South from Alaska...

[Willy]

.... or a whole new way to get lost :D

I'd took off from the Cantina in a "new" Spitfire Mk XIX doing some long distance flight testing and somehow ended up in Barrow, Alaska. I guess if you're going to be in Alaska, this is the time to be there as it's relatively warm and plenty of daylight. Only thing wrong is that everything thaws out too this time of year.

Anyway, it was getting rather boreing in the pilot's lounge, even with Jay's thieving antics, picking up loose shiny objects off the bar and then flying across the room to hide them elsewhere (He'd probably collected over $10 in loose change alone during the afternoon).

Then a pilot got to talking about a flight from Barrow to Antarctica, back up the east coasts of South & North American, then hang a left in northeast Canada and back to Barrow. To make a long story short, I somehow ended up with a bunch of bets that I couldn't do the flight in the Spitfire and bring back a thermos full of snow from Antarctica. The bar owner (old mate) there is holding the money until I return or 6 months whichever comes first. Just basically follow the coasts. But part of the challenge is that I can only fly for less than 2 hours at a time. Good thing the Spit is can cover quite a bit of territory in a couple of hours. I can cut inland some, but have to follow the basic outline of the coast.

A quick pre-flight, loading up some traveling supplies and me and Jay were off for our first stop in Tin City, Alaska (PATC). Jay has a perch mounted on the right side of the cockpit where he can look out. Once we were all loaded up, there was nothing for it but to take off.

We arrived at Tin City just fine, and we'll figure out tomorrow which way to go from there.

[PRB]

Hmm. I hope the bet won't be disqualified if you pick up a "dash-2" along the way. I just finnished an avionics upgrade of Lockheed twin and need some flight testing time. Trying to screw in a set of DC-6 radios and nav equipment now, that I, umm "acquired", just recently... Missed you on your first leg, but I think you need a supply carrier / weather spotter / etc. I know you can't carry much in the way of supplies in the tiny-winy Spitfire... In the tail booms I got hot dogs, beef jerky and beer. Oh yeah, and sunflower seeds for Jay.

- Paul

[Willy]

Not a problem. Good company is always welcome on a flight :ernae:


Willy

[Willy]

Took off from Tin City with CybrSlydr, JWS & PRB. JWS was in a Howard, PRB in the P-38 "Joltin' Josie" and me and Cybr made up the RAF Spitfire contingent.

As we flew over the mountains north of Anchorage, I tried out the main Photo Recon camera. I'll definitely need to practice with it some more and figure out how to get a pic looking straight down.

It was a pretty easy flight to Valdez although I did get off of the flight plan path to follow a river up to the airfield. JWS was already there, and Cybr was right behind me. I missed getting a pic of it as I was taxiing my tail off to clear the runway and Cybr ground looped his just after touch down. PRB came in a few minutes later.

I'm still undecided where to go from here, but there's this little hole in the wall on a river island called "Hanks Place" that has a tavern that fixes the best caribou steaks and has a well stocked bar. MercAir has been trying to buy the ol' Hank out for years with no sucess, but it's a regular stop for us on our way thru. Gold prospectors come out of the hills with their most recently panned nuggets to hit the assay office, saloon and tavern, not always in that order. Sounds like just the place for a larcenous jaybird.......

Edit: The Hank's scenery is an add on and available at the usual places. I did a couple of "beta" AFCAD files for it that I'm attaching for those who have the scenery and are interested. I'll upload them in a couple of weeks depending on reported problems, although they are working fine on my comp.

Edit II: The scenery file is at FlightSim under hanksfs9.zip by Michael Carr. If all nodes are busy, then the trick I use is to get in is to hit F5 then enter repeatedly until I get in. ;)

Willy

[PRB]

Hod a good trip tagging along with Willy tonight. We left from Valdez Pioneer (PACD) and landed on a tiny strip called Hank's place. Then on to Prince Rupert (CYPR.) Good flight, great fun. Pics are on the way to Hank's place with Willy at my 2:00, and Hank's place itself, complete with ducks!

- Paul

[Willy]

Did a double tonite. PRB and me left Valdez for Hank's and shortly after, JWS took off for our ultimate destination of Prince Rupert, BC (CYPR). I caught a pic of him in the main camera as he was catching up to me.

We separated north of Hank's and I went south a bit to buzz Juneau Intl. Nothing says howdy like over 300kias just off the deck down the main runway. Got the pic a bit late as I was much lower at mid point. :D

Once we got to Hank's I stopped at the Tavern and got me and Jay a caribou burger & fries to go. While I was inside PRB landed and was taxiing about. I believe it was his first time there so he really don't know the good places to go yet. Our visit didn't last long. Jay snagged up some prospector's gold nugget about the diameter of a dime and flew back to the Spit to hide it. To make a long story short, we had to get out of there pretty quick or start shooting. This felonious fowl will be the death of me yet.

The rest of the flight went pretty good. Moses was waiting at CYPR and giving us weather updates as we got closer. I came in first with PRB a few minutes behind me. About 10 minutes later, John landed in the Howard with the beer. I'd already gotten the BBQ started. So the party was on.

Not sure where we'll go next. But I suspect it'll be somewhere on Vancouver Island....

[Willy]

Here's a map of our progress so far. Just starting out, but we're covering some territory....

[Red Baroness]

Willy - some caution when flying over Lake Ontario if you're headed that way. Be on the lookout for a distinctive Red Triplane and it's significantly faster cousin, the BF 109 K-14.

There's a landing strip not 1/4 mile from our domicile, and a pool, horses and a BBQ awaits, and lots of COLD GERMAN BEER. Also, up the way is a Go-Kart and Mini Golf place. A good place to relax. LOL.

(Speaking of which, this K-14 is no longer on the downloads - is it still there in the CFS3 d/l section?)

+Red+

[Willy]

Red, don't know how far Lake Ontario will put us off course. What the ICAO code for the nearest airfield large enough to land JWS's Howard 500? Me and PRB can get the Spitfire & Lightning down on a bit shorter field. Cold beer of any kind are always a prime consideration for landing fields.

I've gotten a bit behind in posting our progress. We landed at NAS Lemoore in California last night. We left Prince Rupert and flew on to Victoria (CYYJ) on Vancouver Island. After a short layover, we flew on down to Eureka, CA (KACV) and spent a day or two there........

[Willy]

From Eureka, we flew on down to NAS Lemoore to see about the Navy's hospitality there. I got that shot in the middle as my desktop pic now.

I'm still thinking about where to fly to next, the only thing known for sure is south. Anyone who wants to join in the flights on the NetWings server are welcome. Easy flights with a lot of good conversation (too much last night and we almost overshot Lemoore :costumes: )

Willy

[Red Baroness]

Red, don't know how far Lake Ontario will put us off course. What the ICAO code for the nearest airfield large enough to land JWS's Howard 500? Me and PRB can get the Spitfire & Lightning down on a bit shorter field. Cold beer of any kind are always a prime consideration for landing fields.

I've gotten a bit behind in posting our progress. We landed at NAS Lemoore in California last night. We left Prince Rupert and flew on to Victoria (CYYJ) on Vancouver Island. After a short layover, we flew on down to Eureka, CA (KACV) and spent a day or two there........

Well you could pick Hancock Field over in Syracuse, or Oswego Airport. dunno the codes, dangit.

There's a teeny aerodrome in Richland, not 15 miles from me, but I don't think she's got an ICAO code. Hell, I don't think it has modern equipment! :costumes:


*On a historical note, there are some WWII birds in the drink not far from me - crashes and what not. I'll see if I can find more info on it.

+Red+

[Awesome]

(Speaking of which, this K-14 is no longer on the downloads - is it still there in the CFS3 d/l section?)

+Red+

www.avhistory.org

Awesome

[Red Baroness]

Thanks Awesome - are you sure it's not the K-4?

the K-14 never made it into production in real life, LO and Teufel Heunden made it.

+Red+

[Awesome]

Anything for a pretty lass.

LOL no comment, Amp.... :D

Anyways, yeah, it's the K-4, sorry.

See you in a week...
TheAwesomeestOne
AwesomeOne
AwesomeestOneEver
Awesome

[Red Baroness]

Heh, you DO realize I'm old enough to be yo' mamma, right? LOL LOL LOL.


*grins* Going on a vacay, is ya? Have fun. Next weekend it's nothing but parties and classic cars for me - seems like the 4th will be the ONLY day I can sleep off the hangovers.

Need to prove to my friends that this soon-to-be "old lady" can still do keg stands. heh :icon29: :icon29: :mix-smi: <--- I call this the PMS icon. Ahahahhaa!

Yes, I've had three hours of sleep and I'm at work, so what? *grins*

+Red+

[Willy]

Yall are welcome to come along and try to keep up in those 109s :p. I'm wondering if one could make a 2hr flight at full throttle and keep up with the P-38s, P-47s & later Mk Spitfires. Just needs to be a stock type airfile and external tanks are only allowed if they are modeled onto the aircraft. Also keep in mind that the aircraft we're flying now are continually being fine tuned for the next RTW race. Dornier Do 335s are good, but you have to really manage the fuel to make two hours at full throttles in the simTech one. I always had to either use mine on a short leg (less than 2 hours) or cut back & feather a engine. Also with no landing lights on the simTech version, night landings are a bit tricky at times. Anyway back to the flight at hand.

I switched back to my old favorite Mk XIV (Paul Rebuffat's freeware one) that I call the "Silver Bullet". I've been mucking about with fuel tankage on it and for this flight the COG was a bit towards the nose. Made the brakes particuarily touchy. :icon_eek:

We'd flown on down to MCAS Miramar a few nights ago but as it was all night flights, didn't get much pictures. PRB, Gregory Paul and me took off from Miramar well before dark this evening so I got a few pics of the "Bullet" in flight while we were enroute to Guyamas, Mexico. PRB landed first so he got the fun of chasing the Mexican AF & the Federales out so we could drink their tequila & cerveza frio. I came in second but I tapped the brakes a bit too hard and the nose hit the dirt. Nothing a big hammer and a flat rock couldn't cure. Gregory Paul came in behind me and got quite the laugh out of it all.

Anyway here are some pics of DRG's fine paint on the "Silver Bullet" and progress map showing how far we've come. These RTW aircraft will cover some ground in a hurry when pushed.

[Panaka]

At what time do you guys fly?
I was on with Ferror at 01:00 local but saw nobody.

[Willy]

Normally around 10/11pm US Central. I believe that would be I believe that would be 5/6am in Holland. Although we've been way past midnight here and like last night we flew a bit earlier. Ususally, I get on there and wait for PRB or JWS (Pil) to show up.

Willy

[Red Baroness]

Heh, I think if I decide to join ya, it'll be in the Trimotor. Just got FS2004 tonight as my early B-day gift. Wheeeeee!

Getting DSL too, so I'm going to be a very happy Red - now I'se going to need some pointers for FS2004, and I knows where to go.

It'll be a pleasure to fly a free flight without getting shot at. :costumes:

+Red+

[Willy]

There are a couple of Jastas worth of the old SimTech Fokker triplanes over at AvSim. The base plane and about 75meg of textures for it. It might have problems keeping up as we run a KIAS usually around 250 or higher.

If you decide that something a bit faster might be in order, there's a conversion of the CFS2 SimTech Do 335 here.

Gotta run and get ready for tonite's flight in a half hour or so....

Willy

[Red Baroness]

heh, that would be the shiznat, flying that Fokker with you guys, or doing the Richland/Clinton County hop in her.

Eventually, I'll get up in a REAL one, but for now, this will be poifect.

+Red+

[PRB]

Willy and I flew into Acapulco tonight amid thunderstorms the whole way. Once we got over the storms I got a quick pic of Willy just over the Southern Cross! Just before he pulled away and left me behind in that speedy Spitfire! This was the last glimps I got before we landed!

- Paul

http://www.geocities.com/cv6prb/pics/SC2.jpg

[Willy]

Last night we flew into Puerto Villarta and tonite it was Alcapulco. After Guyamas having next to no lights, we're taking the big airfields that should be lit up like Christmas trees. This night flying takes some getting used to. I blew out my starboard tyre on landing at Alcapulco and managed to keep enough differential brake and rudder on to taxi to the ramp. I'm not using enough of my fuel load so my landings are a bit rough.

Another thing about this night flying is it's too dark to take good pics. But it "got light" enough for me grab this quick one of PRB and me at Alcapulco, blown tyre and all.

I'm thinking Panama for the next stop. There's some shady character called Jack down there that I might want to see what kind of deals he can make.

[Willy]

Well so much for the best laid plans, etc. 1st, I switched back the AH Mk XIX Spitfire. I was getting into modified racer territory with the Mk XIV and need to be stock for the distance races.

We took off last night for David, Panama from Alcapulco. According to the flight planner, I should have been able to make with a few minutes of fuel to spare. Unfortunately, it don't take headwinds into account. So, we ended up diverting to Managua, Nicaragua.

Once there, I found this C-46 Commando with a load of bananas. So, we put several bunches on the grill and had BBQ bananas. Not sure is we'll go on to Panama or maybe further tonite.

[Willy]

Well after much difficulty with Customs, we managed to get airborne. Orignally there were about 5 of us, PRB, Moses, Piglet, Panther and me. Piglet and Panther ended up having to divert so PRB in the P-38, Moses in the Howard and me in the Spitfire went on into Panama City Panama. Real good flight with good company. I think we'll follow the coast on down from here. Not much out in the middle of S America but jungle and we're doing a lot of night flying for some of those jungle airstrips.

[Willy]

Took off from Panama City heading for Guayaquil, Ecuador. About halfway into the flight I had a system failure in the Spit. Seems that Lucas Electric's old reputation as the "Prince of Darkness" came into play. The whole electric system packed it in and I couldn't do anything to get it back to working. The magnetos and GPS were fine so I decided to continue the flight and declined PRB's offer to let him lead the way in.

Made the flight okay, with Butcherbird 17, and PRB coming in fine behind me. Moses in a P-3 Orion didn't fare well. He's okay, but the Orion was almost a total loss.

We'll take off again tonight to probably somewhere in Peru. Just figure a bit less than 2 hour flight in the Spit.

[Awesome]

What happened to the Orion?

Sad, but I am actually following this flight. :eek:

Awesome<bgsound src="../music/samba_pa_ti.mid">

[Willy]

Ask and ye shall receive lol

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=1935

[Willy]

Flew from Ecuador to Lima Peru last night. Gregory Paul flew escort for a almost all the way with PRB, JWS & Col GCO joining in. Decent enough flight over part of the Andes, but it was rather foggy on landing.

Hopefully we'll head further south this evening. Probably to somewhere near the Peru - Chile border. I'm including the lastest flight progess map....

[Willy]

We haven't updated for a few days but PRB, Gregory Paul, Moses03, Col CGO, JWS and myself have been flying nightly, covering a lot of territory. Last night we landed at the icy jumping off point in Tierra del Fuego (SAWH) to our destination in Antarctica, Palmer Station (NZ0B). Flying using real time and real weather, these have been very low visibility flights and all of us have at least pranged up something on an aircraft at least once.

After our next leg to Palmer Station, we'll be flying up the east coast S. America, the Windward Islands, then up the N. American east coast before heading west across northern Canada to return to Barrow, Alaska.

[PRB]

So far I've used up two P-38Ls. Lucky for me the DCC Airplane Company keeps giving me new ones...:D

Flying into unfamiliar airports with mountains all around them in darkness is not the smartest thing I've ever done. Going to start scouting them out in daytime first :)

- Paul

[Willy]

Tonite, PRB and me flew into the MercAir Antarctic cold storage facility near Palmer Station. He keeps following me around like this, I'll have to make him a partner ;) .

Anyway, I'm leaving Spitfire with the engine idling tonite to keep it from freezing up. Hope PRB leaves his running too. I don't think I could pull start him too well. Now we get to go north for a while. Port Stanley looks like a good place to stop over next.

[Willy]

PRB, Moses and me flew the first leg north tonite on up to the Falklands. One thing about unarmed Photo Recon Spitfire Mk XIX. It's got the legs that the regular ones don't.

Didn't know that the Northern Lights are also in the southern hemisphere. So I got a pic of the "Southern Lights".

Next stop will be somewhere in Argentina......

[Willy]

PRB, Gregory Paul, LN-EVB and myself took off from Mount Pleasant to SAZB in Argentina. Dcc took off with us too, but diverted to elsewhere enroute.

I had a spot of trouble though. First for some silly reason I forgot to raise the wheels until I had some speed built up. They seemed to go up well though. (or so I thought at the time as I had an up indicator light) That was soon forgotten as I realized that in order to make it to SAZB, I'd have to do some serious fuel management. At my normal settings, I kept coming up about 3-4 minutes flight time short of fuel. So, I throttled back and idled along to where I'd have about 15 minutes once I got there.

Well as usual, it was foggy as heck there when we got there. I'm on approach, the flaps drop fine but the wheels won't drop more than about a foot then stop. I tried several times to lower them, but no joy. The runway was getting close and I was down to about 85kts by this time, so I raised the flaps, slid to the left to where I'd touch down on the grass, about 20ft above the ground switched off the magnetos and bellyed the Spit on in. I thought it never would quit sliding. But all in all, it worked out good.

Turning off the engine saved it and three of the five propblades. I've got the MercAir Connie bringing a crew in from Virtual Supermarine to patch 'er up and we should be back in the air in no time heading further north.

[Moses03]

That Spit is a tough 'ol bird. It will take more than you can dish out.....hopefully. :costumes:


Moses

[Willy]

Might be tough, but virtual Supermarine hasn't finished it yet.

So I flew me old Ta 152 on this leg. Nothing like cruising along at 35,000 with a DB 605 pulling ya along. I really should let it out of the hanger more.

Anyway, PRB, Col GCO, Gregory Paul and me flew on up to Montevideo Uruguay. Pretty good flight although Gregory Paul had the same problem I did last night and ended up doing a belly landing just as I did. I think his P-51 will be okay.

We'll head on up into Brazil tomorrow

[Willy]

Okay, got the Spit back with a new paint scheme. :D

We've cruised on up and are now hopping along the Brazillian coast heading north. Tonight we flew over Rio de Janerio and landed at Vittouro or something like that. Last night it was Floranopolis. Lately it's been PRB, Gregory Paul, Col GCO and myself. I suspect though we'll be a few days in Brazil.

Don't know if you can make out much detail, but here's a shot of the Spitfire over Rio...

[Willy]

Just thought I'd update this a bit. We're still flying north (kinda sorta). We've rounded the eastern tip of Brazil and are heading NW towards the Windward Islands where we'll start island hopping to North America.

The Spitfire is holding up well as is PRB's P-38 and Gregory Paul's P-51. These are all night flights so there's not much in the way of pics, but once we get back up in the Arctic, we should be getting back into some daylight.

[Willy]

We "escaped" from Brazil tonite. I switched to an old favorite, the Do 335 and PRB & me took off from SBBE heading for Suriname. We landed at Zandery in a T-storm (Gregory Paul had caught up with us by this time). Anyway, I put the flash attachment on the camera to get a pick of the Dornier and PRB's P-38.

[PRB]

Good pic, Willy. Dang, that NDM is bigger than I thought! The Twin Lockheed looks like a toy next to it! Awesome machine right there. Checking the oil, tire pressures, and filling the tail boom compartments with BBQ sandwitches and Bud Lights, getting ready for the next leg.

- Paul

[Willy]

We had a nice flight up to Barbados tonite. Even if I did prang the Spit up a bit on landing. Nothing a little bailing wire, duct tape and some JB Weld can't fix.

[PRB]

Well, this was an interesting leg. Gregory Paul and I left Bridgetown, Barbados (TBPB), Willy caught up with us late but had mysterious engine issues and disappeared somewhere over the Caribbean Sea. Hope SOH Air Sea Rescue can get he and Jay plucked out of those warm waters without incident.

GP and I landed safely at Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic (MDSD.) We did a section landing, P-38L and P-51D. Very cool.

Getting stocked up on BBQ sandwiches and Bud Light, making ready for the next leg.

- Paul

[Willy]

I was having engine overheating issues and lost "radio" connection. I ended up going back to Barbados, but once I get the radiators cleaned out and test flighted, I'll be heading to Santo Domingo.

In Other Words, me comp was getting to hot & I CTD'd. This morning, I pulled it apart, vacuumed the junk out and made sure that the inlet holes were no longer blocked (they were last night). I'm going to refly that leg here in a bit offline with Real Wx on 15min updates, the ATC on and AI @ 100% to see how much she'll take now.

[Willy]

Finally made it to Santa Domingo (MDSD). Took a bit longer than I thought to get the bugs ironed out, but the Spit is flying fine now. As it was a daylight flight, I took a few pics along the way. Still trying to find the rest of 'em that landed here last night. Airport security is giving me some runaround about some crazy gringos that got tossed in jail last night. I'll probably have to go bust 'em out.....

[Willy]

Back in the US of A! We flew from Santo Domingo to NAS Key West Florida tonite. A bit of a squeaker on fuel (I landed with 13% left and that was after throttling way back on power), but we made it. We flew most of the trip along the northern coast of Cuba, but didn't run into any trouble with the Cubans. I was a ways out in front and the plan was that if I ran into any Cuban Air Force fighters, I was to get them to chase me and I'd lead them back into Gregory Paul and PRB. As my photo recon Spitfire is unarmed, all I could do would be take pictures of the massacre. ;)

Gregory Paul was actually in some P-51, but as I didn't have it, it appeared as a Spitfire Mk XIV to me. Which was cool. Never can have too many Spitfires.

Anyway we'll be heading up the US east coast toward Canada now.

[Willy]

We flew up to Norfolk, Virginia tonite. Nice flight, although the visibility on approach wasn't the best. Good thing KORF was lit up like a Christmas tree...

I think lobster is on the menu for tommorrow night.....:D

[PRB]

Tonight we flew from Norfolk to Augusta, Maine (KAUG), where I grew up so many years ago. Was a good flight. dcc joined us, as did Panther_99, for a while. We head for points north next! Got the P-38 tail boom compartments filled with lobster and Bud Light. It's gonna be a long flight north!

- Paul

[Willy]

Thought I'd throw in a couple of pics. Me and Gregory Paul did a formation takeoff behind PRB (without his knowing it). It worked out okay although I did almost take out Gregory Paul when the Griffon did it's usual hard pull to the right. I didn't have the F-5E that PRB was flying or the P-51 that Gregory Paul was, so they appeared as Spitfires to me.

Also here's the latest progress map....

[Willy]

We're still plugging away at it. We landed at CYFB in NE Canada tonight in some really poor visibility. Anyway here's where we are at now. From here's it back west to Barrow, Alaska

[PRB]

This was a very difficult approach. Very bad westher, had to really use the ILS needles. Darkness, no horizon, very much IFR. Got disoriented several times during the approach. Only complete reliance on the instruments saved me from crashing. Made it! Very cool, mucho fun.

- Paul

[Willy]

Tonite's approach made up for the horror that was last nights. We got into the "midnight sun" and the visibility was great at Resolute Bay. Looking at the map though, I'm thinking that this is about as far north as we need to go.

[Willy]

Yee Haw!! We made it back to Barrow, Alaska tonite! :D

I was late showing up on the flightline and PRB, Col GCO, Moses03 & Gregory Paul took off just before I got there. So, I hopped into the Spitfire and took off to catch up to them.

A nice easy flight with a little bouncy weather, but we've made it back to where we started out at. Unfortunately the thermos full of snow from Anarctica melted somewhere on the way back up.

The only worrysome part about the flight was that apparently Gregory Paul had snoozed out or something in his P-51. It was on autopilot and kept circling the field. Still there when we left.

I'd like to thank everyone who flew along on this flight and made it the delight that it was. Now we're studying our next flight. Africa??? I've heard something about diamond mines there. ;)

[PRB]

It was quite an adventure, Willy. Good times and good company with all who joined us. I didn't make every leg, but pretty close. Africa sounds goodfor the next adventure. Not so many ILS fields out there, I expect...

-Paul

[Gregory Paul]

Guy's I must live in the stone age. I just found this thread. Not to worry guys I did land my P-51B. I had lost consciousness due to an leak in a oxygen line.

[Moses03]

That's a pretty impressive route you all completed. :icon29:

Glad I could join in from time to time. Had loads of fun with it.

Moses