Now the adventure begins:
F.d.P. flew 3400km along the rivers of the Mato Grosso to Manaus, largely unknown territory at the time (today we fly long stretches over pastures - 1927 is was all primeval forest).
Navigation was difficult, weather often bad, forcing them to skim the triple-canopy jungle. Night was spend anchoring on shore, once the S.55 had to be towed by steamer to find a starting position without river bends. PION_S55_pinedo_mato_g.PLN (4.4 KB)
In 1933 the Sowjets bought half a dozen S.55s for Aeroflot service in Siberia since it was considered ideal for the big rivers there.
The first plane was transfered from Italy to Vladivostok by Pilot Demchenko (who was awarded the Order of the Red Star) and crew Konkin, Petrov & Ehrenpreis.
The first stage was via Istanbul, Odessa to Sevastopol. PION_S55_sowjet_transf.PLN (6.0 KB)
Then the long haul east began, all along the USSR:
Volsk - Kazan - Sverdlovsk - Tobolsk - Novosibirsk - Krasnoyarsk - Strelka-Bratsk - Irkutsk - Chita - Blagoveshchensk - Khabarovsk. PION_S55_sowjet_sib.PLN (4.3 KB)
The Brazilans were elated about the Mato Grosso traverse and celebrated with a banquet in his honour at the legendary Manaus opera house: De Pinedo.cdr (cdn-website.com)
FdP continued east to the Amazon estuary, turning north along the Atlantic coast (passing French Devils Island penal colony, still operational at the time, remember Papillon…).
Then via the Antilles to Santiago de Cuba and finally New Orleans. His arrival is still memorized there in a Art Deco mural at the Lakefront Airport:
Unfortunately on the way to San Diego the S55 was consumed by a fire during refuelling on Lake Roosevelt, AZ, putting an untimely end to a great adventure. PION_S55_pinedo_carib.PLN (8.4 KB)
Thank you for sharing all these stories. I just want to chime in that in the Nobile rescue two Russian/Soviet Junkers F13 also participated.
The Norwegian film Amundsen that came out a few years ago (available on HBO Max in Europe) covers both his 1925 Wal flight and the attempt to rescue Nobile in a French seaplane (possibly being made Redwing at some time).
Feb 29 1932 German pilot Hans Bertram took a Junkers W-33 floatplane on a promotion and film tour to China - the trip didn’t work out as planned. Upon return he had covered 55.330 km in 320 hours.
He became famous for his forced landing in Northern Australia and the 53 days he and his mechanic were missing/surviving in the bush. He wrote a bestseller “Flight into Hell” which was 1985 made into an Aussie TV-Series.
We start with this very flight into hell, in later posts follow his Germany-Singapore, Thanks-Australia- and Getting-Home- tours.
As there is no W-33 (yet… ? ) lets take its little brother Junkers F.13
Starting in Batavia (now Djakarta) they filmed all the beautiful Java vulcanoes and making a stopover at Surabaya, landed in Bima Bay.
A short hop via Flores to Kupang followed - here they started the nightflight over the Timor Sea to Darwin. A tropical storm forced them to wave-height and was off-setting them to the west.
They landed at the uninhabited Kimberley coast. Believing to be on Melville Island flew with the last fuel 22 miles west into a bay. With no rescue in sight they finally made a kayak from a float (!) which did not take them far however.
Were rescued in the last moment by a Aborigine hunter and finally taken to Perth. PION_bert_crash.PLN (2.3 KB)
Returning from Perth to the Kimbeleys after 18 weeks by ship, H.B. fitted a (half-sized !) float from a crashed bush plane to the Junkers (the kayak couldn’t be used again…) and took her solo to Perth: PION_bert_crash_post.PLN (4.3 KB)
There the floats were changed to the wheeled gear (those were the days…) and H.B. started a 14 weeks “thank-you-Australia” tour, giving talks and addressing big crowds in all major cities:
Perth - Melbourne PION_bert_auss_1.PLN (3.7 KB)
He crashed the Junkers already in Kalgoorlie but it could be repaired. See dramatic pic in this great site: GEOFF GOODALL’S AVIATION HISTORY SITE
Did a record flight over the Nullarbor Desert in 9 hrs to Adelaide. Always follow the railway and don’t fall asleep!
Bertram, always the showman, headed for a new record time to Berlin - he will fail again…
Keeping the wheels, the Junkers was fitted with extra tanks (14 total) for a range of 2700km and 16 hours in the air. As Klausmann hadn’t recovered, pilot Scotty Allan from Austral. Nat. Airways joined in.
Darwin - Surabaja
massive tropical storms, a stowaway found in the plane. The Junkers crashed again after start in Surabaja.
Arrival of spares took 4 months, Allan had to return - from now on H.B. is flying solo (!). PION_bert_home_2.PLN (2.6 KB)
Surabaja - Berlin
he was often flying at night, sometimes 11 hours non-stop, no autopilot, dead reckoning navigation.
Almost exactly 90 years ago (April 17th 1933) he arrived on Tempelhof Airfield to a tumultuous welcome.
14.000km in 85 hours (6 days). PION_bert_home_3.PLN (4.8 KB) PION_bert_home_4.PLN (6.8 KB)
forced landings due to icing, sandstorms, cyclones over the Bay of Bengal (into which he force-landed another plane the year before…), met in a Bangkok hospital the crashed aviatrix Marga von Etzdorf (see post here, Sep.22)
During WW2 the Germans tried to establish a courier service to their distant Japanese allies - one of the many rumours has it that long-distance expert H.B. was involved.
One possible route he came up with was from friendly Bulgaria silently over the neutral countries Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan to japanese-held Burma.
Turkey, Mount Ararat, looking for Noahs ark:
The 7500km trip could be made by the gigantic 6-engine flying boats Blohm & Voss BV-222 and BV-238 (avatars here Hughes H-4 or Boeing Clipper).
Landing at dusk on the mighty Irrawaddy river in Burma:
Starting in 1942 German planners (including von Gablenz and von Gronau, see earlier posts) devised PLNs to reach Japan not only with the BV-222 but the Junkers Ju-290 (which has a lot of parameters in common with the DC-6, so lets use her). Junkers Ju 290 - Wikipedia
From bases in Finland they could fly via undefended Siberia to Manchuria. For various reasons it never happened - despite all myths circulating. PION_JapanF_ju290_1.PLN (2.3 KB)
The last try was on May 2nd 1945 (!): this time via the Arctic and Bering Straits to the Kuril Islands (as the Japanese now opposed USSR overflights). But in the last minute the 290 had to abort the start in Germany for technical reasons. PION_JapanF_ju290_1.PLN (2.6 KB)
I’ve just been looking again for inspiration, having recreated* Amy Johnson’s epic (Amy Johnson, Croydon - Darwin) almost a couple of years ago, but not really gotten that bug again yet. I was considering something like Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, perhaps following the ‘American Cordillera’ (to aid VFR!), but also see if there was an historic attempt to recreate*.
*for ‘recreate’, perhaps read ‘mimic’
JAPANFLUG III - The Italian Job
Mussolini wanted to stage a propaganda coup with the first Axis flight to Japan, the 3-engine Savoia SM 75 (here Ju-52, in green suede shoes camo… ) was up to the task. Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 Marsupiale - Wikipedia
For a test of the Alfa-Romeo (!) engines it flew first from Italian-Libyan Bengazi to British-occupied Asmara (capital of the Italian colony Eritrea) - to drop “hold on” leaflets:
On May 8th 1942, 17:30 local, Pilot Paradisi started, was on target at sunrise, after 7000km landed on Rome-Ciampino at 21:35.
Purists will go for nocturnal nav over the desert, friends of the Sahara ( SAHARA ORIENTAL: east to west - Microsoft Flight Simulator / Screenshots & World Discovery - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums) change history and enjoy the colourful VFR-sands both ways.
Now verything was set for the real thing:
June 30th 1942 20:00 local, Pilot Moscatelli started in German-held Ukraine (yes, near todays Russia-occupied Nuclear Power Plant…) for a 6000km trip to Japanese puppet-state Manchukuo.
They encountered flak, sandstorms, always staying low, but had to climb to 5000m along some mountain ridges before landing after 21 hours - in the dark. PION_JapanF_italy.PLN (3.9 KB)
After a refill it was an easy flight to Tokyo via Beijing and Seoul - and after the celebrations - the same route back on July 18th. Moscatelli and crew got a big hug and medals from “il Duce” in Rome. PION_JapanF_tokyo.PLN (2.7 KB)
last post on the subject will be the Japanese flight to Berlin …
A second Italian flight was planned but never materialized - with the largest floatplane ever built (supposed to drop leaflets and pizzas on Manhattan - no kiddin):
This time on a southern route from Rhodes via the Arabian Desert (pic) and a fuel-stop on the (Japanese-occupied) Andamanes (pic). PION_JapanF_cant.PLN (2.2 KB)
But it was the Japanese that definitively made a (reverse) trip - with the “Patsy”:
July 7th 1943: Pilot Nakamura and 7 crew/passengers started in Singapore for the non-stop flight on the Grand-Circle to Crimea - but disappeared without trace. PION_JapanF_patsy.PLN (1.6 KB)
The Allies were informed via Magic Sigint - but apparently tried no intercept over night-time India. It looks that the hastily modified Patsy blew up in midair (rumours: over the Caucasus, pic) - if there ever was a “Flying Lighter” this crate was it.
The USSR was the largest and longest Dornier Wal operator - from 1926 to 42, building about 100 copies.
Used for SAR, outpost support and scouting missions (including to the mysterious Tunguska impact @ 60.903056, 101.909722, check!). Spectacular long distance pioneer flights (up to 26.000km) were done in Siberia and the Arctic.
Today we reenact a 3400km flying-doctor ride along the mighty Lena river:
start near the famous Shaman Rocks on Lake Baikal and continue to the huge delta, land on many settlements (WPs) on the riverbanks to vaccinate the locals.
1919: flying in Iceland started with an Avro 504 biplane, which also did the first hop to the Westman Islands, here is the story: Flying in 100 Years | The Icelandic Aviation Museum (flugsafn.is)
We copy that, flying eastward (in a Jenny) along the South Coast, looking for waterfalls and glacier lobes.
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1937: todays Iceland Air started operations: Flying Since 1937 | Icelandair
Deliver mail in the remote West-Fjords: you can take a Beaver (avatar for their first Waco) or the later Goose. Beware: live weather (low cloud base) often forces you around the capes.
) lets take its little brother Junkers F.13
