petermcleland 48 Posted May 30, 2011 Report Share Posted May 30, 2011 In the old days when I was preparing for a long trip in a Hunter, the first step was to get all the maps that covered the route and stick them all together with glue, draw on the track from start point to destination and finally cut away all of it that was more than 50 miles each side of track. This made it into a strip map 100 miles wide and it was folded concertina fashion so that it could sit on my right thigh and be opened a section at a time as I proceded up the track. We had no nav aids in our Hunters so navigation was all by map reading. Now it is different and as I prepare to take Echo round the World I am substituting an EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) for the big pile of strip maps that I would need for the circumnavigation. Here are a few shots that I took today as I tested the EFB in Echo's cockpit:- When I call it up it sits on my right knee like this. I have just set a "Direct To" to McLeland Field. I have now Selected and Activated a GPS Approach onto runway 31 and we are in the descent from cruise. There is McLeland Field passing to the left...There is no Weather as I cleared it to start this flight which was performance measuring. Level now at 3000 feet and with speed reduced to try out the GPS approach, which can be seen on the moving map in White lines with the active leg in Magenta. The autopilot (we never had one in the real aircraft) is controlling the aircraft by maintaing 3000 feet at 200 knots while it flies the track. On the final part of the approach now with gear and flaps down and speed reducing to 170 knots. Put away the EFB now and dumped the Autopilot. Crossing the fence and the "Gate Guard" Spitfire. Rounding out for a not so smooth... ...touchdown. Thanks for watching this interesting trial...My flight planning for the trip is about half done and I now need to plan the legs from Nairobi back to McLeland Field Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted May 30, 2011 Report Share Posted May 30, 2011 Great shots! Link to post Share on other sites
SEATAC 400 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Very interesting. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Hi Peter, I really enjoyed the trial, super accompanying shots. Using those strip maps must have really honed your navigational skills, must come in handy, even today? Regards, Joe Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,013 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Super screenshots Peter, thanks for posting. I'm a GA fanatic really but I do love to see the fast jets flying over where we live. 20 odd miles southwest of EGPE. Looking forward to your future posts during your trip. :001_th_smiles89: Link to post Share on other sites
petermcleland 48 Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Thanks for the comments Gents Those strip maps looked like this...These are the ones we used for operation "Longtrek" in 1953...12 Venom FB1s from Wunstorf in Germany to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia and back again. The year was 1953. I'm the one with my arms folded :smile: Link to post Share on other sites
petermcleland 48 Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 I finished the Flightplanning today and will set off tomorrow. I will need to be a bit flexible as I'm going to use Real Weather updated every 15 mins, so I might have to divert to an alternate for bad weather, or in the case of some rather long legs, to get some fuel:- Hunter XE609 Echo RTW PAMA McLeland Field 1319 nms CYRB Resolute Bay 1535 nms BIKF Keflavik 1011 nms XSTD Stradishall 1143 nms LMML Luqa 918 nms LCNC Nicosia 875 nms OIIE Imam Khomaini 646 nms OMSJ Sharjah 956 nms OYAA Aden (Khormaksar) 977 nms HKJK Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta) 1055 nms FVHA Salisbury (Harari) 115 nms FVTL Thornhill AB 250 nms FLLI Livingstone (Vic Falls) 541 nms FWCL Chileka (Blantyre) 1380 nms FSIA Seychelles 1203 nms VRMM Male 1311 nms WITT Sultan Iscandarmuda 1484 nms VHHX Hong Kong (Kai Tak) 1342 nms RJOO Osaka 249 nms RJAA Tokyo (Narita) 1292 nms UHPP Yelzovo 1352 nms PACD Cold Bay 537 nms PANC Anchorage 330 nms PAMA McLeland Field Total Distance 21818 nms Total Fuel 112018 lbs Total Flight Time 47 hours 53 mins Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 This is going to be fun! Looking forward to your reports Peter. Link to post Share on other sites
Tim_A 997 Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Very interesting, and thanks for the photo too. What determined how many strips and how long they were? I can see judicious use of sellotape, so it's not simply what was on one map. Also, how did you handle course changes? or was that the cue for a new strip? Link to post Share on other sites
petermcleland 48 Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Very interesting, and thanks for the photo too. What determined how many strips and how long they were? I can see judicious use of sellotape, so it's not simply what was on one map. Also, how did you handle course changes? or was that the cue for a new strip? Tim, Basically, on jet fighters in those days you flew from A to B at 40,000 feet and were not concerned with Airways. So all sectors were normally one straight line. A sector in the Hunter with four drop tanks could be over 1000 nms so the straight line would probably cross quite a few maps...The maps were all joined up and then a piece of string was laid between two pins stuck through the map at Departure and Destination... Then a decent straight edge was laid against the string to draw the track...You would have to lay the rule several times as the track might be quite a few feet long. You would also mark lines 50 nms each side of track to cut along with scissors. The scrap would be binned and the strip would be concertina folded. Most people put 5 minute marks along the track and had a stopwatch to start when the brakes were released on the Take-Off roll. Then in flight you could check the watch to see which 5 minute mark you should be approaching and check the ground for landmarks that should be coming up. You can probably see from that photo that various other marks might be put on the track to indicate various things like fuel states and points of no return or closest diversions in case of trouble. BTW the photo shows 9 of the 11 strips maps that each of the 12 pilots had to make for Operation Longtrek...The 11 legs were:- Wunstorf to Istres (578 nms) Istres to Luqa (614 nms) Luqa to El Adem (522 nms) El Adem to Fayid (437 nms) Fayid to Wadi Halfa (508 nms) Wadi Halfa to Khartoum (382 nms) Khartoum to Juba (640 nms) Juba to Entebbe (290 nms) Entebbe to Tabora (305 nms) Tabora to Lusaka (668 nms) Lusaka to New Salisbury (210 nms) The Aircraft were DH Venom FB1s which at that time only had external tip tanks...The under wing drop tanks added later were not yet in service so our range was very restricted. The Hunter FGA9 strip maps could be much longer as we could do 1400 nms. Link to post Share on other sites
kremin 0 Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Hello Peter, Fascinating stuff as always and I'm looking forward to hearing about this latest trip. Great pictures of your FGA9 - I see you've now got a model with the outboard 100g(?) tanks. Can you, or anyone, steer me in the direction of this model please? I have your other mods for Echo but perhaps I'm not up to date. best regards Rick Canham South Australia EDIT: This matter now resolved by email. Thanks again, Peter, for enlightening me :001_th_smiles89: Link to post Share on other sites
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