The First to Australia or the Great Air Race 1919"After much delays caused by bad weather, Ross Smith and his crew took off with their Vickers Vimy from Hounslow, Middlesex, on 12th November 1919 towards Australia, with uncertain outcome and the worst flying conditions imaginable".. So far the beginning of their story.
EARC Flight #1 Farnborough to LyonNow, 100 years later, daredevil "pilots" try their luck too ... a little more comfortable!
Here is my story :
The airfield Hounslow does not exist anymore, we start in Farnborough,… (Jazzthom of course, is part of the party with a C-47)
… and I can imagine that the scenery looked like that back then.
This is my buddy, a Douglas C47B VH-AGU of the "Adastra Aerial Surveys".
And named after him as a reminder of the deceased Rob Finn.
It is his adventure!
In no better weather than then, pilots ventured into the air for their first leg to Lyon in France. Pretty much 410 nautical miles away. The Vickers Vimy must not be missing!
And even Jazzthom is in the air and dares the jump over the channel.
Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega 5b is there too .. and a Fokker F.VIIb-3m from Swissair .. (already gone)…
Well, and there I am. The C47 is refueled and everything important on board. Actually ready to start the engines!
In a water cloud, I taxi to the take off point against to the wind!
Check the engines, flight instruments etc. Everything is in the green zone!
Here we go! The 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90C Twin Wasp engines, each with 1200hp, roar up and a shiver goes through the hull!
A Take off-roll with a C47 is a game with the throttle levers, elevator and rudder!
The climb performance of the engines and propellers is set, and it starts to get comfortable in the cockpit.
Through cloud bands it goes up to 10'000ft, my cruising altitude.
Actually, I fly according to visual flight rules .. after all, I see little something from the ground!
I have reached my cruising altitude and through a cloud gap I can see the city of Shoreham-by-Sea. Channel crossing is announced!
A new game begins .. The calculated true airspeed compared to groundspeed. I suspect quite a tailwind up here ..
Cloudscape in all variations and colors…
.. and in between also sleet showers.
After a good 30-minute flight over water, the coast of France comes into view.
Everything is fine in my "office!"
The city "Dieppe" in front of me. Dieppe belongs to the Pays de Caux, lying along the Alabaster Coast in the region of Normandy. It takes its name from the white hue of its high chalk cliffs.
Near the town of Rouen. The river "Seine" glistens in the morning light. Rouen is the capital of the region of Normandy. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe.
And of course the city of Paris!
Lucky .. I can even see the "Palais de Chaillot" and the "Eiffel Tower".
Continue south-east across the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté towards the city of Auxerre.
Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, then called Autissiodorum, through which passed one of the main roads of the area, the Via Agrippa!
The Burgundy region...
.. famous for the battles of Julius Caesar (Bibracte and Alesia) ...
.. and of course the famous Burgundy wines. Here I am in the surroundings of the city "Autun".
The city of Macon with its history and world-famous wines (especially white wine) from the large production area Mâconnais.
Close to the city of Lyon and it's time to think about my further descent and approach.
The weather is definitely better, and for the moment it has stopped raining..
From 1907 there were first movements on a field between the highway to Genas in the south and a former eastbound secondary railway line from Lyon to Saint-Génix, on the parcel La Poudrette.
In May 1910, the "Lyon Flight Week" took place, attracting 100,000 spectators.
Well, this must have been a comfortable time for pilots .. back in 1919
Today, there is the big and busy airport "Saint Exupery" somewhere!
Probably at that time there were no runway numbers!
But I manage a passable approach to a landing strip leading north.. with hangars on the side!
All right here!
After almost three hours in the air: "good afternoon France."
Pretty wet here!
Jazzthom did it too. I'm curious what he has to tell!
In any case, his plane arouses interest!
The first stage is done .. Did you get a cold beer then?