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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1214.PDF
June 30th, 1949 FLIGHT 765 NORTH PACIFIC NAVIGATION —IN A UGHT AIRCRAFT : LESSONS OF A LONG-DISTANCE FLIGHT THERE are four main factors to beconsidered in any flight—aircraftperformance, meteorology, navigation technique and topography. As the first falls off, the three latter become increasingly important. The topographical factor is just as important on short flights as it is on long ones and is, I think, well appreciated by the average private flier who map-reads his way over the countryside. The study of navigation and meteorology, however, has been too often considered the province of the four-engined man. If long- distance private flying develops, as it is likely to do once petrol and currency restrictions are over, it will be the man with an understanding of the synoptic chart and the bubble sextant who will live the longest. Francis Chichester, in his remarkable flight from New By Michael Townsend, R.A.F.V.R. world in a Percival Proctor. Apart fromextra petrol tanks, only the normal equipment was to be carried. The route chosen covered, as nearly as possible, every type of flying weather in the world, from the perfect conditions of the Mediterranean in summer to the severe climate of the Aleutian Islands. The pilot had less flying experience than the average club flier and, as she financed the flight entirely herself, it was very much a private pilot's enterprise. The estimated cost of expenses en route, including fuel and oil, was ^500 and, in spite of delays in France and India, less than two- thirds of this sum had been used for two-thirds of the flight. The extra expenses in India were offset by the generosity of the United States -Air Force in the Pacific area. Proctor, " Thursday's Child," in which the flight was made. In the background an the mountains of the Alaskan Range. \ Zealand to Australia via the Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, proved that accurate navigation in a light aircraft was possible. Other famous flights, like Lindbergh's •Atlantic crossing and Pangborn's Japan-America flight, showed that small machines could survive the more severe flying conditions of higher latitudes. The importance of the navigational factor was reduced in these flights, how- ever, by the existence of a continent as landfall at either end. More recently, two American Piper Cub Super Cruisers made a complete flight round the world in formation. This was assisted by the carriage of an abnormal -amount of radio equipment for light aircraft 'and by a military escort over that part of the route which offered the principal navigational and meteor- ological problems. No single one of these flights really included to the full the dual tests of accurate navigation and of all-weather flying. An opportunity to make such a flight occurred in April, 1948, when I agreed to navigate Mis. Richarda Morrow-Tait round the JN presenting this record of a long-distanceocean crossing in a light aircraft," Flight'' is not concerned with the merits or demerits ofmaking such journeys. The author, who was navigator to Mrs. R. Morrow-Tait on her recentattempt to By round the world in a Proctor, had clearly made a close study of the factorsinvolved in trans-ocean flying, and this account of the Japan-Alaska crossing of the NorthPacific via the Aleutians Chain teaches some lessons which should be of value to all whohave to fly in areas where extremes of weather may be encountered. It also, incidentally,reveals an unusual display of endurance and courage by a comparatively inexperienced pilot.Mr. Townsend, who has been reading geogra- phy at Cambridge, last week graduated as B.A. The part of the route less familiar to most of us in Eng- land, and that which offers the greatest meteorological and navigational problems, is the North Pacific area. It is dominated by the Asiatic monsoon and the Aleutian depres- sions and the feasibility of crossing it in a light aircraft depends entirely on the vagaries of these two factors. In the summer the Aleutians are usually fog-bound and in the winter the Siberian anticyclone gives headwinds on the over-water section of the route (Hokkaido-Shemya). The fog can be defeated by G.C.A., leaving a summer flight as the obvious choice, unless the aircraft has a still-air range of something like 2,300 miles. The whole flight round the world was planned, therefore, to enable the Pacific crossing to be made in August or early September. The Alaskan section of the flight would be reached before temperatures fell appreciably, but it would mean flying through the height of the south-west monsoon in India when it was at its height. Navigational techniques were limited by the lack of specialized [Contimud on page 788, after chart of flight.]
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