Hi George, do you know how much fuel Lindbergh had on his plane for the flight. I thought it was 360 gal and his engine would burn about 10 gal hour, but I may be wrong. gene
G/F Alon S/N149 wrote: > Only one person got it completely right. Harry Frannics. > > Clyde Pangborne and Hugh Herndon met in New York when Clyde was flying for > the Gates Flying Circus. Hugh's mother, Mrs. Russell Boardman was quite > wealthy, having a marriage interest in Veedol Oil Company. Clyde and Hugh > teamed up and started barnstorming the entire country in 1929. By 1931, the > CAB put the kabosh to the stunt flying because it killed so many people. > Clyde and Hugh, with the financing from Veedol Oil and his Hugh's socialite > mother, ordered a special-built, long-range Bellanca "J" model with a Pratt& > Whitney 420-hp engine. The airplane was built in the hopes of breaking the > Around-The-World speed record. Wiley Post and Harold Gatty held the record > of 8-days 15-hrs, 51-min in a Lockheed, called the "Winnie Mae". They > established this record by flying the most northerly route possible. > Pangborne & Herndon's airplane was registered under the name of A.T.W Corp., > New York, NY. Although the Bellanca was slower than the Lockheed, the pair > felt they could beat the record because the Bellanca had a much longer fuel > range and therby make fewer stops. The Bellanca held a total of 915 gallons > of fuel and 45 gallons of oil when fully loaded. > The pair left New York on July 28. Halfway across the Atlantic, they ran > into a horrible storm. Their only navigational instrument was a compass that > spun like a top in the turbulence. They finally arrived in Wales, 32 hours > later. By the time they reached their destination in Russia, they were 27 > hours behind the Winnie Mae. There was no hope in beating the Winnie Mae. > A telegram arrived from friends in Tokyo suggesting they try for the > Trans-Pacific nonstop prize if $25,000. They immediately wired the U.S. > Embassy in Tokyo to obtain permission to fly to Tokyo. Unfortunately for > them, they failed to wait for an answer and took off. Japan had invaded > Manchuria in 1931 and they were at war. Dumb as two geese flying south for > the winter, they flew over Japaneese military installations. To make > matters worse, they took photos along the way. When they arrived in Tokyo, > they were immediately put under house arrest. A trial held a few weeks > later fined each of them $1500 or 205 days in jail at hard labor. Once > again Mrs Boardman came to the rescue and bailed them out. > Now they applied to the Japaneese Air Defense Ministry for permission to > attempt the Pacific non-stop flight. The Japanese were still angry, but with > the pressure from the U.S. Embassy allowed one attempt. If they turned back > to Japan, their airplane would be impounded and they would be sent home on > the next boat. > The airport at Tokyo was not long enough for the fully-loaded Bellanca to > takeoff. The airplane was now flown about 300 miles north to Sabishiro > Beach. The hard-packed sand allowed for over a mile of takeoff distance. > Clyde Pangborn devised a bold scheme of fashioning dowell pins for the > landing gear. Once they were off and sure that the airplane was free of any > bugs, Clyde would climb out of the plane, pull the pins and drop the 300-lb > landing gear into the ocean. This added an additional 17-mph to their speed > and extended their flight capability. > They landed in Wenatchee, Washington, the birthplace of Clyde Pangborn, 41 > hours later, traveling 4558 miles. When they arrived, they jettisoned all > the remaning fuel and shut down the engine and glided in for a safe landing > on the belly. Neither one was hurt. The only damage to the airplane was a > broken wooden propeller. The Bellanca factory sent out a new landing gear > and prop and three weeks later they flew back home. > One interesting sidebar to this flight is; One wheel from the landing gear > was retrieved by a fisherman off the coast of Washington 14 months later. > George Frebert > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Get FREE voicemail, fax and email at http://voicemail.excite.com > Talk online at http://voicechat.excite.com
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