Bluie West-1 to Reykjavik
Boeing B-17 Superfortress
The old way ...
This flight is part of my reproduction of Operation Bolero, a U.S. initiative to ferry airplanes from the CONUS to England, for the WWII theater.
One of the north Atlantic routes was passing through Goose Bay, Canada, then went to Bluie West-1, Greeland, then to either Reykjavik or Keflavik, Iceland, to end in Prestwick.
The leg I flown today was from Bluie West-1, Greenland to Reykjavik, Iceland. Engine startup at 0750, takeoff at 0810. Weather was forecasted to be clear in Iceland.
The flight plan has been computed for a direct Great Circle track.
Here is the Google Earth/Maps export:
All along the flight, the Navigator Log has been kept up-to-date with all the flights parameters relevent to navigation. Next to some position, the method used is written: C for Celestial fix, DR for Dead Reckoning, NDB for Non-Directional Beacon bearing.
The flight started under a high cloud layer lying at approx. 10,000ft. A climb to 13,000ft, on oxygen, was required to get above it, which was necessary to obtain a first two-star celestial fix, which was made at 0858Z. At 0933, the plane was at 10,000ft, and another scattered cloud layer forced us to go as high as 16,000ft. Temperature up here was freezing, about -15 degC. Intercooler flaps were set fully hot to keep a warm enough carburetor air temperature. Around 1000Z, the sun had rose, and stars were becoming harder to see. A last two-star fix was established, showing a small drift to the south because of wind.
We had been cruising near maximum rated power, which is 2300 R.P.M. and 38 in.Hg manifold pressure, using auto-rich setting. This power setting is consuming 416 U.S. gal/hour/engine, and at 1027Z, we had only 195 U.S. gal. left in the tanks. We reduced power to maximum range, which is around 1900 R.P.M. for 29 in.Hg manifold pressure, in auto-lean, and we started transferring fuel from the "Tokyo" tanks to the main and feeder engine tanks.
After all the fuel from the Tokyo tanks had been transfered, we resumed our planned power setting at 1050Z, while starting to descend under the cloud layer, hoping to see the Iceland coast. While in the clouds, at 1058Z, the morse code of the "RK" Non-Directional Beacon started to be audible, and we got a bearing showing the airport right in our twelve o'clock.
After breaking out of the clouds, at 6,000ft, we saw the Iceland coast completely clear of any clouds. A nice visual approach enabled us to directly join the downwind leg of the RWY 31 pattern. A soft touchdown was achieved at 1135Z.
An ONC (Operational Navigation Chart, 1:1,000,000) chart has been used for pilotage navigation during the departure over Greenland. However, it was basically useless until reaching the coastline, which had recognizable shapes. All the land was just white snow, white snow, and more white snow, which made pilotage not accurate at all.
For the overwater part of the flight, a GNC-3 (Global Navigation Chart, 1:5,000,000) chart has been used to plot the course, and to compute distances and bearings/headings.
The red track is the planned route, the blue segments is the actually flown route, from the navigator's standpoint. The comparison with the recorded actual path is interesting to check the navigation's accuracy.
This flight was mostly done using celestial fixes for the first part of the overwater segment. A first fix has been obtained at 0858Z, using the Moon and Venus. A second fix, obtained at 0920Z, confirmed the first. It showed me quite off-course to the north.
After applying correction to the heading, a celestial shot made at 1000Z showed the plane on course. The shot was made using Jupiter and Venus.
As the sun began to rise, stars weren't usable anymore, while the Sun angle was too low to be useful. At 1016, a last fix was obtained using stars, then I had to fall back to dead reckoning. At 1045, a shoot of the Sun combined with dead reckoning confirmed my position on course.
The Reykjavik NDB morse code started to be audible, and a bearing showed it right on course. The rest of the flight was made using dead reckoning and NDB homing.
As forecasted, weather was clear over the Reykjavik airfield, enabling for a nice visual approach.
The flight path has been recorded and exported to Google Earth.
Some screenshots made from the (virtual) cockpit of this A2A B-17 Flying Fortress, the Yankee Lady.
After takeoff, still in the dark. The fluorescent gauges are really nice.
The sun rising. Flyint at 13,000 feet, just above the cloud layer.
The iceland coast
The Keflavik airfield on my right, easily recognizable with its perpendicular runways.
The lady approaching Reykjavik to land on RWY 31.
The KML files for Google Earth/Maps are available for download:
Thomas Lecomte