Around the World From NZ to NZ.

[towerguy]

Hi there
sorry I missed you in singapore, I watched the hampton depart while getting weather at the briefing office
could have caught up and had some virtual gin slings!
keep on truckin!

[kiwibarguy]

Mergui>Bangkok

Hi there, today we travel 275km North East heading up to busy Bangkok.

B-25J Mitchell MkIII

The last production model of the B-25, often called a cross between the B-25C and the B-25H. It had a transparent nose, but many of the delivered aircraft were modified to have a solid nose. Most of its 14–18 machine guns were forward-facing for strafing missions. 316 were delivered to the Royal Air Force as the Mitchell III. A total of 4,318 were made.

It became the most heavily armed aeroplane in the world, was used for high- and low-level bombing, strafing, photoreconnaissance, submarine patrol and even as a fighter, and was distinguished as the aircraft that completed the historic raid over Tokyo in 1942.

It required 8,500 original drawings and 195,000 engineering man-hours to produce the first one, but nearly 10,000 were produced from late 1939, when the contract was awarded to North American Aviation, through 1945.

Normal bomb capacity was 5,000 pounds. Some versions carried 75 mm cannon, machine guns and added firepower of 13 .50-caliber guns in the conventional bombardier's compartment. The B-25J had 12 .50-caliber guns.

This model can be found at Simviation in the vintage section. Well worth flying, great sounds, vc and paintjob.

I had read in the past that she was quite the goer, and with full tanks at 185kts cruising speed, i knew this leg would soon be over.

Plenty of 2-D views, giving you total B-25 submersion into what it was really like to fly. Virtual Cockpit is also outstanding!

On Saturday, 28 July 1945, at 0940 (while flying in thick fog), a USAAF B-25D crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, hitting between the 79th and 80th floor. Fourteen people were killed — 11 in the building, along with Colonel William Smith and the other two occupants of the bomber.

An interesting characteristic of the B-25 was its ability to extend range by using one-quarter wing flap settings.

The weather was great for this run, 3 knot winds, and no rain made for quite a pleasant northward cruise.

Slowly as i start to descend with the sun, the city starts to appear before us.

Bangkok

Known as Bangkok to you and me, but the true full name of the city is known as 'Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit'. It is in the Guinness book of records as the 'World's longest place name" for a non-english speaking country.

This is the outer suburbs. The Bangkok special administrative area covers 1,568.7 km2 (606 sq mi), making it the 68th largest province in Thailand. Much of the area is considered the city of Bangkok, therefore making it one of the largest cities in the world.

Just like Changi, Heathrow and all the other busy airports in the world, you've got about as much time to land as you would have to put your pants on if your house was on fire.

Thanks for joining me. See you soon as we start to head North West along the 'Railway of Death".

Bangkok Montage

Pretty nice ay!

[deeknow]

Wow, another great part of the world, and a cool aircraft to boot, woulda looked pretty out-there hauling into BKK airport
Enjoy your stay, dont drink too much rice whiskey down town. You doin any of these flights online?

[kiwibarguy]

towerguy-So good to see you pushing yourself to complete your trip! Your story is a strong part of nzff and it will be sad to see it finish. Maybe when you return you can go back around the other way! .......yeah right! I think on our last legs for home, we should have an online welcoming filled with other members flying to support us for the last 100km.

Deeknow- If you would like to go for a fly online, just give us a bell. i know there are quite a few members here who would love to go for one. I think it's always nice to have a theme, like Ian's Bleriot flight over the cook strait as an example. Lets see what is coming up on the ol' history calendar for New Zealand.

Thanks for checking our my blog!

[Ian Warren]

Paul , I d be happy to host a Multi play on your final return leg home . Think all be up and running well , course have a very stable line ... have to be a Fri/Sat/Sun days

[Michael]

[Bagnew]

This is wonderful! I'm loving the little snippets of info you've posted, and the wonderful range of aircraft. Keep going; I'm looking forward to more!

[kiwibarguy]

Bangkok>Yangon

Hello all! Well we are off again on one of my longer legs of the journey. Today we head north west back into Myanmar to the old capital of Yangon.

Burma railway (Death railway)

We will be following the track to the western coast.About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war worked on the railway. Of these, around 90,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project. The dead POWs included 6,318 British personnel, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch, about 356 Americans and a smaller number of Canadians.

Bristol Beaufighter

The Bristol Beaufighter was one of the most significant British aircraft of the middle years of the Second World War. Initially developed as a potential fighter aircraft in 1938, it was the most effective British night fighter until the appearance of the Mosquito, and went on to have a second career with Coastal Command, operating as both a long range escort fighter and anti-shipping weapon.

Lovely weather as we taxi out, should be a clear trip with only a little cloud.

I am looking forward to getting back out in the country again. It will be good to get away from all that air traffic.

A small number of Beaufighters began to reach the night fighter squadrons in September 1940, although it would take some months for these first squadrons to entirely replace their Blenheim IFs.

The Beaufighter earned its most enduring nickname in the Far East. There it became know to the Japanese as the “Whispering Deathâ€￾. The Bristol Hercules engines were amongst the quietest in use at the period, especially when compared to the loud roar made by the Rolls Royce Merlin, and the Beaufighter could use its low level speed to make sudden surprise attacks against Japanese supply depots in the Burmese jungle, then disappear as quickly as it came.

In all eight Beaufighter squadrons served in the Far East, three as night fighter squadrons, initially defending India, and later flying intruder missions over Burma. Of the remaining five squadrons, two began with anti-shipping duties (Nos. 22 and 27), then joined the final three flying ground attack missions against the Japanese positions in Burma. Another three Australian squadrons (Nos. 30, 31 and 93) also used the Beaufighter against the Japanese.

In 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma from Thailand and seized it from British control. To maintain their forces in Burma, the Japanese had to bring supplies and troops to Burma by sea, through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea. This route was vulnerable to attack by Allied submarines, and a different means of transport was needed. The obvious alternative was a railway. The Japanese started the project in June 1942.

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/ca ... nts_1.html

These figures show the what price was paid for these rails.

They suffered malaria, dysentery, cholera, tropical ulcers, beri-beri, malnutrition from an inadequate diet, and brutal beatings from Japanese and Korean guards. Weakened by sickness and exhaustion, the men still had to work hard every day, at one time for 13 weeks without a break or 'yasume'.

Moving on from this sad piece of history we set our sights towards Yangon, and prepare for the sea crossing ahead.

The weather has been awesome today!

The first Beaufighter squadron to operate in the Far East was No. 27, which began ground attack missions over Burma in November 1942. The all-metal construction of the Beaufighter gave it an advantage over the Mosquito, which suffered a series of mysterious crashes in the Far East, blamed at the time on problems with the glue used in its wooden construction.

The population of Yangon previously known as Rangoon is 4,008,000.

Finally after a good 2 1/2 hour trip, we get our finals.

We have travelled far today, well over 500km.

Yangon at night, time for a beer! Special thanks go to Syncop8r who pointed out to me that this was of course a Beaufighter and not a Blenheim. DURRR

Thanks for reading! Will be off again soon this time.

[Michael]

Another

[Syncop8r]

I would also like to point out that it was also a Beaufighter which shot you down on TFK Sunday night

[kiwibarguy]

Hahaha! As Ben Stiller said to the monkey on Night at the museum "There's a storm coming buddy."

[kiwibarguy]

New flight leg coming soon...Yangon to hmmmmm.

[G-HEVN]

I've been to Hmmmm may times, right next to the Errrrrr river, up in the Oooooh mountains....

[kiwibarguy]

I've changed my plans. I wont be go to Hmmmmm, and instead will be going to Bagan.


Within 40 sqkm they have over 2000 pagodas!

[Ian Warren]

Could be a real 'PlICK' if ya had to bail out .. the one i did notice in that photo is the sky , i loved it during monsoon , its a site seeing in its self!

[kiwibarguy]

Now let's see, where did i put my pilot sunnies....

[Ian Warren]

Nah .. JETSTAR .. bloody A320s you would have got back!

[Naki]

Wow a whole years gone by ...what kept you in Burma???! The bars?

[ZK-MAT]

Awsome thread dredge - just spent a while looking back through these and looking forward to the next instalment! Better get it done before summer's here and your wife and kids insist you spend all your time at the beach surfing with them mate

[kiwibarguy]

You are right there Splatty, I'm looking forward to the summer ahead, hoping to be a good one as always.
I am ready to continue again after a years hiatus in Burma. At the moment I am preparing where to fly next as there are now alot more freeware sceneries, planes and airports to download.

Hi Naki, I think i overdid my fsx simming so i needed the break, I'm sure you know what i'm talking about with your own and all! But I had a look at it and got inspired to carry on.

Looking forward to learning more about planes, places, history and dealing with all the weather that mother nature wants to throw at me!