Melo965
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Welcome back. Keen eye, good job!
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Spitfire K5054 90th Anniversary Circumnavigation of the UK: PIREPS
- Thread starter Melo965
- Start date
bosspecops
Members +
Leg 03 (Part 1)
Having spent far too much time in trying to find an FSX Spitfire XII, and after NOT finding one I decided to repaint a clipped wing Mk XIV as if it was a Mk XII, eventually I got 41 Sqdn's EB-Z, MB854 to the ramp at Leuchars for Leg 03 y'day. Parked next to that Sea Fury again.
Having found a slot to take-off in the middle of that air show I found myself in, the Tower asked me to taxi around past the crowd for a photo-opportunity, of all things, but I wasn't likely to refuse seeing as they'd filled my tanks for me. Firstly I passed two very weird looking machines, all angular and pointy, not as stylish as a Spitfire at all.............
And then I paused by the crowd line as requested before heading to the threshold and getting airborne. It seems there's some people using flash for their cameras in broad daylight, would you believe?
I got airborne OK, and didn't follow the full list of waypoints as it seemed the RW Spitfire Tr9 had backtracked down to Edinburgh, and I was interested in catching the rest of you guys before you all landed back at Eastleigh and went off to Morocco to fly whirlybirds! I headed off north east right away at around 2000 ft and going as fast as I could, prop in fine pitch, mixture leaned out and throttle on the firewall! Thus setup the Mx XII was doing WELL over 300 kts, which was very pleasing indeed.
One of the beauties of flying over the JF Photo-real scenery that I have is that all the old and abandoned airfields are still clearly visible from this altitude, and this one's RAF Kinnell, just south of Montrose a way.
It's notable in the pic above how well the RAF camouflage scheme works over the UK countryside, it's pretty difficult picking out the Mk XII's shape above those varied fields.
Just a little way further north I passed o'head Montrose itself, a lovely seaside harbour town that's well worth a visit if you're in range. I hadn't time to do that, and pressed on towards Lossiemouth. Note Scotland's predeliction toward golf courses, they're all OVER the place!
Turning north and paralleling the coast line for a while, I was approaching the large port city of Aberdeen, but my next waypoint was actually the VOR aerial at Dyce Airport, a little inland. At one time Dyce held the record as the busiest helicopter field in the world, but that was during the North Sea oil boom here in Scotland. There's Dyce directly ahead.
I was going somewhat faster than the Tower there expected (just over 330 kts at this point...) and they were so surprised they took this shot of me passing o'head. D Day invasion stripes weren't too common in that area of course.......
Heading further and further north I passed over another derelict airfield, this one was a Fleet Air Arm field during WWII and as with all such FFA fields, it had it's own ship's name, this one being HMS Mergansar.
Only a little further north the coastline turns abruptly to the east into the Moray Firth itself, which eventually leads all the way to Inverness. Right on the corner is the town of Inveralochy, which also had its own RAF airfield back in the day. Nowadays it's a road transport depot, part of a housing estate, a kart racing track and farming of course.
After another 40 nms heading east I was in sight of Lossiemouth, a station I know VERY well indeed having spent many hours there with my youngest daughter while she was learning her trade as an Air Trafficer in the RAF. Having got the OK from the tower I was all set to do a low, fast pass along the main 23 runway even though I would have to land on the 10 strip due to the wind. The Spitfire's not as forgiving of crosswinds than the stations Typhoons & Poseidons of course. They need the much longer runway and the 10-28 one is only used for special flights like mine.
The scenery I have for the station, from UKMil, is very accurate, even having the red & white threshold caravans in which I've spent more than a few hours, arrowed in red below.
Part 2 follows.
Having spent far too much time in trying to find an FSX Spitfire XII, and after NOT finding one I decided to repaint a clipped wing Mk XIV as if it was a Mk XII, eventually I got 41 Sqdn's EB-Z, MB854 to the ramp at Leuchars for Leg 03 y'day. Parked next to that Sea Fury again.
Having found a slot to take-off in the middle of that air show I found myself in, the Tower asked me to taxi around past the crowd for a photo-opportunity, of all things, but I wasn't likely to refuse seeing as they'd filled my tanks for me. Firstly I passed two very weird looking machines, all angular and pointy, not as stylish as a Spitfire at all.............
And then I paused by the crowd line as requested before heading to the threshold and getting airborne. It seems there's some people using flash for their cameras in broad daylight, would you believe?
I got airborne OK, and didn't follow the full list of waypoints as it seemed the RW Spitfire Tr9 had backtracked down to Edinburgh, and I was interested in catching the rest of you guys before you all landed back at Eastleigh and went off to Morocco to fly whirlybirds! I headed off north east right away at around 2000 ft and going as fast as I could, prop in fine pitch, mixture leaned out and throttle on the firewall! Thus setup the Mx XII was doing WELL over 300 kts, which was very pleasing indeed.
One of the beauties of flying over the JF Photo-real scenery that I have is that all the old and abandoned airfields are still clearly visible from this altitude, and this one's RAF Kinnell, just south of Montrose a way.
It's notable in the pic above how well the RAF camouflage scheme works over the UK countryside, it's pretty difficult picking out the Mk XII's shape above those varied fields.
Just a little way further north I passed o'head Montrose itself, a lovely seaside harbour town that's well worth a visit if you're in range. I hadn't time to do that, and pressed on towards Lossiemouth. Note Scotland's predeliction toward golf courses, they're all OVER the place!
Turning north and paralleling the coast line for a while, I was approaching the large port city of Aberdeen, but my next waypoint was actually the VOR aerial at Dyce Airport, a little inland. At one time Dyce held the record as the busiest helicopter field in the world, but that was during the North Sea oil boom here in Scotland. There's Dyce directly ahead.
I was going somewhat faster than the Tower there expected (just over 330 kts at this point...) and they were so surprised they took this shot of me passing o'head. D Day invasion stripes weren't too common in that area of course.......
Heading further and further north I passed over another derelict airfield, this one was a Fleet Air Arm field during WWII and as with all such FFA fields, it had it's own ship's name, this one being HMS Mergansar.
Only a little further north the coastline turns abruptly to the east into the Moray Firth itself, which eventually leads all the way to Inverness. Right on the corner is the town of Inveralochy, which also had its own RAF airfield back in the day. Nowadays it's a road transport depot, part of a housing estate, a kart racing track and farming of course.
After another 40 nms heading east I was in sight of Lossiemouth, a station I know VERY well indeed having spent many hours there with my youngest daughter while she was learning her trade as an Air Trafficer in the RAF. Having got the OK from the tower I was all set to do a low, fast pass along the main 23 runway even though I would have to land on the 10 strip due to the wind. The Spitfire's not as forgiving of crosswinds than the stations Typhoons & Poseidons of course. They need the much longer runway and the 10-28 one is only used for special flights like mine.
The scenery I have for the station, from UKMil, is very accurate, even having the red & white threshold caravans in which I've spent more than a few hours, arrowed in red below.
Part 2 follows.
bosspecops
Members +
Leg 03 (Part 2)
Making a very low (50 ft.....) run across the field in front of the Tower was pretty darn effective at waking them all up for sure.
Making a long right hand turn over the west end of the field I lined up with the 10 runway, canopy open, wheels and flaps down and full rich mixture, with my prop in coarse pitch of course. This being Scotland, they didn't have just the odd tree on the runway centre line, they had a small FOREST there!
Touch down was just about OK, I've done a lot better, but my excuse is I'm not used to the opposite torque of a Griffon engined Spitfire. (that's my reason and I'm sticking to it, OK?) As Melo discovered, the taxiways at Lossie are long and twisty, but luckily I could remember them from my time there in the RW and soon I was parked on the Visiting Aircraft Parking just to the west of the Tower, and went to sign in at the Ops Office, a place I know very well indeed.
On my first visit there I spent some hours in that greenhouse in the pic above, being the 'Visual Confirmation Officer with a HUGE pair of binoculars for SATCO for the day, GREAT fun!
The UKMil scenery is a little vintage in that their aircraft at Lossie are all Tornado FGR4s, which were there when I was, so it all looked very familiar to me, but to my amazement one of them started up and taxied off to the far end of the 05-23 runway to take off! I didn't realise they were AI aircraft, complete with flight plans, and I watched them doing their thing for quite a while. The arrow shows the one I saw startup actually taking off, and it went off across the Firth, presumably to the Tain Range on the North side.
All in all it was a very good and quite exciting flight, the extra power of the Griffon engine suited the low level characteristics of the Mk XII a treat, and as a result I AVERAGED 350 kts for the whole flight! I burnt 69 gallons of fuel, which was hardly surprising really, which gave me a burn rate of only 3 galls/mile.
I'll keep the Mk XII for Leg 04 down to Prestwick I think ad I can do its 'low level thing' down the Caledonian Canal quite nicely.
Making a very low (50 ft.....) run across the field in front of the Tower was pretty darn effective at waking them all up for sure.
Making a long right hand turn over the west end of the field I lined up with the 10 runway, canopy open, wheels and flaps down and full rich mixture, with my prop in coarse pitch of course. This being Scotland, they didn't have just the odd tree on the runway centre line, they had a small FOREST there!
Touch down was just about OK, I've done a lot better, but my excuse is I'm not used to the opposite torque of a Griffon engined Spitfire. (that's my reason and I'm sticking to it, OK?)
As Melo discovered, the taxiways at Lossie are long and twisty, but luckily I could remember them from my time there in the RW and soon I was parked on the Visiting Aircraft Parking just to the west of the Tower, and went to sign in at the Ops Office, a place I know very well indeed.On my first visit there I spent some hours in that greenhouse in the pic above, being the 'Visual Confirmation Officer with a HUGE pair of binoculars for SATCO for the day, GREAT fun!
The UKMil scenery is a little vintage in that their aircraft at Lossie are all Tornado FGR4s, which were there when I was, so it all looked very familiar to me, but to my amazement one of them started up and taxied off to the far end of the 05-23 runway to take off! I didn't realise they were AI aircraft, complete with flight plans, and I watched them doing their thing for quite a while. The arrow shows the one I saw startup actually taking off, and it went off across the Firth, presumably to the Tain Range on the North side.
All in all it was a very good and quite exciting flight, the extra power of the Griffon engine suited the low level characteristics of the Mk XII a treat, and as a result I AVERAGED 350 kts for the whole flight! I burnt 69 gallons of fuel, which was hardly surprising really, which gave me a burn rate of only 3 galls/mile.
I'll keep the Mk XII for Leg 04 down to Prestwick I think ad I can do its 'low level thing' down the Caledonian Canal quite nicely.
Melo965
Members +
Spitfire K5054 TR9 Flight 7: MOD St. Athan AB (EGDX) to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG) Part 1
For this event I am flying in FSX. Using Active Sky 2016 for weather and Little Navmap for navigation.
Flying an Aeroplane Heaven Mid-War pack TR9 Spitfire. Repainted to match the livery of the K5054 TR9 Spitfire.
Ready to start the engine for this seventh flight of the UK tour. Wind direction indicates a takeoff on runway 08. Taxied down the grass beside the runway for takeoff on runway 08.
Lined up for takeoff on runway 08.
On the way to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG).
My routine adjustments. Set the throttle, mixture, and prop settings to conserve fuel. Throttle set to about 63%, then coarsened the prop pitch and moved the mixture back to get a RPM of 2500 with about 4 boost.
Cardiff is below.
A freighter waiting for its turn to enter Newport Docks.
Since it is nearby I could not resist heading further up the river toward Dean Forest Regional Airport (EGDF). Kit first built the airport for FS98 on the bank of the river Severn, and I have since helped him upgrade it for FS2004 and FSX. EGDF is near the town of Lydney where Kit lived for many years.
Approaching the Prince of Wales Bridge.
Squeezing through at 11 feet altitude.
Under the Severn Bridge at 40 feet altitude with plenty of room to spare.
This is the first time in a long time that I flew under both of the bridges from the South.
Continued in Part 2
For this event I am flying in FSX. Using Active Sky 2016 for weather and Little Navmap for navigation.
Flying an Aeroplane Heaven Mid-War pack TR9 Spitfire. Repainted to match the livery of the K5054 TR9 Spitfire.
Ready to start the engine for this seventh flight of the UK tour. Wind direction indicates a takeoff on runway 08. Taxied down the grass beside the runway for takeoff on runway 08.
Lined up for takeoff on runway 08.
On the way to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG).
My routine adjustments. Set the throttle, mixture, and prop settings to conserve fuel. Throttle set to about 63%, then coarsened the prop pitch and moved the mixture back to get a RPM of 2500 with about 4 boost.
Cardiff is below.
A freighter waiting for its turn to enter Newport Docks.
Since it is nearby I could not resist heading further up the river toward Dean Forest Regional Airport (EGDF). Kit first built the airport for FS98 on the bank of the river Severn, and I have since helped him upgrade it for FS2004 and FSX. EGDF is near the town of Lydney where Kit lived for many years.
Approaching the Prince of Wales Bridge.
Squeezing through at 11 feet altitude.
Under the Severn Bridge at 40 feet altitude with plenty of room to spare.
This is the first time in a long time that I flew under both of the bridges from the South.
Continued in Part 2
Melo965
Members +
Spitfire K5054 TR9 Flight 7: MOD St. Athan AB (EGDX) to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG) Part 2
The EGDF Tower asked me for a fast pass down the runway and of course I obliged.
200 Knots at 26 feet altitude. Much easier to get really low in familiar territory.
Tower view of my aircraft at 25 feet altitude.
Climbing out to swing around and get back on course.
Just passed Filton (EGTG) in the distance.
The town of High Littleton is below.
Turning to fly South West near Waypoint 5 and the town Wells.
Heading West near town of Bridgwater.
Over the town of Watchet. We are enjoying this flight along the UK coastline.
Flying along the coast near Bossington. Right after this we banked left and climbed up over the cliffs to stay on course.
Passing by Chivenor (EGDC).
Continued in Part 3
The EGDF Tower asked me for a fast pass down the runway and of course I obliged.
200 Knots at 26 feet altitude. Much easier to get really low in familiar territory.
Tower view of my aircraft at 25 feet altitude.
Climbing out to swing around and get back on course.
Just passed Filton (EGTG) in the distance.
The town of High Littleton is below.
Turning to fly South West near Waypoint 5 and the town Wells.
Heading West near town of Bridgwater.
Over the town of Watchet. We are enjoying this flight along the UK coastline.
Flying along the coast near Bossington. Right after this we banked left and climbed up over the cliffs to stay on course.
Passing by Chivenor (EGDC).
Continued in Part 3
Melo965
Members +
Spitfire K5054 TR9 Flight 7: MOD St. Athan AB (EGDX) to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG) Part 3
Enjoying some aerobatics.
Still raining steadily as it has been the whole flight so far.
Starting to get more foggy.
Down to 700 feet altitude trying to maintain ground contact and not get swallowed up in the clouds. No chance to do a flyby or fast pass down the runway at the destination airport this time.
Weather conditions are getting much worse. Close to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG) now though, so have mixture full rich and prop in fine pitch for landing with full flaps, gear down, and canopies open. Hoping I can find runway 31 in this murk.
Base leg for runway 31, still searching.
On Final for runway 31. Very grateful that they had the approach lights turned on!
Moments before touchdown. Landed safely. Closed the canopies as soon as we were safely down. Did not want to have to bail out the cockpits.
Parked at RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG).
Here is the Active Sky Weather picture after landing. Lucky that we were able to get down safely in these conditions.
We had 41% fuel left on board after engine shutdown.
The flight was 215 miles. The flight was completed in 1 hour and 10 minutes at an average speed of 160 knots.
I used 50.1 gallons of fuel on the flight. For this flight the Merlin engine used 42.9 gallons per hour.
Seven flights completed and only two more to go.
Enjoying some aerobatics.
Still raining steadily as it has been the whole flight so far.
Starting to get more foggy.
Down to 700 feet altitude trying to maintain ground contact and not get swallowed up in the clouds. No chance to do a flyby or fast pass down the runway at the destination airport this time.
Weather conditions are getting much worse. Close to RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG) now though, so have mixture full rich and prop in fine pitch for landing with full flaps, gear down, and canopies open. Hoping I can find runway 31 in this murk.
Base leg for runway 31, still searching.
On Final for runway 31. Very grateful that they had the approach lights turned on!
Moments before touchdown. Landed safely. Closed the canopies as soon as we were safely down. Did not want to have to bail out the cockpits.
Parked at RAF St Mawgan AB (EGDG).
Here is the Active Sky Weather picture after landing. Lucky that we were able to get down safely in these conditions.
We had 41% fuel left on board after engine shutdown.
The flight was 215 miles. The flight was completed in 1 hour and 10 minutes at an average speed of 160 knots.
I used 50.1 gallons of fuel on the flight. For this flight the Merlin engine used 42.9 gallons per hour.
Seven flights completed and only two more to go.
Melo965
Members +
Spitfire K5054 90th Anniversary Circumnavigation of the UK Announcement
For everyone already flying the route: Please plan to finish your flights in June.
For anyone else who wants to join in even at this late date: Anyone who starts flying during the Month of May (today or tomorrow) is very welcome to continue and complete the Nine flights during June.
For everyone already flying the route: Please plan to finish your flights in June.
For anyone else who wants to join in even at this late date: Anyone who starts flying during the Month of May (today or tomorrow) is very welcome to continue and complete the Nine flights during June.
bosspecops
Members +
Somehow I just KNEW you'd do a fly by at EGDF Melo, nice one.
And a Bridge Flight............. And that second pic is pretty much what I'd have seen from my bedroom window in my old house too! Bizarrely I'll be there tomorrow as well.
bosspecops
Members +
Leg 04 (Part1)
I carried on flying my pseudo Mk XII for Leg 04, I needed the speed to catch up with all the rest of you!
I left the Mk XII fuelled with its existing 194 gall. load as I was pretty sure I'd make Prestwick and taxied off to the active 05 runway. As I mentioned in my Leg 03 PIREP, the station's Tornados were busy, and there were two of them parked right alongside me waiting for a fuel truck.
As Melo mentioned, the taxiways at Lossie are long and complex, specially if you're headed for 05, and by the time I got there, weaving rhythmically to see ahead over the Mk XII's long nose, one of XV Sqdn's FGR4s had got there just before me. Now you'd have thought that a young upstart like him would have waited a tad and let an oldie like me go first, but no, off he went! You can see the red & white threshold caravan right there too, a place I've spent a few happy hours in, and once had to fire a red flare to scare off a incompetent Hawk pilot, which then set fire to the grass!
On that long runway I was airborne way before I passed the Tower and turned off on course, but not on course for Prestwick, I had a small excursion to make first.....
Heading directly across the Moray Firth toward my old stamping ground when I flew with the Albion Group of Airlines VA. from our massive base which was RAF Tain until 1951.
My first landmark was Tarbert Lighthouse, which just happened to be right on the extended centre line of Tain's 26 runway, and we used it as reporting point when on approach. This time last year Hazel and I actually went there for real, all very nostalgic, in a virtual sort of way, but real too.
Looking north on the approach I could see what the real world's RAF Tain is these days, an Armament Test Range used by many air forces based in the UK & Europe.
Keeping lined up on 26 the whole grandeur of the Albion base came into view, the main terminal to port, the heavy maintenance area over on the far right, and the red arrowed area is my own Special Operations Area, thus my email address etc. We didn't do things by halves in Albion, oh no!
Getting back onto the Tour route meant a slight turn to port to head for Inverness EGPE, which took me across the east end of the Cromarty Firth, a sea loch leading off the Moray Firth, and which is distinguished by having some oil rigs right there in the Firth itself! Some are still there too, we saw them last year.
Quickly crossing the Moray, and at 350 kits it IS quick too, I was soon turning over Inverness airport and heading for the city itself.
Inverness is where Hazel and stayed last year, and our hotel is located just to the left of my port wingtip in this pic as I turned down Loch Ness.
What can I say about Loch Ness that's not been said before? It's AWESOME, and very deep, the second deepest piece of water in the whole UK actually, 755 ft. It's also the second largest Loch there is, being 23 miles long, and I drove all round it last year, quite some piece of water even with out its monster! Hmm, what's that underneath me? I better invert and take a close look.............
Continued in part 2
I carried on flying my pseudo Mk XII for Leg 04, I needed the speed to catch up with all the rest of you!
I left the Mk XII fuelled with its existing 194 gall. load as I was pretty sure I'd make Prestwick and taxied off to the active 05 runway. As I mentioned in my Leg 03 PIREP, the station's Tornados were busy, and there were two of them parked right alongside me waiting for a fuel truck.
As Melo mentioned, the taxiways at Lossie are long and complex, specially if you're headed for 05, and by the time I got there, weaving rhythmically to see ahead over the Mk XII's long nose, one of XV Sqdn's FGR4s had got there just before me. Now you'd have thought that a young upstart like him would have waited a tad and let an oldie like me go first, but no, off he went! You can see the red & white threshold caravan right there too, a place I've spent a few happy hours in, and once had to fire a red flare to scare off a incompetent Hawk pilot, which then set fire to the grass!
On that long runway I was airborne way before I passed the Tower and turned off on course, but not on course for Prestwick, I had a small excursion to make first.....
Heading directly across the Moray Firth toward my old stamping ground when I flew with the Albion Group of Airlines VA. from our massive base which was RAF Tain until 1951.
My first landmark was Tarbert Lighthouse, which just happened to be right on the extended centre line of Tain's 26 runway, and we used it as reporting point when on approach. This time last year Hazel and I actually went there for real, all very nostalgic, in a virtual sort of way, but real too.
Looking north on the approach I could see what the real world's RAF Tain is these days, an Armament Test Range used by many air forces based in the UK & Europe.
Keeping lined up on 26 the whole grandeur of the Albion base came into view, the main terminal to port, the heavy maintenance area over on the far right, and the red arrowed area is my own Special Operations Area, thus my email address etc. We didn't do things by halves in Albion, oh no!
Getting back onto the Tour route meant a slight turn to port to head for Inverness EGPE, which took me across the east end of the Cromarty Firth, a sea loch leading off the Moray Firth, and which is distinguished by having some oil rigs right there in the Firth itself! Some are still there too, we saw them last year.
Quickly crossing the Moray, and at 350 kits it IS quick too, I was soon turning over Inverness airport and heading for the city itself.
Inverness is where Hazel and stayed last year, and our hotel is located just to the left of my port wingtip in this pic as I turned down Loch Ness.
What can I say about Loch Ness that's not been said before? It's AWESOME, and very deep, the second deepest piece of water in the whole UK actually, 755 ft. It's also the second largest Loch there is, being 23 miles long, and I drove all round it last year, quite some piece of water even with out its monster! Hmm, what's that underneath me? I better invert and take a close look.............
Continued in part 2
bosspecops
Members +
Leg o4 (Part 2)
At the south west end of Loch Ness the Tour route makes a sharp turn to port to cross over the Highlands en route to Glasgow and Prestwick, and the safety height for this leg was 4000 ft so I'd planned a climb from here on. That big Griffon made short work of it and I was able to climb at 275 kts quite easily. The scenery from here on is rugged, to say the least, and I'd NOT like to make a forced landing in these parts!
I crossed numerous Lochs heading south, and was able to identify a few of them, this one being Loch Laggan.
Approaching Glasgow and descending again SHOULD have brought me in sight of Loch Lomond, the largest Loch there is, but by now it had started raining and I was scudding in and out of the cloud layer.
I passed over Glasgow without a glimpse of Scotland's largest city, and also missed sight of its airport, EGPF, but its VOR aerial enabled me to turn onto track for Prestwick EGPK. Heading further west some more of Scotland's ever present golf courses hove into view, and I expect a keen golfer could navigate by them, there are so many!
As the active at Prestwick was 12 I had to head out to sea for a distance before starting my approach, and so went feet wet passing o'head Ardrossan.
Not having an ILS set aboard I had to use the PAPI lights on 12, =and they were pretty good. Not only that, there WASN'T a tree on the runway centre line for a change!
I didn't make too god a job of the landing though, I was on the centre line, and also on the numbers, but I bounced the Mk XII a couple of times. Not too impressive really, but they do say that thing about 'any landing you can walk away from....' etc.
Turning off the runway at it's far end, and it's LONG one too, I came across a situation that ATC hadn't warned me about! I came face to face with the LARGEST freighter ever, the Antonov An-225 Mrya! I'd heard the Russians had wrecked it at Kiev, but here it was parked up in Scotland!
Luckily I was low enough to creep under its port wing tip, and head for what passes for an FBO in these parts, where I shut down and checked my fuel figures etc. Don't count the prop blades, a Mk XII only has four................
The 210 nm flight had taken me 40 mins, an average speed of 307 kts, not too bad with that climb in the middle, and I'd burnt another 81 gals of fuel.
I think I'll use another Spitfire mark for the next leg or two, but I really enjoyed flying the Mk XII, right down there in the weeds where it was intended to fly.
At the south west end of Loch Ness the Tour route makes a sharp turn to port to cross over the Highlands en route to Glasgow and Prestwick, and the safety height for this leg was 4000 ft so I'd planned a climb from here on. That big Griffon made short work of it and I was able to climb at 275 kts quite easily. The scenery from here on is rugged, to say the least, and I'd NOT like to make a forced landing in these parts!
I crossed numerous Lochs heading south, and was able to identify a few of them, this one being Loch Laggan.
Approaching Glasgow and descending again SHOULD have brought me in sight of Loch Lomond, the largest Loch there is, but by now it had started raining and I was scudding in and out of the cloud layer.
I passed over Glasgow without a glimpse of Scotland's largest city, and also missed sight of its airport, EGPF, but its VOR aerial enabled me to turn onto track for Prestwick EGPK. Heading further west some more of Scotland's ever present golf courses hove into view, and I expect a keen golfer could navigate by them, there are so many!
As the active at Prestwick was 12 I had to head out to sea for a distance before starting my approach, and so went feet wet passing o'head Ardrossan.
Not having an ILS set aboard I had to use the PAPI lights on 12, =and they were pretty good. Not only that, there WASN'T a tree on the runway centre line for a change!
I didn't make too god a job of the landing though, I was on the centre line, and also on the numbers, but I bounced the Mk XII a couple of times. Not too impressive really, but they do say that thing about 'any landing you can walk away from....' etc.
Turning off the runway at it's far end, and it's LONG one too, I came across a situation that ATC hadn't warned me about! I came face to face with the LARGEST freighter ever, the Antonov An-225 Mrya! I'd heard the Russians had wrecked it at Kiev, but here it was parked up in Scotland!
Luckily I was low enough to creep under its port wing tip, and head for what passes for an FBO in these parts, where I shut down and checked my fuel figures etc. Don't count the prop blades, a Mk XII only has four................
The 210 nm flight had taken me 40 mins, an average speed of 307 kts, not too bad with that climb in the middle, and I'd burnt another 81 gals of fuel.
I think I'll use another Spitfire mark for the next leg or two, but I really enjoyed flying the Mk XII, right down there in the weeds where it was intended to fly.
lucb
SOH-CM-2026
Leg 6 EGOV -> St Athan AB (EGDX)
This morning the ceiling was just under 2,600 feet. At first glance, no problem for our Spitfire. All the more reason not to resist the urge to fly low and skim over the hills.
And why not do a loop around the Mach Loop? Before taking off, we’d discussed this possibility with the operations manager at Valley AB. “Why not? It’ll be a nice surprise for the spotters,” he told me. “But before you go in, ask Valley Traffic for clearance.” Which I did (as always).
Unfortunately, as I came out of the loop, a wall of clouds was waiting for me from 2,000 feet onwards, and the situation only got worse all the way to St Athen. Fortunately, I was able to land just within VFR conditions.
Leg 7 EGDX -> St Mawgan AB
After a pleasant lunch break and seeing the clouds part, I soon took off for my next destination. Before long, Cardiff lay spread out beneath me.
Some lovely bridges soon came into view, but given the poor visibility, I decided not to indulge in my favourite pastime. Sometimes I can be sensible... Or am I just getting on a bit?
Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse again, forcing me to fly under IFR at times.
At last, St Mawgan came into view on the horizon, but my landing request was refused as the airport was operating under IFR. I did try to negotiate, but to no avail – not even my veteran aircraft could help. I was therefore directed to Plymouth (EGHD). I landed safely in Plymouth to refuel and set off on the next leg. (Diversions are part of the charm of flying in real-world weather conditions).
However, the sky was completely overcast throughout the flight plan, so I decided to wait until the next day to take advantage of a more favourable window.
This morning the ceiling was just under 2,600 feet. At first glance, no problem for our Spitfire. All the more reason not to resist the urge to fly low and skim over the hills.
And why not do a loop around the Mach Loop? Before taking off, we’d discussed this possibility with the operations manager at Valley AB. “Why not? It’ll be a nice surprise for the spotters,” he told me. “But before you go in, ask Valley Traffic for clearance.” Which I did (as always).
Unfortunately, as I came out of the loop, a wall of clouds was waiting for me from 2,000 feet onwards, and the situation only got worse all the way to St Athen. Fortunately, I was able to land just within VFR conditions.
Leg 7 EGDX -> St Mawgan AB
After a pleasant lunch break and seeing the clouds part, I soon took off for my next destination. Before long, Cardiff lay spread out beneath me.
Some lovely bridges soon came into view, but given the poor visibility, I decided not to indulge in my favourite pastime. Sometimes I can be sensible... Or am I just getting on a bit?
Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse again, forcing me to fly under IFR at times.
At last, St Mawgan came into view on the horizon, but my landing request was refused as the airport was operating under IFR. I did try to negotiate, but to no avail – not even my veteran aircraft could help. I was therefore directed to Plymouth (EGHD). I landed safely in Plymouth to refuel and set off on the next leg. (Diversions are part of the charm of flying in real-world weather conditions).
However, the sky was completely overcast throughout the flight plan, so I decided to wait until the next day to take advantage of a more favourable window.
Melo965
Members +
Melo965
Members +
My approach to St Mawgan was in almost identical conditions. Being of Irish descent, I was able to talk them in to letting me land there just before they went to full IFR status.
bosspecops
Members +
Being of Irish descent, I was able to talk them in to letting me land there just before they went to full IFR status.
The 'gift of the gab' Melo? With you I could believe that for sure.
bosspecops
Members +
Leg 05 (Part 1)
This was a VERY screenie heavy leg, and it'll need to be in three parts. And I'm not sorry about that, it's such a familiar country to me of course, and the Just Flight VFR scenery package is so good, it's like flying it for real.
As luck would have it, I found a DVD of the RealAir Spitfire Mks. IX and XIV on a recent trip back to my old house, and Melo pointed me to a superb re-paint of the Mk IX into PL965, a PRXI which we think of as 'OUR Spitfire'. The repaint is pretty darn good, except the aircraft still retains its guns, and it doesn't have a Camera Control Unit on the panel, even though they've removed the gunsight from the standard Mk IX panel.
I make no apologies for editing out the guns from every one of the umpteen screenies I show further on!
Flying FSX and with Active Sky and FSTramp, here's PL965 on the FBO ramp at Prestwick ready to start the southbound legs of the Tour.
Take-off was pretty straightforward, apart from a very long taxi to get to the 20 runway. Pretty soon I was up to my 2000 ft cruise altitude, and with a boost setting of 8 ins. the maximum continuous boost allowed for a Merlin 61, I could cruise at around 245 kts. The almost due south track took me over the Galloway Forest Park, which reaches almost all the way to the Solway Firth, the southernmost waterway in this part of Scotland. That's Wigtown just below me, and by now it was raining fairly steadily, but I was well below the cloudbase, thank goodness.
Crossing the Solway, I went feet dry back into England just north of Whitehaven, and from then on traversed almost the entire length of the Lake District, a very scenic part of the country.
On this leg I flew over numerous lakes, this one being Bassenthwaite Lake.
At this point M$ threw me a wobbly by shutting FSX down and telling me I need to re-register the product! As I've been flying FSX since 2008 I had NO intention of doing any such thing, and had to go through the time consuming and laborious task of restarting and reloading the flight!
I'd climbed to a 2500 ft safety height for flying over the Lakes as some of the peaks there are a little above my usual 2000 ft, and that was only JUST high enough! I nearly scraped the tailwheel over this summit!
A little further south I came across Windermere, the longest and probably the most well known of the Lakes. Rather interestingly Short Bros. actually built Sunderland flying boats at a factory at the north end of the Lake to get away from the Luftwaffe raids in Kent. It's just above my cockpit in this pic.
At the south end of Windermere my track turned west toward the coast, and just before going feet wet I passed over one of the numerous wind farms in the area. I didn't realise they were covered in the scenery package, and I made sure I was WELL clear of those big prop blades!
A little further west I turned south along the coast line almost right above what used to be RAF Millom, now a motocross track and another wind farm.
Further south Walney Island airfield EGNL appeared, situated just off the coast at Barrow-in-Furness, the UK's primary submarine dockyard. I'm not sure they'd have let a camera toting aircraft fly right over here in the RW, but this is FSX world of course.
Here's Barrow itself and you can see the size of some of those massive sheds where they build the subs prior to floating them in the dock area.
Continued in Part 2.
This was a VERY screenie heavy leg, and it'll need to be in three parts. And I'm not sorry about that, it's such a familiar country to me of course, and the Just Flight VFR scenery package is so good, it's like flying it for real.
As luck would have it, I found a DVD of the RealAir Spitfire Mks. IX and XIV on a recent trip back to my old house, and Melo pointed me to a superb re-paint of the Mk IX into PL965, a PRXI which we think of as 'OUR Spitfire'.
The repaint is pretty darn good, except the aircraft still retains its guns, and it doesn't have a Camera Control Unit on the panel, even though they've removed the gunsight from the standard Mk IX panel.I make no apologies for editing out the guns from every one of the umpteen screenies I show further on!
Flying FSX and with Active Sky and FSTramp, here's PL965 on the FBO ramp at Prestwick ready to start the southbound legs of the Tour.
Take-off was pretty straightforward, apart from a very long taxi to get to the 20 runway. Pretty soon I was up to my 2000 ft cruise altitude, and with a boost setting of 8 ins. the maximum continuous boost allowed for a Merlin 61, I could cruise at around 245 kts. The almost due south track took me over the Galloway Forest Park, which reaches almost all the way to the Solway Firth, the southernmost waterway in this part of Scotland. That's Wigtown just below me, and by now it was raining fairly steadily, but I was well below the cloudbase, thank goodness.
Crossing the Solway, I went feet dry back into England just north of Whitehaven, and from then on traversed almost the entire length of the Lake District, a very scenic part of the country.
On this leg I flew over numerous lakes, this one being Bassenthwaite Lake.
At this point M$ threw me a wobbly by shutting FSX down and telling me I need to re-register the product!
As I've been flying FSX since 2008 I had NO intention of doing any such thing, and had to go through the time consuming and laborious task of restarting and reloading the flight!I'd climbed to a 2500 ft safety height for flying over the Lakes as some of the peaks there are a little above my usual 2000 ft, and that was only JUST high enough! I nearly scraped the tailwheel over this summit!
A little further south I came across Windermere, the longest and probably the most well known of the Lakes. Rather interestingly Short Bros. actually built Sunderland flying boats at a factory at the north end of the Lake to get away from the Luftwaffe raids in Kent. It's just above my cockpit in this pic.
At the south end of Windermere my track turned west toward the coast, and just before going feet wet I passed over one of the numerous wind farms in the area. I didn't realise they were covered in the scenery package, and I made sure I was WELL clear of those big prop blades!
A little further west I turned south along the coast line almost right above what used to be RAF Millom, now a motocross track and another wind farm.
Further south Walney Island airfield EGNL appeared, situated just off the coast at Barrow-in-Furness, the UK's primary submarine dockyard. I'm not sure they'd have let a camera toting aircraft fly right over here in the RW, but this is FSX world of course.
Here's Barrow itself and you can see the size of some of those massive sheds where they build the subs prior to floating them in the dock area.
Continued in Part 2.
bosspecops
Members +
Leg 05 (Part 2)
Just to prove I was flying a PRXI for this leg, here's an underside view showing the paired vertical cameras in the belly of the Spitfire.
Crossing into Lancashire, I passed right over Fleetwood, which is the northern terminus of the famous Blackpool tramway system, which loops around to head back south on the peninsular above my port wingtip here. I've ridden every inch of the system in my time, and it's very good too.
A little further south I passed just east of Blackpool itself of course, a town famous for many things, not the least it being one of the most popular seaside resorts in the whole of the UK. One of the other things is the Tower, opened in 1864 and still going strong! That's it arrowed below.
Just south of the town is Blackpool Squires Gate Airport EGNH, which used to be an RAF station, like most other airports in the UK, but is now civilian operated. It also had its own Vulcan bomber, XL391, at one time, but that was sadly scrapped in 2006.
I took a small 'excursion' to the east here in order to pass the BAe factory at Warton, EGNO, a place where I worked quite a bit in the 1990s and 2000s looking after the wing loading fatigue rig for the RAF's Tornadoes. That's the River Ribble I'm just about to cross here.
Flying down the Lancashire coast I came across another ex-RAF airfield that I also knew well, but not for aviation reasons. That was ex-RAF Woodvale, where I got totally soaked one weekend in 1964 watching the US Drag Racing Team doing their incredibly fast acceleration runs on the 1/4 miles strip set up there. Don Garlits just didn't manage his intended 200 mph run, but as he said 'It's kinda damp out there....'.
My next waypoint was the mouth of the River Mersey, seen here with Liverpool just a short way up river from the mouth.
Here's a pic of the cockpit of the PRXI, and very detailed and fully functional it is too, lacking only the Camera Control Unit to be dead right. Some would say that a PRXI should have a one piece curved windscreen and not the armoured glass one shown here, but PL965 really does have the armoured screen, and has had since late 1946 or so.
From here on I was flying over a THIRD country on this leg, now being over, or near Wales, and this is Rhyl, maybe the Welsh equivalent of Blackpool, but I expect the local residents would claim it's much more refined!
About 20 miles further west I came to the Menai Straights, the narrow stretch of water that separates the Island of Angelsey from the Welsh mainland, and here it gets VERY interesting............
There are two bridges across the Straights, the Suspension Bridge, built by Thomas Telford in 1826, which is only a road bridge, and a narrow one at that, and the Britannia Bridge, built in 1850 by Robert Stephenson, which used to be only a railway bridge, but nowadays carries both trains and road traffic, the latter on a deck over the railway track.
And I'M the reason it's like that! More on that later.
Here you can just see the two bridges, arrowed, as I drop down to 50 ft or so, for pretty obvious reasons of course.
Continued in part 3.
Just to prove I was flying a PRXI for this leg, here's an underside view showing the paired vertical cameras in the belly of the Spitfire.
Crossing into Lancashire, I passed right over Fleetwood, which is the northern terminus of the famous Blackpool tramway system, which loops around to head back south on the peninsular above my port wingtip here. I've ridden every inch of the system in my time, and it's very good too.
A little further south I passed just east of Blackpool itself of course, a town famous for many things, not the least it being one of the most popular seaside resorts in the whole of the UK. One of the other things is the Tower, opened in 1864 and still going strong! That's it arrowed below.
Just south of the town is Blackpool Squires Gate Airport EGNH, which used to be an RAF station, like most other airports in the UK, but is now civilian operated. It also had its own Vulcan bomber, XL391, at one time, but that was sadly scrapped in 2006.
I took a small 'excursion' to the east here in order to pass the BAe factory at Warton, EGNO, a place where I worked quite a bit in the 1990s and 2000s looking after the wing loading fatigue rig for the RAF's Tornadoes. That's the River Ribble I'm just about to cross here.
Flying down the Lancashire coast I came across another ex-RAF airfield that I also knew well, but not for aviation reasons. That was ex-RAF Woodvale, where I got totally soaked one weekend in 1964 watching the US Drag Racing Team doing their incredibly fast acceleration runs on the 1/4 miles strip set up there. Don Garlits just didn't manage his intended 200 mph run, but as he said 'It's kinda damp out there....'.
My next waypoint was the mouth of the River Mersey, seen here with Liverpool just a short way up river from the mouth.
Here's a pic of the cockpit of the PRXI, and very detailed and fully functional it is too, lacking only the Camera Control Unit to be dead right. Some would say that a PRXI should have a one piece curved windscreen and not the armoured glass one shown here, but PL965 really does have the armoured screen, and has had since late 1946 or so.
From here on I was flying over a THIRD country on this leg, now being over, or near Wales, and this is Rhyl, maybe the Welsh equivalent of Blackpool, but I expect the local residents would claim it's much more refined!
About 20 miles further west I came to the Menai Straights, the narrow stretch of water that separates the Island of Angelsey from the Welsh mainland, and here it gets VERY interesting............
There are two bridges across the Straights, the Suspension Bridge, built by Thomas Telford in 1826, which is only a road bridge, and a narrow one at that, and the Britannia Bridge, built in 1850 by Robert Stephenson, which used to be only a railway bridge, but nowadays carries both trains and road traffic, the latter on a deck over the railway track.
And I'M the reason it's like that!
More on that later.Here you can just see the two bridges, arrowed, as I drop down to 50 ft or so, for pretty obvious reasons of course.
Continued in part 3.
bosspecops
Members +
Leg 05 (Part 3) and the last part............
Passing under the Suspension Bridge wasn't too difficult, I just needed to keep below its 102 ft clearance hight, and make a sharp right turn on my exit as the Straights are anything but 'straight'!
The bridges are just under a mile apart, and that doesn't take too long at 240 kts, plus there are THREE bends in that short distance, so I was pulling full aileron in both directions, one after the other! Lining up on the Britannia was more difficult as although it has one foot more clearance under the deck, the modern curved support trusses mean that I had to fly right under the centre of the span. I knew it was easier under the west span as there was less of a turn needed on the other side, and that's what I did.
The reason I have history on the Britannia is when I was working for British Rail in the 70s, I'd been part of the team that tested the Bridge, but it caught fire the following Spring and we had to re-test it. Sadly it was very badly damaged and had to be re-built in its present form, and later had a road built above the rail tracks. It used to look like this before the fire. As luck would have it, I had to sign off the paperwork that said it was no longer safe, not that there was any doubt as it has sagged over a METRE in the centre!
But these days it's like this, much more open and to my mind, not so elegant.
Climbing back up to a more sane altitude I curved around the southern tip of Angelsey and headed for RAF Valley EGOV, and passing another ex-RAF field en route, RAF Llandwrog, now Caernarvon Airfield EGCK. Just on the horizon I could see Mt Snowdon, the UK's 2nd highest peak standing some 3560 ft high, arrowed in red.
The wind determined I needed to land on Valley's 19 runway, and that needed a long loop around to the north, but that didn't take long and soon I was flaps and gear down and lined up nicely.
I could have made a MUCH better job of the landing, but didn't really screw it up, I just wasn't on the numbers or the centreline, but I got down without a bounce for once, and was soon parked up and reporting to the Flights Ops there.
Amazingly my flight took me one minute less than my FST plan estimated, 1 hr and 4 mins, for the 236 nms, and I burnt 56 galls of AVGAS. Less than I'd have needed to get to Berlin and back for sure.....
It'll be a few days before I can fly Leg 06 as Hazel and I are off to my daughter's birthday party tomorrow, but I'll be back for sure.
Passing under the Suspension Bridge wasn't too difficult, I just needed to keep below its 102 ft clearance hight, and make a sharp right turn on my exit as the Straights are anything but 'straight'!
The bridges are just under a mile apart, and that doesn't take too long at 240 kts, plus there are THREE bends in that short distance, so I was pulling full aileron in both directions, one after the other! Lining up on the Britannia was more difficult as although it has one foot more clearance under the deck, the modern curved support trusses mean that I had to fly right under the centre of the span. I knew it was easier under the west span as there was less of a turn needed on the other side, and that's what I did.
The reason I have history on the Britannia is when I was working for British Rail in the 70s, I'd been part of the team that tested the Bridge, but it caught fire the following Spring and we had to re-test it. Sadly it was very badly damaged and had to be re-built in its present form, and later had a road built above the rail tracks. It used to look like this before the fire. As luck would have it, I had to sign off the paperwork that said it was no longer safe, not that there was any doubt as it has sagged over a METRE in the centre!
But these days it's like this, much more open and to my mind, not so elegant.
Climbing back up to a more sane altitude I curved around the southern tip of Angelsey and headed for RAF Valley EGOV, and passing another ex-RAF field en route, RAF Llandwrog, now Caernarvon Airfield EGCK. Just on the horizon I could see Mt Snowdon, the UK's 2nd highest peak standing some 3560 ft high, arrowed in red.
The wind determined I needed to land on Valley's 19 runway, and that needed a long loop around to the north, but that didn't take long and soon I was flaps and gear down and lined up nicely.
I could have made a MUCH better job of the landing, but didn't really screw it up, I just wasn't on the numbers or the centreline, but I got down without a bounce for once, and was soon parked up and reporting to the Flights Ops there.
Amazingly my flight took me one minute less than my FST plan estimated, 1 hr and 4 mins, for the 236 nms, and I burnt 56 galls of AVGAS. Less than I'd have needed to get to Berlin and back for sure.....
It'll be a few days before I can fly Leg 06 as Hazel and I are off to my daughter's birthday party tomorrow, but I'll be back for sure.
At least you got to see Blackpool Tower, there was nothing but a generic town in P3D when I flew past there!
bosspecops
Members +
At least you got to see Blackpool Tower, there was nothing but a generic town in P3D when I flew past there!
Yes, some scenery designers just don't seem to get the importance of landmarks that aren't in their own country. They should have some local input to get it to look 'right'.