Douglas C-47 Skytrain - Homage to Ernest K Gann - Video

[Bruce66]

Happy New Year Folks!

Re-reading 'Fate is the Hunter' inspired me to some flying in the Manfred Jahn C-47.

This video is of my New Years Eve flight from Presque Isle to Goose Bay - inspired by Chapter VIII - 'Rule Books are Paper'.

I have also been learning to use the Sextant and do some Astral Navigation (not used in this flight) and intend more flights from the book this winter.

Here is the video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgrHH68-43Q

Hope you enjoy!

[stearmandriver]

Nice! I really enjoy the re-creation of historic flights in the simulator. Thanks for documenting so we can all come along.

I'll have to check out that night sky enhancement. I've been using AutoStar X which is good, but maybe not as impressive as that.

If you're enjoying dead reckoning navigation, I heartily recommend the self-calculating navlog spreadsheet you can find in this thread at the A2A Constellation forum (download link is on the 2nd page I think):
http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=61102

It's got a learning curve, but once you get comfortable with the workflow, I don't think there's a tool that can beat it for period navigation. Remember, for your celestial nav you'll have to keep a running DR log, and this can be almost a full time job (hence them having a dedicated crewmember for it back in the day). This navlog does the grunt work for you while still keeping you involved enough in the process that you need to understand what's going on and plan accordingly. It's great (and it still impresses me that real-world nav calculations work in our virtual world).

I hope you film more of your flights. So few people seem to care about the old techniques anymore... it feels like in some small way maybe we're honoring them by trying to simulate them today.

[Bruce66]

Thanks Stearmandriver and glad you liked it.

The Stars from Flight Sim Jewels use the same stars at the ones from Autostar X according to their description. They have added other enhancements but I cant say exactly what as I have not looked at Autostar X. I have been able to identify objects in the night sky so I have stuck with what I already had for the time being. I have yet to identify a planet though - not sure if they are represented.

Thanks for the link and suggestion for the nav-log spreadsheet - I will look into that. At the moment I am using pen and paper and (I dont know if you noticed) I have been making some errors in my calculations! (My daughter is the mathematician in our family - I failed at maths in school.)

I am also impressed at the way the dead reckoning works in the simulator. I had a challenging flight and really enjoyed it. Just the map and the clock were certain but I got there. I am from Canada and know what cold means - it wasn't to bad that night (never below -20 C) but still a frightening prospect to go down somewhere in that wilderness. I am glad it is just a simulator!

"So few people seem to care about the old techniques anymore... it feels like in some small way maybe we're honoring them by trying to simulate them today."

I am in total agreement with that sentiment and I will certainly be doing more flights like this with the intention of sharing (next time with my glasses on so the focus is a bit better though!)

[Mr_Dirt]

I enjoyed your flight video. I too will someday learn dead reckoning and celestial navigation it looks to be a fun challenge. Learning these skills is a perfect way to honor all the aviators who paved the way. I have watched everyone of Stearmandriver's videos on the flying boats. His videos inspired me to by some books on the Flying Clippers which turned out to be fantastic reads. I will now look to find Ernest Gann's book as it seems to be an interesting read also. Thank you for your video and also your time it took to fly it and post it. Thanks also to Stearmandriver for all his time and videos I have enjoyed those as well.
Thanks John

[simtech]

Bruce66, I found your video very informative and enlightening as to the hazards of DR. Thank you for the time and effort in your production and I hope you will provide other works of your choosing in the future. :wiggle:

[Bruce66]

Thanks guys, the responses are appreciated.

Ha Ha - Dead Reckoning with the emphasis on 'dead' I think. What a crazy way to fly. But great fun in a simulator!

There will definitely be more videos to follow when time allows.