Around the world in 175 days.

[blanston12]

On to India!


Glamour shots.



Flying over the country side.



Over Kolkata, think I will land in the river near the airport.



Landed.


Thanks again for reading, as always your comments are welcome.

[blanston12]

I put together a couple maps showing my flights. On FSAirlines you can export a google earth KML file showing your flights, which I then used to create these images. Here are the maps of my progress so far.

[Roger]

Enjoying your trip Joe I too have the Widgeon and really like it.

[Portia911]

Seriously impressive progress shown on the globe there, Joe. Keep it up!

[BrittMac]

That Widgeon looks nice. Whose is that?

[blanston12]

Thanks for all the complements! I am going through my hanger right now looking at all the aircraft I want to use and how many slots I have coming up and realizing I am going to have to do some careful selections.

The Widgeon is by FlySimWare and its pretty nice.

[blanston12]

July 1, 1924: Much work had to be done to overhaul there aircraft for the next part of the journey. After discussion with local officials it was decided that they could move there aircraft to a park in the center of Calcutta called the Maiden. There under the shade of the trees they would do the needed work including swapping the floats for wheels, installing larger radiators, repainting the fabric, scraping off grease and on and on. Even though the engines needed replacing they decided to send them on to Karachi instead so they could get through the monsoon regions as soon as possible. While they were in Calcutta they stayed in the Great Eastern Hotel, Smith as flight leader was assigned luxurious suite of rooms so large and posh he asked Arnold to join him there so he did not feel so unaffordable. On the night of June 29, after yet another dinner hosted in there honor, Smith fell into a hole in the walkway and fell heavily on the ground, he was in intense pain but refused to admit it until the next morning when a British doctor examined him and found he had a broken rib. They taped him up and although still in obvious pain he was determined that they would leave on schedule July 1. The flight to Allahabad was relatively pleasant, the planes handled much easier without the large floats and the weather was not as bad as their previous few flights. They followed the Hooghly river, crossed the plains of Bengal and eventually reached the large RAF flying field outside of Allahabad after six and a half hours of flying.


August 26, 2017: For the next leg of the flight I will be using the Bristol Beaufighter. The Beau first flew in 1939, intended as a heavy fighter it proved its worth in many roles. Almost 6000 were built before production ended in 1946. The version I am using today was made by Dave Garwood and the CBFS team and is one of my favorites. My flight stated in excellent weather, few clouds at 12000 feet, light winds and a temperature of 28C. Heading west toward Allahabad at 3000 feet, eventually the clouds built and visibility dropped to about 4 miles. We descended to 1500 feet to stay under them and followed a compass heading until we found the Sone River, there was a ridge of hills on the far side of that so we followed the river until the ridge ended and at about the same place the clouds lifted and we were able to climb again to a safe altitude and continue to Allahabad Airport. Alas a safe landing was not in order because P3D registered a crash into some invisible object as we crossed the runway threshold, but FSA still recorded it as a flight to the right destination so that’s good enough for me, I did go back and capture a shot of the AC on the ground to finish the sequence. The 397 nm flight took 1.7 hours of flying.


Here are some images from the flight.





Ready for Takeoff.



Heading out of the plains.



Glamour shots.



Weather closing in.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Allahabad...


Following the river Sone.



Weather cleared.



On final.



Secured.


Thanks for reading, ATB.

[blanston12]

A fun historical fact I forgot to mention. After the crash of Major Martin and Sergeant Harvey in Alaska, Sergeant Ogden was the only enlisted man left on the flight. When they were in Japan Smith cabled Washington stating his lack of rank was causing some embarrassing problems. When the arrived in Shanghai, a cable was waiting from them from General Patrick promoting Ogden to 2nd Lieutenant. For the rest of the flight they never stopped kidding Lieutenant Ogden about his "Social Promotion".


Carry on.

[blanston12]

July 2, 1924: At 7:30 that morning, the flyers were off for the 480 mile flight to the city of Ambala, where the Royal Air Force had its main base on the Indian Frontier. Along the way they passed near Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, and the city of Delhi, crossroads of the ancients. During the flight New Orleans engine developed a leak in one of the cylinder jackets. Nelson asked the British for help finding a new one. The RAF quickly volunteered to get them a new one airlifted from from there supply depot in Lahore, where they had a stock pile of 2000 liberty engines with parts. The plane carrying it unfortunately crashed but the pilot was unhurt. He rented a bullock cart to take him to the closest town where he could then get a train to take him the rest of the way. By 3am he had arrived so Nelson and Harding could install it the next morning.


August 30, 2017: For the next flight we will be using the Curtiss C-46 Commando. Introduced in 1941, the C-46 started as the Curtiss CW-20, intended to compete with the new Douglas DC-4 and Boeing Stratoliner, it had a pressurized hull and was powered by two 2000 hp R-2800 engines. Compared to the DC-3 it could fly higher and carry a heavier payload but was more complex to maintain and cost 50% more to operate. 3181 were built before production ended in 1945. After the war it did not do well in its intended role as a passenger aircraft but saw success in cargo operations, used by the USAF till 1968 and some are still in service with civilian operators. The model I am using today was recently released by Aeroplane Heaven and is quite nice.


Weather for the flight was good, 8 knot winds with few clouds at 3000 feet and a temperature of 28.5C/83F. Flying at 3000 feet I was not sure what river or landmarks the original they followed so we first set a course for the city of Agra. We few around till we spotted and few over the Taj Mahal then headed for our final destination of Ambala. The flight was uneventful and we landed after flying 395 nm in 2.2 hours. Here are a few pics from the flight.



Ready for takeoff.
Glamour Shots!



Cruising.

[blanston12]

Flying over India.



Site seeing.



Nothing to see here, move along.



Our destination.



Secured.


Thanks for reading, ATB.

[blanston12]

July 3, 1924: That night in Ambala the temperature stayed between 102 and 106 and the flyers got very little sleep despite the Indian servants waving “Punkas” over them all night. The British pilots, concerned about the Americans and there flying suits gave them RAF pith helmets and British shorts and light shirts which the fliers would use until they left the desert countries. In the morning they left for Multan and climbed to 6000 feet to escape the heat, following the railroad tracks to guide them. They soon encountered a sandstorm that completely obscured both the earth and the railroad, they descended to 50 feet to keep the tracks in sight. The sand stung their eyes and sifted through their clothes. They flew right over Multan without seeing it, when Smith noticed they had passed the airport they returned to the area, made several passes over head and landed. Once they had parked there planes the men had difficulty getting out of there planes. As Colonel Butler, the British commander, shook the hand of each of the lobster-red faces, bloodshot eyed man, he handed them a glass of Ice cold lemonade that Arnold wrote was one of the most delicious drinks in his life.

September 2, 2017: For the next flight I got ready the Hawker Typhoon. Designed as a successor to the Hawker Hurricane but had several design problems that delayed its introduction. When the FW-190 was introduced the Typhoon was the only aircraft that could catch it at low altitude and the Tiffy went on to become one of the most successful ground attack aircraft of WW2. The aircraft I am using today as recently released by Aeroplane heaven and is very nice. With it I am using the ‘Silver Bullet’ repaint by Peter Watkins. The flight to Multan, Pakistan started with great weather, 5 knot winds, Scattered clouds at 8800 feet and a temperature of 25.5C/78F. The flight was fairly easy, flying at 4000 feet, the Typhoon made short work of the 280 nm flight, cruising at just over 300 knots. Things were going well until 15 miles from the destination the visibility dropped to about 4 miles and I had difficulty finding the airport, I actually few over it before spotting it and circling back to make a safe landing. The trip had taken 1 hour to complete. Here are some pics.



Ready for takeoff.



Flying out over Ambala.



Glamour Shots.



Flying over the Indian countryside. Does not look much like desert.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Multan, Pakistan.


Selfie!



Nice flying weather.



Visiblity drops as we get close to Multan.



Safely on the ground.

[blanston12]

July 4, 1924: It was 120 degrees in Multan; Arnold thought the name should be Molten instead. The reporter Wells who was following the flight reported that “No sensible person would ever go there voluntarily” and “only the constant threat of revolt by fanatical, unfriendly Indians makes the place endurable”. They were off the ground a 6am headed for Karachi. They flew over the Sind Desert this time there were no sand storms although they could see them swirling in the distance. They were cruising at 4000 feet to escape the heat when about a hour out of Karachi the engine in New Orleans started to rattle and bang as if it was coming apart. White smoke trailed the aircraft as oil spewed dpwm the sides of the engine and pieces of the engine itself started being ejected from under the cowling and ripping holes in the fabric of the aircraft. But the engine continued to respond and Nelson later reported that it continued “to run very nicely on eleven cylinders” He was able to nurse it all the way to the RAF field in Karachi, home of the best repair depots in the world at that time.


September 3, 2017: For the next leg I got ready the Grumman TBF Avenger. The Avenger first flew in 1941 and was designed as torpedo bomber, first seeing action at the Battle of Midway, and despite the fact that 5 of the 6 Avengers there were lost, it survived in service to become one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of World War II. Greatly modified after the war, it remained in use until the 1960s. Over 9800 were built. The aircraft I am using today was made by Vertigo Studios and is nice but the engine is a bit touchy if you run it at full power for too long. The weather was not the best when I started, 4 knot winds, 3.1 mile visibility, and scattered clouds at 4000 with a temperature of 33C/91C. We started off at 2000 feet to keep the ground in view but the clouds soon cleared up and we had great visibility. I climbed to 4000 feet and followed the Indus river valley, the clouds got a bit thicker as we approached the coast and we dropped to 2000 feet to stay under them but visibility stayed good. At some point I accidently hit the throttle lever on the joystick and before I knew it the engine was stuttering and trailing white smoke behind it, I decreased the throttle and tried to keep it in the air long enough for the engine to cool down and keep flying, almost crashed a couple times it finally recovered and I was able to follow the coast to Masroor Air Base in Karachi. The 398 nm flight took 3.1 hours of flying. Here are a few pics:



Ready for takeoff.



The visiblility is a little limited.



Glamour shots over the River Indus.



Following the Indus River Valley.

[blanston12]

Following the Indus River Valley.



You can see the desert beyond.



Finally reached the coast.



Karachi and my destination.



Landed.

[BrittMac]

Nice! I got to ride in a TBM two years ago. Fantastic experience. Peachtree DeKalb Airshow, called "Good Neighbor Day". Gave me enough of a spark to start taking lessons instead of finding reasons not to.
Looking forward to more shots and story! I'll do the shots, and read the story.

[blanston12]

July 7 1924: In Karachi the flyers were hosted to a dinner by the RAF officers, the first time they had dinner with ladies* present since leaving the states, in a speech the base commander reminded them they had traveled 12,577 miles since leaving Seattle, father than anyone before, but still had over 14000 to go. With the help of the British mechanics they spent two days replacing the engines on there three aircraft, they worked during the day and spent the evenings having dinners at the homes of various British officials. The morning of July 7 they were up at 3am for breakfast and were in the air by 6:30 for Chahabar Persia (now Iran). They flew over sand, ancient lava flows and mountains which Arnold described as the “most lonesome, barren and desolate place imaginable”. Shortly after noon they crossed into Persia and descended on a small port city on the Gulf of Oman.


* I assume 'Ladies' means upper class women of European extraction.


September 7, 2017: For the next flight we will be using the Consolidated B-24. As I am sure you all know, the B-24 is a four engine bomber that first flew in 1939. Designed with a efficient high aspect ratio Davis wing, the B-24 could had a high cruise speed, long range and a heavy bomb load at the expense of being difficult to fly and having poor low speed performance. While the aircrews preferred the B-17, the general staff preferred the B-24 and it was produced in very large numbers, over 19000 were built making it the most produced multi engine American military aircraft in history. The aircraft I am using today was produced by Virtavia and despite being a FSX model works well in P3Dv4. It’s a bit difficult to fly but once you remove the bomb payload it becomes much easier. My flight to Chabahar was pretty easy, weather was good, 9 knot winds with scattered clouds at 3000 feet and a temperature of 27.8C/82F. We flew at 4000 feet along the coast of the Gulf of Oman and landed at Konarak Airport, the 358 nm flight had taken 2.2 hours.


One historical note, after crashing in Alaska, Sergeant Harvey completed flight training in 1926 and was commissioned as an officer. In September 1941 he flew over 3150 miles in a B-24 to carry a lend-lease delegation to Moscow, he then continued around the world through India, Australia, Wake island and Hawaii,


Here are a few pics from the flight.



Ready for takeoff.



Engines running.



Airbourn.



Check the gauges.

[blanston12]

Flying over the Gulf of Oman.


Selfie!



Along the gulf of Oman.



Glamour shots.



Landed

[blanston12]

July 7, 1924: In Chahabar they were met by a representative of the Indo-European telegraph company who had arranged there supplies. The fliers quickly refueled there aircraft as they ate the sandwiches supplied by the wife of the British. They were in the air again at 2:35 for Bandar Abbass. The four hour flight was uneventful and when they landed in Bandar Abbass they were greeted by Mr Richardson, the British Consul who had volunteered to act as there advance agent in the area.


September 8, 2017: For the next flight we will be using the Supermarine Spitfire. As I am sure you all know the Spitfire was the star fighter of the RAF for most of World War 2. First flying in 1936 the Spitfire was produced in greater numbers than any other British aircraft and the only British fighter to be in continuous production throughout the war with the last being built in 1948 after over 20,000 were built. The model I am using today is a Mark IX and was produced by RealAir and is one of my favorites (great shame they shut down). The weather for takeoff was good, 6 knot winds, few clouds at 2000, temperature of 27.7C/82F I flew along the coast of the Gulf of Oman at 4000 feet and after a short time ran into increasingly thicker cloud layer that forced me to descend to 1000 feet to keep the coast in view. I landed at Havadarya Airport, Bandar Abbass after flying 249 nm in 1.3 hours.


Here are a few screenshots:



Ready for takeoff.



Selfie!



Glamour Shots



Flying along the Gulf of Oman

[blanston12]

Spitfire Fun!


Clouds ahead.



Staying low to keep under the clouds.



Following the coast.



Landed.


Thanks for reading
ATB

[Bjoern]

With a C-87, you could have channeled Ernie Gann for the intra-India leg. Passing on his near run-in with the Taj Mahal or any other building of worldly or spiritual importance would have been totally acceptable though.
I'm still amazed how desperate the transport squadrons were for aircraft back in the day, considering what a piece of junk the C-87 was.

[blanston12]

With a C-87, you could have channeled Ernie Gann for the intra-India leg. Passing on his near run-in with the Taj Mahal or any other building of worldly or spiritual importance would have been totally acceptable though.
I'm still amazed how desperate the transport squadrons were for aircraft back in the day, considering what a piece of junk the C-87 was.

thanks Bjoern, I seriously considered using the C-87 for this leg as I feel I may be using too many combat aircraft on this voyage but my reading confirmed your opinion of "what a piece of junk the C-87" and figured I should something else.

[jmbiii]

Joe,

Still following about a day behind. In v3.4 Konarak is bare.
Two runways, a tower, and fuel (thank goodness).

Joe

[blanston12]

Joe,

Still following about a day behind. In v3.4 Konarak is bare.
Two runways, a tower, and fuel (thank goodness).

Joe

Nice Joe.

I have the completed the next two legs and have gotten as far as Baghdad, almost had the write ups finished last night but it was getting too late. Should have them up in a day or two.

[blanston12]

July 8, 1924: The pilots did not refuel the aircraft the night before when they noticed the gas was all stored in two gallon cans. The next morning they were up by 3:30 am to get ready, they hired a group of locals help them refuel. The formed a line from the pile of gas cans and passed them up to the fliers who poured them into the planes fuel tanks. It worked well enough that in 2 hours they were done and off without breakfast. By 9:30 they had arrived at Bushire, considered the most important port in the Persian gulf. They were met by American Consol who sent into town for sandwiches while the pilots refueled for the next leg.


September 10, 2017: For the next leg I will be using the Douglas DC-4. The DC-4 was developed from the DC-4E when proved to be too complicated and large to be economically operated. The new designed had a simpler unpressurised hull and a single rudder, but in June of 1941, before it could be delivered to customers US War department took over all orders for military use as the C-54. During the war it was one of the most common long range transports with 1170 being built, they continued to serve in the Berlin airlift and Korean war. After the war many were sold to civilian operators and another 79 were built post war.


I was holding out hope for the new DC-4 from Flight Replicas but after contacting them it was clear it would not be available in time, so I am using model by Jens B. Kristensen with updates by Bob Chicilo and a new VC panel by Vladimir Gonchar. While the model is showing its age I have always liked this model and have flow many hours in it. The weather for the flight was not great, Foggy with 11 knot winds and 2.5 mile visibility and a temperature of 33C. We took off and followed the coast into the Persian Gulf at 800 feet. Around Bandar Lengeh the fog lifted and we were able to climb to 4000 feet for the rest of the flight to Bushire Iran. The 303 nm flight took 2 hours.


Personal Note, with this flight done, I am now half way around the world!


Here area few pics:



Ready for takeoff.



Climbing out of Bandar Abbass.



Heading out over town.



Along the Persian Gulf.