Cartwheeling through the Southwest Pacific

[jt_williams 291]

Cartwheeling through the Southwest Pacific – Solomons, New Britain, and Papua New Guinea.

Starting from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal the route will hop-scotch from island to island up the Solomons to New Britain. The route then proceeds to New Guinea and finishes at Port Morsby.  

 
To cover the full route will take several weeks.  We will fly as far as we can during a session and resume from that point on the next flight.

Full Planned Route and Pilots Guide for Part 1 is here

Aircraft: The  total route is 1367nm. A cruise speed of better than  300 KIAS would be advisable to complete the flight in time. The route features many primitive airstrips and somewhat long over water legs.  World War 2 Warbirds are the preferred aircraft as they have the speed to cover the significant distances between airstrips and are appropriate for the rough field conditions.  I will fly the A2A P-51 (while not exactly correct for the Solomon’s Campaign period),  but another good choice would be the P3D default P-38.   Please fly what you like.

 

You should set your departure time to 14:25 hrs local time.   If we fly for 3 hours that should give us an extra 20 minutes before we are out of daylight.  I’m not quite sure where we will be after flying after 3 hours, but I assume that everyone is OK with flying a high performance warbird, at night, over water, and into an unlighted airstrip.

Where & When
Date and time: Saturday, December 15, 2018. 1900 UTC.
Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Cross-Platform Multiplayer: JoinFS. (FSX, FSX-SE, and P3D).

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!
 

[MM 422]

Looks to be great fun.
(I should fly a P-400 and "hide in the clouds." May have to substitute something else.)

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

I'll be watching from well above the clouds..

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

16 minutes ago, MM said:

Looks to be great fun.
(I should fly a P-400 and "hide in the clouds." May have to substitute something else.)

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/heroic-airacobras-of-the-cactus-air-force/

[MM 422]

Yup. In August 1942, my father arrived on Guadalcanal in the first wave of USAAF P-400s. And (according to his self-deprecating humor), each day he waited for the Zeroes' impending arrival upon which he would take off and hide in the clouds. As you indicate, there may have been more to that story.😉

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

P-400 eh? At first I jumped on that and thought  'Ahah! a typo. I'd just put my hat and coat on to nip down to the A2A store...Haaang on, he typo-ed twice? Nah. Check again.

[spokes2112 179]

Quick question..
Any specific scenery? I have just stock airports for the first 6.. (AGGK thru AGGE)
Doesn't seem right for some reason. 

 

[jt_williams 291]

27 minutes ago, spokes2112 said:

Quick question..
Any specific scenery? I have just stock airports for the first 6.. (AGGK thru AGGE)
Doesn't seem right for some reason. 

 

Bog Standard Airports.  Nothing Fancy.

[spokes2112 179]

Not many shots taken with all my troubles.
But if you want, some shots are here.. 
Nice looking group!
Thanks Jeff!

[MM 422]

To complement Jeff's suggested reading, you might enjoy the classic WWII documentary "Mission to Rabaul" (55:39). This is a US Army production (1943) with the normal propaganda tone – but informative and plenty watchable. The main music is Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird" and  "Rite of Spring" – the great orchestral compositions originally written for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1910-1913. Interesting choice. The film itself is contemporary background and then combat action footage that illustrates the role of the American 5th Air Force in the campaign for New Guinea and the eventual reduction and isolation of Japan's powerful base at Rabaul. (The film does not reveal the Cartwheel intention to bypass rather than attack Rabaul.)

Not for everyone.

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Where do we get up to last week?

[jt_williams 291]

 Ballalae (AGGE) 

 

[spokes2112 179]

AGGE

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

So that's AGGE is it? 👍

[MM 422]

Not exactly Alec Guinness and The Bridge over the River Kwai, this was a more brutal statement about human nature. The Japanese transported 517 British POWS from Singapore to the island in order to construct an airport. Many may have died in American bombing raids and others may have died due to disease and the harsh working conditions. But there was no heroic moment upon completion of the airfield. The surviving British soldiers were summarily bayoneted or beheaded.
Balalae Island at Wikipedia. The Sad Story of Balalae Island. And the Report on War Crimes on Ballale Island.