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Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Wed Aug 28, 2019 4:28 pm

Firebird wrote:
Matt Gunsch wrote:looks like they are heading to either Prescott or Sedona for the night, I would lean more to Sedona, well they blew right past both of those stops, I guess they are pushing for Nellis


Looks like they did a little sight seeing circle over Sedona, en-route, probably for some nice backdrops to some air-to-air photos taken from the support a/c.

G-IRTY over Sedona AZ on the 26th. :spit

69651316_10157366817743480_4937788003150987264_n.jpg

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:28 pm

Sure looks like it’s going to land at Madras,Oregon, home to the Erickson Air Museum.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Mon Sep 02, 2019 3:55 am

pjpahs wrote:Sure looks like it’s going to land at Madras,Oregon, home to the Erickson Air Museum.

Currently at Santa Rosa, heading to Paine Field today.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:25 am

According to flight tracker it’s at Madras,Oregon now ,having flown from Santa Rosa.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:13 pm

At Fort Saint Johns now. looks to be following the route of the AlCan highway which the US Army route because of access to airbases along the way to Alaska, and beyond.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Sat Sep 07, 2019 6:12 pm

Stayed in Whitehorse,Yukon, overnight then flew to Fairbanks Ak. today, close to 500 miles. Pretty much following the Alaska highway. Don’t know if it’s staying overnight. What a trip! According to what I’ve read it has a ferry range of about 1000 miles, during WW2. When it flew to Paine Field to stay at John Sessions my nephew who works for Boeing and lives near Paine knew he heard a Merlin ,ran outdoors thinking he would see a Mustang and was pleasantly surprised to see the Spitfire.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:04 pm

Still in Fairbanks waiting for the weather to break, according to their Facebook.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Thu Sep 12, 2019 9:42 pm

Given the weather that has kept then in Fairbanks so far... & the 10 day forecast that shows deteriorating weather, it looks like they could be there quite a while..

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:16 pm

Weather cleared ,Fairbanks to Nome then Nome to Anadyr airport in Russia. 2 flights of about 500 miles each. WOW!

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:32 pm

Not a moment too soon. :)

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:33 pm

Put on close to 600 miles to get to Evensk, Russia today.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Mon Sep 16, 2019 9:32 pm

They came through California about ten days too soon.
Would have been really cool if they had stopped over at the Reno Air Races in the National Aviation Heritage Invitational area.
:spit

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Thu Sep 19, 2019 1:42 pm

Lon Moer wrote:They came through California about ten days too soon.
Would have been really cool if they had stopped over at the Reno Air Races in the National Aviation Heritage Invitational area.
:spit

I don't think they have any interest is letting the public anywhere near it. Only one person from outside the airport got to see it at MHV because she was friends with someone who works there, No one got to see it at Van Nuys & they parked it where it could only be viewed with binoculars at SMO after the first day. They also avoided both the main aviation museums in BC when they got up to Canada.

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Tue Oct 15, 2019 10:14 am

Waited out typhoon and did maintenance and finally landed at Kagoshima Airport in Southern Japan, next Taiwan

Re: Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight 2019 ...

Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:08 pm

Hey! I've been there. 2018.

The only thing that matters when you're doing a trip like that, in such a vulnerable aeroplane, is...

1) weather
2) serviceability
3) weather

Your complete focus is on preserving the aircraft, and getting it across the planet. You would never consider, even remotely, giving up a flying/travelling day to attend a PR event. If you can move it, you go.

I didn't cross Russia or any oceans, but I did complete a 5,000 Mile trip, crossing Mullen Pass twice. And returned the aircraft to the owner with the original paint and the original tyres.

It took everything I've ever learned in 26,000 hours of flying.

Dave
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