Yukon Gold Rush

A few more photos. Flight 19 on Wrangell's tarmac, including SrG in the legendary Volpar, Moses in the classic Max Holste MH.1521, and Willy in the iconic Beech D18S. (We're missing John's Grumman Albatross.) Then a climbout over the sunny inlet into an ominous-looking overcast. As it turned out, low-flying meant a swirling mix of clouds and snowy landscape. So we ascended over the undercast where the bright sun above brought some winter cheer. A delightful conversation on matters Volpar made for a great flight. In the end our destination, Hank's Trading Post, turned out to be a splendid stop as he produced needed refreshments as well as a few spare parts.
 
This Hank fellow has a lot of stuff laying around. Spotted this Lockheed Electra. Sure looks interesting.

Wonder what he would take in a trade...
 
Maybe a bit to much of Hank's Happy Juice last night, but this should set the mood---


[YOUTUBE]/v/YGI-0lV3yME?[/YOUTUBE]


Gotta ride herd on a couple of young'uns tonight so I might get tied up. However, since you're venturing into one of the richest historical areas of Canada's north, here are a few tourist brochures Hank had lying around beside the Sears catalogue...

http://www.yukoninfo.com/whitehorse/info/whitehorsehistory.htm
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Whitehorse,_Yukon
http://www.wpyr.com/history/
http://explorenorth.com/library/aviation/cf-cpy.html
------------------------------------

'Till I came to the marge of Lake LaBarge,
And a derelict there lay.
It was jammed in the ice, and I saw in a trice
It was called the "Alice May".

I looked at it, and I thought a bit,
And I looked at my frozen chum,
Then, "Here", said I, with a sudden cry,
"Is my crematorium."
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw22.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cmmuQ8wYV0&feature=related

Sam's ashes may be seen here... http://www.pbase.com/mad_monte1/yukon_river&page=all

-------------------------------------------
"Take the oath again, Daylight," the same voice cried. "I sure will. I first come over Chilcoot in '83. I went out over the Pass in a fall blizzard, with a rag of a shirt and a cup of raw flour. I got my grub-stake in Juneau that winter, and in the spring I went over the Pass once more. And once more the famine drew me out. Next spring I went in again, and I swore then that I'd never come out till I made my stake. Well, I ain't made it, and here I am. And I ain't going out now. I get the mail and I come right back. I won't stop the night at Dyea. I'll hit up Chilcoot soon as I change the dogs and get the mail and grub. And so I swear once more, by the mill-tails of hell and the head of John the Baptist, I'll never hit for the Outside till I make my pile. And I tell you-all, here and now, it's got to be an almighty big pile."​
—Jack London, Burning Daylight (1910)http://www.ask.com/wiki/Chilkoot_Pass
 
Rather satisfying flight to Cousins (CFP8) just past Whitehorse, following the old White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railway line. (Pics are in reverse order).
 
One of the local rangers mentioned to me that there's a be on the lookout out for a red and white Twin Beech on floats in connection with a gold heist. Like I told him, mine is white and red (actually it's mostly bare metal with a white top). But to be on the safe side, I sold the floats to a couple of locals to use for canoes.

We headed out for Whitehorse on a round about way following the railroad from Skagway to Whitehorse. Nice flight with great looking scenery on the way.
 
Yes sir, I did notice the duck in your first picture. :wavey:

I still want to know whose Buffalo that is ... was it PAD's?
 

A fun filled flight from Hank's Place over to Cousins (CFP8), by way of several airfields along the way. The first shot is before take off at Hank's Place, as we're about to load up the Caribou with “relief supplies”. Next is during the climb out of Hank's, with a great shot of the other DeHavilland ship in the gaggle, MM's Twin Otter. The next one shows the final turn to approach one of the check point air ports along the flight. Finally, the approach to Cousins. You can see the Radio Range station in this shot, which is cool.

Milton, are you perhaps refering to the Caribou I'm flying? I don't think anyone is flying a Buffalo in this "mission". The one I'm flying is the Alphasim one.
 
Great shots and scenery guys. :)

Ah yes, Paul ... you did mention that. I had forgotten.

Damian and I are working on another cargo version for the outback of anywhere. Just need to replace some cargo textures for more "appropriate stuff" kinda like what you show there. :)
 
Add a few shots of flying above clouds and peaks, Skagway's deepwater port, the Yukon valley, and DD bringing the amphibious Gooney Bird down safely.
 
We left Cousins for Comack, but stopped at Lake LeBarge to look for the wreck of the Alice May. Heard it was a good place to get warm.

Pretty nice flight with some snow towards the end.
 
We had a pretty good flight from Dawson to Beaver Creek with the whole crew. My mesh is having issues in this part of the world and all the airports are set down in holes. Not sure what's up with that, but hoping it'll get better when we cross the border into Alaska.
 
We left Beaver Creek and headed west across the border into Alaska. I kept waiting on the interceptors from Elmendorf to show up but apparently we slipped past the radar. Then, it was over the mountains and into Sheep Mountain which is a small gravel runway.

Good flight and we've got a recipie for a new energy drink, "Tunguska Blast". 37% Alcohol, 20% Caffiene, gobs of sugar, 1% nickel iron with 2% depleted uranium added for that healthy glow. Coming soon to your grocer in lead lined cans courtesy of Merc Air.
 
As we passed over the Wrangell Volcanic Field, we encountered Mount Sanford (16,237). Quite a sight as it rises sharply over the neighboring terrain. The sheer South Face falls some 8,000 feet to the head of the Sanford Glacier below--resulting in one of the steepest gradients in North America. (Sadly, on March 12, 1948, Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 crashed into Mount Sanford. All 24 passengers and 6 crew members were killed. The wreckage was quickly covered by snow and was not found again until 1999.)
 
We cornered the market on some surplus P-40s and decided that we needed some practice in them so we flew them from PASP to PASW.

Pretty good flight and no one got hurt on landing. Not even the windsock....
 
It was a bit eerie passing by Mt. Sandford in the NWA Historic Flight L-10
View attachment 25732

After a bit of a break while the others rested I went on ahead to do some 'route-proving' and got a look at what's in store. Those guys sure did move mountains to build the DEW and BMEWS radar sites...

View attachment 25733View attachment 25734

Unfortunately that got me back a bit late for the P-40 gaggle and I had to find another surplus Warhawk in Palmer - just in time to load it and catch up.. camera got packed in the bottom of the duffle bag, so no pics
 
We left PASW for PASV which is an odd little place. The gravel runway has a mountain on one end so there's really only one way in and one way out. Nice flight and at times it looked like the Curtiss aircraft factory must be close.

Pics are scrambled up again...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top