Kuno Posted June 27, 2013 Posted June 27, 2013 (edited) After a long time of planning 12 May was set as the day for “Take Off” to North Africa. The Antonov An-2 was well maintained and prepared and the flight plans approved. But… at midday the decision had to be taken to cancel the flight for today: The weather did not allow us to cross the Alps. A new approach was taken on Monday and the clouds were just high enough to let us cross the pass of St. Gotthard. Down the Ticino valley, passing northern Italy and then to the Island of Corsica where we stayed for the night at the southern port of Bonifacio. The next day we flew over Sardinia and then had to cross the Mediterranean Sea. We landed at Tunis-Carthage International Airport where we received our precious AVGAS 100 from the Tunisian Army. The weather became bad for us again – strong southern winds prevented a normal flight to Tozeur which we finally reached in the evening.[ATTACH=CONFIG]78600[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]78601[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]78602[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]78603[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]78604[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]78605[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]78599[/ATTACH] Edited June 27, 2013 by Kuno Quote
Tony B Posted June 27, 2013 Posted June 27, 2013 Some people have alll the fun! :embarrassed: The Russian equivalent of the Islander was supposed to be, a flying Land Rover. Quote
Kuno Posted June 27, 2013 Author Posted June 27, 2013 ...a flying Land Rover. ...but somehow the Russians managed to get it reliable :-X Quote
GeePig Posted June 27, 2013 Posted June 27, 2013 Nice! Here in Lublin, Poland, I see the local Antonovs flying every sunny weekend from the local airstrip. Distinctive sound, and there are not that many biplanes around to mistake them for! trevor Quote
Gordon_M Posted June 27, 2013 Posted June 27, 2013 ...but somehow the Russians managed to get it reliable :-X That's cause Joe Lucas and his magic smoke had nothing to do with the electrics :angel: Quote
Tony B Posted June 27, 2013 Posted June 27, 2013 They do get about though. I've seen them in agricultural duties, air survey and parachute. Aparently, I think it was in Air America Vietnam, one was escorting a VC force, when it was intercepted by ahn AA Huey and shot down. Only time a flingwing has shot down a fixed. Quote
Kuno Posted June 27, 2013 Author Posted June 27, 2013 Another movie where such plane had a short appearance: Indiana Jones and the Cristal Skull. Quote
Jack Posted June 27, 2013 Posted June 27, 2013 Great stuff Kuno and you guys really do a great job with our history. Quote
Kuno Posted June 27, 2013 Author Posted June 27, 2013 At Tozeur we placed our aircraft between two Iraqi Airlines Boeing B747 which stand parked at Tozeur since 1991. The next day we left for a tour to the desert in four Toyota Landcruisers. At the first day we experienced a sand wind which limited the sight but left us a good impression on how the desert can be. The second day, the weather was much better and the drive back to Tozeur a bit quicker. Since we were back early, there was a good chance to pay a visit to the Mos Isley Spacecraft Station as most people know it from the movie Star Wars which was partly filmed in Tunisia. Quote
Kuno Posted June 27, 2013 Author Posted June 27, 2013 Before we could start the flight back to Tunis we had to obtain some fuel – too much of it was consumed on the flight to Tozeur due to the very strong winds. About a hundred liters of of car fuel were finally filled into our aircraft and this time the weather was with us. We reached Tunis in time and the ground crew there and also the Tunisian Army were very quick. We crossed the Mediterranean again, then Sardinia and stayed for the night at Bonifacio as we did on the flight to the South. The next day, the weather was once more against us – this time on the southern side of the Alps. The pass of St. Gotthard was not to be crossed due to low hanging clouds but the Lukmanierpass seemed to be free and we took our chance. We were received by bright sunshine in the north of Switzerland and concluded our exciting adventure in the restaurant of Flugplatz Birrfeld in the later afternoon. We were in the air for 22 hours for this fascinating trip! Quote
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