Dil52's Cape to Cape Flights in the Golden Age Northop Gamma 2A

[Dil52]

Dil, When I started my Alps run last night the weather into Bolzano was excellent. Which leads me to believe that it was a trap to draw me into the mountains.

I know what you'fe talking about Willy,

Mountain weather is fickle. It looks nice one minute, but can turn on ya quicker than a raging bull.

It seems the skies are blue, the clouds are white and puffy, and as soon as I descend into an airport it gets as thick as soup!

I see you made it! Nice flight and camera shots. I like the one on the tarmac with the snow covered mountain peaks in the background.

Keep up the good flights.

[Dil52]

Now that my goggles are thawed from my cheeks it’s time to take a break for the night.

I thinkI’ll catch a ride down to one of those places they call Gardens alongthe Rhine and have a couple of those good German barley waters that they talk about.


http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...RTTI4tsxQnPPlk
FlightLog_17-10-01.TXT

Commerzbank Tower and Frankfurt Rhine Main approach

[Dil52]

Leg #4 Frankfurt, Germany to Bolzano, Italy EDDF-LIPB


We're ready to depart for some flights through the Alps and eventually arrive at Marseille and the Mediterranean.

Not sure yet if I'm going to try flying directly over the mountains or take the safer route to Innsbruck and follow the Eisack-Isarco River valley to Bolsano. The decision will come as I approach the mountains see the weather conditions.

Dil52

[Dil52]

Leg #4 EDDF-LIPB
Looks like:
2 hour bonus for landing at Bolzano hand-flown.
15 minutes hand-flying bonus for a leg to Bolzano LIPB from a designated fueling stop.

The weather was not so bad, the flight was great, we found the right valley.


http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=SgHpyvfOZljD6xi 1Ir76kwN9gcY



FlightLog_20-19-18.TXT

Straight over is a go!

[Dil52]

I'm going to push on to Interlaken.

[Dil52]

It wasn't pretty, the low lying fog amost got the best of me that time.
Found the wrong lake at first.

15 minutes hand-flying bonus for connecting LIPB-LSMI.
15 minutes bonus for flying that LIPB-LSMI leg under a 12,000'


http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=6hlUnCGnDLn4NjP pSR1omyw

FlightLog_21-43-16.TXT

Dil52

[Moses03]

Nice job getting to LSMI Fred.

[Dil52]

Thanks Moses

I'm afraid I used up the 15 minutes bonus while lost in the fog.
I so stressed after forgot to take a screen shot of the flight anaylsis.
There were a few circles and a tight 180 degrees turn after flying up a box canyon.



We're heading to Marsielle this morning.

The weather looks about the same this morning, from the field here in Interlaken, as it did last evening.
FS Real WW shows 4 big blue "L's" and reads "Broken Clouds, vis. 5nm"...........I'd like to know where that is.



Dil52

[salt_air]

A valiant effort sir!


Keep pushing bud .... watch for the uncharted hills along the French Riviera if you decide to go that way (left of the hills).

Good Luck finding a pass if you don't ... If anyone does, it will be you.



Have fun!

[Dil52]

Interlaken, Switzerland to Marseille, France.

http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=31rZ5LyZLR19R81 uUWfCWc0go


FlightLog_10-02-18.TXT



Thanks for the words of encouragement guys!!!!

Actually I did find that pass Salt.
Monte Blank, (White Mountain) on the right is the highest point inwestern Europe and the Alps at 15,774 and Monte Rosa is on the left.


Monte Rosa is the highest mountain in Switzerland and the secondhighest in both the Alps and western Europe. Distinguished by the nameDufourspitze, its 4634 m (15,203’) summit is the culminating point of thePennine Alps. Although its main peak is located within Switzerland in thesoutheastern part of the canton of Valais, the Monte Rosa Massif is the secondhighest massif in Italy.
The weather was up and down the whole fllight.

The pass



Just after clearing the last snow covered ridge, things got bad again almost all the way to Marseille


I've found that the best way to land the Gamma 2A is to cut the engines and let that big four bladed fan act as a air brake!
This plane will practically take-off at an idle.......and braking is extrememly touchy!



Now, which way do I go from here?

I'm afraid of that the +685nm DR leg from Adrar to Tombouchu over the Sahara.
I got in enough trouble trying to make it to Stockholm, so I believe I'm going to go over to the coast and down with shorter legs.

Dil52

[Dil52]

Off to DAOO with some mail. The gross weight is now 4690 lbs. vs the usual 4490 lbs.

After careful consideration and all things being taken into account, I believe I’ll, take to the sky less traveled by and haul some mail down to Dakar. Besides, it’s more scenic than flying for hours over sand dunes, camels and banditos. I’d venture to guess that an emergency landing along the coasts of the Med. or Atlantic Ocean would be much safer than one beside a dessert tent or an oasis in the Sahara.


First on the list of stops is a nice flight across the MediterraneanSea to DAOO – Oran, Algeria. I have a friend who is from near there and we cansit and talk old stories over a couple of brewskis or so.


I need to keep the flight legs rather short in the Gamma as she’sa bit like a dragster…………fast off the line, eats a lot of fuel, and is hard to stop. In her defense, she trims nicely, except in turbulence and around mountain ridges. When the wind (breeze) is steady she’ll climb for a hundred feet than descend for a hundred feet then climb for 200 feet and descent 200 feet. Slowly the oscillations increase until such time that you need to calm her down and start all over again...........plenty of time to grab a cup of Joe or a sarsaparilla.

Starting the flights at dawn and hope to get the mail to Dakar by dark. We have a lot of express (one day delivery) mail on board.......kind of like the today's modern era service........not!
Hope to see everyone in Léopoldville for some VFR flights over the Congo.

[Dil52]

Marseille, France to Oran Tafarquay (Es Sénia), Algeria
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=7RFRHdyQrILPmgG wbwWxZ74ccWk


FlightLog_23-14-39.TXT

1)Dawn at Marseille 2)Ibiza Is. Spain 3)African coast 4)Final approach at Oran 5)prime meridian

[salt_air]

You put in some OT yesterday .... Great Job!


Welcome to Africa .... Good luck over on the coast!

[Dil52]

As I was researching statistics on the Gamma 2A I decovered that the maximum gross weight of the Texaco No. 11 was 7000 pounds.
The maximum gross weight I’ve been flying with so far in the race has been 4490 w/o mail and 4690 w/mail.
Obviously the additional weight was for fuel so I've made some changes to increase the range.


SOH Committee
Too whom it may concern,

As you can see below the Gamma 2A’s empty weight is 3500 lbs and gross weight 7000 lbs.
The actual weights in the config file in the FS model are 3300 and 7100 lbs respectfully.

I would like to request an approval for some more changes and alterations that I’ve made to the Northrop Gamma 2A.
None of these changes have improved the performance of the aircraft.

These are the changes I've made:.
Increased the capacity of the 2 original tanks from 85 gallons each to 96 gallons each, added three wingtanks (left, right, and center) and another auxiliary (center tank) for a total fuel capicaty of 508 gal (3048 lbs.)
(Note: These total fuel amounts add up to be less than the original as I plan to retain a mail bin and allow for a slightly heavier pilot as well to fall short of the Gamma’s 7000 pound gross weight requirement).

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Researched website:

Northrop Gamma 2A Sky Chief Statistics
From the website http://kcbx.net/~mhd/Passions/Northrop/gamma.htm
S/n 1, Gamma 2A, Texaco No. 11 "SkyChief"
Single seat.
Engine: 14 cylinder, twin row Wright Whirlwind GR 1510, 785 hp @ 2,500rpm at 8,000 feet, gearing 8:5,
Propeller: 10' 3" Hamilton three blade, fixed 31.5_ pitch.
Weight: Empty; 3,500 lbs.; Gross; 7,000 lbs.
Speed: Maximum, 248 mph @ 7,000 ft.; Cruising, 220 mph.
Range: 2,500 miles
First flown: December 3, 1932
Delivered: The Texas Company, December 17, 1932 for $40,000.
Pilot: Frank Hawks. Record: Nonstop L.A. to N.Y., June 3 1933, 13 hrs.27 min.
Sold to: Garfield "Gar" Wood, August 21, 1934, renamed "KinjocketyIII"
Pilot: Joseph Jacobson.
Status: Exploded September 4, 1936 near Stafford Kansas, during N.Y. toL.A. Bendix Race.

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From Paul Clawson’s CFG Files
[General]
editable=1
performance=Weight:Empty 3300 lbs Gross 7100 lbs\nSpan:48' \n Length:29' 9"\n Speed: 200 mph cruise, 220 mph max\n Ceiling:24500 ft \n Power:700 hp Wright Whirlwind\n Designer: P. Clawson\n Date:6\2006\n
// ACM V2.5
max_gross_weight =7100
empty_weight =3300
cruise_speed=200
max_indicated_speed=304
max_mach=0.46

Note that I have changed the cfg file to a max gross weight of 7000 and an empty weight of 3500 as well.
I reduced the total weight 100 pounds anad increased the empty weight to 3500 to account for the weight of the empty tanks as fopllows:
max_gross_weight =7000
empty_weight = 3500

Test results, using the AFSD program.

Northrop Gamma 2A Sky Chief, AFSD test results
As required by the rules these figures remain the same:
cruise_speed=200
max_indicated_speed=304
max_mach=0.46

Sea level (500 feet)
Full Tank: KTAS/ 219, Range 1692
Half Tank: KTAS 223, Range 842

Critical Altitude 5100 feet test results
Full Tank: KTAS/MPH 215, Range 1729
Half Tank: KTAS/MPH 220,Range 875

Illustrations:


Any consideration of approval reguarding this request will be appreciated!

You decision will be respected,

Dil52

[MM]

Fred,

We dare not approach Miss Nellie with this one. We're afraid that she'll throw a fit – or something heavier, like a rule book.

Seriously, participants may not change the flight dynamics of the aircraft at this stage. Those flight dynamics include the plane's combination of speed, range, altitude, agility, stability, and so forth. That is the rule. You will understand that in a competitive environment, even in one so friendly and mild as this, we cannot have pilots tweaking their aircraft to suit their needs.

The Paul Clawson Gamma is a particular representation of the Northop Gamma 2A. You are right that it does not have the fuel capacity, and thus the range, of Frank Hawks' plane--but it is also a great deal faster than the original aircraft. (Our own research suggests that the performance is much closer to the speed of the specially-powered Howard Hughes transcontinental record-holder, the Gamma 2G owned by Jacqueline Cochran. For that effort, Hughes installed a different Wright engine and added extra tanks.) The Paul Clawson model might not have the same range/performance that other designers would incorporate, but it is the model that we approved for the White List.

That said, the Clawson Gamma 2A is very competitive in our field of aircraft – it might be the fastest racer. However, it asks for some strategic planning about how to balance speed against range for different sorts of legs during the course of the event.

Hope this helps,
The Committee

(BTW. We did do some extra research on the Northrop Gamma, and Paul Clawson's attractive model, because it is both the fastest aircraft in the race and also faster than the original. We decided to keep it on the White List because the Gamma is an airplane of real historic interest and character. The limited range compensates for the extra speed to prevent it from simply blowing away the competition.)