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Jeff W


Jeff W

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RTW80 Diary Entry 13  -  Hong Kong to Shanghai

 

Shanghai is the most populous city proper in the world with a population of more than 24 million.  It is a global financial center and transport hub, with the world's busiest container port.  

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Few cities in the world evoke so much history, excess, glamour, mystique and exotic promise in name alone. Shanghai is home to the world's second-tallest tower and a host of other neck-craning colossi. But it's not all sky-scraping razzmatazz. Beyond the crisply cool veneer of the modern city typified by Pudong, you can lift the lid to a treasure chest of architectural styles. The city's period of greatest cosmopolitan excess – the 1920s and 1930s – left the city with pristine examples of art deco buildings, most of which survived the 20th-century vicissitudes assailing Shanghai. And there's more: from Jesuit cathedrals, Jewish synagogues and Buddhist temples to home-grown lòngtáng (laneway) and shíkùmén (stone gate) housing, Shanghai’s architectural heritage is like none other.

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The Shanghai Bund has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. The Bund lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai. It was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. Magnificent commercial buildings in the Beaux Arts style sprung up in the years around the turn of the 20th century as the Bund developed into a major financial center of east Asia. Directly to the south, and just northeast of the old walled city, the former French Bund (the quai de France, part of the Shanghai French Concession) was of comparable size to the Bund but functioned more as a working harbourside.

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Inspired by MM's timelaspse youtube of Hong Kong, I was pleased to see that 22zweizwei did a similar one for Shanghai:  shanghai 4k timelapse

 

Screenshots from today's flight:

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Kai Tak - Ready for Departure

 

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Gear Going Up

 

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Climb Power

 

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Bye bye beautiful Hong Kong

 

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Turning to heading 050

 

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Enroute near Shantou

 

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Misty Mountains near Fuzhou

 

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Evening Approach to Shanghai Hongqiao

 

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RTW80 Diary Entry 14  -  Shanghai to Yokahama (Tokyo Haneda)

 

 

Tokyo International Airport commonly known as Haneda is one of the two primary airports that serve the Greater Tokyo Area, and is the primary base of Japan's two major domestic airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.  

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In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur ordered that Haneda be handed over to the occupation forces which was renamed Haneda Army Air Base. Haneda was mainly a military and civilian transportation base used by the U.S. Army and Air Force as a stop-over for C-54 transport planes departing San Francisco, en route to the Far East and returning flights. A number of C-54s, based at Haneda AFB, participated in the Berlin Blockade airlift. These planes were specially outfitted for hauling coal to German civilians. Many of these planes were decommissioned after their participation due to coal dust contamination.   Haneda was the main regional base for United States Navy flight nurses, who evacuated patients from Korea to Haneda for treatment at military hospitals in Tokyo and Yokosuka. 

 

C-54 Skymaster (1956) Landing at Haneda

 

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Haneda Air Force Base received its first international passenger flights in 1947 when Northwest Orient Airlines began DC-4 flights across the North Atlantic to the United States, and within Asia to China, South Korea, and the Philippines.  Pan American World Airways made Haneda a stop on its "round the world" route later in 1947, with westbound DC-4 service to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Calcutta, Karachi, Damascus, Istanbul, London and New York, and eastbound Constellation service to Wake Island, Honolulu and San Francisco.Istanbul, London and New York, and eastbound Constellation service to Wake Island, Honolulu and San Francisco.
The U.S. military gave part of the base back to Japan in 1952; this portion became known as Tokyo International Airport. 

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Over Shanghai (would love to see Drzewiecki Design Shanghai)

 

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Over Okayama

 

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Shikoku

 

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Fuji Nocturne

 

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Last light of Day

 

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Yokahama 

 

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Screenshots from this Leg:

 

 


 

 

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RTW80 Diary Entry 15  - Yokohama to San Francisco

 

Decision Day.    Do I proceed as planned north up to Kamchatka, across the Aleutians to Alaska, and then down the west coast of Canada and the US to San Francisco, or choose option B,  a risky, very long, night flight - one leg directly across the Pacific to San Francisco.    I check the winds at FL300 to determine if the leg is feasible.

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The Skyvector map shows very strong easterly tailwind leaving Japan, changing to northerly,  then weakening in the middle of the route.  Strong southerly winds coming down from the Alaska Peninsula then diminishing easterly tailwinds approaching the west coast of the US.   I would have preferred steady tailwinds most of the way across the route but it does not look like I will face headwinds.  If I have to, I can bail out and reach Dutch Harbor, I will make that decision once at cruise altitude if the fuel situation looks like it will be critical.  Option B is a GO!

 

Sadly, this means that we will have to leave (temporarily) our very reliable BOAC DC-6A behind in Haneda and transfer our Round the World flag to a different aircraft and airline.  We will fly the mighty Boeing 377 Stratocruiser on this leg.  Powered by four 3,500 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R4360, the world’s most powerful piston aircraft engine ever produced, we will climb to 30,000 feet for this Pacific crossing. 

   

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On November 29, 1945 Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) became the launch customer with the largest commercial aircraft order in history, a $24,500,000 order for 20 Stratocruisers.  We will be flying on Clipper Fleetwing (N1037V) on tonights leg.

 

Pan Am Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Promo Film - 1950

 

Screenshots from the flight:

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Tokyo Tower, Pan American 37V, Ready for Takeoff

 

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Gear up and flaps coming up

 

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Leaving Haneda 

 

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Sayonara,  Hope to be back again.

 

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Next morning, "Stratocruising" high above the Pacific at FL300.   Past the International Date Line and fuel looks good.

 

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Landfall at Point Reyes (PYE)

 

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San Francisco and the Golden Gate

 

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Very short final, SFO

 

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Just seconds from touchdown.

 

Great flight.  I reduced power settings to improve fuel consumption which resulted in slower speeds than prior crossings but I had an hour of reserve fuel when I arrived.  

 

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RTW 80 –  Fun at the Fairmont and Tonga Room – Revising the Plan

 

Having safely arrived in San Francisco we must find a place to stay until our planned departure for New York on Dec 5.  Our first thought was the Mark Hopkins with it’s incomparable view over the city from the Top of the Mark, however we opted to stay at the Fairmont Hotel as we have been advised that one  Anthony Dominick Benedetto will be performing at the Venetian Room.  

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For those looking for a somewhat different class of entertainment, you may want to try the Tonga Room

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Among the Fairmont hotel's attractions is the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar, a historic tiki bar, which opened in 1945 and was remodeled in 1952, and 1967. Elements of the bar were also "updated" in 2009. It features a bandstand on a barge that floats in a former swimming pool, a dining area built from parts of an old sailing ship, and artificial thunderstorms.

 

It seems only right that we should complete the RTW80 event in the aircraft we departed in.  To achieve this goal will require that we re-position our BOAC DC-6A (G-OAMP) to Gander Newfoundland CYQX.  Before departing Tokyo we enlisted a small crew to ferry the aircraft across the far north of Russia and Canada so it will be ready when we reach that point of our journey.   We will post Ferry Flight Progress reports as they are received.

 

 

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Excellent gutsy call to cross the Pacific non-stop! Nice weather scouting and fuel management. And truly lovely screenshots.

And thanks for returning the company plane. :)

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Hi Jeff, great post for your trans-Pacific leg and great screen shots. I've similarly gone for the B option, one leg straight across from Haneda to San Francisco, but I've gone a lot less risky, switching from my Dash 8 - Q400, which brought me and my intrepid passengers this far, to a B767-300ER. I've been doing familiarisation all week and have just completed a flight back down to Fukuoka where I flew the last leg up in the Dash from last weekend. More practice during the week, then looking to fly to SFO next weekend. Enjoy your week

James

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DC-6 Ferry Flight – Leg 1  RJTT-UHMA

 

Just received first status telegram from the Ferry Flight

 

ARRIVED ANADYER -(STOP)-  100KNT TAILWINDS ENROUTE -(STOP)-  DEPART MOULD BAY CYMD SOON -(STOP)-

 

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Ferry Flight Departing Haneda

 

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Heading North

 

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Kamchatka

 

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Losing the daylight

 

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Approaching Anadyer in the dark night of far eastern Siberia

 

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Night landing in 41knt crosswind,  What could go wrong?:)

 

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75knt tailwind average improves the average speed quite a bit and made pretty short work of that 2214nm.

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DC-6 Ferry Flight – Leg 2  UHMA-CYMD

 

Second status telegram from the Ferry Flight:

 

ARRIVED MOULD BAY CYMD –(STOP)- MODEST HEADWINDS ENROUTE -(STOP)- VERY COLD –(STOP)- DARK TOO –(STOP)-  Lat. 76°14' N –(STOP)-

 

Prince Patrick Island is the westernmost of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Northwest Territories of Canada.   It has historically been icebound all year, making it one of the least accessible parts of Canada.  Located at the entrance of the M'Clure Strait, Prince Patrick Island is uninhabited. A High Arctic Weather Station ("HAWS") and associated airstrip called Mould Bay were opened in 1948 as part of a joint Canada-US military effort to support a weather station network. 

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During the period of US National Weather Service participation, the site was known as a Joint Arctic Weather Station ("JAWS").   The station was closed in 1997, owing to budget cuts. The buildings still stand, but as of 2007, most have deteriorated to an unrepairable state.  The station represented the only known long-term human settlement of the Island.

 

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Anadyer in the Morning

 

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Before Takeoff Checks Complete

 

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Heading Out

 

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Clouds over the Chukchi Sea

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Pushing into the Darkness over the Beaufort Sea

 

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Whew!!!   Land sited after 5 hours over the Arctic Seas

 

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Very welcome runway lights in a very lonely place

 

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Mould Bay - CYMD   76 Degrees 14 Minutes North,   It's all downhill to Gander.

 

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DC-6 Ferry Flight – Leg 3   CYMD-CYFB

 

ARRIVED IQALUIT CYFB –(STOP)- STRONG HEADWINDS ENROUTE -(STOP)- EXCELLENT FACILITIES –(STOP)-  GANDER NEXT –(STOP)-

 

Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut; its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay until 1987, after the large bay on the coast of which the city is situated. In 1999, Iqaluit became the capital of Nunavut after the division of the Northwest Territories into two separate territories. Before this event, Iqaluit was a small city and not well-known outside the Canadian Arctic or Canada, with population and economic growth highly limited. This is due to the city's isolation and heavy dependence on expensively imported supplies as the city, like the rest of Nunavut, has no road, rail, or even ship connections for part of the year to the rest of Canada. The city also has a polar climate, influenced by the cold deep waters of the Labrador Current just off Baffin Island; this makes the city of Iqaluit cold, even though the city is well south of the Arctic Circle.

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Ready for Takeoff

 

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Thirty Inches Please.

 

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Another Approach in the Darkness - 46knt headwind

 

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Taxing In, Rain and Darkness.

 

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DC-6 Ferry Flight – Leg 4  CYFB-CYQX

 

ARRIVED GANDER CYQX –(STOP)- FERRY FLIGHTS TOTAL DISTANCE 5780  -(STOP)- AIRCRAFT READY FOR PICKUP  –(STOP)-

 

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Inqaluit - Pushing Back

 

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After Takeoff, Gear Up.

 

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Over Labrador

 

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Gander Tower, Runway In Sight.

 

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Completion of Ferry Flight Operations.  DC-6 G-AOMP ready to resume RTW80 duty.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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RTW80 Diary Entry 16  -  San Francisco to Omaha

 

Resuming the Round the World Journey today courtesy of Trans World Airlines

 

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TWA History
Western Air Express began operations in April, 1926 with a fleet of six open-cockpit, two passenger Douglas M-2 biplanes and a contract to fly one air-mail round trip from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City.
Transcontinental Air Transport, Inc.(TAT) was proclaimed “the Lindbergh Line” and incorporated in May 1928 by a group of financiers and transportation experts who believed that public acceptance of air travel was close at hand. Colonel Charles Lindbergh was named Chairman of the TAT Technical Committee with the hope his name would attract more financing and business.


Brave indeed were the passengers during that beginning era. Tragic accidents occurred during these early years of aviation history. Even the uneventful flights caused passengers' ears to ring and stomachs to churn. If an airline made money, and few did, the profit came from airmail subsidies and not passengers. Changes came in 1930 from an unlikely source, the Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown. He thought the nation needed airlines that carried more people than mail. He summoned airline chiefs to Washington and offered them a deal. If the airlines would merge into units big enough to make economic sense, the government would give them a lock on cross-continental routes. After some tough compromising, three big transcontinental lines emerged.

 

1. On the central route through St. Louis, TW&A formed on October 1, 1930 when Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air, Inc.merged.
2. On the northern route through Chicago, what became United came into existence.
3. On the southern route through Dallas, what became American was formed.
4. The north-south routes along the Atlantic Seaboard went to a fourth amalgamation, Eastern.

 

In April 1934 the airline became TWA, Inc.


Collectively these airlines became The Big Four. Pan American had a monopoly on intercontinental routes. For almost half a century these five had the sky almost to themselves.

 

A TWA crash put the government into the airline business in a big way. On May 5, 1935, a TWA DC-2 went down near Kirksville, Mo. The crash killed six people, including U.S. Sen. Bronson Cutting of New Mexico. TWA’s crashes tended to be doubly ugly, because many involved well-known people: Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in 1931 and Hollywood actress Carole Lombard in 1942. But Cutting was more than well-known. He was also well-loved by his colleagues in Congress. His loss so upset the lawmakers that they set up what became the Civil Aeronautics Board. For the airlines, the CAB served as both Big Daddy and Sugar Daddy. 
The CAB was Big Daddy when it told the airlines what they could do, where they could fly, the frequency of their flights, what fares they could set and what steps to take to ensure safety. It was Sugar Daddy when it set fares high enough to keep the airlines in business, no matter what. The airlines became, in effect, public utilities with the Big Four on top. With profits all but guaranteed airline managers didn’t have to be astute in the ways of business. The airlines had room for colorful characters like TWA’s Jack Frye, a brash pilot, who took the TWA presidency in 1934.

 

Frye preferred the cockpit to the boardroom and spent as much time as he could at the controls of TWA’s DC-3s, the most popular aircraft in air travel in the mid-1930s.  But Frye had his mind set on something bigger, the four-engined Boeing Stratoliner. By today’s standards that plane looks bulbous, almost cartoonish. But in the late ‘30s, only the pressurized Stratoliner could lift TWA’s passengers above the bumpy weather that the DC-3s had to bull through.  The financial people to whom Frye answered balked at buying Stratoliners. There is a question whether Jack Frye approached Howard Hughes or Howard Hughes Approached Jack Frye. What came next was Howard Hughes buying up TWA stock.  On August 26, 1940, Howard Hughes owned enough stock to obtain a controlling interest in TWA.  For better or for worse, TWA would never be the same. 

 

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Thanks to Hughes’ Hollywood connections, TWA developed the reputation as the glamour airline. When the Hollywood movie stars flew they tended to fly TWA. The airline’s press agents made sure the newspapers got pictures of the rich and famous boarding TWA’s Connies. Hughes vexed his dispatchers by holding flights until dawdling stars could arrive. Big-time Hollywood columnists like Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons received red-carpet treatment with TWA limousines toting them to and from airports.


Publicity like that attracted hordes of first-time fliers to TWA. Most were well-heeled vacationers who could afford the steep fares of the postwar era. But the glamour image had two big drawbacks. First most of TWA’s routes ran east and west which was fine for summertime vacationers but weak in the winter when vacationers head south. Before long TWA began bleeding financially each winter. This became a chronic condition up to the end. Second the business passengers could have taken up the winter slack but they tended to shun glitzy TWA. They wanted steady, sober service. They wanted the kind of service they associated with United and American. While TWA flew stars its rivals snared the most desirable passengers, the full-fare, frequently flying executives.


Hughes never held a corporate position at TWA. He didn’t have to because he owned the company. But his meddling exasperated TWA’s executives who tended to quit in frustration. Historian Serling called Hughes “the George Steinbrenner of commercial aviation, a well-intentioned owner who picked capable managers and then drove them crazy.” Take Carter Burgess, TWA’s president in 1957, the year Hughes decided to “borrow” a brand-new Super Constellation. With a co-pilot and a flight engineer conscripted from TWA’s ranks Hughes took off in June for a brief test flight to Montreal.

 

Six months later, Hughes still had the plane, gallivanting around the Caribbean at the controls. Burgess implored him to return it so TWA could put it to productive use. Hughes refused, whereupon Burgess quit. Hughes hardly cared; as his flight engineer Bill Bushey later recalled, “I gathered from that long time with him that he liked three things, airplanes, TWA and girls.” Trouble is, he liked the wrong kind of airplanes.

 

    

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Come Fly With Me

 

In his autobiography All You Need Is Ears, producer George Martin wrote of having visited the Capitol Tower during the recording sessions for the album. According to Martin's book, Sinatra expressed intense dislike for the album cover upon being first shown a mock-up by producer Voyle Gilmore, suggesting it looked like an advertisement for TWA.

 

Screenshots from today's flight:

 

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TWA Constellation "Star of Virgina" on the Ramp at San Francisco International

 

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Leaving the City by the Bay

 

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Turning on course

 

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Leaving the High Sierra behind

 

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Several hours later, Arrival at Epperly Airport in Omaha Nebraska.

 

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RTW80 Diary Entry 16  -  Omaha to Milwaukee

 

North Central Airlines


North Central Airlines was one of the largest and most profitable of the local service air carriers operating in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1970s. 


On February 24,1948, one of the coldest and most miserable days of the year, Wisconsin Central inaugurated scheduled service with three Lockheed 10A nine-passenger airplanes. Only one of the flights over the 19 city, 15 airport route could be flown that day due to the extreme conditions. From this humble beginning, the airline grew on a "shoestring" to become a safe and reliable carrier.  Increased demand soon outweighed the abilities of the small Lockheeds, resulting in the purchase of 6 DC-3s from TWA with inauguration of service in early 1951. By 1952, with the help of 10 DC-3s, Wisconsin Central had grown to become the third largest of the 18 local service carriers behind Frontier and Ozark.

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North Central celebrated a milestone in a big way on February 24, 1968 when all five of the different aircraft types ever used in service for the airline flew together in formation, exactly twenty years from the date of inaugural service for the midwest carrier. Pictured above on a cold, Minnesota day are (from right to left) the Lockheed 10A, Douglas DC-3, Convair 440, Convair 580, and the Douglas DC-9.

 

North Central purchased Atlanta-based Southern Airways and the two airlines formed Republic Airlines in July 1979, the first merger following airline deregulation. Republic soon targeted San Francisco-based Hughes Airwest for acquisition, and the deal was finalized in October 1980.  Saddled with debt from two acquisitions and new aircraft, the airline struggled in the early 1980s.  In 1986, Republic merged with Northwest Orient Airlines, which was Minneapolis and had a large operation at Detroit, which ended the legacy of Wisconsin Central and North Central. Following the merger, the new airline became Northwest Airlines (dropping the "Orient"), which merged into Delta Air Lines in 2008, finalized in early 2010. 

 

Pictures from today's flight to from Omaha to Milwaukee

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Leaving Omaha

 

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Cold Winter Day over Iowa

 

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North Central - 728

 

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Herman the Duck over Wisconsin

 

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Descending near Lake Michigan

 

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North Central - On Final

 

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North Central - "Cleared to Land"

 

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RTW80 Diary Entry 17  - Milwaukee to Chicago (Midway)

 

A short hop today in the Lockheed Electra L10A

 

NCA Lockheed 10A Electra


Lockheed Aircraft produced the 10A as its first twin-engine transport designed in 1932-33 to compete on the shorter routes with the Boeing 247 and the Douglas DC-2. It was an all metal, "all weather" aircraft with retractable landing gear and a passenger/crew boarding door on the left rear of the fuselage. The wing design was similar to the Boeing 247 in that it had a truss passing through the passenger cabin to connect the wing spars  Even though its Pratt and Whitney R-985 Junior Wasp engines developed less horsepower than its counterparts, the 10A's cruising speed of 190 mph was 10 mph faster than both the Boeing and Douglas products.  The most famous Lockheed 10 was the similar 10E model which was flown by Amelia Earhart during several record breaking flights and ultimately disappearing on July 3, 1937 on the last portion of a round-the-world flight.

 

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On the last day of 1946, Wisconsin Central Airlines had been awarded its temporary certificate to operate Air Mail Route 86 on 1400 miles to 43 cities. Finding a suitable aircraft with which to serve this route system was a major hurdle. Not only did the new airline lack enough funds for modern airliners, many of the airports to be served lacked facilities sufficient enough to handle them. The perfect solution was the Lockheed 10A. Already an old airplane, Wisconsin Central purchased a total of 6 of the 10A model for about $12,000 a piece.  When the last Lockheed was retired on May 1, 1951 to make way for an all - DC-3 fleet, the 10A's had safely flown almost 6,000,000 miles before being sold for a tidy profit at $35,000 per aircraft.

 

Screenshots from today's flight:

 

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Wisconsin Central - "Now Boarding"

 

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Heading South - Past Racine

 

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Above Lake Michigan in the Afternoon Sun

 

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At Cruise - 8000'

 

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Downwind at Dusk

 

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Chicago Skyline

 

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Touching Down - Midway Field

 

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RTW80 Diary Entry 19  - Chicago (Midway) to New York (LaGuardia)

 

American Airlines DC-4 Flagship Washington

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American Airlines was developed from a conglomeration of 82 small airlines through acquisitions in 1930 and reorganizations. Initially, American Airways was a common brand by a number of independent carriers. These included Southern Air Transport in Texas, Southern Air Fast Express (SAFE) in the western United States, Universal Aviation  in the Midwest (which operated a transcontinental air/rail route in 1929), Thompson Aeronautical Services (which operated a Detroit-Cleveland route beginning in 1929), and Colonial Air Transport  in the Northeast. Like many early carriers, American earned its keep carrying U.S. Mail. By 1933 American Airways operated a transcontinental route network serving 72 cities, mostly in the northeastern, midwestern, and southwestern United States.

 

 

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In 1934 American Airways Company was acquired by E. L. Cord, who renamed it "American Air Lines". Cord hired Texas businessman C. R. Smith to run the company. Smith worked with Donald Douglas to develop the DC-3, which American Airlines was first to fly, in 1936. American's DC-3 made it the first airline to be able to operate a route that could earn a profit solely by transporting passengers; other carriers could not earn a profit without U.S. Mail. With the DC-3, American began calling its aircraft "Flagships" and establishing the Admirals Club for valued passengers. The DC-3s had a four-star "admiral's pennant" outside the cockpit window while the aircraft was parked. American operated daily overnight transcontinental service between New York and Los Angeles through Dallas/Fort Worth and other intermediate stops, advertising the service as an "all-year southern route."

 

American Airlines was the first to cooperate with Fiorello LaGuardia to build an airport in New York City, and became owner of the world's first airline lounge at the new LaGuardia Airport (LGA), known as the Admirals Club. Membership was initially by invitation only, later changing to an open policy that accepted members who paid dues.

 

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Inside an Admirals Club

The Admirals Club was conceived by AA president C.R. Smith as a marketing promotion shortly after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. Inspired by the Kentucky colonels and other honorary organizations, Smith decided to make particularly valued passengers "admirals" of the "Flagship fleet" (AA called its aircraft "Flagships" at the time). The list of Admirals included many celebrities, politicians, and other VIPs, as well as more "ordinary" customers who had been particularly loyal to the airline.

 

There was no physical Admirals Club until shortly after the opening of LaGuardia Airport. During the airport's construction, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had an upper-level lounge set aside for press conferences and business meetings. At one such press conference, he noted that the entire terminal was being offered for lease to airline tenants; after a reporter asked whether the lounge would be leased as well, LaGuardia replied that it would, and a vice president of AA immediately offered to lease the premises. The airline then procured a liquor license and began operating the lounge as the "Admirals Club" in 1939.

 

The second Admirals Club opened at Washington National Airport. Because it was illegal to sell alcohol in Virginia at the time, the club contained refrigerators for the use of its members, so they could store their own liquor at the airport. For many years, membership in the Admirals Club (and most other airline lounges) was by the airline's invitation. After a passenger sued for discrimination, the Club (and most other airline lounges) switched to a paid membership program.

 

Screenshots from today's flight:

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Midway Tower, American Flagship Washington - Ready for Takeoff 

 

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Over Lake Michigan

 

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Cruising at 12000 feet

 

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Following the Hudson - Over Manhattan

 

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Turning back towards LaGuardia

 

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East River view of Manhattan

 

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Over Queens on downwind leg

 

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Runway 22, Just a few more seconds to go.

 

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Great screenshots and paraphernalia for the "Flagship Washington." The combination make for a nice composite.

And much appreciated the story behind the Admirals Club. Maybe the next time I fly American I can just mention my close personal relationship with C.R. Oh, wait...

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RTW80 Diary Entry 20  -  New York (LaGuardia) to Gander (CYQX)

 

 

Today’s flight will feature another famous US airline, one that I have a special affection for as I flew on it many times as a boy and later as an adult.

 
Eastern Airlines 

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Eastern Air Lines was a major American airline from 1926 to 1991.   Eastern was one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines created by the Spoils Conferences of 1930, and was headed by World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker in its early years.   While most of the major airlines were focusing on transcontinental flights, Eastern's specialty was the East Coast, and it was here that it established a near monopoly. Through 1933, the airline acquired contracts for a number of routes that spanned from New York to Miami. Eastern catered to the high demand for quick passenger travel between the northeastern states and the vacation areas of Florida.

 

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In April 1938, Rickenbacker, with the help of some of his associates, bought Eastern.  Rickenbacker was responsible for setting up Eastern’s Great Silver Fleet, a famous fleet of DC-2 aircraft that operated on the East Coast, one of which became the first commercial airplane to touch down at Washington, D.C.'s new National Airport in June 1941.  In World War II, Eastern joined in supporting the war effort with military support flights connecting Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Further routes were added to Trinidad in the Caribbean. Eventually, in September 1942, Eastern created its Military Transport Division (MTD) based in Miami comprising a fleet of Curtiss C-46 Commando aircraft.


After the war, Eastern became even stronger.  In 1950, the company ordered the new L.1049 Super Constellation airplane. Eastern also successfully acquired a Canadian company, Colonial Airlines, in 1956 that allowed the airline to begin service to Canadian cities such as Montreal and Ottawa. Eastern also diversified into Mexico, when in 1957, it began a New York-New Orleans-Mexico City service using DC-7 aircraft.

 

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As a boy I had several memorable flights on the Lockheed Electra out of Washington’s National Airport.

 

Rickenbacker pushed Eastern into a period of growth and innovation; for a time Eastern was the most profitable airline in the post-war era, never needing state subsidy. In the late 1950s Eastern's position was eroded by subsidies to rival airlines and the arrival of the jet age. On October 1, 1959, Rickenbacker's position as CEO was taken over by Malcolm A. MacIntyre, a brilliant lawyer but a man inexperienced in airline operations.'  Rickenbacker's ouster was largely due to his reluctance to acquire expensive jets; like many others, he underestimated their appeal to the public. Despite being somewhat late to commit to jets, Eastern did achieve some notable firsts.  Eastern was the first to operate the three jet aircraft: the Boeing 727, the Lockheed L1011, and Boeing 757.

 

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In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during the deregulation, labor disputes and high debt loads strained the company under the leadership of former astronaut Frank Borman. Frank Lorenzo acquired Eastern in 1985 and moved many of its assets to his other airlines, including Continental Airlines and Texas Air. After continued labor disputes and a crippling strike in 1989, Eastern ran out of money and was liquidated in 1991. 

 

In the memoir "Fate is the Hunter"  describing his years working as a pilot from the 1930s to the 1950s Ernest K Gann wrote this interesting description of the tribal pilot airline cultures:

 

"Airline pilots are separated into tribes in spite of their common occupation....United pilots are considered colorless and sticklers for regulation. American pilots are thought to be a mixed lot, prone to independent complaint and rebellion. TWA pilots, highly regarded individually, are pitied for the chameleon management of their company. Pan Am pilots, admired and envied for their long-range flying, are thought to be shy and backward in foul-weather work. The tribes are each healthy and strong in their way, but their characteristics, conditioned by their aerial territories, are as different as the Sioux, the Navajos, and the Cherokees. All this is recognized as debatable. Yet the legends had to start somehow.

  
Now it is important for Hughen to remember that Eastern Airlines pilots are singularly determined and clever.  They are not given to timidity, and if the pilot now beneath us has refused to continue his approach the conditions must be very unpleasant indeed."

 

 

Todays flight will be in a Constellation in the livery of the Great Silver Fleet

 

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LaGuardia Tower, Eastern Ready to Go 

 

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Bye to the Big Apple

 

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On Course for Gander

 

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Climbing to Cruise Altitude over Rhode Island

 

 

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For each of TWA, American, and now Eastern you have highlighted interesting and not-so-well-known material. Love the Gann's observation on how the tribes saw each other.
It's fun to follow along. And especially rewarding to learn new stuff!

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