Spotted this half completed tower in the fog...
Spotted this half completed tower in the fog...
Had your fog lights on I see...
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Out of London Heathrow for Orly. Paris is known as "La Ville-Lumiere" or "The City of Light". We certainly got the "Lumiere" part--as we encountered driving rain and distant lightning while overflying the city and approaching Orly. An "electric" introduction to the Continent. A few snaps showing (a) our approach to the city with ominous anvil heads in the distance, (b) the Eiffel Tower, (c) central Paris with L'Opera, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Left Bank in the distance. Even though it was before midnight, we were looking out for Hemingway, Dali, Gertrude Stein, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Luis Bunuel, and all the group.
Finally, we landed through the rain (d) at Orly. Here is a picture (e) of the gang in front of Orly's famous South Terminal which drew a million tourists in the early years. (Couldn't get the FAA Connie in the shot.) If you look closely, you can see plane-spotting Parisians on the terrace.
-Mike
We put Paris behind us and flew down to Barritz France (LFBZ) near Spain. Decent flight with good conversation.
Only got one pic of the flight. The other is the Cadillac connection I mentioned earlier. The Eldorado Barritz. I think it'll haul us to the beaches and casinos just fine.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Well here we are in Barritz, Willy has lined up transportation to the beaches and the Casinos. Someone mentioned about loosing our shirts, so I brought an extra shirt. Now I don't know it there meant at the beach or casinos. I'm not that dumb I know what they meant I think. We had another pilot join us on this junket, and I know that you would be surprised at this, but we behaved ourselves. All in all a very good flight.
Nice flight from Barritz to Vigo, Spain (LEVX). The landing was something else though. Very low visibility. I made one low and slow pass and never saw the runway. Climbed out of the valley and turned around for another run down the valley looking for the airport. This time I spotted it, but I was too high to attempt to land. So I climbed back out and turned around which put me behind the others. So, I just followed them in and landed. 3rd time a charm...
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Leaving the beaches and casinos of Biarritz, this was a good time to honor the Constellation's long career with Air France. The company treated the Connie as its luxury flagship from the late 1940s through the 1950s--at the peak of the airlines' romantic era.
First a shot over Bilbao and the spectacular Guggenheim museum. We had a long interesting flight over the mountains of Northern Spain, and learned about Leon and the famous procession "The Burial of Genarín". ... SrG has more details.
However, as we descended we encountered clouds covering the mountains and visibility started to worsen. ATC reported 0.4sm on the field. Things were spotty until, turning over the harbor, we discovered the hill-surrounded airport to be covered by a cloud bank. Made for an interesting short finals and touchdown. Going to have to work on my IFR skills...
-Mike
You can get some sense of the conditions by watching the gang land and taxi in. (What you cannot see are the high hills surrounding the field.)
-Mike
Howdy,
I don't know what more could be said about this flight, all in all wasn't to bad until the approach and landing. These picture we took as we overflew some of the local hills, now not a place needed for any kind of emergency landing, But the scenery sure does look nice.
One other thing about last night's flight. I learned that they modeled in drag for the cowl flaps on the Constellation. I'd taken off with mine fully opened and forgot about them. Then was wondering why it was flying so slow. Saw the cowl flaps open and it sped up when I closed them.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Just a few more glimpses... before and after the fog set in..
Attachment 46602 Attachment 46603 Attachment 46604
"To some the sky is the limit. To others it is home" anon.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” -Albert Einstein
We eased on down to Lisbon Portugal. Nice flight although on approach, I blew out my flaps and gear and had to circle around a bit until my new hire flight engineer got it patched back up. I was able to land then and head for the terminal.
The pics are backwards..
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Good times ..... love those Connies ... one of my all time favorite aircraft.
Enjoying the screen shots!
salt_air
Ah...Lisbon, spying capital of the world during WWII. I think. Well, what the heck, it was a good flight and was enjoyable one. Now on to Gibraltar for some minor maintenance, and then the cross over to the Dark continent. Looking forward to, and maybe putting the con to our old buddy Achmed. I sure hope our buddy isn't still mad at us from when we last met. lol. Tentative plans is to fly east across the top of Africa to Egypt with intermediate stops along the way, and then up the Nile......to where who in the heck knows. But you all know this is going to be fun.
The "rock".
Yep, we headed on down to the Rock. Nice weather for once at the destination, but the traffic sure turned heavy on final as it looked like everyone got to the runway at the same time. Luckily no aluminum was bent.
On to Africa!
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
:salute:Hey there!
Right no bent aluminum, but the whole bloody place looked like a hornets nest but with Connies. Pictures, we saw this here fellow taking picture of the connie from the parking lot so we got a few to show the group. Now off to Africa! To what fate who in the heck knows, but knowing this group it's going to be interesting!
We cross the Mediterranean to Oran, Algeria. Decent start to the Africa portion of our journey.
Pics are scrambled up again.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Headed on to Algiers. Nice flight although I got a late start and had to fly it pretty hard to catch up to the guys. There was some talk of trying to find a bikini beach, but we decided that it would be more of a "burqa beach" in this part of world.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Just a few photos of last night flight. They really got us going about the Bikini thing, but shucks it always happens when we a overflying any beaches! But I must admit that Bikinis are sure nicer to look at than burga!
Nice flight on into Tunisia with a "movie" enroute.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Furthering the cause across the top of Africa to Tripoli. Word is the Rolling Stones are arriving any minute to put on a concert at the Air Base.
We flew on to Tripoli today landing at the Air base (HLLM). I was reading the Tripoli Daily Gazette and saw that Hakeem's Used Camels and Aircraft was running a special on Connies. BOAC has been pretty short on the paychecks, so I went over there at the main airport and traded the Speedbird for a L749 freighter formerly used by some band on a world tour. Figured I'd go into bidness for myself hauling cargo. Worst case I'd get a Flight 19th Nervous Breakdown...
Pics are backwards again....
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Taco and I left Tripoli for Benghazi. Somehow we ended up going by way of Sitra. Just before we got there heading for the deep desert, I was starting to have thoughts of Lady Be Good. Then we found Sitra, made the left turn to Benghazi and all was good again.
Now to see if I can sell those crates of pickled pigs feet here.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
Boy, sure hope Willy sells all those crates of pickled pigs feet. Somehow I feel he will make a pretty fair profit, so, the drinks will be on him! Sure thought we would have run into our buddy Achmed, but so far he has been laying low. Knowing this bugger I think he is figuring out a nice susprise for us. I think, nice for him, bad for us!
Flying over the local desert did bring back some thoughts of the Lady be Good. Remember well when they found her. A few photos of the flight, of course they are mixed up.
Taco, and his trusty co-pilot Dudley.
Members who have read this thread: 0
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks