Around the world in 175 days.

[blanston12]

June 26, 1924: Despite the heavy rain at Akyab the flyers were in the air at 7am for Chittagong Burma. They noticed the rain was heaviest at the shore so they ended up flying 15 miles out in the Bay of
Bengal. They landed in the Chittagong river and were quickly refueled by the destroyer USS Preston. They were soon in the air again bound for Calcutta India. This was going to be a more dangerous leg as they had to take a compass heading over the delta of the River Ganges, known to be inhabited by Tigers and Crocodiles, If a plane went down it might take months to locate. They spotted the Hooghly river and followed it 80 miles to the city of Calcutta, then the second largest city in the British Empire. They then flew sixteen miles north of the city, to an area they hoped would have less boat traffic, landed and tied up to moorings used by ocean going ships. Here they would overhaul there craft and swap the large floats for wheels on there journey.Here they would overhaul there craft and swap the large floats for wheels before continuing on there journey.

August 24, 2017: The next couple legs were the last before they switched from sea planes to land planes so I wanted to use an amphibian so I chose the Grumman G-44 Widgeon. The Widgeon first flew in 1940 and was designed for the civil market, smaller but similar to the Goose. During World War 2 it was used as a small patrol and utility aircraft by the USN, Coast Guard and Royal Navy. 317 were built before production ended in 1955. The aircraft I am using today is by FlySimWare in civilian colors.

We started at Sittwe airport with a 7am departure for Chittagong Bangladesh. The weather was great, clear below 20,000 feet, 4 knot winds and a temperature of 29.7C/85F. We followed the coast of the Bay of Bengal north at 3000 feet. As we approached our destination it suddenly became quite cloudy with 3 mile visibility. We found the mouth of the Chittagong River and landed. For some reason when I landed the engines stopped and I could not restart them. So I switched aircraft, now using the G-44 in US Navy colors, did a quick refuel and was off. The weather was now calm, 3.1 mile visibility with clouds at 1800 feet. We were now back in the air and off for Calcutta India, now called Kolkata. Apparently it was always pronounced that way and in 2001 the spelling was officially changed to match. This time we flew at 1500 feet on compass heading directly for the city of Kolkata. As we few over the Bay of Bengal the weather improved and we soon had blue skies again. Once over the city we found the main river and headed north to the Barrackpore Air Force Station. Since I was in the amphibian we landed in the Hooghly River right next to the airport. Again the engines stopped and I could not restart them, but since I did not need to go further it was ok. The 334 nm flights had taken 2.5 hours of flying.

At this point I have finished what they called the “Third Division” of the flight. I have flown 11024 nm with 81.3 hours of flight time. Based on start dates I am 10 days ahead of them.

Normally I do 8 images per flight, since I am combining two legs I did 6 from each, here they are.



Ready to go in Sittwe Myanmar


Kutubdia Island.


Flying along the Bay of Bengal


Glamour Shots.


Suddenly Fog.


Landed in Chittagong Bangladesh


Switch to the Navy paint scheme.


Off into the fog.


Glamour shots.


Flying over the country side.


Over Kolkata, think I will land in the river near the airport.


Landed.

[blanston12]

I put together a couple maps showing my flights. On FSAirlines you can export a google earth KML file showing your flights, which I then used to create these images. Here are the maps of my progress so far.

[blanston12]

July 1, 1924: Much work had to be done to overhaul there aircraft for the next part of the journey. After discussion with local officials it was decided that they could move there aircraft to a park in the center of Calcutta called the Maiden. There under the shade of the trees they would do the needed work including swapping the floats for wheels, installing larger radiators, repainting the fabric, scraping off grease and on and on. Even though the engines needed replacing they decided to send them on to Karachi instead so they could get through the monsoon regions as soon as possible. While they were in Calcutta they stayed in the Great Eastern Hotel, Smith as flight leader was assigned luxurious suite of rooms so large and posh he asked Arnold to join him there so he did not feel so unaffordable. On the night of June 29, after yet another dinner hosted in there honor, Smith fell into a hole in the walkway and fell heavily on the ground, he was in intense pain but refused to admit it until the next morning when a British doctor examined him and found he had a broken rib. They taped him up and although still in obvious pain he was determined that they would leave on schedule July 1. The flight to Allahabad was relatively pleasant, the planes handled much easier without the large floats and the weather was not as bad as their previous few flights. They followed the Hooghly river, crossed the plains of Bengal and eventually reached the large RAF flying field outside of Allahabad after six and a half hours of flying.

August 26, 2017: For the next leg of the flight I will be using the Bristol Beaufighter. The Beau first flew in 1939, intended as a heavy fighter it proved its worth in many roles. Almost 6000 were built before production ended in 1946. The version I am using today was made by Dave Garwood and the CBFS team and is one of my favorites. My flight stated in excellent weather, few clouds at 12000 feet, light winds and a temperature of 28C. Heading west toward Allahabad at 3000 feet, eventually the clouds built and visibility dropped to about 4 miles. We descended to 1500 feet to stay under them and followed a compass heading until we found the Sone River, there was a ridge of hills on the far side of that so we followed the river until the ridge ended and at about the same place the clouds lifted and we were able to climb again to a safe altitude and continue to Allahabad Airport. Alas a safe landing was not in order because P3D registered a crash into some invisible object as we crossed the runway threshold, but FSA still recorded it as a flight to the right destination so that’s good enough for me, I did go back and capture a shot of the AC on the ground to finish the sequence. The 397 nm flight took 1.7 hours of flying.

Here are some images from the flight.



Ready for Takeoff.


Heading out of the plains.


Glamour shots.


Weather closing in.


Following the river Sone.


Weather cleared.


On final.


Secured.

Thanks for reading, ATB.

[blanston12]

A fun historical fact I forgot to mention. After the crash of Major Martin and Sergeant Harvey in Alaska, Sergeant Ogden was the only enlisted man left on the flight. When they were in Japan Smith cabled Washington stating his lack of rank was causing some embarrassing problems. When the arrived in Shanghai, a cable was waiting from them from General Patrick promoting Ogden to 2nd Lieutenant. For the rest of the flight they never stopped kidding Lieutenant Ogden about his "Social Promotion".

Carry on.

[blanston12]

July 2, 1924: At 7:30 that morning, the flyers were off for the 480 mile flight to the city of Ambala, where the Royal Air Force had its main base on the Indian Frontier. Along the way they passed near Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, and the city of Delhi, crossroads of the ancients. During the flight New Orleans engine developed a leak in one of the cylinder jackets. Nelson asked the British for help finding a new one. The RAF quickly volunteered to get them a new one airlifted from from there supply depot in Lahore, where they had a stock pile of 2000 liberty engines with parts. The plane carrying it unfortunately crashed but the pilot was unhurt. He rented a bullock cart to take him to the closest town where he could then get a train to take him the rest of the way. By 3am he had arrived so Nelson and Harding could install it the next morning.

August 30, 2017: For the next flight we will be using the Curtiss C-46 Commando. Introduced in 1941, the C-46 started as the Curtiss CW-20, intended to compete with the new Douglas DC-4 and Boeing Stratoliner, it had a pressurized hull and was powered by two 2000 hp R-2800 engines. Compared to the DC-3 it could fly higher and carry a heavier payload but was more complex to maintain and cost 50% more to operate. 3181 were built before production ended in 1945. After the war it did not do well in its intended role as a passenger aircraft but saw success in cargo operations, used by the USAF till 1968 and some are still in service with civilian operators. The model I am using today was recently released by Aeroplane Heaven and is quite nice.

Weather for the flight was good, 8 knot winds with few clouds at 3000 feet and a temperature of 28.5C/83F. Flying at 3000 feet I was not sure what river or landmarks the original they followed so we first set a course for the city of Agra. We few around till we spotted and few over the Taj Mahal then headed for our final destination of Ambala. The flight was uneventful and we landed after flying 395 nm in 2.2 hours. Here are a few pics from the flight.


Ready for takeoff.
Glamour Shots!


Cruising.


Flying over India.


Site seeing.


Nothing to see here, move along.


Our destination.


Secured.

Thanks for reading, ATB.

[blanston12]

July 3, 1924: That night in Ambala the temperature stayed between 102 and 106 and the flyers got very little sleep despite the Indian servants waving “Punkas” over them all night. The British pilots, concerned about the Americans and there flying suits gave them RAF pith helmets and British shorts and light shirts which the fliers would use until they left the desert countries. In the morning they left for Multan and climbed to 6000 feet to escape the heat, following the railroad tracks to guide them. They soon encountered a sandstorm that completely obscured both the earth and the railroad, they descended to 50 feet to keep the tracks in sight. The sand stung their eyes and sifted through their clothes. They flew right over Multan without seeing it, when Smith noticed they had passed the airport they returned to the area, made several passes over head and landed. Once they had parked there planes the men had difficulty getting out of there planes. As Colonel Butler, the British commander, shook the hand of each of the lobster-red faces, bloodshot eyed man, he handed them a glass of Ice cold lemonade that Arnold wrote was one of the most delicious drinks in his life.

September 2, 2017: For the next flight I got ready the Hawker Typhoon. Designed as a successor to the Hawker Hurricane but had several design problems that delayed its introduction. When the FW-190 was introduced the Typhoon was the only aircraft that could catch it at low altitude and the Tiffy went on to become one of the most successful ground attack aircraft of WW2. The aircraft I am using today as recently released by Aeroplane heaven and is very nice. With it I am using the ‘Silver Bullet’ repaint by Peter Watkins. The flight to Multan, Pakistan started with great weather, 5 knot winds, Scattered clouds at 8800 feet and a temperature of 25.5C/78F. The flight was fairly easy, flying at 4000 feet, the Typhoon made short work of the 280 nm flight, cruising at just over 300 knots. Things were going well until 15 miles from the destination the visibility dropped to about 4 miles and I had difficulty finding the airport, I actually few over it before spotting it and circling back to make a safe landing. The trip had taken 1 hour to complete. Here are some pics.


Ready for takeoff.


Flying out over Ambala.


Glamour Shots.


Flying over the Indian countryside. Does not look much like desert.


Selfie!


Nice flying weather.


Visiblity drops as we get close to Multan.


Safely on the ground.

[DaveG]

Nice Joe.
Keep 'em coming.

[blanston12]

Nice Joe.
Keep 'em coming.

Thanks Dave, I greatly appreciate the compliment!

[Paul K]

Such variety of aircraft and scenery. I'm starting to wonder if Dave B left you his add-on collection in his will.

[blanston12]

July 4, 1924: It was 120 degrees in Multan; Arnold thought the name should be Molten instead. The reporter Wells who was following the flight reported that “No sensible person would ever go there voluntarily” and “only the constant threat of revolt by fanatical, unfriendly Indians makes the place endurable”. They were off the ground a 6am headed for Karachi. They flew over the Sind Desert this time there were no sand storms although they could see them swirling in the distance. They were cruising at 4000 feet to escape the heat when about a hour out of Karachi the engine in New Orleans started to rattle and bang as if it was coming apart. White smoke trailed the aircraft as oil spewed dpwm the sides of the engine and pieces of the engine itself started being ejected from under the cowling and ripping holes in the fabric of the aircraft. But the engine continued to respond and Nelson later reported that it continued “to run very nicely on eleven cylinders” He was able to nurse it all the way to the RAF field in Karachi, home of the best repair depots in the world at that time.

September 3, 2017: For the next leg I got ready the Grumman TBF Avenger. The Avenger first flew in 1941 and was designed as torpedo bomber, first seeing action at the Battle of Midway, and despite the fact that 5 of the 6 Avengers there were lost, it survived in service to become one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of World War II. Greatly modified after the war, it remained in use until the 1960s. Over 9800 were built. The aircraft I am using today was made by Vertigo Studios and is nice but the engine is a bit touchy if you run it at full power for too long. The weather was not the best when I started, 4 knot winds, 3.1 mile visibility, and scattered clouds at 4000 with a temperature of 33C/91C. We started off at 2000 feet to keep the ground in view but the clouds soon cleared up and we had great visibility. I climbed to 4000 feet and followed the Indus river valley, the clouds got a bit thicker as we approached the coast and we dropped to 2000 feet to stay under them but visibility stayed good. At some point I accidently hit the throttle lever on the joystick and before I knew it the engine was stuttering and trailing white smoke behind it, I decreased the throttle and tried to keep it in the air long enough for the engine to cool down and keep flying, almost crashed a couple times it finally recovered and I was able to follow the coast to Masroor Air Base in Karachi. The 398 nm flight took 3.1 hours of flying. Here are a few pics:


Ready for takeoff.


The visiblility is a little limited.


Glamour shots over the River Indus.


Following the Indus River Valley.


You can see the desert beyond.


Finally reached the coast.


Karachi and my destination.


Landed.

Thanks for reading ATB.