got ready the Nieuport 24. The Niewport was a French built biplane fighter (actually a sesquiplane if you want to be technical).   While its performance was not really much better than the aircraft  it was supposed to replace,   But it was still built in large numbers and used by French, British, Russian and American Units as either a fighter and trainer.  Today I will be using the model by FlySimWare.  Its a pretty good aircraft, flies well but has a nasty twist on takeoff.  And its one of the few good French aircraft in my collection (I already used the other).

The Nieuport will not make it to Eugene so instead my destination is Redding in Northern California, 126 nm away.  Flying conditions today are good, clear with 10nm winds. Flight was fine but when i landed I learned I did not start the FSA client to record it, so I had to do it again (with acceleration to make up time).  Flight time 1.2 hours.  Here are some pics from the flight.

Ready for takeoff.

Climbing out of Mather field.

California's central valley can be a pretty boring place at times.

It does have a some interesting features though.

Redding airport, terrain around here is a bit more interesting as we are getting closer to the mountains.

Parked at the Redding Municipal Airport.

March 18, 1924:  As they flew on the winds gradually decreased.  Lt Wade was forced to land near Cottonwood California because a radiator leak.  Major Martin decided not to land to prevent any damage to the other to planes and proceeded with Lt Smith to Eugene, they arrived after more than six hours, Lt Wade arrived three hours later.  Again they were met by the city leaders and a large crowd, and were again the guests of honor at a dinner by the Chamber of Commerce.

June 1, 2017.  Today I prepared the Junkers F.13 for flight.  The F.13 first flew at the end of WW1 and was introduced in 1920, it was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft and was very advanced for its day.  Well over 300 were built and production continued until 1932.  The model I am using was made by Craig Richardson and is available on the classicwings.net website.

The flight started out as a pretty easy flight, light winds and clear skies for my next flight to Eugene Oregon, 221 nm away.  I just had to get enough altitude to get over the mountains to the north.  Things were going well when flying through the mountains in southern Oregon and also some puffy clouds near the top of the ridge, not wanting to loose altitude i decided to go over it, only to discover that it was not just a small cloud, it was the edge of a very large stretch of overcast. Once I knew I was past the ridge I decided it was not a good idea to be above the clouds in a VFR aircraft, so I tried to drop down in a hole in a cloud that was not really a hole,  finally came out of the could at about 3000 feet only to see a 4000 foot ridge in front of me, up over the ridge, back into the clouds.  Fortunately I brought a pocket GPS and when it looked like I was over a valley again I dropped down to get under the clouds and made my way the remainder of the trip at about 2000 feet until I reached Eugene, after 2.4 hours of flying.  Here are a few pics from the trip.

Climbing out of Redding California

Heading on over the Mountains

Mount Shasta from the cockpit, cold!

Flying past Mount Shasta

Southern Oregon.

Finally under those clouds. Sorry I did not take more pics while i was in the clouds, but I was a bit preoccupied not crashing into a mountain.

Finally the clouds are breaking up.

Eugene Airport, my destination.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.
Happy Flying.

Very interesting account...marvelous aircraft....love the Shasta and Shasta lake shots!

HLJAMES

Dude you are the most ambitious and creative pilot I've seen in years.  Fantastic.  If you can hang in with this for 175 days you are probably the most patient too.

Wonderful pics! I have been following you on SimOutHouse !

 

7 minutes ago, woodhick said:

Dude you are the most ambitious and creative pilot I've seen in years.

I fully agree with you. I'd love the be that way again, that times of FS2004 when I didn´t know that payware was a thing.. creating my own adventures and not caring of having the best and latest :)

Its been very interesting to fly along with you Joe. I really enjoy seeing the different landscapes and aircraft. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

Ted

4 hours ago, woodhick said:

Dude you are the most ambitious and creative pilot I've seen in years.  Fantastic.  If you can hang in with this for 175 days you are probably the most patient too.

Thanks for all the complements!  If I can hang onto this for 175 my wife will be the most patient also :-)

4 hours ago, neucoas said:

that times of FS2004 when I didn´t know that payware was a thing.. creating my own adventures and not caring of having the best and latest :)

Ah I remember when FS2004 was fresh and new, back then I know payware was a thing but though the evils of capitalism should not be polluting egalitarian world of flight simming.  Yeah, I gave that up a long time ago.