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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 2042.PDF
398 FLIGHT OCTOBER IOTH, 1946 < iZ. The heavily loaded Lockheed P2V takes off from Perth, Western Australia, with the assistance of rockets. It took a little over «s 4,600 yards to " unstick." The New Long-distance Record Lockheed P2V Naval Patrol Bomber Covers 11,236 Miles IN flying non-stop from Perth in Western Australia toColumbus, Ohio, U.S.A., Commander Thomas D.Da vies and his crew have established a new world's long-distance record for America and have brought great credit to themselves, the makers of the P2V and its two engines. The previous longest flight, from Guam to Washington, made last November by a Superfortress belonging to the American Army, was 7,929 miles. The new record of 11,236 miles raises the distance by,no less than 3,300 miles. The P2V, named the Truculent Turtle, took off from A crew of four flew the "Truculent Turtle" on its 55-hour flight They are (left to right) Cdr. T. D. Davies, Captain and pilot ; Cdr. E Parkin, co-pilot ; Cdr. W. S. Reid, second co-pilot and navigator ; andLt. Cdr. R. H. Tabeling, wireless operator—all of the U.S. Navy. Perth, Australia, at 11.10 a.m. B.S.T. on September 29th and, following a Great Circle route, flew across Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and most of the United States via Alice Springs, Bikini, Midway and Seattle, finally landing at Columbus, Ohio, at 12.28 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on October 1st after being airborne for 55 hours 18 minutes. -; Of the route and weather Commander- Davies said that it had been a fine trip, but that they had met head winds right across, the Pacific. Ocean, and some icing just short of Seattle, but after that there had been a few hundred miles to Ogden, Utah, with terrific tail winds, * He believed they could have continued on to Washington, but there would have been no reserve of fuel and the.guages were .proving inaccurate, so he had decided to play safe. The aircraft took off with the assistance of three J.A.T.O. units. Even so, it required a run of about 4,650 yft*4s^fiThe Iue^ l°ad is given as about 8,000 American gallons and an all-up weight on" take-off of 85,500 lb has been mentioned. This figure, however, seems improbable, even with rocket-assisted take- off, as the maximum weight of the. Lockheed^ P2V Patrol Bomber in its standard form witrj tankage for. 3,500 miles is about 60,000 lb. The crew of four, accompanied on the; flight by a baby kangaroo forthe Seattle Z00J- compares with the normal complement of seven, and noticeable modifications are the removal of nose armament and mid-upper turret. Wing-tip overload tanks were also fitted. Pleasing and conventional lines character- ize the well-proportioned mid-wing P2V.
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