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I have long had an interest in and an intent to start a thread to discuss and learn about epic flights made by pilots (aircrew) and aircraft during years around the war.
I am sure there are many epic and heroic efforts to transport men and material across vast distances of the globe, frequently made in an environment threatened by both enemy action and natural elements.
As two examples:
I thought there might be interest in this account of an epic flight made by the pilots of Patwing 10 (VP-101) during Operation Gridiron at the start of WW2. A resupply and rescue mission flown from Perth to Corregidor and back including a near-disastrous landing in Lake Lanau on Mindanao in the PI. They extracted something like 50 people in two PBYs.
AGOM\PBY-TP
There are two books written that describe Operation Gridiron in some detail:
Escape from Bataan: Memoir of a U.S. Navy Ensign in the Philippines, October 1941 to May 1942.
by Phillip Hoffman
and In the Hands of Fate by Dwight Messier
Also a you tube video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uscEbFYl_Vs
Another epic journey made over sea and land by USAAF fighter pilots at the start of the war is recounted by Bill Bartsch in Every Day a Nightmare, his account of the defense of Java by the FEAF's 17th pursuit squadron and others in February to March, 1942. The epic flight is by a squadron of P-40Es from their training base in south eastern Australia to Java.
In another thread, RCAFson appropriately mentioned a flight by Spitfires from Gibraltar to Malta and the epic distance flown by A6M's escorting IJN strike aircraft during attacks on Guadalcanal. I would add both to this list, not restricted by nation or aircraft type.
Just pre and during the war. (Truculent Turtle's epic flight doesn't qualify due to it occurring outside the time frame.)
The Rome-Tokyo raid (1942)
A good fly, for those times.
More, in english:
THE SECRET ITALIAN AIR RAID ROME-TOKYO – SUMMER 1942
A Ford Trimotor helped evacuate personel from Bataan, carrying 24 people at a time. The distance was 500 miles each way and it did this twice a day for several days, always evading Japanese aircraft.
The Trimotor was a civil 4-AT-E, s/n A45-2, pressed into service with the RAAF, and later destroyed on the ground by strafing A6M2 aircraft at 7-mile Drome near Port Moresby, the morning of 13 March 1942.
Also notable, was it's sister ship, s/n A45-1, used as an air ambulance to evacuate wounded from the Kokoda Trail. It was destroyed in a hard landing on 24 November 1942.
For a damaged aircraft, "Ye Olde Pub" flown by Charles Brown, coming home from Germany, while being escorted part of the way by Oberleutnant Franz Stigler.
If you haven't ready A Higher Call its a good book. Stigler ended the War flying jets with Steinhoff and Galland.
Very interesting.
Scusate, pero' il link e guastato/rotto/ammalato............non funziona bene..........fatemi sapereThe complete story with the newspapers of those times(in italian)
IL LUNGO VOLO (Roma - Tokio 1942), Schede tecniche aerei militari italiani e storia degli aviatori
That links to a gambling site?The complete story with the newspapers of those times(in italian)
IL LUNGO VOLO (Roma - Tokio 1942), Schede tecniche aerei militari italiani e storia degli aviatori
Yup...........That links to a gambling site?
what does this book got to do with the Roma Tokio discussion?Thanks GG, I'd read a bunch about the 'general aviation' light aircraft of the Bamboo fleet and their long distance aerial running of the Bataan blockade (performing many epic flights) but never heard about the Ford Trimotor's participation.
The "Bamboo Fleet" Shuttle Service to Corregidor | Defense Media Network
Also from the same period are the somewhat confused P-40E rebasing efforts flown between Bataan and the Del Monte plantation field on Mindanao that needlessly depleted the fleet of aerial defenders due to accidents. Each 500+ mile leg flight flown by the fully combat-loaded P-40E was an epic journey. I believe they were flown without external fuel tanks.
stay with the topic, pleaseThanks GG, I'd read a bunch about the 'general aviation' light aircraft of the Bamboo fleet and their long distance aerial running of the Bataan blockade (performing many epic flights) but never heard about the Ford Trimotor's participation.
The "Bamboo Fleet" Shuttle Service to Corregidor | Defense Media Network
Also from the same period are the somewhat confused P-40E rebasing efforts flown between Bataan and the Del Monte plantation field on Mindanao that needlessly depleted the fleet of aerial defenders due to accidents. Each 500+ mile leg flight flown by the fully combat-loaded P-40E was an epic journey. I believe they were flown without external fuel tanks.
You're answering a post from 2016! Please let the moderators make that determination!stay with the topic, please
The topic of this thread is: "Epic Flights of WW2 time frame: Late 1930's to August 1945"stay with the topic, please