RAF Record in the air without IFR

Think the Convair B36s could stay up a wee while too. Wikipedia quotes 40 hrs unrefuelled (if they are to be believed!).

I have heard stories (in the mid-50’s) of Beverley Flt Engs topping up engine oil in flight. Perhaps they were the smaller size of Bev Flt Engs?!! It must (if it actually occurred) have been fairly noisy!!! But as one tended to get a fair amount of oil in even a cup of coffee in a Bev it’s not suprising it had to be topped up – especially on that leg from Malta to UK heading into a Mistral up the Rhone valley when (certainly) trains and (possibly) even cars were observed to be overtaking this flying block of flats!
HTH
Resmoroh

In the more modern RAF era, a C-130 from Ascension to Port Stanley and back to Ascension (without landing at Stanley!) takes quite a bit of time!! I don’t know if those Hercs that were modified as AAR refuellers could actually use the “give-away” fuel as part of the tanker’s supply. If so then they could have gone on forever – and still have had enough ‘gravy’ for Alt 1, and then Alt 2!!!
One such Herc on a ‘There & Back’ trip was observed by Bowler Radar (atop Green Mountain) to be “fish-tailing” on approach to Ascension in order to use up time, supposedly to break some record or another. What all that was in aid of I know not, but perhaps somebody on the Truckie Fleet may know!
HTH
Resmoroh

Those C-130 tankers couldn’t use the fuel from the fuselage tanks.The only way they connected to the actual airframe was through a fuel vent pipe that exited the aircraft through the tailcone

Talking to Engineers, it seems what stops ‘flying forever’ is not a lack of fuel, but a lack of engine oil – you can in-flight refuel, but not top up your oil!!

Exactly or else all IFR equiped types could fly indefinetly.

I have read that those Herc flights are the longest RAF IFR missions carried out, being flight time wise longer than the Vulcan raids which for a long time stood as the longest ranged combat missions.

Just out of interest, as remarkable as the Fairey Long Range Monoplane record is, the times I mentioned were all meant to be RAF routine flights, does anyone know what the longest non IFR sortie is in that category?

Talking to Engineers, it seems what stops ‘flying forever’ is not a lack of fuel, but a lack of engine oil – you can in-flight refuel, but not top up your oil!!

Well Dave there is no arguing with that, WOW!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Long-range_Monoplane

I was amazed to hear from a mate that was on 36 Squadron at Topcliffe in 1955-56 where he told me that some of their Neptunes could stay aloft for over 30 hours, one imagines of course that there were at least two crews aboard.

In the more modern RAF era, a C-130 from Ascension to Port Stanley and back to Ascension (without landing at Stanley!) takes quite a bit of time!! I don’t know if those Hercs that were modified as AAR refuellers could actually use the “give-away” fuel as part of the tanker’s supply. If so then they could have gone on forever – and still have had enough ‘gravy’ for Alt 1, and then Alt 2!!!
One such Herc on a ‘There & Back’ trip was observed by Bowler Radar (atop Green Mountain) to be “fish-tailing” on approach to Ascension in order to use up time, supposedly to break some record or another. What all that was in aid of I know not, but perhaps somebody on the Truckie Fleet may know!
HTH
Resmoroh

Any takers?

57 hours 25 minutes, Fairey Monoplane K1991 of the Long Range Development Unit, Cranwell to Walvis Bay, South West Africa. 6th -8th February 1933.

Flown by Squadron Leader Oswald Gayford with navigator Flight Lieutenant G Nicholetts

Think a Catalina would probably do more than 20 hrs, John..

Yes if you have/find a copy of ‘North Atlantic Cat’ by Don McVicar there were some long delivery flights from US to UK.Can’t remember the longest mentioned but at 105 – 115 knots and sometimes taking a ‘North (or south) Dog’ round a weather system there were some ‘long uns’.
Cannot check as not home but all his books are a good read.

cheers baz

The longest recorded Shack flight was 24 hours and 36 minutes, performed by a 204 Sqn MR.2.

Shack Mk.3s have flown for 24 hours as a Farnborough airshow stunt, taking of at a certain time on one day, and returning at the same time on the following day.
Officially they carried out a sortie to the North, but some doubters say they landed at Kinloss, I have never seen evidence for either.

Of interest here, is that a RCAF Argus maritime aircraft held the record for twenty years (beaten only by the Rutan Voyager) of the longest unrefuelled standard piston engined sortie, that was just over 31 hours long!

Of course none of these figures stand up to that of the amazing over two days endurance of Truculant Turtle, but that was a heavily modified P-2.

Back to the RAF, I would think it would be hard to beat the unrefuelled time in air (as oppossed to range) of a Shackleton.

Think a Catalina would probably do more than 20 hrs, John..