It's happened to you...

[tgibson]

Hi,

Those are both Delta DC-6's. The DC-7's can be distinguished by the gold crown on the vertical tail (advertising their Golden Crown Service - corsages for the ladies, and steaks on the menu).

Hope this helps,

[Willy]

Try getting that on a Delta flight today! I'm thoroughly convinced that the service on airliners has become steadily worse since they quit using piston engined propliners

[Sunny9850]

We can only dream of that kind of service today. Even if some of the Delta FAs seem old enough to have been around in those days

A 2" bagel with a tube of cream chease = $6.00 is what they "offer" today

Stefan

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Ha! Suspected they might be DC-6s when posting it. Best onboard service I ever had was with JAL in the '80s. Traditional Japanese food, things like tempura, miso and sushi, travels much better than western-style 'meat & 2 veg' which most airlines seem to feel obliged to serve. So good Japanese fare began the moment we were on the 747 (the other side of the planet from Japan itself). The stewardesses were beautiful and highly efficient, wearing a slightly sinister black uniform - 'geishas' were only for Top First Class. We requested whisky top-ups so often that in the end one stewardess simply left the bottle! It was a 24-hour flight. On a modern airliner you have to cough up $7.00 for a wretched SOFT drink, take out a mortgage for alcohol and pay for revolting sandwiches.

That's got that off my chest. Back to '59...

The coastal plain ahead:



I've i/d'ed this as KCWF, Lake Charles Airport:



And there's the Gulf of Mexico:



Map showing progress of most of this flight:



The close-up map:



We now get good news from ATC:



KLVJ is Pearland Regional TX, but I'm afraid Tom may have to explain 17J below - military? industrial?:



This is Galveston Bay, Houston is only just the other side of it:



Map to show our approach for RW4:



We overfly some of the industrial sprawl around there:



I have installed Houston 2009 scenery, but was hoping to see the San Jacinto monument (mentioned by Mrs Carter travelling in both directions), rather than this ugly stuff!

[Ralf Roggeveen]

The Houston skyline ahead:



Hope to see the San Jacinto Monument next time I'm here, either in fs9 or reality. The whole flight:



And we've arrived, exactly on time:



Back on Texan tarmac!



We go to our parking space:



And get the steps into position for the passengers:



I'm not sure exactly what time the Carters arrived, though Sarah Elizabeth tells us that Thelma's husband Leonard had been there since eleven that morning, not knowing that we were delayed by the return to Schiphol. (p.174) They must have been at least three hours late, since it took an hour to get back after the engine failure and she mentioned that they had to wait two at EHAM.

Here's an unusual interior shot showing the crew door open:



So we can now disembark too:



Chocks in position, neatly parked:



And another view walking away from the Caribbean Sea before we take a final look round Houston Hobby:

[tgibson]

Hi,

They're finally home! But they won't be getting their baggage any time soon, since you didn't open the cargo doors (Shift E 2).

17J is Donalsonville, GA:

http://www.airnav.com/airport/17J

[Willy]

Glad to see that they got home safely. Not like there was any doubt, mind you.

[Ralf Roggeveen]

I have once or twice succeeded with the cargo doors, but there is a knack to pressing three keys at once, isn't there? Besides, this is the more relaxed '50s. No hurry.

Anyway, let's have that last look round at the Houston area before unloading Sarah Elizabeth's vast collection of national costume dolls purchased during their innocent Odyssey...

This is clearly a local Convair flying by:



And a DC-6 from Delta whose HQ is at Hartsfield, Atlanta International GA:



This is definitely a DC-7:



And another view of that one from your side of the USA, Tom:



"So you dun bin an' gawn to some o' they Mohammedan lands, Egypt an' Leb'non outa the Good Book, has you, Glenmore?'

'Yup, sure 'nuff.'

'Shoot! That must'a bin mighty strange, no churches, ministers nor chapels nowhere, jus' them 'gyptian Mosquito-worshippin' boys.'

'Yup, reckon it was; diffren' strokes for diffren' folks. But at least it warn't PAGAN like that offal Californyah full o' witches an' beatniks an' bikers y'wall read 'bout in the 'papers, Tex.'

'Hell, no!'



Apologies to all concerned.

A last look at one of Willy's anonymous Mercs doing the Orange County to Mountain View, Montana run (quite a flight up the Rockies):



One of Delta's DC-7s:



We'd better take an overview of Caribbean Sea:



Still waiting for that luggage! And a last look at our magnificent DC-7C that did, after all, make it:



With a final view her sitting in the Carters' Texas homeland:



Sarah Elizabeth's book is called It happened to us, the thrill of winning a free trip to Europe and the Middle East on KLM Royal Dutch airlines...

...if you've read this far it's (sort of) happened to you too. Well, virtually.

THE END

[extrudinator]

[Jagdflieger]

Welcome home!

I hope there's still some cheese in the baggage...

[tgibson]

Ralf, congratulations on a herculean effort - well done!!

Thanks,

Tom Gibson

[Sunny9850]

Great job

just as with the Comet story...gripping all the way through. Can't wait to see what you come up with next.

As for the doors rather than leaving the FS default SHIFT+E and SHIFT+E+number I find that using a single key for the first door, I use "U" for example and then that key+number for additional doors makes it much easier to operate the doors.

Cheers
Stefan

[hawkeye52]

Great story, Ralf! I'm exhausted

BTW, that Lone Star Airlines ship is a Martin 202 or 404.

- H52

[Harry]

Thank you Ralf!

I've followed your story from beginning to end.
I will miss it.

Kind regards

Harry

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Thanks, everyone who read these ramblings! glad they were liked. I enjoyed flying & writing it, though guess I now know how Dr Frankenstein felt about that pesky monster.

What happened was that I checked the net for interesting books about KLM's history and Sarah Carter's It happened to us was discovered. It seemed possible that this might contain a flight that could be recreated from the period, so I sat back and waited for the copy I'd paid a few dollars for to arrive in the post. When it came, realised I'd struck gold; though maybe not that it would take over half a year to complete in flightsim.

Promised to provide some acknowledgements & credits. Apologies to anyone who is left out, I'm afraid it's bound to happen, but hope that all the most important people whose work made the virtual version of the Carters' adventures possible get a mention. In no particular order...

...though obviously California Classics must come first! All the retro airport scenery, AI and many of the flyable aircraft came from this magical site run by Tom Gibson who has explained many things, technical and historical, along the way. As you may have gathered Mike Stevens has also done a great deal there, both on scenery and the fantastic (and sometimes witty) AI repaints. Everything at CalClassics is pretty straightforward to download, clear instructions and advice are provided if any problem needs to be sorted out. All that '50s civil AI installed without difficulty - I believe that there are now nearly a thousand different DC-3 liveries alone!

The 1963 Schiphol scenery got a good airing in the story. Hope I'm right in saying that this - and the Rotterdam, including those stunning Neptunes from Valkenburg - are the work of Wolfgang Gersch, Jaap de Baare and Harry Biard. Jaap & Harry, too, have written in during the Carter travelblog; and note that they are still making improvements, like adding the platformbus which now comes as standard when you install the latest version of that amazing EHAM. Wolfgang and Mike Stevens made a lot of the other wonderful scenery used, including the Cold War Berlin we (and the Carters) took a look at.

Some excellent scenery from beyond CalClassics was the Jerusalem mesh by Seev Khan. As mentioned, he has improved the whole of Israel, available in three parts. I also meshed Turkey (by Ugur Kenel) and seem to have done enormous areas of NE Canada which you do end up crossing a lot in this period. Have now installed the DEW (Defence Early Warning) lines (at CalClassics) - and will visit them in a future flight of a sinister military nature that I'm tinkering with.

Further credits and what became of the Carters to follow...