Around the world in 175 days.

[blanston12]

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. 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. It 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.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Chignik...


Not sure what this rock is but it is dramatic.



After flying through some fog the weather finally cleared up.



Approaching Chignik.



Secured.

[Willy]

The Uiver Team DC-2 is a long time favorite of mine. One of these days, I need to get the FSX native version as I'm still flying the ported FS9 one.

[blanston12]

The Uiver Team DC-2 is a long time favorite of mine. One of these days, I need to get the FSX native version as I'm still flying the ported FS9 one.

I used the FSX version for this post, and good news, it is forward compatible with version 3 and 4 of P3D. It's a very nice aircraft.

On a side note, I re-read the post I wrote at 11pm last night and wanted to make a couple minor edits but today I can't figure out how to do that. A few days ago I was able to go back and correct some misspellings, am I missing something or did something change.

[Ganter]

Well done for sticking it out.Following with great interest.

[blanston12]

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.

[blanston12]

Sorry it took so long from the last flight, I out of town for the Holiday weekend and could not get much flying in until the next weekend. Here are a few more.



But the good weather did not last.



Flying low to stay under the clouds.



Cold Bay airport in sight.



Landed in Cold Bay.

[Portia911]

Seems unfriendly weather dogged your real-world counterparts on every leg - very interesting to read the history instalments, as well as your aircraft desctpriptions.
Don't know how your virtual pilot can cope with the swapping from an enclosed cabin (even heated in the DC-2 I think!) and then back to an open cockpit biplane. I know it's summer up there, but even so . . .

[Bomber_12th]

I just wanted to add that I have been enjoying following your posts, Joe. These posts also have commonly inspired me to dust off some of these classics and take them out of the virtual hangar and go and 'fly' them again.

[blanston12]

Seems unfriendly weather dogged your real-world counterparts on every leg - very interesting to read the history instalments, as well as your aircraft desctpriptions.
Don't know how your virtual pilot can cope with the swapping from an enclosed cabin (even heated in the DC-2 I think!) and then back to an open cockpit biplane. I know it's summer up there, but even so . . .

Thanks Portia, At least my virtual pilot is doing it in June/July. I can't imagine doing it in an open cockpit in April which is when the original flyers did it. But I think I have only one more open cockpit on the road map and I am reconsidering that one after the fuel issues on the He-51 since that leg will be over water at close to its maximum range.

I just wanted to add that I have been enjoying following your posts, Joe. These posts also have commonly inspired me to dust off some of these classics and take them out of the virtual hangar and go and 'fly' them again.

Thanks Bomber! I was hoping a few pilots would be inspired to get out some of these classic aircraft!

Well I think i'm ready for the next leg, stay tuned!

[blanston12]

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.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Dutch Harbor...


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.

[blanston12]

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 our own 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.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Atka


Looks like its calmed down enough to head back down.



Atka Island.



I almost missed the airport.



Landed!

[Portia911]

Bravo Joe.
Bet you had no trouble keeping warm and dry in that lovely Spartan.

[blanston12]

Bravo Joe.
Bet you had no trouble keeping warm and dry in that lovely Spartan.

Thanks Portia, yes, the Spartan is a quite civilized way to fly

[blanston12]

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.


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.

[blanston12]

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. Continuing to Attu...



Islands along the way, definatly not the land of ORBX.



The occasinal clear weather, time for a glamour shot.



Our destination.



Secured.

[blanston12]

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.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Komandorski...


Glamour shots.



Komandorski in sight!



Our destination.



Landed.

[blanston12]

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.

[blanston12]

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.


Hey, thats Asia!



That bay between the two islands is our destination.



There is the cutter!



Landed.

[blanston12]

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.

[blanston12]

Continuing to Iturup island.


Small island along the way.



Cruising.



There the cutter marking our destionatin, get ready to land.



Landed.

[blanston12]

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.