Update on the "Flying the Hump" Commemorative Flight

You may recall our blog article Flying the Hump from August 1st, talking about our friend and fellow Elephant Polo player, Tom Claytor, participating in a re-enactment of an historic C47 flight from Australia to China.

Well, the crew needs some help. They lost the left engine last week out of Bali over water. They have opened a GoFundMe page to help with the cost of replacing the left engine, which they have located in Australia.

www.flyingthehump.com

On 16 August, the team flew from Darwin to Bali. Total time was a little over 6 hours in the air. It then took 5 hours to refuel the plane from 11 drums of Avgas and to add 7 gallons of oil to the engines.

On 17 August, they departed Bali for Johor (Malaysia). After 1 hour and 30 minutes into the flight, smoke appeared coming from the left engine. After 15 seconds, the engine started to vibrate severely, then fire appeared. They shut down the engine and diverted to Surabaya (25 minutes away). The Indonesian ATC was very helpful and they landed safely.

The team has located several engines. The engine has to be shipped to Surabaya and installed before the end of September. They are on the clock, because the annual on the aircraft expires in the end of October. All of the crew is working for free.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED:

Please help us to complete this mission and cross the hump to China. Although any amount you can contribute is helpful, every person who contributes $1,000 (USD) or over will receive their name on a brass plaque beneath the C47 at its final resting place in the FLYING TIGER HISTORICAL MUSEUM in Guilin, China --

https://www.gofundme.com/25ccc2zw

MEET THE TEAM:

THE CREW

Dale Mueller - Pilot (USA)

Alan Searle - Pilot (Aus)

Larry Jobe - Pilot (USA)

Tom Claytor - Pilot (USA)

Barry Arlow - Engineer (Aus)

FLYING THE HUMP

15-22 August 2016

Commemorative Flight from Australia through Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar across the Himalayas to China

The Flight is being conducted to honor those men who served to bring victory and peace, and to the friendships between nations today that are charged with keeping the peace.

THE AIRCRAFT

A C47 named "Buzz Buggy" painted in D-Day Invasion Colors and owned by the Flying Tigers Organization. Upon arrival in China, the aircraft will be repainted with CBI (China-Burma-India) markings on one side and CNAC (China National Aviation Corporation) markings on the other side.

THE ROUTE

The Aircraft will be flown VFR via Darwin, Bali, Jakarta, Johor, U-Taphao, Chiangmai, Mandalay, Kunming, Guilin.

DAY 1 - Bathurst (YBTH) - Longreach / 666NM (4.8hr)

DAY 2 - Longreach (YLRE) - Darwin / 1,018NM (7.3hr)

DAY 3 - Darwin (YPDN) - Bali / 959NM (6.9hr)

DAY 4 - Bali (WADD) - Johor / 1,002NM (7.2hr)

DAY 5 - Johor (WMKJ) - Utaphao / 654NM (4.7hr)

DAY 6 - Utaphao (VTBU) - Mandalay / 627NM (4.6hr)

DAY 7 - Mandalay (VYMD) - Kunming / 442NM (3.2hr)

DAY 8 - Kunming (ZPPP) - Guilin (ZGKL) / 371NM (2.7hr)

TOTAL DISTANCE - 5,658NM (40.5hr)

See all the details at...www.flyingthehump.com

In the latter part of July 1942, General Chennault sent the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) a message, urging them to adopt an insignia and put it on all their planes to help the 14th Air Force pilots in identification. Captain Sharp called in Z.M. Wong, Y.Y. Zee and W.C. McDonald, Jr. and directed them to get this job done immediately. After considerable discussion CHUNG was born. They painted the CHUNG on all the aircraft in short order and sent General Chennault photographs of the planes with this character on them.

This symbol saved many from being shot down by Allied pilots and also played a vital role in keeping the CNAC Association together.

CHUNG is a Chinese character which means "in the middle of" or "the center," or, as applied to our CNAC aircraft, "MIDDLE KINGDOM SPACE MACHINE FAMILY."

The CHUNG has adorned many CNAC aircraft: DC-3's, C-47's, C-53's, C-46's and DC-4's. Its real claim to fame is the thousands of flights it made with precious cargo over the Himalayas. It has also flown the Pacific and around the world and is still "in the center" of the hearts of CNAC people.

CNAC CHUNG Patch

$6.00