Post by Tom Goodrick on Aug 27, 2008 18:51:24 GMT -5
Topic: Boeing Model 314 Clipper (Read 99 times)
Tom Goodrick
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Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« on: Jun 8th, 2008, 9:51pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a summary of the info on the Boeing 314. It deserves to be in place easily found instead of being buried inside a thread under an obscure topic.
From the sources given below, I have a bunch of spec's for it. everything makes sense except the total fuel which I got straight from Jane's FIGHTING AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR II. If you believe all the numbers, it cannot ever fly with full tanks.
First I'll list all the sources:
Bud Lane's summary of specs:
Boeing 314A Clipper Specifications
From Wikipedia 5/30/08
Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II[7]
General characteristics
• Crew: 11, including 2 cabin stewards
• Capacity:
o Daytime: 68 passengers
o Nighttime: 36 passengers
• Payload: 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) of mail and cargo
• Length: 106 ft 0 in (32.33 m)
• Wingspan: 152 ft 0 in (46.36 m)
• Height: 20 ft 4½ in (6.22 m)
• Wing area: ft² (m²)
• Empty weight: 48,400 lb (21,900 kg)
• Loaded weight: 84,000 lb (38,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 4× Wright R-2600-3 radial engines, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) each
Performance
• Maximum speed: 210 mph (180 knots, 340 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 188 mph (163 knots, 302 km/h) at 11,000 ft (3,400 m)
• Range: 3,685 mi (3,201 nm, 5,896 km) normal cruise
• Service ceiling 19,600 ft (5,980 m)
Specifications (GR-2600-C14)
General characteristics
• Type: 14-cylinder supercharged air-cooled two-row radial engine
• Bore: 6.125 in (155.6 mm)
• Stroke: 6.312 in (160.2 mm)
• Displacement: 2,603 in³ (42.7 L)
• Length: 62.06 in (1,576 mm)
• Diameter: 55 in (1,397 mm)
• Dry weight: 2,045 lb (930 kg)
Components
• Valvetrain: Two pushrod-actuated valves per cylinder with sodium-cooled exhaust valve
• Supercharger: Single-stage two-speed centrifugal type supercharger, impeller diameter 11 in (280 mm), blower ratio 7.06:1 at slow speed and 10.06:1 at high speed
• Fuel system: Stromberg PR48A downdraft carburetor with automatic mixture control
• Oil system: Dry sump with one pressure pump and two scavenge pumps
• Cooling system: Air-cooled
Performance
• Power output:
o 1,750 hp (1,305 kW) at 2,600 rpm at 3,200 ft (975 m) military power
o 1,450 hp (1,080 kW) at 2,600 rpm at 15,000 ft (4,575 m) military power
• Specific power: 0.67 hp/in³ (30.6 kW/L)
• Compression ratio: 6.9:1
• Power-to-weight ratio: 0.86 hp/lb (1.40 kW/kg)
3-View Drawings: (Thanks to Allen)
richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/boeing314_3v.jpg
Historical data:
www.aviation-history.com/boeing/314.html
JANE'S FIGHTING AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR II, CRESENT BOOKS, 1946/47, REPRINT 1994.
My summary of the specs needed for modelling in FS9:
Empty weight: 50268 lbs (includes 12 crew)
Max Gross: 82500 lbs
Max fuel 5408 US Gallons. (32448 lbs)
I have divided this into four tanks of equal size.
span 152 ft
length 106 ft.
Based on these lengths and the empty weight, the MOI's are:
roll: 900403 slug-ft sq
pitch: 449042 slug ft sq
yaw: 918186 slug ft sq
wing area is 2867 sq ft
based on this area and the span, the mean chord is 18.86 ft. This goes in for "root chord".
My model stalls at 76 KIAS clean, 65 KIAS with full flaps and 70 KIAS with two notches of flap for takeoff.
I see 120% power on takeoff. (I have a power gauge for 1600 hp shown as 100%).
Problems living with this model:
1. When it loads in with 100% fuel, you have to cut that to 75% if you are carrying the "standrad" 8000 lbs payload. (Might want to just set 1014 gallons in each tank.) The range is just under 2900 nm anyway and few of us will ever fly that at 170 KTAS.
2. FS9 keeps setting the view distance for the spot plane at 60 feet where the plane is badly distorted. It looks good at 150 feet but try getting it to load with that value! Set 150 and then zoom in a bit if you want a close-up.
« Last Edit: Jun 8th, 2008, 10:04pm by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.98
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #1 on: Jun 9th, 2008, 9:36am » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Working with the B314 can be difficult because most of the time we "start" an aircraft on land where we left the last aircraft we flew. You have to make some seaplane starting places and save them as "Flights." I have found a few protected harbors in which to park the plane. I also use a Hughs 500D helicopter with floats to fly from an airport to a suitable place on the water for the B314. That aircraft is also very helpful in scouting passages from the ocean or a large landing area into a protected harbour, detouring around the bridges. Most bridges in FS do not have clearance for the B314.
216.180.4.151
BudsBud
Member
Return To Pearl
Posts: 131
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #2 on: Jun 24th, 2008, 3:55pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sorry that I have been away so long. I know how much you all must have missed me :>)
I have been editing audio/video and burning CD’s for the family. I think I’m finished with all that and now I can get back to my real work, the flight sim.
The B314A is now flying real well. Now that everyone has so graciously shared all their knowledge with me. Still have a few things to do to her yet. I want Toms throttle set to pop up on the pilot’s panel from an icon. Need that primarily for water maneuvering. I play the FE panel for all other engine work. Have a FE switch called “Cabin Lghts” on the FE panel that does not work and I want to run that little problem down.
Made a test hop from Port Washington NY, 7N3 to Bermuda and return. Smooth as silk.
Have been doing all my tests from Kissimmee, FL FA17. Soon I hope to begin the round-the-world trip.
24.110.4.48
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #3 on: Jun 24th, 2008, 9:07pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sent you a large email that includes a pop-up control pad for throttle, prop and mixture that you can put anywhere or make dissappear. It is included with my new four-engine sound folder for the B314. See what you think of that sound. The total package is about 2900 KB. I sent it and then went in another room and played my horns for half an hour while it was delivered.
the control pad was real easy to make. It uses the generic.controls.4.gau file that comes with FS. It just needs a small rectabgular background.bmp and a few lines in the panel.cfg. Info on that is included.
I have my own panel for the B314, as you know, but, it is very anachronistic. It has a large Garmin in the middle and a bunch of digital engine instruments that tell exactly how each engine is doing. It also has fuel info that tells you how much flight time relains. These are all handy on long trans ocean flights. (I know the guys who flew it in the 1940's did not have such info handed to them. They had to calculate where they were and how much flight time remained.)
216.180.4.92
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #4 on: Jun 29th, 2008, 11:31am » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, I'll try to move this discussion from "Tweaking Old Birds" to the more apt title of the Boeing Model 314 Clipper. I think all significant bugs are worked out. The aircraft.cfg file dated 6/29/08 9:12AM has all the most important changes. The aircraft floats in the water rather than ON it, the engines start all right in most cases, the aircraft can be coaxed into moving on the water, takes off, flies well, lands with care, and is generally useful carrying 36 passengers and enough fuel for long-distance flight. If you zero-out the passenger payload, then you can fill all the tanks and the crew can fly the plane to a new position.
But, the plane does have its quirks as any complex, first-of-a-kind aircraft should have. Make sure you know the weight. It should be about 82,000 lbs. Often, if you have dropped the boat into a new position, all tanks will be filled and the weight will be 89,000 lbs. Then you must zero the center tank. Water handling is tricky. When you first get the engines started, you are usually facing a shore. You must turn away by using the engine closest to the shore to just rotate the aircraft. Then you must start the taxi motion. Full power won't get you going right away. Some patience is needed and a little rudder and stick work are useful. Once moving, thry to hold 40 KIAS to keep moving well. Move out of the harbor to an area suitable for takeoff. If you run aground some innovative thought is helpful. I change to an amphibious helicopter, rotate the aircraft and move out onto the water before changing back to the B314.
Takeoff works best with some flap and about 9 degrees nos-up trim. It gets light at 80 KIAS and is off by 100 KIAS. Keep the climb rate low until you get 120 KIAS. Raise the flaps above 400 ft.
Landing presents a slight problem. If you land with the nose too low, you will swamp a critical part that kills the engines and prevents starting! Use full flaps, get slow (about 90 KIAS) just above the water and then reduce power slightly to descend slowly to the water keeping the nose fairly high. I did this poorly once and had no recourse except to get my trusty amphib copter back, set the aircraft erect in the water, get back into the b314 and start the engines.
216.180.4.164
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #5 on: Jun 29th, 2008, 9:26pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I flew the B314 from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to Wake Island. It took 12 hours and 10 minutes. That time is to the moment I landed and dipped the nose a little and killed the engines. I need to fix that.
The cruise was made on autopilot using GPS to follow automatically the Great Circle route. It was also made at 2X real time with no problems. I flew at 4,000 ft. The weather was "Clear Skies" meaning no wind. My panel gave me a contiuous readout of flight time remaining which I compared to the GPS estimate of flight time remaining. That gave peace of mind for the trip after the initial climb. At engine start I had 7200 lbs of payload (36 passengers) and full fuel in all wing tanks - no fuel in the center tank. Gross weight was 82600 lbs.
Just before landing I noticed the gross weight was down to 62,866 lbs with enough fuel (898 lbs) for 3.42 hours at cruise speed (160 knots).
I treid hard to get the landing just right. I touched down smoothly just outside the opening in the coral reef surrounding the lagoon that forms a harbor. I suspect raising the nose scrape point another foot or two will solve the problem of losing power on landing. I will also adjust the attitude so it cruises and lands just a bit more nose up.
I have a nice hand sketched route map for around-the-world flights that I have used for many years with FS. Unfortunately, it is a little tricky to read in places where alternate routes criss-cross and miles are written for overall and partial legs. I have screwed up a couple times recently stating some distances.
Here are the distances from San Francisco to Guam.
SFO-Honolulu 2084 nm
Honolulu-Wake Island 1995 nm
Wake Island-Guam 1305
Then there are several options:
Guam-Tokyo 1352 nm
Guam-Hong Kong 1823 nm
Guam-Manila 1387 nm
______Manilla- Hong Kong 608 nm
At present, it looks like a practical max range (with the possibility of light head weands) is only about 2100 nm. That's enough to get you to Hawaii. I don't see a simple way to Australia but Johnston Island to Pago Pago might be possible which would open a way to New Zealand direct or to Fiji and then Australia. Europe is easy using Gander and Iceland though I'd pick summer time to avoid ice in the bays.
216.180.4.252
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #6 on: Jul 22nd, 2008, 7:18pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I took the B314 for a spin around a bay in Houston where I have been mooring it. I checked it for landing which I had not done since "fixing" the scrape points over a month ago. (I used quotes because, with this old bird, I have had to "fix" many things many times.) That worked fine. I had gotten Real Weather because of Hurriane Dolly in the Gulf. I began thinking this would be a good day to move the B314 to a safe area for hurricane season.
So I decided to fly the B314 to San Diego. I filed a flight plan from a nearby airport (37TE) to KSAN, checked the gas and took off. We had nearly a full tank. I'd only used a little gas in the test hop this morning. We had moderate wind and low broken clouds near Houston. I climbed to 5000 ft to pass over Houston. Takeoff was at about 10:50 am CDT or 15:50Z. During cruise at 5000 ft I saw 175 knots with some help from an easterly breeze. For the trip the wind was mostly light and from the south so it had little effect on the westerly trip.
I filed a great circle route with slight modifications. I chose KELP and a small field north of El Central CA as waypoints to keep us out of Mexico.
I flew most of the route at 2X time. Several miles before getting to El Paso, the ground had risen enough and there were significant bumps around so I climbed to 10,000 ft. By 19:15Z we were over El Paso. By 20:30 we were over Tuscon. By 21:40Z we were over Yuma. By 22:38Z we were moored on the water in southern San Diego Bay. It was 15:40 local time. There was some low clouds and fog near the bay but the visibility was okay. I landed and stayed clear of a bunch of sailboats. I had 2217 gallons of fuel left after this 1156 nm trip.
I have to admit it is a unique experience flying over a bunch of mountains and desert with a plane that can only land on a big piece of water!
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« on: Jun 8th, 2008, 9:51pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a summary of the info on the Boeing 314. It deserves to be in place easily found instead of being buried inside a thread under an obscure topic.
From the sources given below, I have a bunch of spec's for it. everything makes sense except the total fuel which I got straight from Jane's FIGHTING AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR II. If you believe all the numbers, it cannot ever fly with full tanks.
First I'll list all the sources:
Bud Lane's summary of specs:
Boeing 314A Clipper Specifications
From Wikipedia 5/30/08
Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II[7]
General characteristics
• Crew: 11, including 2 cabin stewards
• Capacity:
o Daytime: 68 passengers
o Nighttime: 36 passengers
• Payload: 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) of mail and cargo
• Length: 106 ft 0 in (32.33 m)
• Wingspan: 152 ft 0 in (46.36 m)
• Height: 20 ft 4½ in (6.22 m)
• Wing area: ft² (m²)
• Empty weight: 48,400 lb (21,900 kg)
• Loaded weight: 84,000 lb (38,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 4× Wright R-2600-3 radial engines, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) each
Performance
• Maximum speed: 210 mph (180 knots, 340 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 188 mph (163 knots, 302 km/h) at 11,000 ft (3,400 m)
• Range: 3,685 mi (3,201 nm, 5,896 km) normal cruise
• Service ceiling 19,600 ft (5,980 m)
Specifications (GR-2600-C14)
General characteristics
• Type: 14-cylinder supercharged air-cooled two-row radial engine
• Bore: 6.125 in (155.6 mm)
• Stroke: 6.312 in (160.2 mm)
• Displacement: 2,603 in³ (42.7 L)
• Length: 62.06 in (1,576 mm)
• Diameter: 55 in (1,397 mm)
• Dry weight: 2,045 lb (930 kg)
Components
• Valvetrain: Two pushrod-actuated valves per cylinder with sodium-cooled exhaust valve
• Supercharger: Single-stage two-speed centrifugal type supercharger, impeller diameter 11 in (280 mm), blower ratio 7.06:1 at slow speed and 10.06:1 at high speed
• Fuel system: Stromberg PR48A downdraft carburetor with automatic mixture control
• Oil system: Dry sump with one pressure pump and two scavenge pumps
• Cooling system: Air-cooled
Performance
• Power output:
o 1,750 hp (1,305 kW) at 2,600 rpm at 3,200 ft (975 m) military power
o 1,450 hp (1,080 kW) at 2,600 rpm at 15,000 ft (4,575 m) military power
• Specific power: 0.67 hp/in³ (30.6 kW/L)
• Compression ratio: 6.9:1
• Power-to-weight ratio: 0.86 hp/lb (1.40 kW/kg)
3-View Drawings: (Thanks to Allen)
richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/boeing314_3v.jpg
Historical data:
www.aviation-history.com/boeing/314.html
JANE'S FIGHTING AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR II, CRESENT BOOKS, 1946/47, REPRINT 1994.
My summary of the specs needed for modelling in FS9:
Empty weight: 50268 lbs (includes 12 crew)
Max Gross: 82500 lbs
Max fuel 5408 US Gallons. (32448 lbs)
I have divided this into four tanks of equal size.
span 152 ft
length 106 ft.
Based on these lengths and the empty weight, the MOI's are:
roll: 900403 slug-ft sq
pitch: 449042 slug ft sq
yaw: 918186 slug ft sq
wing area is 2867 sq ft
based on this area and the span, the mean chord is 18.86 ft. This goes in for "root chord".
My model stalls at 76 KIAS clean, 65 KIAS with full flaps and 70 KIAS with two notches of flap for takeoff.
I see 120% power on takeoff. (I have a power gauge for 1600 hp shown as 100%).
Problems living with this model:
1. When it loads in with 100% fuel, you have to cut that to 75% if you are carrying the "standrad" 8000 lbs payload. (Might want to just set 1014 gallons in each tank.) The range is just under 2900 nm anyway and few of us will ever fly that at 170 KTAS.
2. FS9 keeps setting the view distance for the spot plane at 60 feet where the plane is badly distorted. It looks good at 150 feet but try getting it to load with that value! Set 150 and then zoom in a bit if you want a close-up.
« Last Edit: Jun 8th, 2008, 10:04pm by Tom Goodrick » 216.180.4.98
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #1 on: Jun 9th, 2008, 9:36am » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Working with the B314 can be difficult because most of the time we "start" an aircraft on land where we left the last aircraft we flew. You have to make some seaplane starting places and save them as "Flights." I have found a few protected harbors in which to park the plane. I also use a Hughs 500D helicopter with floats to fly from an airport to a suitable place on the water for the B314. That aircraft is also very helpful in scouting passages from the ocean or a large landing area into a protected harbour, detouring around the bridges. Most bridges in FS do not have clearance for the B314.
216.180.4.151
BudsBud
Member
Return To Pearl
Posts: 131
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #2 on: Jun 24th, 2008, 3:55pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sorry that I have been away so long. I know how much you all must have missed me :>)
I have been editing audio/video and burning CD’s for the family. I think I’m finished with all that and now I can get back to my real work, the flight sim.
The B314A is now flying real well. Now that everyone has so graciously shared all their knowledge with me. Still have a few things to do to her yet. I want Toms throttle set to pop up on the pilot’s panel from an icon. Need that primarily for water maneuvering. I play the FE panel for all other engine work. Have a FE switch called “Cabin Lghts” on the FE panel that does not work and I want to run that little problem down.
Made a test hop from Port Washington NY, 7N3 to Bermuda and return. Smooth as silk.
Have been doing all my tests from Kissimmee, FL FA17. Soon I hope to begin the round-the-world trip.
24.110.4.48
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #3 on: Jun 24th, 2008, 9:07pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sent you a large email that includes a pop-up control pad for throttle, prop and mixture that you can put anywhere or make dissappear. It is included with my new four-engine sound folder for the B314. See what you think of that sound. The total package is about 2900 KB. I sent it and then went in another room and played my horns for half an hour while it was delivered.
the control pad was real easy to make. It uses the generic.controls.4.gau file that comes with FS. It just needs a small rectabgular background.bmp and a few lines in the panel.cfg. Info on that is included.
I have my own panel for the B314, as you know, but, it is very anachronistic. It has a large Garmin in the middle and a bunch of digital engine instruments that tell exactly how each engine is doing. It also has fuel info that tells you how much flight time relains. These are all handy on long trans ocean flights. (I know the guys who flew it in the 1940's did not have such info handed to them. They had to calculate where they were and how much flight time remained.)
216.180.4.92
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #4 on: Jun 29th, 2008, 11:31am » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, I'll try to move this discussion from "Tweaking Old Birds" to the more apt title of the Boeing Model 314 Clipper. I think all significant bugs are worked out. The aircraft.cfg file dated 6/29/08 9:12AM has all the most important changes. The aircraft floats in the water rather than ON it, the engines start all right in most cases, the aircraft can be coaxed into moving on the water, takes off, flies well, lands with care, and is generally useful carrying 36 passengers and enough fuel for long-distance flight. If you zero-out the passenger payload, then you can fill all the tanks and the crew can fly the plane to a new position.
But, the plane does have its quirks as any complex, first-of-a-kind aircraft should have. Make sure you know the weight. It should be about 82,000 lbs. Often, if you have dropped the boat into a new position, all tanks will be filled and the weight will be 89,000 lbs. Then you must zero the center tank. Water handling is tricky. When you first get the engines started, you are usually facing a shore. You must turn away by using the engine closest to the shore to just rotate the aircraft. Then you must start the taxi motion. Full power won't get you going right away. Some patience is needed and a little rudder and stick work are useful. Once moving, thry to hold 40 KIAS to keep moving well. Move out of the harbor to an area suitable for takeoff. If you run aground some innovative thought is helpful. I change to an amphibious helicopter, rotate the aircraft and move out onto the water before changing back to the B314.
Takeoff works best with some flap and about 9 degrees nos-up trim. It gets light at 80 KIAS and is off by 100 KIAS. Keep the climb rate low until you get 120 KIAS. Raise the flaps above 400 ft.
Landing presents a slight problem. If you land with the nose too low, you will swamp a critical part that kills the engines and prevents starting! Use full flaps, get slow (about 90 KIAS) just above the water and then reduce power slightly to descend slowly to the water keeping the nose fairly high. I did this poorly once and had no recourse except to get my trusty amphib copter back, set the aircraft erect in the water, get back into the b314 and start the engines.
216.180.4.164
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #5 on: Jun 29th, 2008, 9:26pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I flew the B314 from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to Wake Island. It took 12 hours and 10 minutes. That time is to the moment I landed and dipped the nose a little and killed the engines. I need to fix that.
The cruise was made on autopilot using GPS to follow automatically the Great Circle route. It was also made at 2X real time with no problems. I flew at 4,000 ft. The weather was "Clear Skies" meaning no wind. My panel gave me a contiuous readout of flight time remaining which I compared to the GPS estimate of flight time remaining. That gave peace of mind for the trip after the initial climb. At engine start I had 7200 lbs of payload (36 passengers) and full fuel in all wing tanks - no fuel in the center tank. Gross weight was 82600 lbs.
Just before landing I noticed the gross weight was down to 62,866 lbs with enough fuel (898 lbs) for 3.42 hours at cruise speed (160 knots).
I treid hard to get the landing just right. I touched down smoothly just outside the opening in the coral reef surrounding the lagoon that forms a harbor. I suspect raising the nose scrape point another foot or two will solve the problem of losing power on landing. I will also adjust the attitude so it cruises and lands just a bit more nose up.
I have a nice hand sketched route map for around-the-world flights that I have used for many years with FS. Unfortunately, it is a little tricky to read in places where alternate routes criss-cross and miles are written for overall and partial legs. I have screwed up a couple times recently stating some distances.
Here are the distances from San Francisco to Guam.
SFO-Honolulu 2084 nm
Honolulu-Wake Island 1995 nm
Wake Island-Guam 1305
Then there are several options:
Guam-Tokyo 1352 nm
Guam-Hong Kong 1823 nm
Guam-Manila 1387 nm
______Manilla- Hong Kong 608 nm
At present, it looks like a practical max range (with the possibility of light head weands) is only about 2100 nm. That's enough to get you to Hawaii. I don't see a simple way to Australia but Johnston Island to Pago Pago might be possible which would open a way to New Zealand direct or to Fiji and then Australia. Europe is easy using Gander and Iceland though I'd pick summer time to avoid ice in the bays.
216.180.4.252
Tom Goodrick
Administrator
Simaholic
Posts: 3589
Re: Boeing Model 314 Clipper
« Reply #6 on: Jul 22nd, 2008, 7:18pm » Quote Modify Remove
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I took the B314 for a spin around a bay in Houston where I have been mooring it. I checked it for landing which I had not done since "fixing" the scrape points over a month ago. (I used quotes because, with this old bird, I have had to "fix" many things many times.) That worked fine. I had gotten Real Weather because of Hurriane Dolly in the Gulf. I began thinking this would be a good day to move the B314 to a safe area for hurricane season.
So I decided to fly the B314 to San Diego. I filed a flight plan from a nearby airport (37TE) to KSAN, checked the gas and took off. We had nearly a full tank. I'd only used a little gas in the test hop this morning. We had moderate wind and low broken clouds near Houston. I climbed to 5000 ft to pass over Houston. Takeoff was at about 10:50 am CDT or 15:50Z. During cruise at 5000 ft I saw 175 knots with some help from an easterly breeze. For the trip the wind was mostly light and from the south so it had little effect on the westerly trip.
I filed a great circle route with slight modifications. I chose KELP and a small field north of El Central CA as waypoints to keep us out of Mexico.
I flew most of the route at 2X time. Several miles before getting to El Paso, the ground had risen enough and there were significant bumps around so I climbed to 10,000 ft. By 19:15Z we were over El Paso. By 20:30 we were over Tuscon. By 21:40Z we were over Yuma. By 22:38Z we were moored on the water in southern San Diego Bay. It was 15:40 local time. There was some low clouds and fog near the bay but the visibility was okay. I landed and stayed clear of a bunch of sailboats. I had 2217 gallons of fuel left after this 1156 nm trip.
I have to admit it is a unique experience flying over a bunch of mountains and desert with a plane that can only land on a big piece of water!