From Empire State to Golden Gate

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Finding myself in Boston, Mass in the 1930s I thought it might be interesting to fly from sea to shining sea.

Dawn over East Boston Airfield (now Logan International):

That American Airlines Stinson Model A will take us to New York City where we can catch a United Mainliner and hop over to San Francisco*...

Merc Air Chief Willy, just back from his Mighty Howard RTW, has recommended this Captain to drive the Stinson:

Seems like a decent fellow, let me sit in his chair and take control occasionally, and he told me some stuff about those Rootin' Tootin' Bootleggin' Tommy Gun Shootin' 1930s too. We had to wait behind this classic before going:

'It's one of the new Douglas Dc-3s,' said Captain Gann, 'I'm looking forward to getting behind the wheel of one someday soon. We're still flying the good old Two. New airline too, run by the Brothers Braniff. Boy, they need to pump them tires a bit better, mind.'

Back in those days there were a lot more factories belching out smoke (when they weren't closed down due to the Great Depression of course).

As Lenny said, 'I don't see what's so great about this Depression?' Anyway, we had a fine view of early morning Beantown as we clawed our way up to the dizzy heights of 4000 feet. Nice sight of the airport after we'd circled round:

And here's another Stinson, A Reliant SR-9C, that we caught a glimpse of. I'd love to check one of them out properly some day...

Maybe if lucky I can find an example on the ground at one of our stopovers* during the crossing?

(*Only about 17 of those to go)...

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

After about 40 minutes flying he started to descend towards this big river:

'New York already? Is that the Hudson?'

'Nah, it's the Connecticut. We gotta land at Hartford-Brainard first, Dutch.' ('Dutch' is a nickname that Americans like to give us Hollanders).

Well, he made a perfect landing there, which was nice. Then went and parked:

I took a quick peek at where the passengers sat. They even have a lavatory.

When I stepped outside to stretch my legs, what should I see but this:

Asked Captain Gann if he'd care to come over and take a closer look. This was what we found on the passenger seat:

'Wowza! A Setchell-Carlson,' says the Captain, 'Ain't she neat and dinky? You know those boys are gonna be putting them into automobiles soon? Just think, you'll be able to drive along listening to your jazz. It's amazin' how small they can make a wireless nowadays.'

Soon we were on our way again and as dusk fell I was relieved when Long Island Sound came into sight:

'Floyd Bennet's around here somewhere...' joked Gann, but I knew he knew the way alright. Mind you, it was getting pretty dark by the time we landed.

One of the passengers, a Mrs Vanderbilt (good Dutch name) asked him to park up near her car, which he duly did.

That sort of thing was possible back in those days. Me? I took a cab into town, but will be back tomorrow for the first leg of my continental crossing.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Went to a place called the Algonquin where all the New York City wiseacres hang out making witty remarks. One of them was this quite good-looking young lady who I got talking to:

'I'm flying across America tomorrow,' I told her.

'Across America, huh?' she said in a bored tone, 'Let me know if you find anyone worth putting in one's address book anywhere between, um... Broadway and Sunset.' Her friends all found this rude remark extremely amusing for some peculiar reason.

Next morning I was glad to meet back up with Captain Gann at Floyd Bennet. He proudly showed me his DC-2:

'Sure you don't wanna fly with us via Nebraska and Texas?' he asked.

'Maybe one day, but I have my $120 ticket already for the northern route with United.'

The DC-2 is roomy inside with space for 14 passengers. They get monogrammed antimacassars...

...and a free copy of LIFE magazine to read (or look at the pictures) on the way.

Such luxury, but I am going in one of the new, improved Douglas Commercial-3s:

There she is in front of the hangar. Took a walk round:

And had a look inside...

It takes 21 passengers, most impressive.

There is a small galley so the steward can bring hot drinks and sandwiches, a lavatory, and everyone gets a special box to be sick in. Hopefully the latter item won't be necessary, but just in case.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Well, it was time to make a start. This is a fairly accurate recreation of the United mainliner coast-to-coast in the late '30s/early '40s which they could do in about 24 hours. Most of the stopoffs are correct, except that we should really start from Newark, rather than Floyd Bennet. Famous story is that a VIP got angry when his aeroplane stopped at Newark, pointing out that the ticket said New York, 'and this AIN'T Noo Yuk!' So he made them build a more central airport - something he could get done because he was Mayor La Guardia.

Smokin'!

Better drive round to the terminal building and pick up the passengers.

You can just see the little steps down for them.

What a joy to fly. She torques a little to the right, but it's easy enough to compensate for that. Is that the Harlem lift span bridge? The midsection can be raised to let tall ships through.

A last look back at the Atlantic. Our next Ocean will be the other one, though there are a few big lakes too before we get to that.

After about 70 minutes flying almost due west we descend towards the northernmost foothills of the Alleghenys near the very middle of Pennsylvania.

We're near Penn State College which now has the big University Park (KUNV) airport, but in those days Bellefonte (N96) was the one!

In fs9 (and GW3 obviously) it has that curious row of squat ugly buildings all along the runway. Unpleasant, but does make the place easy to spot and prevents confusion with its bigger near neighbour (which the computer still seems to have thought I was aiming at).

Came in a bit fast and overshot the short runway...

...but turned round and went to park at the other end near an attractive church. Much more like the fine architecture of beautiful Bellefonte!

 

[Jagdflieger]

Another nice project Ralf and one I've flown several times in real life and in the sim. The sim flight is much more fun nowadays, but back in the day when stewardesses actually brought you good food and chewing gum (helped to valsalvate [pop your ears]) it was pretty nice.

By the way, I flew in an old Stinsen Reliant very similar to the one in your screen shot once.

We'll be watching for your adventure to unfold over the USA.

 

[Ferry_vO]

Yep, nice project! (Although you've picked the wrong aircraft. You know the DC-2 is faster than the DC-3 when flow by the numbers, right?)

 

[Willy]

The 2 is also better than the 3 when it comes to icing. Could be important this time of year.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Thanks for your advice, gentlemen. There's Ferry sticking up for the Uiver - may one day trace the American Airlines route in that - and there's always KLM. I envy you your Reliant flight, jagdflieger! :salute: And Willy, fear you may be right about icing - fine on a cake, but we don't want it on any flying machines - the Rockies lie ahead.

A quick turnaround at Bellefonte where we only dropped one passenger off:

You can see the row of ugly buildings that lines the default airstrip there. It was already nearly midday, wish we'd left New York earlier.

Never met Big Seth, but he's got a fine Pennsylvania barn there, and I'm glad nobody's busy flying through it right now (though didn't yet realise how close those pesky barnstormers were...)

The worrying appearance of fog - Willy was right about weather at this time of year - but luckily I was able to just skirt round that particular patch of the awful stuff.

Generally rather flat, dull agricultural land. This stretch was only about an hour, but for a while the airplane torqued worse than usual till I realised that the rudder was stuck! A bit of waggling on the controls set it straight, and our flight was fine after that. Soon spotted the next stopover ahead...

...Akron, Ohio.

A child could land on that magnificent wide runway (as long as they managed to spot it OK). Believe this place was important to the US airship industry, though I was sorry not to find any of those old friends at home on this occasion. Maybe we'll get lucky and see some dirigibles later in our journey?

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

The big white building must be something to do with the airships (one of which is actually named Akron after the place), and they even have some primitive form of radar rotating away there.

Pitcairn seems to be the big name in flying around here.

Didn't get any help from Ground Control, so just taxyed over towards the more habitable looking buildings - the ones made for people rather than planes.

I'd already noticed this fine white Vega parked there:

While Miss Quimby, the stewardess (remind me to show you a picture of her in her smart white uniform later), was dealing with the passengers, I wandered over to take a look at that sleek aircraft.

Found this chubby, gap-toothed, one-eyed pirate hanging about nearby:

I was about to alert the aerodrome authorities to have the hobo ejected, when this character strolled up and shook my hand!

'Hi, Cap. Wonder if you could help a fellow flyer in distress?' says he.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

He introduces himself as Wiley Coyote or something and explains that his plane is out of gas.

'And there are a few fellows waiting to welcome me to Cleveland. Can I hitch I ride with you, Cap?'

'Well, how far is it to Cleveland? I've got to get to Chicago next and we're already half way through the day.'

'No problem, it's on your way and my friends are waiting for me at the Cleveland Airport.'

I seemed to recall some reason for avoiding Cleveland - it wasn't in the original flightplan - but still, a fellow flyer in need is a friend indeed, etc.

So off we went to KCLE, though annoyingly, without radio contact. All I could get was a BEEP...

Just flew in a straight line on the right heading for that place and sure enough, there it was. There were also a pair of idiots doing some sort of high speed formation flying...

...and dangerously low too. Verdomme! Who's this red idiot?

Can't he see I've got an airliner full of passengers coming in to land here? Mr Wiley seemed to find it hilarious, he was laughing away.

They seemed to fly with me BETWEEN them, the freakish fat flying silo and the dangerous little red devil.

By some sort of miracle we weren't hit and I got her down safely. Only then realised that there were several stands with huge crowds in them. We'd obviously stumbled on some sort of sporting event.

I taxyed over to a group of officials, intending to explain that the Coyote had made me do it and it was too late to back out when we'd got so low. Mind you, at least the crowd were going wild, giving us a tremendous cheer. Quite gratifying really - along with still being alive.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Of course Cleveland was where they held the National Air Races on this circuit, and the finishing place for many long-distance races (1929-1948). Those fellows just kept buzzing round.

Everyone including the computer's little red label knows this is a GEEBEE, but more accurately a Granville Model R-1 Super Sportster of 1932...

Very popular in The Rocketeer and Crimson Skies. Once read that no Geebee ever built hasn't crashed at least once, not always fatally (but still). Health & safety? Wait till the 21st Century.

They flew round and round these pylons in a sort of oval configuration exactly like the Roman chariot racers in Ben Hur...

The red one is also labelled GEEBEE, but quite frankly it's the 1929 Travel Air Mystery Ship. The Super Sportster could do nearly 300mph, but the Mystery Ship did first break the 200 barrier. Much influence on WW2 fighter design may be detected in both of these racers...

You can see us parked in the background. I went over and, shouting VERY loud, told the race officials I'd brought their Wiley; turning round and expecting to see him grinning behind me. But now he was nowhere to be seen.

'Wiley Post?' they said, 'You ain't brought him. Don'tcha know? He cashed in his final flightplan last year, up in Alaska with ol' Will Rogers. Them two won't never be comin' back to Cleveland no more.'

Great. So I'd brought the ghost of Wiley Post... It was nice meeting him. Sort of.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Time to leave Cleveland and head for Chicago, about an hour's flight. I checked carefully to see where exactly those cheeky racers were before moving off.

Took off when they were just at my 9 o'clock and prayed that they wouldn't ever again come quite so close as when we arrived.

Approaching Lake Erie:

We then flew parallel to its southern shore, completing our westward crossing of Ohio.

Spotted these American Airlines DC-3s chugging around up there. Also noticed a white & blue Vega which seemed familiar...

...Please tell me that they were just moving it from Akron and that old Wiley hasn't become one of those Ghosts of the Air pilots like to discuss at the Cantina in the wee small hours!

Mansfield, Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo ATCs helped me through northern Indiana and the corner of Michigan and eventually we spotted the Lake of the same name up ahead...

...this will be the largest body of water we have to overfly, but it's only for about 20 minutes or so.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

This map shows how we approach Chicago by flying across the bottom end of the Lake:

The most 'over water' we'll ever be on this whole trip:

And there's the city ahead:

You'd think Al Capone would still be running this place, but in fact he was defeated by 1932 (we'll be flying over his new home* in San Francisco Bay at the end of the journey).

Many readers will remember Meigs Field, the cute little airport that used to be on the waterfront here (1948 - 2003). I learnt how to fly flightsims there back in Flight Simulator 98. You can still find Meigs in fs9, but it no longer exists in FSX. Of course it isn't here in GW3 either, and nor is O'Hare. Here's the end of the runway at Chicago Midway (KMDW) where we landed:

It was renamed Midway in 1949 after the great naval victory of WW2 - not because it's 'midway' across America (which it isn't!). In '36 it was just Chicago Municipal.

Only ugly default airport buildings in GW3 I'm afraid, but some interesting stuff may be seen flying over the reduced interwar cityscape at certain times of the day. Here's the USN Airship Akron that we never saw at Akron:

Being buzzed by a lovely Cessna AW. You have to be extra careful with dirigibles over Chicago as one called the Wing Foot crashed onto a bank there in a forgotten tragedy of 1919. (It belonged to Goodyear, and if you think about it, you'll realise why the doomed ship was called Wing Foot).

Poor old Akron (ZRS-4) only lasted from 1931-33 when she was lost at sea.

*Yes, Alcatraz.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Next stopover after Chicago is Iowa City. It was already past 14.30 and it starts to get dark in a couple of hours time, so I was keen to be off. Our old friend the Mississippi lies between Chicago and Iowa City (it marks the border between Illinois and Iowa), so I was keeping an eye open for her.

But I think that was just the Rock River. This looks more like the Big One...

We must have crossed it at a place called Davenport (there is also a De Witt nearby - good Dutch name).

A busy airport up ahead was, in fact the one for Cedar Rapids.

Story goes that the City Fathers of Iowa City - um, the Iowa City City Fathers - foolishly decided against airport expansion for KIOW after WW2, giving KCID (Eastern Iowa, Cedar Rapids) the chance to become the great hub of the area. I am worried by noticing snow just beyond the place...

A map that shows how they sent me round:

If MEA went to KCID you could have a Cedarjet at Cedar Rapids ! (unlikely though).

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

This Trimotor is forever doing circuits at Iowa City in the GW3 AI. Useful for locating the airport, and I managed to get down while he was safely out of the way.

Picture a bit fuzzy due to dirt kicked up by our own DC-3. There goes that Trimotor:

Not sure how long the Tin Goose co-existed with the Gooneybird. It did have the advantage of all-metal construction, but would have been considered pretty old-fashioned by 1936. Time to leave Iowa City:

Another old Tin Goose, they still like 'em in Iowa:

Soon we spot the Des Moines River...

...followed by Des Moines itself.

One of our own United L-10 Electras. Map shows that I did a near-perfect landing there:

Some sort of private Stinson was coming in at the same time and the Tower (or whatever they had in those days - the Barn?) told me to go around at the very last minute!

Literally when I was just meeting my own shadow on the runway. It was far too late to abort, so I had to ignore him - and of course he wouldn't speak to me after that. Anyway, the Stinson landed perfectly safely and went and parked somewhere else. Oh well, gotta press on to Nebraska now.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Being rather busy this time of year in reality, left the flight for a few days and found icy conditions when I got back on Christmas Eve:

Willy was right! It was also already 15.30 on the 'day' of the crossing, and as it's 2 hours to North Platte Regional (KLBF) it'll be dark by the time we get there.

Managed to clear the slippery runway OK. Iowa is now coated in whiteness as far as the eye can see...

Towards the Nebraska stateline, however, that snow eases off.

Another large river, probably the Missouri which marks the border:

And there's Omaha:

So the weather improved as we travelled west, but of course dusk still fell...

I was glad to see that even though runways aren't lit, big airports in the 1930s do at least have a flashing light to mark their position. This must be Grand Island:

Let's hope North Platte has a light and I spot it in the dark!

 

[Jagdflieger]

Hope you make it to North Platte OK. Nebraska is a pretty flat place for IFR flying.

Be sure to stop at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado on your way to San Francisco. It's been modeled to perfection (in my memory anyway) for Cal Classics. It was the hub for Frontier Airlines back then and Western Airlines and United had lots of ramp space there too.

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Hi JF! Yes, will be back one day around 1960 and visit those beautiful Cal Classic airports. For now ('36) though, it's North Platte Nebraska to Rock Springs Wyoming - Colorado's further south and this route is due West.

Grand Island seems to have a strange arrangement of three unconnected runways:

A lovely light shines on our aircraft...

And there's a beautiful sunset.

Guess I'd better put our lights on.

Was it aviatrix Jean Batten who wrote West with the Night? You can kind of go 'west with the day' too, can't you?

I did manage to spot North Platte ahead:

AND landed OK in the dark with no help from anybody on the ground, almost exactly 2 hours flying.

A nice two-seater parked there. Is it a Ryan ST-2?

So now we've gotta fly into mountainous terrain in inky murkiness (or murky inkiness - same difference)...

Let's hope it doesn't get too interesting... (*boring* flights are the best.)

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

A surprising amount of daylight still available as we start up at 16.30 in North Platte:

But it soon got a lot darker...

Having to concentrate on flying - not even Mr Sperry's invention to help me here - so not many shots of the AI in the dark. Just caught this glimpse of that Wylie ghost:

A lot of people have been writing in asking about our stewardess, Betty Lou. As there aren't many screenies in this short, dark bit crossing the Nebraska/Wyoming border, I'll post a picture of her at the end.

Getting really dark behind us.

'We don't have any female stewards - stewardesses - in Europe, Miss Quimby,' I told her, 'What qualifications do you need to get the job in America?'

Still light ahead! 'Youse gotta be a noyse,' she told me...

'A noyse?'

'Yeah, y'know, noysing sick patients.'

'Oh, a nurse.'

'Yup, a noyse. and a gal's gotta be a voygin.'

'A-voyagin' across the skies?'

'Nope. A voygin. Like Mary Mother of Baby Jeezus.'

'Ah.'

We fly over all sorts of strange little places like Ogallala and Pine Bluffs.

'And you are then a, um, unmarried young lady, Miss Quimby?'

'Well, the guy whoze interviewed me sez that yup, I wuz when I come intah that interview; an' I got the job, so I guess that kinda answers your question, Cap.'

We land safely at Cheyenne and are sent to park by one of Mr Orson Welles's invading martians (or maybe one of Mr H.G. Wells's?)

'I guess that does answer my question, Miss Q.'

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

KYCS - KRKS

For Cheyenne to Rock Springs we'll need 14,000 feet minimum, as we're now into the Rockies.

It was pitch dark and I had to concentrate on the instruments. Did once spot another Mainliner up there though:

Looks like all his passengers are asleep with the curtains drawn. Not much below either, places & features with scary names like Bitter Creek and Point of Rocks (neither of which would be good to land in or on).

It was quite difficult to maintain heading too, perhaps being buffeted around more by thermals coming up off the (invisible) mountains below!

But despite meandering progress, made it OK and managed a reasonable landing in exactly the hour & a quarter predicted by the computer.

God bless that light! Getting quite good at spotting them up ahead now, but you can see what prewar aviators were up against - and this has been in clear weather conditions.

And at least there were lights on in the buildings, so somebody had waited around for us.

Progress has been good since we left New York, you can see how they could make it in 24 hours with a change of crew. It's now only about 20.15, but I think I'll wait till dawn to do the next bit, as we'll miss some spectacular scenery otherwise.