This year is the centenary of the first flight round the world. Four Douglas Air Cruisers, "Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans", operated by the US Army Air Service, departed Seattle on April 6, 1924. The 4 aircraft were configured for the long over-water portion of the flight, by exchanging wheels for pontoon floats. They flew a westwards route that took them down the Aleutian Islands chain to Russian Kamchatka and onto Japan. Their route is depicted in the map shown to the right.

Shortly after departing Prince Rupert Island on 15 April, the lead aircraft "Seattle", flown by Martin and Harvey, blew an 8cm hole in its crankcase and was forced to land on Portage Bay.

The crew resumed their journey on 25 April, and attempted to catch up with the other three aircraft that were waiting in Dutch Harbor. Howver the "Seattle" crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula and was destroyed in the crash. The crew survived six harrowing days in the elements before finding shelter in an unoccupied cabin on Moller Bay. A second aircraft ditched in the North Atlantic and the crew was picked up by the U.S. Navy. The two remaining flight crews returned to a huge welcoming crowd in Seattle on September 28, 1924 after completing the epic 175 day, 26,345 mile journey and becoming the First to Fly around the World. The World Flight's aircraft had their engines changed five times and new wings fitted twice.

So what is the significance of this..? Well, on 1st June Bob Bates and Barry Payne will depart Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea, in Barrys Piper Comanche ZK-BAZ on a Centenary Commemoration westwards flight round the world. Step one is for us to be in Kagoshima where the original flyers were 100 years previous. We will then traverse Russia and onto the UK landing at Breighton Airfield which is close to Brough.

The aircraft will remain in the UK for a few weeks and then we plan to leave the UK in August, retracing the original flyers air path over the North Atlantic, across the USA back to Seattle. From there we will pickup the 1924 route through Alaska, along the Aleutian Islands chain to Kamchatka and complete a full circle back at Kagoshima. We aim to arrive back in Mount Hagen on 28th September, the same day the two Douglas Air Cruisers landed back at Seattle in 1924 completing the First Flight Round the World.

As it presently stands, our flight could end up being the only single engine Round The World flight this year, and the only flight closely re-enacting the 1924 flight route. And there are potentially other benchmarks involved. A combined age of the two crew Bob & Barry is 161 years, and a total of 105 years of pilot experience. This will also be the first time such an around the world flight will start and finish in Papua New Guinea.

Amelia Earhart too included Papua New Guinea in her fateful attempt to be the first woman to fly around the world. It was on 2nd July in 1937 from Lae in Papua New Guinea, in her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, with Fred Noonan as navigator, from where she made her final take-off, and, even to-day searches are still being conducted in an effort to find the true story as to what happened to her.

During our flight we should be visible on Flight Radar 24 if we are in the air. We will also have a Garmin tracker link with us that will show you where we are and will also enable satellite email and messaging.

OUR PROPOSED ROUTING WITH OVERNIGHTS IS AS FOLLOWS...

The airports shown below in red are those airports that the first round the world flights landed at 100 years ago in 1924.

ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC

DATE	FROM	TO	NM	HRS
24 Aug	EG04-Breighton, UK	EGPA-Kirkwall, Orkney Islands	320	2.2
25 Aug	EGPA-Kirkwall, Orkney Islands	EKVG-Vagar, Faroe Islands	230	1.6
27 Aug	EKVG-Vagar, Faroe Islands	BIRK-Reykjavik, Iceland	420	2.9
28 Aug	BIRK-Reykjavik, Iceland	BGBW-Narsarsuag,Greenland	670	4.6
29 Aug	BGBW-Narsarsuag,Greenland	CYQX-Gander, Canada	800	5.5
30 Aug	CYQX-Gander, Canada	CYTN-Trenton, Canada	385	2.7

ACROSS THE USA

DATE	FROM	TO	NM	HRS
1 Sep	CYTN-Trenton, Canada	KPBG-Plattsburg, NY USA	465	3.2
2 Sep	KPBG-Plattsburg, NY USA	173-Moraine Airpark, Dayton, OH	565	3.9
4 Sep	173-Moraine Airpark, Dayton, OH	KBTA-Blair Executative, Omaha, NE	555	3.8
6 Sep	Blair Executative, Omaha NE	KTOR-Rawlins, WY	365	2.5
7 Sep	KTOR-Rawlins, WY	77S-Hobby Field, Creswell	525	3.6
9 Sep	K77S-Hobby Field, Cresswell	KTIW-Tacoma, Seattle, WA	200	1.4
12 Sep	KTIW-Tacoma, Seattle, WA	PAKT-Ketchikan, AK	600	4.1
13 Sep	PAKT-Ketchikan, AK	PAYA-Yakutat,AK	360	2.5
13 Sep	PAYA-Yakutat, AK	PAWD-Seward, AK	298	2.1
14 Sep	PAWDS-Seward, AK	PACD-Cold Bay, AK	373	2.6

ACROSS THE PACIFIC

DATE	FROM	TO	NM	HRS
16 Sep	PACD-Cold Bay, AK	PADK-Aduk, AK	535	3.7
19 Sep	PADK-Aduk, AK	UHPP-Yelizovo,Russia	911	6.3
21 Sep	UHPP-Yelizovo,Russia	UHSS-Khomutovo,Russia	712	4.9
23 Sep	UHSS-Khomutovo,Russia	RJFK-Kagoshima, Japan	1,100	7.6
25 Sep	RJFK-Kagoshima, Japan	PGUM-Guam, USA	1,345	9.3
27 Sep	PGUM-Guam, USA	AYMD-Madang, PNG	1,120	7.7
28 Sep	AYMD-Madang	AYMH-Mt Hagen, PNG	100	0.7

Monkeys were used as mascots by each crew member on the first Round the World Flight in 1924 and the photo on the left depicts one of them. We would like to replicate as much as we can about the flights that happened 100 years ago so we too decided to use a couple of monkeys as mascots and these have been meticulously hand crafted by Barry's wife Sandra and are shown in the photo on the right. One of them represents Bob and the other Baz and our names are on their backs. Bob is the one with the long eyebrows while Baz's eyebrows are marginally shorter.

The average age of Bob and Baz is 80+ and we are both members of an organization based in the USA called UFO Pilots. UFO stands for United Flying Octogenarians and it has over 1,800 members and has been in operation since 1982. 4 of its members are over 100 years old. We hope to meet fellow UFO's at a number of towns during our flight and encourage pilots to keep their ratings current no matter how old they are. As well as having members all over the USA UFO Pilots also has international members in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Latvia, New Zealand, Norway, New Guinea, Switzerland, and the UK. The members are looking to promote UFOs everywhere, all the time, with everyone. They are indeed an astute group of people that publish a monthly magazine called Squawk. We would encourage all active pilots between the age of 75 and 80 to join the UFO pilots as an Auxiliary Wing member and of course all those active pilots over 80 to become a member of the UFO Pilots.

For the first half of the flight- Mt Hagen to Hull from 1st June 4th July to click on this link

20th August, 2024
Bob departed on Air Niugini from Mount Hagen to Port Moresby, Air Niugini was only an hour late.

In Port Moresby he met up with Justice Karen Carmody whose late father Keith Carmody was an earthrounder. Keith flew around the world in 1975 with the late Denys Dalton in a Beechcraft Duke. They were attempting to establish an around the world speed record but they lost an engine over North America and that put them out of the attempt. It took a total of about about 6 weeks to replace the engine and return to Brisbane. Denys had another try later in the same year and in the same aircraft with Terry Gwynn-Jones and they established a speed record of 5 days and two hours for a piston engined aircraft to fly around the world. This speed record was subsequently broken about two years later by Phil Claxton and Jack Cink in an Aerostar.

Keith was an amazing person and probably had more influence on Bob's character than any other person he knew. Keith also owned a Beechcraft Baron for many years so Bob and Keith had a lot in common.

21st August, 2024
After overnighting in Port Moresby at the Airways, Bob had coffee at Duffy's in Boroko before proceeding to Jacksons Airport. Air Niugini was the ususal one hour late with the flight to Hong Kong.

22nd August, 2024
Barry and Sandra were at Manchester Airport to meet Bob off the Cathay flight from Hong Kong. It was misty and raining in Manchester and we then drove to Everthorpe to stay with Bill & Kathy for two nights.

23rd August, 2024
It was a wet and windy morning in Everthorpe.

Kathy and Bill Hart were the perfect hosts and looked after us really well. They invited about 15 of their friends over for "afternoon tea" and we also had all sorts of nice food that had been baked by Kathy. Sandra was also there to offer a helping hand in both the kitchen and the lounge area. This was all done as a "send-off party" for Bob & Barry. Kathy and Bill also spent a couple of years in Goroka, PNG in the 1980's. There were two grandsons at the party and they kept Bob entertained and Kasper told all and sundry that Bob was his best friend and Bob had to sit beside him during the evening meal.

Kathy and Bill live in Everthorpe in a stone house, that is approaching 300 years old. The streets are narrow and there are hand built stone walls along the side of the roads. They have a nice garden and keep a few chickens for fresh eggs.

We would like to thank the Kathy and Bill for their great hospitality in looking after us all. They cetrtainly made our stay in the UK "easy" and we hope that we can return the courtsey when they next visit New Zealand or PNG.

24th August, 2024
Bill and Kathy drove us out to Breighton Airfield were there was quite a large aviation event going on. There were many aircraft on display, there were rides available in a DC3 and a Spitfire as well as other aircraft.

We decided to go coastal VFR at 2,000 feet to the Orkney Islands. We were waved off by the 100's of attendees that were at Breighton Airfield as we took off for Kirkwall and are still trying to get our "head around" the standard of services that Britain offers aviators, namely, basic, traffic and procedural. We keep requesting a traffic service but they seemed to want to reduce our standard of service to basic. They did give us a transit clearance through the control zones of Newcastle and Aberdeen. It was a relatively easy flight although there was some rainshowers to go through and there was a chop for the duration of the flight. There was quite a strong cross wind for our arrival at Kirkwell. We did have trouble booking accommodation at Kirkwell as there was quite a large wedding being held in the 900 year old stone catheredal at Kirkwell and the many guests filled up all the accommodation in town.

Kirkwall was also one of the points that the first round the world flyers passed through 100 years ago. They even stayed in the Kirkwell Hotel which in located on the harbour where they would have landed. We tried to book the Kirkwell but it was full and we finished up staying at the Orkney Hotel which was in the center of town but it was like a "rabbit warren" when you tried to find your room.

25th August, 2024
The Orkey Hotel where we stayed in Kirkwall was built in 1670, over 350 years ago. It has no elevators, many stairs and uneven floors.

The weather in the Faroe Islands seemd to be better in the afternoon than the mornings so we delayed our departure from Kirkwall until after mid-day. We put on our survival suites for the first time and they fitted fine. We will now continue to use them until we reach North America. The flight to the Faroes was flown at 6,000 feet as it was just below the icing level.

There was some weather on route and the approach into Vagar Airport was spectacular. After arrival we were told by the locals that to-day was the first fine day that they have had for several weeks and they felt that summer had finally arrived. The temperate got up to about 12 degrees and there was a strong cold wind blowing.

We stayed at the Vagar Hotel near the airport and hired a car and drove into the main town of Torshavn which, was about 50 km away. We found a small cafe down by the water front and had a late lunch/early dinner and some coffee. The drive was spectacular with many waterfalls. We drove to Torshavn via the valleys and tunnels and came back to the airport via the ridges.

One of the original aircraft that started on the first Round the World flight in 1924 had engine trouble near the Faroe Islands and had to put down on the water near here (it was fitted with floats). As it was being towed into the harbour the sea was rough and it sank. There were now only two of the original four aircraft left.

26th August, 2024
It was a fine day and during the morning we did a drive around Eystury Island in the Faroes. This island was accessed by a bridge from Streymoy Island and it was connected to Streymoy Island by a 10 km undersea tunnel. The island consisted of many steep mountains covered with grass but not nuch higher than 700 meters. There were many sheep on the islands and also what appeared to be a small dairy.

As it was an unusually fine day we decided to push onto Reykjavik in Iceland. We departed at about 2.00 pm and this crossing over the North Atlantic would have been the best flying day we have experienced so far on the trip. The flight was three hours and there were basically no clouds in the sky. It was an easy flight and we feel that we were lucky to have had such a good flying day. We were to meet our longtime friend in Iceland, Bill Finlen, as he and his wife Jen were due to arrive in Reykjavik on Wednesday 28th August to go on an Arctic cruise, but we feel that with the current good weather in the North Atlantic we will push on and get the North Atlantic crossing over and miss out on catching up with Bill & Jen. Bill has advised us that their flight out of Brisbane was cancelled so we are not exactly sure at this stage what flight they will be arriving on in Reykjavik.

We landed at the downtown airport (BIRK) in Reykjavik and checked into a hotel that was at the airport.

27th August, 2024
We checked the weather at Narsarsuaq and it was good so we decided to leave Iceland to-day and go the Greenland.

The weather was not so good when we departed Reykjavik (BIRK) and we spent the first two hours in cloud tracking along our flight planned route to Narsarsuaq (BGBW) in Greenland.

We flew at an altitude of 6,000 feet as this was just below the freezing level. Fortunately we came out of cloud before we reached Greenland and it was then a requiremnet that we climb to 13,000 feet to go over the Greenland Icecap.

The Low level flight in a Piper Comanche across the Greenland Ice cap was indeed spectacular. The mountains in Greenland are really big. The snow, the ice, the glaciers and the ice bergs were indeed some of the most unforgetable sights on the flight. The mountains were almost as high as the ones in PNG.

Greenland is considered to be the world's largest island while Papua New Guinea is the second largest.

The Greenland ice sheet covers an area of about 1,710,000 square kilometers and has an average altitude of 7,000 feet (2,100 meters).

The depth of ice is about 2 kilometers and the maximum depth is about 3 kilometers.

The highest mountain is Gunnbjorn Fjeld and it is 12,139 feet (3,700 meters) high.

The Danish Kroner is the currency that is used in Greenland.

It required a fairly rapid descent from 13,000 feet into Narsarsuaq. Narsarsuaq is an airstrip were the icebergs float past the runway threshold and one has to watch out for the big ones on landing.

28th August, 2024
We awoke this morning in Narsarsuaq to 8 degress and rain. The winds were also not favourable for us to go to either Gander or Goose Bay so we have decided to stay another night here and watch the icebergs as they float past the windows of the hotel.

The population of Narsarsuaq is about 130 people and most of them seem to work at the airport or the hotel. The airport was built by the Americans at the start of WW2 and was used extensively during the war as a refueling stop for aircraft travelling between North America and Europe. It was a busy airport and on one day they had 130 movements.

There is a wonderful museum in Narsarsuaq located between the airport and the hotel that covers the operation at Narsarsuaq during the war years as well as the UNESCO world heritage sites in Greenland. It has lots of interesting information on display and well as some great pictures and memorabilia. It is run by Ole Guldager and his wife, Gitte Lincke Ottosen. Ole grew up in Narsarsuaq, went to school there, as his father was in charge of the weather station until it was automated. Ole has also just written and article and had it published in the Greenland Newspaper on the progress through Greenland of the first round the world flight in 1924. He told us that they had two stops in Greenland, both in the south west part of the country. The first was south of Narsarsuaq at a place called Frederiksdal, also called Narsarmijit, or Narsaq Kujalleq and it is located at 60 00 09 N / 44 39 44 W. The second was at a small Kroylite mining town to the north of Narsarsuaq and was at Ivigtut (Ivittuut) in Arsuk Fjord, at 61 12 34 N / 48 10 30 W where the aircraft were refuled. We were amazed to find someone like Ole who was so interested in the history of the first around the world flight through Greenland and in a place such as Narsarsuaq. We never intended to stay two nights in Narsarsuaq so the meeting between us all must have been ment to happen.

29th August, 2024
It was another cold, wet and low cloud morning at Narsarsuaq so we have delayed our departure. We checked out of our hotel at 10.00 am but stayed in the warm common area near the reception of the hotel and waited for the weather to improve. The weather seemed to be getting lower for we can no longer see the icebergs floating past.

The weather was not improving but we went up to the airport as there was an aircraft due in from Copenhagen at 2.00 pm. We could hear the aircraft circling above and it did an approach but did not get in so it returned to Copenhagen. We then decided to depart for Goose Bay. We were the only aircraft movement that day in Narsarsauq, even the helicoptors did not fly. We spent the first hour in cloud, the second hour of the flight we were above cloud and for the remainder of the flight it was fine all he way to Goose Bay.

We have both been to Goose Bay previously and there were few changes. There was a new Hotel, the Hotel North 2 and that is where we stayed.

There was also a Vulcan Bomber on static display, along with other aircraft, near the main terminal.

30th August, 2024
It was a fine morning as we departed Goose Bay. The flight to Muskoka was one of the best flights that we have has so far, there were no clouds and it was a very smooth flight. It was 900 miles to the south west of Goose Bay and we arrived on schedule at 2.15pm. We were to meet one of Bob's long time friends at Muskoka, he was an expat Ozzie turned Canadian.

We landed at Muskoka and was met by Bruce Hodge and all the Goway team as well as media from CTV, Moose Radio, the Muskoka Airport and others.

After all the interviews, Bruce and Claire Hodge drove us to their magnificent cottage that was to be our home for the next two nights. It was located on the shores of Lake Rosseau. Bronwyn Hodge was also there with her family.

We all went out for dinner to the nearby Windermere Hotel.

31st August, 2024
It was a Saturday, a no fly day, so we had an easy morning and caught up on emails and updated the web site.

We then all went out on the pontoon boat, it was built on three canoe like structures. There were many speed boats wizzing around Lake Rosseau as well as jet skies and there was even the odd aircraft moored alongside the occasional cottage that was dotted around the Lake. We went over to the other side of the Lake to near the village of Rosseau.

Bruce and Claire were the perfect hosts, they met us on the apron as we exited the aircraft after landing at Muskoka, and, gave us the best rooms in their cottage. They fed us well and gave us many cups of tea. It was really a relaxing couple of days for us, we needed it, and for this we will be eternally grateful to the Hodges.

1st September, 2024

Bruce and Claire drove us back to Muskoka Airport and bid us farewell and we were soon on our way to Plattsburg (KPBG).

It was a very choppy flight, we had a couple of lines of weather to go through but we had a good tailwind component of about 35 Kts. It would have been the strongest tailwind component for any sector so far on this trip.

It was only a short flight of about and hour and a half and we were met on arrival by Ralph Bennett and his wife and Adam Messer. Ralph is a UFO Pilot (United flying Octogenarian) and we felt honoured that he drove for three hours from where he lives in the USA to meet us. Ralph has been flying for 66 years and his father was in PNG during the war years.

Adam was a friend of Bobs and was a research student in PNG studying bees 42 years ago. He spent his time at Karawari Lodge. Bob and Adam had not seen one another since he was in PNG in 1982, so it was quite a reunion. Adam also gave Bob some very memorable photos that were taken in the Sepik area 42 years ago. Adam too is a pilot of 18 years and he flew himself up from Carlisle Airport, (Near Harrisburg) to meet with us and spend the night with us in Plattsburg. It was a two and a half hour flight for him each way and we feel honoured that Adam made the effort to come a see us.

2nd September, 2024
We both stayed in the same motel as Adam in Plattsburg.

After breakfast Adam drove us to Platsburg airport and we each departed to our respective destinations. Adam went to Harrisburg while we departed to the west for Dayton (I73).

The flight to Dayton was done in fine weather, the top of the clouds were about 8,000 feet and we sat up at 10,000 feet and there was no weather and no clouds at our height. The flight was smooth but we did have a head wind that we have now become accoustomed to.

We landed at the Morain Air Park (I73) in Dayton. It was thought that the first flights around the world landed a little further to the north on an area that has now been built on. The friendly FBO at Morain Air Park gave us a courtesy car for our one night stay in Dayton. It was a 15 minute drive to our hotel which we found using the google maps on our telephones.

3rd September, 2024
Our flight from Dayton to Omaha was also done in fine weather with no clouds in the sky and it was a smooth flight. We flew over the Mississippi River at Burlington as depicted in the photo on the right.

We landed at Blair Executative airport (KBTA), just to the north of Omaha City, and was met by Paul Hamer and some friends as well as a lady from the local newspaper.

Paul took us both to his home, gave us a soft bed and made us feel very welcome. Paul flew around the world in a Cessna 310 (N92HH) while participitating the around the world air race in July of 1992. Paul told us that his father in PNG during WW2, he was based in Finschafen for two years between 1943 and 1945. We invited Paul to come to PNG and visit Finschafen.

4th September, 2024
It was a non flyimg day for us.

Barry and Paul went out to the airport and spent the day checking the aircraft, changing the oil and fixing a small oil leak that we had with the gasket between the magneto and the engine. Bob stayed at home and spent the time answering emails from the Hagen office and writing up the story of our flight which had fallen behind our schedule.

Paul took us out to a bar and grill for dinner. After dinner we went across the road to an icecream shop and Barry had an icecream while Bob had a thick chocolated malted milk shake.

Paul too has a very nice Piper Comanche, it is a 1960 model and it is polished aluminium. Paul also takes his dog peanuts with him where ever he goes.

The weather has been rather fine and beaut since we arrived in North America and we have taken advantage of it and moved our schedukld forward by a day. We have decided to use this day to go to Sportsmans Air Park in Oregan where we will meet and have dinner on Sunday night with another group of like minded aviators.

5th September, 2024
Paul drove us to Blair Town again for a big breakfast and then took us out to the Blair Executative Airport and after saying our goodbys we departed for Rawlins. There were some rainstorms just after take off from Blair but once we got past them is was a relatively easy flight into Rawlins.

The Rawlins airport is located at a height of 6,780 feet and is at the foot of the Rockies. We selected Rawlins so that we could get off to an early start tomorrow morning to cross the Rockies while the air was still and relatively cold. The winds also seem to be forecast to be light for our crossing tomorrow.

We bought some Avgas off the friendly FBO at Rawlins and he directed us to one of the many accommodation facilities in Rawlins and lent us the "pilots courtesy car" for the day/evening. It is fine and windy in Rawlins to-day, with some scattered cumulus cloud.

We went out to a diner for dinner and then went to an icecream shop for desert. At the icecream shop we met an English couple who were riding peal bikes. They said that thay had their bikes shipped from the UK to Calgary in Canada and were then riding then down to near the Mexican border, they had already ridden 100+ km to-day.