Dil52's Military Hops Santa Anna, Solomon Islands to Malita - Page 2
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Thread: Dil52's Military Hops Santa Anna, Solomon Islands to Malita

  1. #26
    Leg #10 Departing JCB – GPS Douglas C-47 LR 1940

  2. #27
    Landed safely at GPS

    Time for lunch and a some routine maintenance on the Gooney Bird.

    FlightLog_12-37-30.TXT
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  3. #28
    Leg #11 Departing GPS – HFD Douglas C-47 LR 1940

  4. #29
    Landed safely at HFD

    FlightLog_15-43-13.TXT
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  5. #30
    Leg #12 Departing HFD – WABB Douglas C-47 LR 1940

  6. #31
    Landed safely at WABB

    Over night stop to refuel plane, crew and passengers.


    FlightLog_18-12-55.TXT
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  7. #32
    Hey Fred,


    Lookin' good buddy .... Happy Trails!
    salt_air

  8. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by salt_air View Post
    Hey Fred,


    Lookin' good buddy .... Happy Trails!
    Thank you Austin. The weather yesterday was considerably better than when most of the pilots flew through here almost a month ago. We're here this morning at WABB. Built by the Japanese in 1941-2, Frans Kaisiepo AP (WABB) is an airport in Blak, Papua Indonesia. It is also known as Mokmer Airport. The airport is named after Frans Kaisiepo, the fourth Governor of Papua.

    We left Santa Anna with 1604 gal. (9624 lbs.) of fuel including 800 gallons in the center reserve tank and arrived at Frans Kaisiepo AP with 101.78gal (610.7 lbs.).

    Due to the heavy volume of military aircraft traffic through the Islands this month they were only able to spare us enough fuel to reach to Malita. Rationing of fuel and many other things was not uncommon during the time. (I believe there's some kind of air race going on, but you won't know it by our speeds and times)

    We’re adding 3890 lbs. for a total of 4500 lbs. (750 gal.} for the remainder of the hops to Malita. This is going to be close as they tell me that 5 gallons of fuel in each of the tanks (including aux.) are unusable; this is because there is a standpipe arrangement in each tank incorporated to prevent sedimentation into strainers and carburetors.

    Up and ready to leave at the crack of dawn some of the boys look a little ragged this morning. It seems they found a stash of sake hidden amongst the in the fuel reserves. Can you believe a complete 55 gallon drum of it marked “not recommended for airplane usage” or something to that affect, so our translator informed us?



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  9. #34
    Leg #13 Departing WABB – WAOA Douglas C-47 LR 1940

  10. #35
    Landed safely at WAOA

    FlightLog_08-13-46.TXT
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  11. #36
    Leg #14 Departing WAOA – WAMH Douglas C-47 LR 1940

  12. #37
    Landed safely at WAMH

    FlightLog_10-45-11.TXT
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  13. #38
    Leg #15 Departing WAMH – PROG Douglas C-47 LR 1940

  14. #39
    Landed safely at PROG

    Ah, home at last!

    FlightLog_11-38-37.TXT

    From Naha to Malita some heavier weather set in once again with some low hanging cumulus clouds and a semi-brisk breeze, which was just enough to create whitecaps on the ocean surface.


    We didn’t do ourselves any good by attempting to fly fully loaded in the beginning. Fully loaded the Gooney is not proficient. We conserved fuel at a cost of speed in the next to last leg and when we saw we had plenty to make it to Malita we gave it all we had. Not exactly any GS record, but better than average for the C-47


    A heart felt thanks goes out to the following for making the C-47 LR (long range) possible for us to fly:
    Norman Hancock for his cockpit fuel status gauges.
    MAAM-SIM, for use of part of the image of their 'virtual' C-47 cabin in the cockpit's 2D rear view.
    Jan "Procul Negotiis" of the Avsim.com forums for his kind input and to all friends at the virtual airline DC-3 Airways for sharing their wisdom.

    Package prepared by: Mark Beaumont DCA-1054 and Dave Bitzer DCA-910 at DC-3 Airways
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails FlightLog_11-38-37.JPG   ScreenShot060.jpg   ScreenShot063.jpg  

  15. #40

  16. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by robert41 View Post
    Congrats on the finish, Fred.
    Thank you Robert!

    I wasn't sure I was going to have the time to complete the course even once.

    Perhaps I'll find the time to fly it back to Santa Ana, using something a bit faster, now that I've flown it in the C-47 LR.

    Good luck with your flights.


    ___________

    Thanks to all here at SOH as well

    As always, this has been another fantastically fun adventure presented to us by the great crew here at SOH.

  17. #42
    Senior Administrator PRB's Avatar
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    Congratulation on the C-47 run Fred!
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  18. #43
    SOH-CM-2019 MM's Avatar
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    Good work Fred. Could not have "won the war without the C-47." So it was great to see it play a role in our celebration. Great stuff.
    -Mike

  19. #44
    Thanks Paul an Mike for your kind words.

    I alway enjoy the originality and variety of events here and really admire both of your comments, screen shots, and videos.

    I feel like I know everyone here who participates in most all of these events as well.

    A great bunch of daring pilots in their flying machines!!

    And last and by no means least, of course, is Miss Nellie and the wonderful staff.

    Fred

  20. #45
    Well Done!
    salt_air

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