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April 6, 1924: Major Martin initially though a photo graphic airplane was Lt Wade in Boston so the first three aircraft headed for Prince Rupert, only later did he discover his mistake. After flying though haze so thick they had to drop to 100 feet to pick their way around the numerous small. After passing the Johnstone strait they emerged from the fog just in time to avoid a Steamer looming just ahead. Back into fog and over increasingly heavy seas. They arrived at the entrance to Prince Rupert Harbor and encountered a heavy snow storm. As Martin was about to land he could see he had too much momentum to stop before hitting the beach but not enough power to go around so he cut power and pulled up to make a stalled landing, he avoided the beach but landed with enough force to damage the left wing struts and some of the wires. The other pilots landed safely, Lt Wade in Boston landed an hour after the others. Lt Arnold wrote in his diary, “125 miles of fog, 275 in rain and snow, hell of a day”. Seattle was hauled into the Prince Rupert Dry Dock for repairs. June 17, 2017: Today I prepared the Waco UBF-2 for flight. The Waco F-Series first flew in 1930 and was a very popular sport and training aircraft. Many of this classic aircraft are still flying and versions the aircraft are still being built. The model I am using was made by Golden Age simulations and it is very nice to fly. I think it’s the fourth Golden Age aircraft I have used so far. The weather was calm but hazy, visibility between 5 and 8 miles. I was always worried that the fog would roll in so I stayed low at around 1000ft but full fog never arrived. I few along the west coast of Princess Royal and Pitt island before arriving at Prince Rupert Harbor. The 155 nm flight from Bella Bella took 1.5 hours. Ready for flight. Hazy conditions. Princess Royal Island. Along the way. Flying between McCauley and Pitt Islands. The town of Prince Rupert. Nice view of the cruise ship. Safe landing. April 10, 1924: It took about 3 days to complete the repairs to the damaged Seattle. It was raining on the morning of the 10th but reports from along there route were encouraging so Major Martin decided they would attempt the 282 mile flight to Sitka Alaska. That moring for the first time all four planes took off together, an hour later they passed Ketchikan at low altitude in light rain. Passing the Clarence strait about 60 miles from Sitka they encountered thick haze and had to fly low over 30 foot swells with only 100 yard visibility. As they approached the there destination, Wade recalled “The harbor sight was exhilarating, mirror like water, tiny city, snow capped peaks, and a sky full of soaring seagulls”. June 19, 2017: Today from Prince Rupert I prepared the Fairey Swordfish for the flight. The Fairebly the closest aircraft to the Douglas World Cruiser I am likely to use, unless of course someone decides to make a P3D/FSX compatible version of the DWC (please?). Despite being considered obsolete at the start of the WW2, it was still in service when the war ended. Produced until 1944, it sank more ships than any other allied aircraft and survived past several aircraft designed to replace it. The model I am using today is made by 'Flying Stations' and is quite nice. It was cloudy in Prince Rupert so as I left I stayed low as I headed North west over the channel. After about an hour of flying the cloud lifted and I climbed to 6000 ft so I could head directly over the mountains rather than weaving my way through the many channels. Once I had flown over the lower peninsula of Baranof island I descended to 1500 feet and followed the along the coast to Sitka Alaska and landed after 2.3 hours of flying. Here are a few pics from the flight. Prince Rupert, BC. Ready to go Climbing out of Prince Rupert, BC. Turning toward Ketchikan Alaska Flying over Ketchikan Alaska Ah! Good flying weather. Flying along the coast of Baranof Island. Coming into Sitka Alaska. Landed Safe!
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March 19, 1924: The three planes left Eugene next morning for Vancouver Washington, on the way they were intercepted by five JN-4s from the Vancouver Barracks Aerodrome. When they arrived they were greeted by a large crowd from the cities of Portland and Vancouver. They motored into Portland for a luncheon with the city leaders. They had intended to fly to Seattle that afternoon but shortly after departing the ceiling dropped to 500 feet and Major Martin decided they should return to Vancouver. That evening, Lt Nelson arrived in Eugene, flying directly from Santa Monica after 9 hours 45 minutes of flying. June 10, 2017. The aircraft for the next leg is the Fokker F.VIIa, by Jens B. Kristensen. The Fokker was the aircraft of choice for many early airlines, both in Europe and the Americas and it dominated the American market in the late 1920s. My Progress has been delayed by the fact that I just received a new computer to use for flight sim and I need to transfer over and re-install enough software so I could get flying again. Today flying conditions are good, 7 kn winds, ceiling 2000-4000 feet with clear terrain between me and my destination of Pearson Field, Vancouver Washington, 93 nm away. Ready for takeoff Climbing out of Eugene Oregon. Central Oregon. Clouds getting thicker. Make sure you avoid the radio antennas. My destination, I'm flying over KPDX but my destination is just beyond the river. Arrived at Pearson Field. March 20, 1924: The morning the three aircraft left Vancouver for Sand Point Field in Seattle (now the site of Magnuson Park), arriving by Noon. Lt Nelson arrived from Eugene two hours later. Once again they were meet by Local Dignitaries and were motored into town for a Luncheon. The flyers would then spend the next three weeks getting the aircraft ready for the trip including swapping the wheels for floats, protecting all metal surface with either varnish or oil and getting there supplies in order. June 10, 2017: This afternoon I got ready the de Havilland DH.60 Moth by Golden Age Simulations, which I like a lot. The DH.60 was a two seat training and touring aircraft built from 1925 in many different versions until 1932 when it was replaced by the DH.82 Tiger Moth. “By 1929 it was estimated that of every 100 aeroplanes in Britain, 85 were Moths of one type or another”. My 114nm flight to Seattles Renton Municipal Airport was pretty smooth, most interesting thing was this was the first real flight I did on the new computer using P3D V4, with autogen turned up to the max and the screen at 3840x2160 I was still getting 60 fps, hopefully you will see a difference in the screen shots. So far I have had 12.1 hours of flight time compared to 13.5 by the flyers, and they arrived in Seattle after 4 days while I took 16, but I won’t have to take 3 weeks getting my aircraft ready for the next leg. Here are the pics: Ready for takeoff Last look at Oregon for a while Central Washington Mount St Helens, hiding in the clouds. I can't tell you how many times I flew under this Bridge in FS2004. SeaTac Airport with Seattle in the distance. My destination, Renton Municipal Airport. Aircraft Secured, time for dinner!
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April 13, 1924: They could not leave on the 11th because of heavy rain. It rained, hailed and snowed on the 12th, they flyer were kept busy keeping trying to protect there aircraft that kept loosing there anchors, but on the 13th it was clear and calm so they took on extra fuel so they could reach 625 miles to Seward in case the weather was clear at their initial destination of Cordova. With Lt Wade in the lead they took off, the good weather did not last long and they flew in violent snowstorms. Wade flew at 100 feet over the shore line with the others in formation behind as they tried to avoid the mountains that would loom up in their way… June 24, 2017: Today I will by flying the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger moth. The tiger moth first flew in 1932 and was an evolution of the earlier DH.60 Moth. It was used as the primary trainer for the RAF and many other Air forces until the late 50’s and is still operated by many private individuals and flying clubs. Well over 8000 were built. Today I will be using the model built by Ant’s Airplanes and I like this model enough that it is setup as the default aircraft when I load flight sim. There are many more capable aircraft from the early 30’s I could have used but I did not want to pass up the TM, but it does not have the range to make Seward so instead the destination will be Yakutat Alaska, 201 nm away. Conditions at Sitka were good for flying, light winds and about a 8k ceiling and started off happily around 4000 ft but soon had to drop to 1000 ft as the clouds got heavier and it started to rain. Lots of cool glaciers to see as we headed along the coast. The weather lighted up as we got close to Yakutat and the flight took 2.3 hours later. Here are a few pics from the flight. Ready for takeoff. On our way, good flying weather near Sitka. Weather is closing in, our first Glacier along the way. More glaciers. Weather is clearing up. Scenery along the way. On approach to Yakutat. Secured. April 13, 1924: The planes continued on 10 feet above the breakers, "The beach was covered in snow and the air around us was filled with it", Nelson Wrote. Arnold wrote in his diary "I hope we never have to fly through such thick weather again". The weather broke into clear skies and unlimited visibility as they approached Cordova, so instead of landing there they continued on to Seward. Major Martin later sent a letter of apology to the Mayor of Cordova when he learned they had prepared a reception and dinner in their honor. June 25, 2017: Today I planned to use the De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide. The DH.89 first flew in 1934 and went on to become perhaps the most successful British built short-haul commercial passenger aircraft of the 1930s. The model I will be using today is by Dave Garwood and the CBFS design team and is excellent. Flying weather today was excellent, Clear, scattered clouds, easy flying until I got close to Montague island when the clouds started to thicken up. Knowing the island was in front of me I decided to go over the small cloud in front of me but then saw that the clouds extended for quite some distance beyond i headed for the nearest hole in the clouds to head back to low level, I had to drop to 600 feet to get below the clouds. The clouds broke about 15 minute later and I could climb back to 1500 ft and cruised along the coast until i reached the mouth of Resurrection Bay, then up the bay and a landed at Seward. I traveled the 297 nm from Yakutat to Seward in 3.1 hours. Here are the pics: Where did these guys come from, well there the passangers, looks like they are headed to a Grunge concert or something, hope they enjoy the flight. Climbing out over Yakutat Bay. Glamour shots. Clounds starting to close in. Trying to get under them. Clear skies again. Resurrection Bay The town of Seward Alaska. Secure at Seward. Yes, I know that's nine, I have tried to stay to eight but its such a pretty plane, sorry.
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May 22, 1924: Smith had hoped depart early the next morning but here old enemy fog prevented that. They visited the local village and were invited on board one of the Japanese destroyers where invited to watch a Sumo match. Weather was again unfavorable the next day but by the 22nd they were able to depart. They had wished to depart at midnight but fog prevented them leaving till 5:30am, they encountered light fog as they flew along the mountainous islands, 495 miles to the Village of Minato on the north east corner of the Japanese main island of Hanshu where USS Ford waiting for them. July 22, 2017: Again I am flying the Aerosoft PBY, this time flying Jacques Cousteau’s converted PBY-6A. Weather today was overcast with a 1200-2000 foot ceiling. Still trying to use VFR rules I stayed at around 1000 feet for most of the flight. The engines on the a bit more finicky than most sim aircraft and I was trying to be careful with them but for reasons I can’t explain the right engine kept shutting down on me and I probably restarted it a dozen times trying various combinations of the settings trying to keep them running, some worked better than others but I never found the right combination as it shut down again as I was on final. I flew to the airport at Omitato which is on the bay where they flyers landed. I should have landed in the bay as the airports 2000 foot runway was a bit short for what I needed and overran the end before coming to a stop. I landed after flying 361 nm in 2.8 hours. Here are a few pics from the flight: Ready for takeoff. On our way. Staying low. Making our way around Hokkaido island. Selfie! Around the last ridge on Hokkaido, and the engines are running again! Our destination is in sight! Landed, just got to the place I wanted to park before both engines decided to quit on me. May 22, 1924: Although Lt Smith had wired ahead that he did not want any party arranged, A welcome arch and reception tents had been erected and large crowed lined the shore and warfs ands everal hundred school children waved american flags. As soon as they came to a halt a giant fireworks display lit up the sky. While a celebration was planned the flyers were behind schedule and Lt Nutt, the advance officer for the flight in this region went ashore to give there regrets while the flyers refueled there aircraft. By 1pm they were back in the air again. They plunged into fog and rain, but after two and a half hours the weather cleared and became ‘balmy’ according to Wade. They continued flying down the eastern short of Hanshu. At 5pm they turned inland and landed at Lake Kasumigaura, Home of the Japanese Navy Air Base, 50 miles north of Tokyo, They were met by thousands of spectators and news correspondents and photographers from all over the world. The Admiral in command welcomed them and assured them they would get all the assistance they would need. After their planes were made secure they were taken to the Naval Air Service Club where local officers hosted a dinner in their honor and were each shown to private rooms with there own orderlies, they also received there first mail since they left home. July 22, 2017: For first few legs over Japan I wanted to use some Japanese planes, but there are only a few I could find that worked well in FSX (or later). The first one I found is the Nakajima B5N2 Kate. The B5N was the standard torpedo bomber if the Imperial Japanese navy for much of world war 2. It first flew in 1937 and over 1100 were built and was used throughout the war. The model was first made for CFS-2 by Thicko and converted to FSX by Erik Hertzberger. The exterior model is pretty good but the VC shows its age. My flight to Hyakuri Airport started off in weather that was best unpleasant, Cloud level was at 1500 feet so I stayed below at about 800 feet and continued down the coast toward Tokyo, About half way down the coast the clouds lifted a bit and was able to climb to a safer altitude and made my way and landed safely after flying 306 nm in 2 hours. Here are a few pics from the flight. Ready to go. On our way. Staying low while flying up the coast. Glamour shots. Its clearing up. Getting closer to civilization. On final into our destination. Landed. By this point in the flight they had flown 5,657 miles and logged 76 hours in the air. At this point I have flown 5493 nm and logged 47 hours in the air and based on our start dates I am 8 days ahead of them.
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May 9, 1924. Wade asked an old trapper when the seasons changed, he replied “We have only two seasons here, winter and next winder”. Having no word on what happened to Martin and Harvey, the flyer waited in Atka for fuel and for weather to ease, by the 9th weather was better and they started for Attu at 9am. Winds from a williwaw hit just as they were taking off and almost caused Nelson to crash but they were soon all in the air. The 555 mile flight was long and cold with occasional snow squalls, the only life they saw along the way were birds and whales, They arrived in Attu after 7 hours 52 minutes of flying. May 10, 1924 Martin and Harvey walked out of the wilderness near the Port Moller Cannery. On the 3rd they had been climbing in thick fog trying to get to Dutch Harbor. Martin was thinking he should turn back but thought he saw water ahead so he pressed on, a moment later they crashed into a gentle slope on the side of a mountain and crunched to rest in the snow. They were unhurt but the plane was a total wreck. They knew they in trouble as the area they were in was mostly uninhabited and for food all they had were two sandwiches made for them by Mrs Osborne in Chignik and two thermos bottles of condensed food they had bought in Los Angeles. They wandered though the wilderness for several days until they found a campers cabin on the 7th that looked like it had been recently vacated. They rested there for three days, eating what food was in the cabin and then followed the beach until they saw the Cannery at Port Moller. Martin sent a cable to General Patrick that they were safe and they stayed there till the 14th when they were given transport on the company steamer back to Bellingham Washington. July 13, 2017. Today we will be flying the Lockheed L-10 Electra. The Electra was a twin engine all metal airliner that first flew in 1934. It was built to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. The Electra was the type of aircraft used by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated flight around the world. The aircraft I will be using today was made by Just Flight and can now be found as a default aircraft in Prepar3D Version 4. The weather for my flight was overcast with a 2000 foot ceiling and winds around 12 kn. I saw few of the scattered islands as I was heading in and out of the low clouds continually adjusting the Sperry autopilot to keep my altitude between the clouds and the sea but since there was not much to see I was mostly in the clouds over open ocean. Those Islands I did see were were not much to look at (I have now left the land of ORBX). I arrived at Attu after 2.8 hours of flying. Here are a few pics from the flight. Ready for takeoff. Heading out from Akta Island. Most of the time it looked like this. Flying in and out of clouds. Islands along the way, definatly not the land of ORBX. The occasinal clear weather, time for a glamour shot. Our destination. Secured. May 15, 1924. The original plan was to fly 870 miles directly to Paramushiru, Japan, a flight that under normal conditions would take 10 hours. But there was concern as very rough weather was expected so the flyers decided to fly to the Russian island of Komandorski instead. The Russians had denied the Americans permission to fly through their territory but it was felt that the risk of being arrested by the Soviets was better than flying through the storm. Bureau of Fisheries boat Eider proceeded to Komandorski to wait for the flyers off shore. They were ready on the 12th but high winds, snow and fog prevented there leaving. Finally on the 15th Eider signaled that conditions at Komandorski were favorable and the flyers departed. “For three hours we flew out of sight of land, wondering all the time what the Russians would think when they saw three giant planes swoop down out of the sky in this remote region where even ships come about once a year”. They arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. Eider had secretly placed buoys for them out of sight of land. As they landed a small boat came out with five people, two in uniform with rifles as soon but there was no hostility. The Russians informed them they would have to stay on the ship and could not come ashore and offered them a flagon of Vodka. The flyers settled in on the Eider for the night. July 15, 2017: Originally I wanted to use Polikarpov Po-2 by Swingman which is a very nice plane and I thought it would be good to fly into Russian territory in a Russian aircraft, but became concerned that the flight from Attu to Komandorski was just at the limit of the Po-2’s range, then discovered that neither FSX or P3D had the Komandorski island airport. I created a seaplane airport with a water runway and a USCG cutter to mark it using Airport Design Editor by ScruffyDuck software. Since I don’t have a float plane version of the Po-2 its out. Instead we will be using the Beechcraft Model 18. Beech built over 9000 model 18’s between 1937 and 1969 and they were used worldwide in many different roles, many are still in use today. I will be using an amphibious version of the D18s created by and recently updated to FSX native by Milton Shupe. Weather was not the best, 300 foot ceiling with fog that kept moving in and out. I waited till I could see the end of the runway and took off and was almost immediately in the clouds. I tried to fly straight out at a consistent climb and heading until I was sure it was safe to turn west. Once up at 8000 feet we navigated to Komandorski. As the island came into view we descended through a break in the clouds and proceeded up the coast until we found the cutter, safely landing next to it after 1.8 hours of flying. Here are a few pics from the flight. Ready to go at Attu, but the weather is not. Now we are ready. Climbing out through the clouds. Finally above the clouds. Glamour shots. Komandorski in sight! Our destination. Landed.
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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.
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March 17, 1924. The three aircraft piloted by Major Martin, Lt Smith and Lt Wade are on there way to Sacramento. May 27, 2017. Took a bit of a rest in Monterey, then pulled out the Albatros D.III for the next leg of the trip. The D.III first flew in 1916 and was one of the leading fighters the during the period of German aerial dominance known as "Bloody April" 1917. The model I am using for this leg is the A2A Simulations 'Aircraft Factory' model, which is very nice. Compared to the previous aircraft I have used on this trip, the extra power in the Albatros will be very useful getting over the Santa Cruz mountains that are between me and my destination, the Oakland International Airport, 70.5 nm away. The weather was again excellent for flying, 12 kn winds with scattered clouds. Here are a few pics from the flight. Ready for takeoff. Climbing out of Monterey Up the coast toward Santa Cruz Cruising along. On final into Oakland. Landed. I would have taxied to parking but since the AC has no brakes and just a skid in back, I will stop here. March 17, 1924. The three planes arrived at Mather Field, Sacramento California after 4.5 hours of flying and were greeted by the Mayor and a crowd of several hundred, after servicing there aircraft they were taken into town to a dinner in here honor given by the Chamber of Commerce. March 29, 2017. I was busy yesterday and could not fly, this morning I get the Avro 504K ready for the next leg. The Avro 504 first flew in 1913 and almost 9000 were built before the last variant was produced in 1932. The K model was built staring in 1917 and was widely used as a trainer and even a fighter for Home Defense squadrons. Many hundreds were sold for civilian use after the war. I will be using the 504K from the A2A Aircraft Factory. Weather today is wet and foggy, 700 foot ceiling and 10-15kn winds, the control tower denied by VFR take off request so I will have to go without permission. I had originally picked Oakland as a destination because from here I could do a tourist flight over the city of San Francisco before heading to Sacramento, at first I though it would be too foggy but I see the clouds over the city are not so bad. After taking a few selfies by the tourist spots I headed up the bay, staying over the water since the tops of the hills were mostly in clouds, it did not clear up till I was through the bay and over the Sacramento Delta, then it was a short flight to Sacramento Mather Airport, formerly Mather Air Force Base, formerly Mather Field. As the crow flies Mather is 58 nm from Oakland Airport but my round about route took me 1.2 hours. My scenic route took 6.1 hours of flying compared to the 4.5 in the original flight but since I broke it up into 5 parts I am now four days behind. Here are a few pics from my flight. Ready for takeoff. Maybe the clouds over SF are not so bad after all. Flying over the Golden Gate Bridge. Flying under the Golden Gate Bridge Alcatraz Finally out of the clouds! My destination is in sight! Parked at Mathers.
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September 18, 1924: The original plan was to follow the airmail route over the Rocky Mountians through Cheyanne Wyoming and Salt lake city but the lowest point in the continental divide was 6500 feet and the airmail planes often had to fly between 8000 and 9000 feet to safely pass. Lt Smith wanting to avoid the risks of flying at that altitude decided, with General Patricks approval, to fly through Dallas Texas and San Diego California before returning to the 'official' starting point of Seattle Washington. So instead of continuing west from Omaha that morning they headed south following the Missouri river 125 miles to the town of St Joseph Missouri, there they would be treated to a luncheon by the civic leaders and watch an aerobatic show by Lt Rubin Moffatt before heading to there next stop. October 15, 2017: For the next leg I will be using the Cessna 177 Cardinal. The 177 was a “futuristic successor to the Cessna 172 with both fixed and retractable landing gear versions. Although it never really replaced the 172, at least 4295 were built between 1968 and 1979. The model I am using is the 177RG version by Alabeo and it is quite nice. Weather for the flight was clear and calm, temperature of 4C/39F. The flight itself was uneventful, followed the Missouri River south to the Rosecrahs Memorial Airport in St Joseph Missouri. The 93mn flight took 44 minutes. Here are the pics: Ready to go. Everything looks good. Cruisin. Following the Missouri River. Selfie. Nice view of the river and the fall colors. On Final. Landed. September 18, 1924: After the luncheon in St Joseph, the flyers were back in the air for Hatbox field in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where they were welcomed by a large number of planes and chartered passenger busses that had converged on the small town to welcome them. At the evenings banquet they were given gold medallions for there “Intrepid flying skills”. October 18, 1924: For the next leg I will be using the Handley Page Jetstream 200. The Jetstream is a two engine turboprop small airliner that first flew in 1967. About 67 were built by Handley Page and Scottish Aviation before the design was acquired by British Aerospace who developed it into the Jetstream 31 and 41. The model I am using is an almost finished beta by Rick Piper, and despite the fact that he did not finish the pilot seats is a great model and nice to fly. Biggest dilemma for this flight was the destination airport to use, originally they used Hatbox field, but Hatbox closed in 2000 and even though it still exists in P3D its runways are pretty small, so following the rule of what airport would I use today I will use Davis field which is the current airport for Muskogee. They weather was good for flying, clear and calm with a temperature of 10C/50F. The flight was uneventful except that ActiveSky started giving strange error messages and I had to shut it down, switching instead to the 'fair' weather scheme. The 248nm flight took 1.1 hours. Ready to go. Get the selfie out of the way. Out over the plains. Glamour Shots. Everything looks normal. Fair weather. Flying over Davis Field. Landed, Thanks for reading. ATB.
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April 15, 1924: By 11 am they were ready for the 425 mile flight to Chignik. Only Major Martin in Seattle had difficulty taking off and had to take three attempts to get in the air. For the next four hours, the flight was uneventful and enjoyable but stiff head winds slowed them down. Harding recalled “The clear deep blue water below, clear skies above, and snow covered peaks and glaciers on our right were beyond description in beauty and splendor” . The other crews noticed that Seattle had dropped down to lower altitude and was staying near the rear of the formation. All but Martin decided to go over a mountain while he tried to go around it. When they reached Cape Igvak Seattle could not be seen in the thick haze, but with the strong head winds they did not have the fuel to go back and search for them. After 6 hours 38 minutes of flying they landed in Anchorage Bay at Chignik they immediately rushed ashore to radio that there leader was missing and believed down on Portage Bay. The Navy immediately ordered the destroyers Corey and Hull to the area. June 27, 2017: Today I will be flying the Douglas DC-2 for the 364nm flight from Seward to Chignik Alaska. Introduced in 1934 and built in response to a TWA specification for an all metal tri-motor, the Douglas response was more radical with twin engines, retractable landing gear and two 690 hp Wright radial engines driving variable-pitch propellers. Although overshadowed by its ubiquitous successor, it was the DC-2 that first showed that passenger air travel could be comfortable, safe and reliable. A KLM DC-2 even came in second in the MacRobertson Air Race between London and Melbourne while carrying mails, making scheduled passenger stops. The model I am flying today is by UIVER Team and is quite nice. Its nice but touchy to fly, if you lower the gear when your flying to fast the hydraulics will fail and the engines cut out on me once as I probably over-revved the engine. But the flight was uneventful for me, even if it was quite rainy when I left Seward and the scenery along the way was quite dramatic. I arrived after 2.3 hours of flying. Here are a few pics from Ready as Seward, Active Sky said this was light rain. Back out Resurrection Bay. I did say there was 'light rain' didn't I. Glaciers. Not sure what this rock is but it is dramatic. After flying through some fog the weather finally cleared up. Approaching Chignik. Secured. April 15, 1924: After 4 hours of flying Sargent Harvey yelled to Major Martin that the oil pressure gauge had dropped to zero and they immediately looked for a place to land, spotting a sheltered cove in Portage bay. As soon as they had slowed sufficiently Harvey leaped onto the pontoon to check the engine and found a three inch hole in the crank case. Martin and Harvey slept in the cockpits of the airplane, so sure assistance would arrive soon they did want to swim ashore, and at 5am the next morning the destroyers Corey and Hull arrived after steaming 312 miles to reach them. They were towed 10 miles to the village of Kanatak to await fuel, oil and a new engine being brought to them by the Coast Guard Cutter Algonquin. April 19, 1924: At the same time Algonquin was heading to the disabled Seattle, Martin ordered Smith to proceed with the other aircraft to Dutch Harbor, where they had better facilities for taking care of the planes. A stiff wind was blowing as they untied there aircraft, along there flight to UnAlaska they flew around, over, under and through snow squalls, experienced the fierce Williwaw winds, flew over rocky islands, volcanoes and looked up at ice-capped mountains. After flying 390 miles in 7 hours and 26 minutes they landed in Dutch Harbor where the Coast Guard cutter Haida was waiting for them. July 8, 2017: Today I got ready to fly the Heinkel He-51. The He-51 was a German single seat biplane figher that first flew in 1935 that was used by both the Luftwaffe and Spanish served as a fighter, seaplane, ground attack and trainer until 1952. Over 700 were built. The aircraft I am using today was by Craig Richardson and will be using a civilian repaint by Bernhard Lechner. The aircraft is very nice but it does tend to nose over if you apply the brakes to hard. I decided to break this leg into two parts in the interest storytelling and using a couple smaller aircraft before the long oversea routes. My destination for this flight is Cold Bay, 161 nm away. The weather in Chignik for the start of the flight was great, 5 kn winds and clear. I climbed up over the low mountains and headed down the Alaskan peninsula at about 4000 ft. The weather got cloudier and windier as we flew on, eventually having to drop down to 1500 ft to stay below the clouds. I also became quite concerned about my fuel usage, the aircraft is supposed to have a range of 300 nm but when I reach 50% fuel I estimate I will get to my destination with very little fuel to spare. As I reach Cold Bay the winds have climbed to 31 kn and I had difficulty getting the biplane to settle on the runway especially since I was being very careful with the brakes not wanting it to nose over. Fortunately, Cold Bay airport has a very long runway and was able to make a safe stop with only 5% fuel remaining. Here are a few screen shots from the flight. Ready for takeoff at Chignik. Heading out over the mountians. Beautiful flying weather, so far... Flying down the Alaskan Peninsula. But the good weather did not last. Flying low to stay under the clouds. Cold Bay airport in sight. Landed in Cold Bay.
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April 6, 1924: The preparations had been made and the flyers were ready to start their flight. The route had been organized into seven divisions for planning purposes and the first division was from Seattle to Attu in the Aleutian islands. The pilots had been instructed to name there planes after American cities on the four points of the compass, Major Martin named his plane ‘Seattle’, Lt. Smith named his plane ‘Chicago’, Lt Wade named his ‘Boston’ and Lt Nelson chose ‘New Orleans’. Sgt. Turner became ill just before departure and felt to weak to continue so Lt Smith chose alternate pilot Lt Leslie Arnold to be his co-pilot/mechanic. They wanted to depart on April 4th but bad weather reports caused them to cancel. On April 5th Major Martin tried to take off but his propeller broke with a loud crack and repairs took till the next day. Finally on the 6th, in front large crowds, the four planes taxied out and one by one took off. The planes were at maximum weight and Boston could not get airborne. Lt Wade taxied back to the dock, where they made some adjustments and unloaded some gear including their rifle, a small anchor and some extra clothing. An hour behind the others they took off and were on there way to Prince Rupert Canada, 650 miles away. June 11, 2017: The flyers took about 8 hours to fly from Seattle to Prince Rupert, not having that much time today I decided to break the trip into three smaller legs. Since they had switched there planes from wheels to floats, I will use float planes on these first legs. The aircraft I have chosen is the Ryan B-5 Brougham by Golden Age Simulations. The Brougham was a very popular small airliner that was used in Alaska but also China and Central America. The model is very good, flying it is easy but side visibility is a bit restricted, but thats the way it was built. My destination for today is Comox, British Columbia, on the eastern coast of Victoria Island, 170 nm away. Flying conditions are again good, scattered clouds and 5-6 kn. winds, the flight was uneventful and I arrived after 1.7 hours of flying. Here are a few pictures from the flight: Ready for takeoff. Climbing out of Renton Municipal Airport. Flying over Downtown Seattle View along the way. Another along the way. Yet another along the way. The destination is in site. Landing at Comox April 6, 1924: Lt Wade few solo to Prince Rupert through thick fog an dead calm. “I flew right down on the water so glassy that I was constantly fearful of slapping the surface.” Wade said. “I used the tree line on my left as a guide and followed it for a long way. In skimming over Johnstone Strait, we almost collided with ships twice”.... June 15, 2017: Today I got ready the Monocoupe 90, a two seat cabin monoplane, which first flew in 1927. Various versions were in production until the late 1940's, and over 300 were built. The version I am using today was made by Golden Age Simulations and is very good, the package includes the Monocoupe 90, 110 and 125 and has both wheeled and float versions. I readied for flight the float plane version of of the 90 in a nice blue color. I had tried this flight two days before but the sim crashed so to make up time I did resort to some time acceleration. My plan today is to fly to Bella Bella, British Columbia, 191 nm away. Weather today is a bit more challenging than the previous flights, conditions in Comox were 14kn winds with cloud level at between 800-3000 feet. I headed north west following the Discovery Passage to the Johnstone strait, keeping between 1000-1500 feet to stay below the clouds, in the Johnstone strait the clouds got heavier and in I dropped to 800 ft and spent some time flying through rain. Once I reached the pacific things cleared up a bit, however once I reached the Burke Channel the clouds closed in again and I had to drop to about 500 feet to stay in clear air. I found the passage on the south side of Denny Island and followed it around to Bella Bella. The Monocoupe came in a bit fast and it took a few attempts to get the landing right. One problem with sea plane airports is its a bit harder to identify them, there are two of in this little bay and I ended up stopping next to the wrong one, but they are all pretty close together and as far as the FSAirlines client was concerned it was close enough and the flight got recorded. Flight time 1.9 hours. Here are a few screen shots from the flight: Ready to depart. Up the Discovery Passage Down the Johnstone strait Still flying down the Johnstone strait Over the Pacific Getting Closer Up the Burke Channel Arrived.
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May 17, 1924: The pilots awoke at 4:30 am and prepared for takeoff. It was an ideal spring morning, there plan was to fly west toward the Kamchatka peninsula then south along the coast, 585 miles to Paramushiru. The weather started off ideal, but occasional fog and snow squals built up and they had to fly lower and lower until they were just skimming the water. Eventually they were flying through fog and heavy snow which became heavy rain and high winds by the time they approached Paramushiru. The American Destroyers John D. Ford and Pope had been waiting for the flyers in for some time. They expected them two weeks after they left Seattle, it was now almost 6 weeks. The Japanese were not very cooperative, not allowing the americans to go ashore or take photographs. In addition to requiring a Japanese officer to remain on board, they were escorted by Japanese warships at all time. The destroyers had been taking turns waiting at waiting at Paramushiru, returning to Hakodate to refuel and supply. They battled fog, show, icy winds and rip times that kept the ship the ships swaying continuously like a pendulum. At one point in a storm Pope had collieded with the Japanese destroyer Tokitsukaze but fortunalty there was not serious damage. On a gray afternoon May 17, Ford was in Kashiwabara bay with the Japanese destroyer Tokitsukaze and Amatsukaze when the three aircraft arrived, they circled the ships several times before landing. They had difficulty mooring to the buoys Ford had placed because of the strong currents, riptides and fierce winds. Cold and wet they were welcomed aboard the Destroyer by Lt Commander Frost its Captain, representatives from the Japanese Navy and Army. They soon received Congratulatory messages from General Patrick, Secretary of War Meeks and the General Ugaki, the Japanese Minister of War. They were the first aviators to fly across the Pacific ocean. July 16, 2017: Now that we have reached Asia and the aircraft have reached the late 30’s I am going to start using aircraft for than one leg at a time rather than changing every time. So we will be using Milton Schup’s Beach D18S again. There is no airport at Paramushiru in either FSX, P3D or real life as far as I can tell, so I will create another simple seaplane port using Airport Design Editor. The island of Paramushiru was taken over by the Soviet Union after World War 2, now part of Russia and is called Petropavlovsk. It was raining when we departed Komandorski with a 2000 foot ceiling. We climbed up to 8000 feet to get above the clouds and it was an easy cruise, over the Kamchatka peninsula and into the bay where the Coast guard cutter was waiting for me. Here are a few pictures from the flight. Ready for takeoff. Up above the clouds. Glamour Shots. Lots of clouds. Hey, thats Asia! That bay between the two islands is our destination. There is the cutter! Landed. Sorry the descriptions have gotten a bit long but there was a lot happening back then and I want to make sure I told there story. They should get shorter again. May 19, 1924: In there narrow bunks the flyers did not get much sleep that night as 45 mph winds rocked USS Ford roughly side to side that night, the same winds kept them from refueling and servicing there aircraft the next day. They did get badly needed haircuts and were treated to dinner with ‘strong libations’ on one of the Japanese destroyers. The following morning they were off at 7:30 am for the 595 mile flight to Hitokappu bay on Yetorofu Island. This proved to be one of the coldest days flying since they left Seattle, Wade recalled often having to “stamp his feet just to see if they were still with us”.. They started in biting wind and fog, plunged in and out of snow squalls as they passed over one Japanese island after another. After more than seven hours of flying the arrived at Hitokappu bay where the destroyers Tokitsukaze and USS Pope were waiting to great them. July 19, 2017: For the next flight we will be using the Consolidated PBY Catalina. The legionary Cat was one of the most widely used seaplanes and amphibians of world war 2, It first flew in 1935 and over 3300 were built and was used by every branch of the US Armed forces and at least 27 other nations in many different roles until 1980. Many are still in service with civilian operators. The model I am using today was created by Aerosoft and is very nice. The USN 5A I am using today came equipped with a Sperry autopilot that is much more realistic than I am used to and took some practice before I was ready to use it on a real flight. I found the rudder control on it a bit useless, instead just using the bank control to turn with and control direction. The weather today was better than I had seen in some time, 12 kn winds with scattered low clouds. Like many islands in this area, at the end of world war 2, Soviet forces took possession of Yetorofu Island and it is now controlled by the Russian Federation and is called Iturup island. The flight was uneventful and I landed at Iturup island after 4 hours of flying. Here are a few pictures of the trip. Getting ready to depart at Dawn. Head into the wind before takeoff. Heading out. Glamour shots. Small island along the way. Cruising. There the cutter marking our destination, get ready to land. Landed.
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April 23, 1924: On the 19th Algonquin arrived at Kanatak with the new engine for Seattle. In blowing snow they managed to install by the morning of the 22nd. On the morning of the 23rd the men of the village helped Martin and Harvey break up the ice that was forming around the floats and tow the Seattle from the pond they had been working, down the stream to the bay where it was now calm enough to take off. Visibility was too bad to fly a direct compass heading to Chignik and at one point the weather became so bad they landed in a protected cove until the weather cleared. After waiting an hour and a half the storm eased and they then few the remaining distance to Anchorage bay and the village of Chignik. July 9, 2017: Today I got ready the Grumman Gulfhawk II ready for flight. The Gulfhawk was a custom civilian conversion of the F3F-1 fighter. The F3F was the US Navy’s last biplane fighter, with retractable landing gear, and enclosed cockpit and a 1,000 hp Wright Cyclone engine. It first flew in 1935, only 147 were built and it was retired from front line squadrons before world war 2 started but it eventually evolved into the much more successful F4F Wildcat. The model I’m using today was made for JustFlight by Airplane Heaven and is remarkably similar to the AH F3F-2. It’s nice to fly, lot of torque on takeoff but it takes off so fast it does not matter much. My flight today from Cold Bay to Dutch harbor was uneventful, cloudy with a 3000 foot ceiling and 6 kn winds. This is probably the fastest aircraft I have flown so far and it made short work of the 155 nm flight. I landed after 51 minutes of flying. Ready for takeoff. Flying over the Alaska Peninsula, canopy open. Scenery here is not as dramatic as other parts of Alaska. At least now we can close the canopy when the weather gets bad. Weaving around the islands while staying below the clouds. Finally figured how to turn the navigation lights off. On approach into Dutch Harbor/Unalaska. Secured. May 3, 1924: Major Martin waited in Chignik until he finally received favorable weather reports from Dutch Harbor on April 30, when and Harvey finally departed, but they never arrived. A search was started using ships from the Navy and Coast guard, boats from local canneries and even dog teams from Chignik. On May 2 General Patrick, Chief of the Army Air Service designated Lt Smith leader and told them “Do not delay longer waiting for Major Martin” and “Proceed to Japan at earliest possible Moment”. On the morning of May 3, the crews got there aircraft ready for flight and proceeded to Nazan on Atka island, 365 miles away. Although they flew through rain and snow showers it proved to be an easy flight and they arrived after 4 hours 19 minutes of flying. July 9, 2017: This afternoon I got ready the Spartan 7W Executive for flight. The Spartan first flew in 1936 and was designed as a fast comfortable aircraft for rich executes. Only 34 were built but had some notable owners including Howard Hughes, J. Paul Getty and King Ghazi of Iraq. The model I am flying today was made by Milton Shupe and was recently updated by him to be FSX Native. It’s a very nice aircraft to fly and I highly recommend it. My flight from Unalaska to Atka was uneventful. Out over the mountains to the west of the town and out over the sea. I stayed mostly under the clouds sometimes staying as low as 800 feet to stay under the weather. Since the route is mostly over water at one point I climbed to 10,000 feet to try to get above the clouds for a while but did not stay up there for long. Approaching Atka, staying low to keep below the clouds, the town and airport are pretty small and I did not spot them until I was almost on top of the airport, I ended up coming in fairly fast and my landing was a bit rough but got on the grounds safe. Here are a few pics of the flight. Ready for takeoff Over the mountains west of Dutch Harbor. Heading out from Amaknak Island Weather is getting pretty bad, better climb over it for a bit. Looks like its calmed down enough to head back down. Atka Island. I almost missed the airport. Landed!
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I have recently been inspired by a virtual around the world by Peter McLeland that he had been posting on the CBFS forum. I began to think about doing something similar, but did not want to just copy what he was doing. My research on alternatives and came across the story of the very first flight around the world. In March/April of 1924 a team from the United States Army Air Service, started there attempt to be the first to fly around the world. The aircraft they used was the 'Douglas World Cruiser', a modification of the Douglas DT-2, an early 1920's torpedo bomber being built at the time for the US Navy. It was a two seat, open cockpit bi-plane powered by a 400hp surplus Liberty engine that on average had to be replaced every 60 hours of flight time. It could be easily converted from wheels to floats and was modified to carry 644 gallons (2,438 liters) of fuel (up from 115 gallons). They started there adventure in Santa Monica California, the site of the Douglas Aircraft factory and flew to Seattle where the trip was to officially began. They made 74 stops, travelled 26,345 Statute miles (22,893 nm) and took 175 days, passing through Alaska, Japan, China, French Indochina (now Vietnam), India, Persia, Turkey, Austria, France, Britain, Iceland, Greenland and Canada (and several other countries along the way) before returning back to the United States. Along the way they lost two aircraft, one crashed in Alaska, one force landed in the North Atlantic and sank but all the crews survived. Most of my information on the trip came from the book “Around the world in 175 days” by Carroll V. Glines and will liberally quote from this book while writing my descriptions. In planning this first thing I discovered was I could not find a Douglas World Cruiser that was really up to the standard I wanted to use. I found one that was a FS2002/2004 model that looked pretty primitive in FSX/P3D and whose panel was way to modern, the original aircraft only had four gauges in the cockpit. Besides I don't think I would have the patience to fly this single slow aircraft for the entire trip, so instead I will make the trip around the world also a trip through the history of aviation, starting with something early from the Wright Brothers and ending with something very modern. Trying to make sure that whatever aircraft I use was still in production after all the previous aircraft were introduced. This will give me an excuse to dig into my large collection of aircraft I have amassed. I will try to fly the original route as close as possible. Many of the early legs will be broken up into multiple shorter since many of the early aircraft I will be using are not as capable as the DWC. When possible I will try to fly at 1x speed with real world weather. Most of the flights will be flown using P3D v3.4 but some may be flown in FSX or X-Plane depending on what works best for the aircraft/location. I worked out a plan that involves 85 stops covering 25,875 statute miles/22485 nm, we will see how many days it takes me. I do reserve the right to patch in the hand held GPS/Radio on aircraft not equipped, and to install a period appropriate autopilot on aircraft that are not equipped but could plausibly have been so. The entire trip will be recorded using the FSAirlines.net flight tracking client. I will be using the new aircraft rental feature, currently in beta test on our site. Having said all that, the adventure begins..... Note, I always intended to post these here but when I got started somehow forgot. Rather than posting all at once I will post one leg every day or two until I am caught up with my current progress. If you have seen these before I apologize.