RTW Retro Flight #84 Gatwick to Lisbon . . . . . 1961

Continentale Deutsche Luftreederei flight 134 is a Douglas C-54B on a flight from London’s Gatwick to Lisbon (EGKK - LPPT). We have 1,800 gallons of fuel on board for the 834 nm flight of about four hours and five minutes. The weather consists of thunder storms and heavy cloud cover for about half the flight. Cruising altitude will be 8,000 feet except for some mountainous areas where we will climb to 9,000 feet.

 

Thanks to:

Aircraft: Douglas C-54B. The model and original textures are by Jens B. Kristensen. The 1959 Continentale Deutsche Luftreederei paint is by Andre Reimers.

Propliner AI & Traffic: CalClassic & FS Aviator - Tom Gibson, Mike Stevens, Jason Krogmann, Manuel Jagmann, Bill Towers, Nikko Yaginuma, Richard Wright, Frederick Coleman, Dave Jones, Paul Haak, Marty Lochmiller, Ake Lindberg, Harland Sandberg, Richard Wright and Gary Harper at www.calclassic.com

Flight Simulator, Scenery and Add-ons: MS FS2004 v9.1 and:

- London Gatwick Airport from the 1961 Gatwick scenery package by Nikko Yaginuma and Tom Gibson at www.calclassic.com

- Lisbon Airport from the 1959 scenery package by Harry Biard, Jaap de Baare, Wolfgang Gersch and Tom Gibson at www.calclassic.com

- Rwy12 and EZ Static Object and Scenery Libraries at www.flightsim.com

- FS2004 Classic Scenery Libraries by Wolfgang Gersch (classic_libraries_v4a.zip) at www.flightsim.com

- REX FS9 w/Overdrive & SP5

- Flight One Ground Environment Pro II

- FS Genesis UT Europe.

 

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1. Passengers hoping to experience a nice holiday in Portugal are embarked and engines started.

 

2. Takeoff and gear coming up as we leave London Gatwick behind.

 

3. Climbing through light rain and turning on course for Lisbon.

 

4. Heading toward the coast at 5,000 feet the rain becomes heavier and the clouds thicken.

 

5. After leaving the coast behind near Littlehampton we are over the English Channel at altitude.

 

6. Flying through the thunderstorm we are close to the coast of France near Cherbourg.

 

7. We cannot see much below, but we calculate that we are half-way over Brittany.

 

8. Heading out over the Bay of Biscay we leave the French coast near Carnac known for its many Neolithic standing stones.

 

9. Midway across the Bay the storm begins to decrease in intensity, but we still see lightning. A bit too bold!

 

10. Too close and threatening!

 

11. That one is just about right.

 

12. About 50 nm from Spain we leave the worst of the storm behind us.

 

More in the reply . . . . . . . . .

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13. The passengers are relieved to see clear weather as we make landfall near the town of Pravia Spain.

 

14. We have climbed to 9,000 feet as we near the town of Páramo del Sil and the Cantabrian Mountains.

 

15. Cruising over far north central Portugal now.

 

16. Having descended back to 8,000 feet we see the Rabagão River below.

 

17. Now over the city of Viseu the economic and cultural center of the region. This area also produces some very nice wines. (Please excuse me while I gently tease a cork from a bottle of my favorite Portuguese Pinot Noir.) Number two, your aircraft. My aircraft Captain. Roger number two. (Oh Yea.)

 

18. Near Constância where the Zêzere River (behind us) and the Tagus River (off our left side) meet.

 

19. The Tagus River meanders southwest toward Lisbon where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

 

20. A little over 20 nm from Lisbon we begin our initial descent.

 

21. Lining up our approach to runway 21.

 

22. Touchdown.

 

23. We are off the runway taxiing to parking.

 

24. Parked and all systems shut down, the passengers disembarked and enjoying the sun and all in Portugal that is good. Thanks for flying Continentale. (Congratulations Number two, you have just earned your fourth bar.)

Awesome Larry :cool::cool::cool: Great DC-4 with the German livery, great scenery in Spain and Portugal :pilot: What a difference with today looking at both airfields. Oh, and the TREK dc-4's were on strike today?

 

This is a great movie about the start of the other London airport, Heathrow. The amazing thing is that I have every aircraft in this movie in my FS hanger.........

Fantastic flight!

Enjoyed it.

Glad you liked it Blair and Jan. :cool: Jan, the TREK guys took the day off. Thanks for the Heathrow link, very interesting. :)

Simply marvelous Larry, everything is top notch my friend! :)

Thanks for commenting Adam. :)