Tweet
3 or 4 years ago I was at the biplane flyin at Bartelsville OK. and got to talk with the pilot that flew the Stearman solo around the world. I knew the only way he was going to get across the big pond was throught the Aleutians. The flight from the US to Europe I do not believe had the challange the Paicfic posed. He did have a drop tank mounted between the landing gear. I do not remember the total fuel load. I think the duration was about 8 hours.
I spent a few months as a plane captian (crew chief) on a UF1 flying out of Adak. I got a lot of hours sitting behind the copilot and got to several of the outer islands. That guy flying a open Stearman across that chain of islands had a lot courage or was crazy. He did have a lot of nav equipment on board One of our pilots said flying the Aleutians will make a man out of you or it would kill you..
He told me his first stop after leaving Russia was Shemya however the crosswind was to strong and he had to go back to the last island Attu. He had to wait for the wind to die down before going back to Shemya. Shemya had one runway while Attu had a cross runway. He had people sign the fabric at every stop on the round trip. Sorry I do not remember his name or where he was from.
In 1958 & 1959 while I was on Adak we made trips to Shemya & Attu. Attu had 14 US Coast Guard people stationed there to man the master LORAN station.
Shemya was Air Force and a fuel stop for Northwest airlines. The DC7 could not make the trip nonstop.
As I remember he also stopped at Adak,Cold Bay, Kodiak. and Anchorage. Someone on the mainland may have seen him come through.
Somewhere I have a low freq range plate from 1958 for Adak. I had a copy with me that I gave to him. Not many know what the low freq range approch was like.
I spent a few months as a plane captian (crew chief) on a UF1 flying out of Adak. I got a lot of hours sitting behind the copilot and got to several of the outer islands. That guy flying a open Stearman across that chain of islands had a lot courage or was crazy. He did have a lot of nav equipment on board One of our pilots said flying the Aleutians will make a man out of you or it would kill you..
He told me his first stop after leaving Russia was Shemya however the crosswind was to strong and he had to go back to the last island Attu. He had to wait for the wind to die down before going back to Shemya. Shemya had one runway while Attu had a cross runway. He had people sign the fabric at every stop on the round trip. Sorry I do not remember his name or where he was from.
In 1958 & 1959 while I was on Adak we made trips to Shemya & Attu. Attu had 14 US Coast Guard people stationed there to man the master LORAN station.
Shemya was Air Force and a fuel stop for Northwest airlines. The DC7 could not make the trip nonstop.
As I remember he also stopped at Adak,Cold Bay, Kodiak. and Anchorage. Someone on the mainland may have seen him come through.
Somewhere I have a low freq range plate from 1958 for Adak. I had a copy with me that I gave to him. Not many know what the low freq range approch was like.
Comment