Comrade Misfit tells us about a C-47 that was found in Siberia. During WW2 we flew thousands of airplanes to Russia to support their war effort on the Eastern Front. It's 6,000 miles from Great Falls Montana in the USA to Krasnoyarsk, Russia in Siberia, which is still 2,000 miles from Moscow.
A C-47 (military version of the DC-3) cruises at 200 MPH, so flying time to Krasnoyarsk would have been 30 hours. Its range is 3600 miles, so it could have made the trip without too many stops. The
Bell Airacobra was twice as fast, but its range is only 500 miles so it would have been having to stop every hour or so.
The USA and Canada put in a big effort to build airfields all along the flight path and a highway to support them. I imagine once you got
over the Bering Strait facilities were a little farther apart.
Google Map of ALSIB
C-47 Skytrain at Military dot Wikia dot org
ReplyDeleteMaximum speed: 224 mph (195 kn, 360 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
Cruise speed: 160 mph (139 kn, 257 km/h)
Range: 1,600 mi (1,391 nmi, 2,575 km)
Ferry range: 3,600 mi(3,130 nmi, 5,795 km)
Service ceiling: 26,400 ft (8,045 m)
Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 9.5 min
I doubt any were flying empty so a lot more stops.