July 13th
July 13th
Daily Flight Information:
Departed: Bucharest, Romania
Refueling stop at: Budapest, Hungary
Arrived: Vienna, Austria
Miles Flown: 578
Flight Time: 8 hrs. 50 mins.
(6:00 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. & 2:20 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.)
Total Miles Flown: 15,985
Total Flight Time: 221 hrs. 36 min.
World Flight Making Rapid Progress
Arrive in Vienna, Austria
Daily Report
by Lt. L. P. Arnold, "Chicago", Mechanic
Up at 3 & had breakfast at Col. Foys -- left at 5:50 for Vienna via Belgrade & Budapest, stopping at Budapest for lunch. The stop being in compliance with orders, we shall have to ask why one day they say "hurry up" & and next day say stop. Won't delay the schedule any, all it means is that we get through work two hours later tonight -- and that extra two hours sleep would go good with any one of us.
The day was remarkably clear & visibility perfect & the air was quiet until about noon. Our route took us across the Romanian wheat belt to the Bulgarian frontier & here we could easily see trenches, etc. as evidence of their last dispute. Then across the Carpathian Mountains & up the Danube River to Belgrade & Budapest.
At Budapest they had received a wire saying we would not arrive until tomorrow & most of the people had gone home. However, a few remained and our 1.5 hours stop was very nice. We met some very pleasant people, a lunch was hastily provided & a pleasant hour spent. At 2:10 we started forth again for Vienna where we landed at 4:10 -- a large crowd was on hand to greet us, mostly Americans (tourists -- medical students).
About seven we reached town, took a quick drive around Franz Joseph's ex-palace & then went to the hotel -- had dinner in room, talked awhile & bed about 10:30.
The Imperial Hotel is a most luxurious place & the rooms impressively large -- tradition has it that the hotel was once the Palace of the prince of Writtenburg & that he lost it in a game of cards. The size & furnishings of the rooms, the wonderful food, and excellent service all made a great impression on us after some of the places we have recently stopped at.
Daily Report
by Lt. L. H. Smith, Commanding
The flight left Bucharest at 6 a.m. this morning for Budapest, with the intention of making Vienna the same day. The course followed was that of the Franco-Romanian Aerial Transportation Company's with quite a number of marked emergency landing fields being available the entire distance. The planes passed over Craiova and Turnu Severin, where, because of low clouds, it was necessary to follow the Danube River most of the distance to Pamscovia, passing over the landing field used for the city of Belgrade, Serbia. From this point, the planes turned directly for Budapest, passing over Szeged and landing at Budapest at 12:50. This is also a commercial aviation field, operated by the Franco-Romanian Company. The field is rather small but did not cause any special difficulties. Here was given the official welcome of Hungary and the fliers had lunch on the field and prepared to leave.
At 2:20 p.m. this afternoon, the flight was again under way for Vienna, following the commercial air line, having a considerable number of emergency landing fields available as well as large white markers used for their night flying planes. The airway, as laid out, is a direct compass course from the field at Budapest to the field at Vienna. The flight landed at 4:20 on an excellent field also belonging to the Franco-Romanian Company. We were received by various officials and the largest crowd of interested people since leaving Japan. A great many of these people were Americans. Total flying time for today - 8 hrs. 50 min.