How long?

[peppermint_jam]

I used to be pan trash on the 707 with the black and white mushroom on top, and on a trip to the desert a while back, one sortie lasted over 18 hours.

On another trip to a different desert with GR4's, someone was airborne for just under 8 1/2 hours.

What's the longest sortie you've ever flown/seen/heard of?

P_J

[airborne_artist]

Two days to get from Lyneham to Eglin AFB via Gander in Albert. Return took about 9 hours in one of Uncle Sam's C-141s.

[A2QFI]

A pair of F-4s flew Coningsby to Tengah non-stop in the 70s I think.

[diginagain]

I think BEagle will be along soon with tales from the FI airbridge. Missed out on that treat, TF; Uganda down, first 747 back. Sat on enough Gut-Calgary Alberts to make up for my loss, however.
I was toying with the idea of claiming Gutersloh to Calgary in a Gazelle, but the Chicken-leg was in an Albert, so it'll probably not count.

[stillin1]

bugger!
I am the man wibbling about the FI push.

10:40

asi to mpa, F4, very numb bum, 6plugs and a ****e FI summer (it snowed a lot):{

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

As operating crew flew 13 and a bit hours in the ever so slow K model from Diego Garcia to Bahrain....on the ground an hour or so then climbed in the back as a slip crew flew it to Iraklion............now that was a long old day.

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[glum]

23 hours total from Lyneham to Oman. Beakky in Cyprus, a brew in Seeb and numb all over for days!

[Hueymeister]

In the early 90's NI and a large number of 2X 10hr days in the mighty Wetsex 2; no autopilot and a pee/coffee break every 4 hrs or so.

[Top Bunk Tester]

14:45 in an Albert without the benefit of AAR, scrambled out of Mount Pleasant for an SAR 400 nm south of Tristan de Cuna (sp?) in 1993, i believe the record still stands. Only had fumes left on finals, and got back with only the sextant to guide us, thanks John (Nav).

[PPRuNeUser0172]

about 7.5 inches

ooops wrong thread:}

[Cornish Jack]

Just over 24 hours from Accra to Elizabethville and return having queued for refuelling. Accra, on return was 8/8 blue but the skipper decided an NDB full procedure was essential for his chinagraph ticks!!
Oh, the conveyance was the mighty Bev!

[Pontius Navigator]

Mk 3 Shack, Farnborough airshow, probably late 50s IIRC, every day a Shack took off and the previous day's sortie landed. Bleary eyed, unshaven crew energed.

Yes, they really flew for 24 hours plus a few, up and down the Channel at endurance.

Mk 2 Shackleton, Priory, 1981, we did 14 hr 35 min and never more that 100 miles from Lossie. Only reason we landed early was because the exercise ended.

[lurkposition]

One 24 Hour sortie and one 25 hour sortie in one week on the
C130K.

Both ASI-STA-ASI.

No landing in the FIs, ploughing competition with the mail pick up though!

Anyone remember the Colombo boxes?

Very many thanks to the Victor guys.

[Zoom]

Couple of blokes I heard of spent about 200 days flying around the world. Mir I think the jet was called.

[4fitter]

Lurk

I must have enjoyed the 24hr with you ! Not happy. ISTR it was a met problem ?

4f

[scroggs]

28 hours and 4 minutes, C130, June 1982. The longest ever C130 flight at the time. Does that record still stand?

[vecvechookattack]

1982 Ascension Wasp HAS 1 8:25 mins sweaty and bothered

[West Coast]

Mogidishu Somalia to March AFB in Southern California.

[ImageGear]

Numb, Deaf, Cold, Bored, Hungry, you name it. 2 days in a "K"
Brize, Keflavik, Gander, Nassau, Belize (Done in April in KD longs) :eek:
Cruised back by Grey Funnel Line via Bermuda - you know it makes sense :ok:
Imagegear

[monobrow]

On another trip to a different desert with GR4's, someone was airborne for just under 8 1/2 hours.

8hrs 25 mins set by a wing co???? If so I was there when it happened :D

[Wyler]

1982. Asi to Falklands. C130. 14 hours including AAR in the dive!! :eek:

Same again 4 months later. :bored:

[Skunkerama]

Whilst in 42cdo, some joker decided to bring us back from Brunei in a Herc, cheers easy.
Then the same plum decided that we could come back from Norfolk, Virginia via Gander in a Herc as well.

Don't remember how long the flights took but I do know that the git that designed the sling seats was a torture specialist. And that it's a damn good idea to bring ear defs, personel stereo and a lightweight civvie slug.

[Dunhovrin]

10.35 minutes in A Shacklebomber from Akrotiri to Gib. Would have been half an hour less but we had to jink round the edge of Lybia's FIR. Range speed was about 150kts.

Funniest bit was the crew chief had forgotten to only load the Elsan 1/3 full of fluid. So after 8 hours it was brimming. As a self-inflicted punishment he scooped it our by hand with a paper cup and dropped contents down the flare chute with a call of "One Gone" for every floater.

Also did 11 hours of overnight misery off Brittany looking for French CV during a JMC. Think it took so long because she was out-running us. Actually found her after 5 hours but Boss (Boots to those who knew him) wanted to stay out to build up hours. He was trying to beat Nav Leader to 10,000 hrs on 10,000 rivets. Shoot me now.

Similar to Pontius: Got scrambled on Taceval at Lossie. Trogged off to W of Hebrides, called off and sent back to awaiting gas masks and f-factor on ground. So flew at endurance whilst 3 waves of "Fencers" made life misery for those left behind, ate the aircraft down to landing weight and only RTBed when Boss had a paddy on the sqn freq. Then spent night in 2ndry Ops with Scrote, a TV on mute and chair wedged under door handle, putting on S6 to answer phone.

Sorry, I digress...

[Flap62]

7:15 single seat, single engine over the oggin. I know it doesn't sound a lot but tell that to my buttocks!

[possel]

Didn't a Nimrod fly Stanley - UK in one hop in 1982? I don't know how long it was but I am sure it must have been over 20 hours

[Army Mover]

In a C-130

Day 1 - Lyneham to Macrihanish - picked up periscope and RAF Falcons, overnight
Day 2 - Macrihanish to Gander - overnight
Day 3 - Gander to Kennedy Space centre, dropped off periscope. Loadmaster attacked by alligator while fagging it on the side of the pan :E - overnight
Day 4 - Kennedy Space Centre to Fort Lewis, dropped off freight and RAF Falcons, picked up Army Freight - overnight (crew change)
Day 5 - Fort Lewis to Edmonton (Canada) - overnight
Day 6 - Greyhound Bus to Wainwright.

Just to save £150 on the civvie air fare from LHR to YYC - :*

[Blacksheep]

Kathmandu to Nagoya and straight back again on a B757. Two stops in Hong Kong for pax on-board refuel. Three flight crews along the way, but flying spanners are expendable. 23 hours including holding on the ground to accommodate the night curfew at Kai Tak - and you can't sleep on a B757 jump seat.

[Ginger Beer]

Not me with my paltry 11:40 single flt but a mate who claimed 25+ hrs non stop on a 707 variant during the Nicaragua farce.

Of course the kings will probably be the B2 with 35 ish hr duration sorties from Whitman to mid east and back without landing ?

Or the Shuttle:}

Ginge

[Ghostflyer]

3xF3 Leeming-Daharan-Leuchars. 9hrs 45 going, 12hrs on the ground and then nearly 11hrs coming back. Lost Number 2 at Cambrai and had to divert to Leuchars because of fog at Leeming. All without out a piss!
Being men we decided to have a beer in the bar and then off out for a curry. Woke up in the Cuzzer (Balaka?) to see the other pilot sleeping over the back of the booth, one Nav tucked up with a piece of nan bread and the other with his head in the starter. God we were giggling wrecks at the end of it.:zzz:

[jollygreenfunmachine]

Just checked my log book. 23 hours from Odi to Freetown in a wokka!! Left on the Sunday afternoon, arrived Monday night. Did stop for refuels on the way obviously but 23 hours flying in a wokka in a 32 hour period isn't bad!

P.S That was operating, not paxing!!!!

[Confucius]

:oh: I can only claim a couple of 10H20M sorties

MPA-drop at South Georgia-AAR-Sth Sandwich Island Recce-MPA

and

Lyneham-Halifax (but diverting to St John's).

I did manage a mere 24-ish hours in the back of a herc dead-heading back from Dar Es Salaam. Like the black hole of Calcutta I tells ya. Oh yeah, 2 hr stop in Akrotiri with no acces to the duty free shop - cheers plod :*

I need to get some time in!

[country calls]

The Oracle resupply straight into go home plot (with a twist):

Thumrait-Kabul-Thumrait, four hours on the ground then Thumrait-Akrotiri-Lyneham.

Now this was arduous enough,but once I had to do a double Thummers/Kabul run as the next bloke in the slip was in a tight holding pattern around the toilet block. So it turned into, with various delays for load etc., Thumrait to Kabul and return, another return trip to Kabul then Thumrait-Muscat-Akrotiri-Nice-Lyneham. 43 hours on the same aircraft.

I swear I will track down and choke the first person who says all you blokes do is sleep down the back hugging your toolbox anyway. There is only so much hammock time you can do without getting pressure sores!

[stickmonkeytamer]

9 hours 40 minutes to Tacoma, Seattle from Brize in a Timmy (even longer than the many trips to Asi then Mount "not so" Pleasant. About 6 times what I get from my hoover jet now...:ok: SMT