Bird Farm!

Still plugging away at this. Took off from Gander (CYQX) before daylight and headed somewhat north and found the Ocean Station Bravo ship, then flew on a bit more and landed on Saratoga in the Davis Strait. Starting on my hopping across the North Atlantic here.

Ocean Station Bravo from California Classics
 
I'm kind of between carriers at the moment. I took off from Saratoga and landed at what used to be known as Bluie West One in Greenland (BGBW). Nice predawn takeoff with a good show from the northern lights enroute.

Debating on whether to try and fly on to Iceland straight in one hop or stop on the east coast of Greenland to gas up.
 
I was having issues getting on the SOH flight server tonight, so I hopped back in the SBD and took off across Greenland to catch up with the Lexington and it's battleship escort off of Iceland. Decided to fly it in one straight hop, going high to get into the jetstream and get a good tailwind to help with the gas mileage. Turned out to be a nice flight, but I had to land in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Kind of funny when I pulled out of my dive. I cut it kind of close trying to get a good screenshot of the deck and when I pulled out of the dive things kind of went haywire. I have my wheels, flaps and dive brakes all set up with buttons on my joystick. I kind of got my fingers tangled up and had flaps, dive brakes and wheels all operating in different directions. Made me think of doing a demonstration for a prospective buyer showing that everything worked. At least I got it all straightened out before I hit that battleship.
 
Willy said:
I was having issues getting on the SOH flight server tonight, so I hopped back in the SBD and took off across Greenland to catch up with the Lexington and it's battleship escort off of Iceland. Decided to fly it in one straight hop, going high to get into the jetstream and get a good tailwind to help with the gas mileage. Turned out to be a nice flight, but I had to land in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Kind of funny when I pulled out of my dive. I cut it kind of close trying to get a good screenshot of the deck and when I pulled out of the dive things kind of went haywire. I have my wheels, flaps and dive brakes all set up with buttons on my joystick. I kind of got my fingers tangled up and had flaps, dive brakes and wheels all operating in different directions. Made me think of doing a demonstration for a prospective buyer showing that everything worked. At least I got it all straightened out before I hit that battleship.
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In the first image, there is what appears to be some sort of vapor trail going away from you sternwise. Did you fire a missle?
 
That's how FS shows contrails. Looks like Willy was at high altitude, looking for something to dive on... :)

- Paul
 
Yep, that's a FS contrail. I was at 18,000 and the airtemp was around -25C. It wasn't unknown for US Navy SBD squadrons back then to cruise at that altitude on their way to target. They normally dropped down to about 15,000 to start their dive. Bombing squadrons usually went high and carrying a 1000lb bomb was quite common, Scouting squadrons much lower and normally with 500lb bombs. A great read for learning how the Navy and Marines operated the SBD Dauntless during the war is "The Dauntless Dive Bomber of World War Two" by Barrett Tillman.

But the real reason I went that high was to take advantage of the jetstream. That was a flight of over 600nm and I wasn't sure if I'd have enough gas to make it without a little help. About halfway to Iceland after enjoying a almost 50kt tailwind, I ran into a headwind so I throttled back some more and landed with 8% fuel. That's cutting it too close in my book, but it gives me a better idea on what kind of range the Donationware SBD has. But I probably should have stopped on the east coast of Greenland and refueled.

As for missiles the SBD normally just carried one large bomb although it could also carry a couple of smaller ones out on the wings as well. I've seen pics of SBDs with rockets under the wings but I don't think that they were used operationally much if at all. But then again, the Marines were pretty inventive with their Dauntlesses. They did invent napalm back then after all.
 
Jagdflieger said:
Yikes! I hope you and your gunner had your sheep's wool flight suits on.

Love that photo of the SBD in the clouds with the sun behind it.
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I closed the canopy for once :icon_lol:

Thanks, I liked that one too. I was still at altitude flying over the t-storm at that point, hoping I'd get to the other side of it before I found the ship.
 
Left the Lexington and Iceland behind and flew on to the Faroe Islands, where I caught up with Lexington's sistership the Saratoga. Another high flight to take advantage of the jetstream but this time we kept the canopy closed until we were setting up to land. Got there just in time for lunch :icon_lol:.

Now that we're pretty much across the pond it's time to go visit a bit....
 
Willy,

You're approaching the land of Scotch whiskey. Be sure to load up a barrel or two of it for the black gang on the Sara.
 
Hot dog! scotch whiskey, but take the TBF/TBM, and carry more than one or two barrels.

Taco:ichile:
 
Not sure yet if I'll actually land on Scottish soil. I'm trying to do this with minimal landings that are not on carriers and I've got a few of them scattered around the UK. I will say that Scapa Flow is an easy flight from here.
 
Willy said:
Not sure yet if I'll actually land on Scottish soil. I'm trying to do this with minimal landings that are not on carriers and I've got a few of them scattered around the UK. I will say that Scapa Flow is an easy flight from here.
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Willy,

if you head to Scapa, try a bottle of Highland Park 1964 vintage, just a shade under £4000, but amongst the best whiskeys in the world.

Or if Beer is your thing, you may want a barrel of this.

View attachment 75662

nice flights, but if your, visiting Scapa,you may also want to do some sight seeing in a Dive bomber that was stationed there? Padbury/Jeff Marsh Blackburn Skua II is ideal.

Jamie
 
Just passing through Jamie...

Left the Faroe Islands to meet up with a British carrier in Scapa Flow. Seems like the fleet was I when I dove in from FL170. But I did pick out HMS Argus pretty easily.
 
Wasn't sure which end was the bow, so I picked the one that put me best into the wind to land on. Some odd looking carriers here too. Anyway it was a piece of cake landing on the Argus.

Next up after my stay with the Royal Navy, it'll be something a little more modern.

* Scapa Flow Fleet scenery by Bortdafarm (I just added Paul Clawson's USS Idaho and USS Langley to the mix)
 
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