Latecoere 631 - Port Etienne MR to Port Etienne MQ and Beyond 1948 (Iron Man) Achievement

Multi achievement

Latecoere 631 - Port Etienne MR to Port Etienne MQ and Beyond 1948 (Iron Man)

This is a virtual airline achievement created by Wayback Machines.

It's 1948, the heyday of the Latecoere 631 flying boat. This is a regularly scheduled Air France transatlantic flight between Port Etienne in Mauritania and Fort de France on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, and then on to ports in Venezuela and Columbia.

This is a full, real-time, 2500 nm flight and will take between 15 and 20 hours depending on winds. A shorter duration, 500 nm flight to Cabo Verde that gives you a "taste" of the transatlantic voyage is available here

Flight Plan:

Route: Direct from the hydrobase at Port Etienne, Mauritania to the Fort de France hydrobase at Martinique, and on to Cartegena in Columbia.
Plane configuration: 24 passengers, 500 kg cargo
Navigation: compass, dead reckoning
Download: Latécoère 631 Commercial Flight Plans

Requirements:

Latécoère 631

Required Scenery Content:

Flying Boats Era's Hydrobases by Skylane (MSFS PC Only)

Optional Scenery Content:

GQPP 1935 Nouadhibou Airport by RedWing Simulations, available on the MSFS Marketplace

History:

The Latécoère 631 was a civil transatlantic flying boat built by Latécoère, and it held the distinction of being the largest flying boat ever constructed up to that time. In 1936, the French Civil Aviation Authority issued a specification for a 40-passenger airliner with a range of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles).

The Latécoère 631 was ordered in 1938, with plans for it to be powered by six Gnome et Rhône P.18 engines, each producing 1,650 horsepower (1,230 kW). It was designed to be a transatlantic aircraft, capable of long-distance flights.

Construction of the Latécoère 631 was halted due to the outbreak of World War II. After the signing of the Franco-German Armistice in 1940, work on the prototype resumed. The prototype, registered as F-BAHG, took to the skies on November 4, 1942. Unfortunately, it was subsequently confiscated by the Germans and passed to the Luftwaffe. The aircraft was destroyed by an attack from two Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquito planes over Lake Constance in 1944.

The second Latécoère 631, F-BANT, flew for the first time on March 7, 1945. It was powered by six Wright Cyclone engines. Air France purchased four of these aircraft, which entered service on the Biscarrosse - Port-Étienne - Fort de France route in July 1947.