In 1946 a Lockheed P2V-1 flew from Perth in Australia to Ohio in the United States. The aircraft was nicknamed "The Turtle". The purposes of the flight was to test crew endurance and long-range navigation. But the flight also had publicity purposes, to display the capabilities of the Navy's latest patrol bomber.
Loaded with fuel in extra tanks fitted in practically every spare space in the aircraft, the aircraft set out from Perth, Australia to the United States. Aboard was a crew of four, and a nine-month-old gray kangaroo.
The aircraft took off on 9 September 1946, with the help of a RATO, that is a rocket-assisted takeoff. Two and a half days (55h, 18m) later, "The Turtle" touched down in Columbus, Ohio, 11,236.6 mi or 18083,6 km from its starting point.
It was the longest un- refueled flight made to that point - 4,000 mi or 6400 km longer than the USAF's Boeing B-29 Superfortress record. This would stand as the absolute un- refueled distance record until 1962 (beaten by a USAF Boeing B-52 Stratofortress).
It remained as a piston-engined record until 1986 when Dick Rutan's Voyager would break it in the process of circumnavigating the globe.
"The Turtle" is preserved at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola.
Source: Wikipedia
Back to Main Page
No comments:
Post a Comment