Quicksand jr
Charter Member 2011

Neil, to get it to start, there are only two important things you'll have to do every time you load the aircraft: 1. Select a fuel tank via the fuel selector switch (every time the aircraft loads, the fuel selector will always be "OFF", and when pressing Ctrl+E, the a fuel tank will not be selected for you automatically) 2. The magneto/ignition switch in the VC needs to go to "BOTH" (through the hidden gage code, this aircraft's ignition will not be on unless you use the switch in the VC, even when you press Ctrl+E) Once you've done those two steps, the aircraft will fire right up when you select Ctrl+E. For a manual start, using all that the aircraft has to offer, do the following:

I've lost count of how many funerals I've attended as part of the PGR. I'm just glad that very few of them have been for KIA's. Every last one has been very emotional.

Speaking of the Virtavia/Alphasim model, does anyone know of a fix ever having been made for the propeller? I noticed it spins the wrong way. Regarding the Wozza Texan, Dumonceau, if you do remain interested in flying it, it just requires that you have a fuel tank selected (when you start off, the fuel selector will always be off) and the mag swith to both, and then all you have to do is just press Ctrl+E (if you don't want to go through the full startup procedure).

A great model an great shots! But suddenly I realise that I have forgotten to show you the picture below. It is a picture from the Fairchild UC-61K Argus, taken in the Royal Army Museum in Brussels. I thought there was a sign explaining the history, but I'm afraid there wasn't. For those who didn't recognise it, it is the aircraft in Roger's first screenshot. Before the aircraft ended in the museum, it had flown with a French and Belgian civil registration. The aircraft has construction number 951 and is the ex F-BAMB and ex OO-LUT. I haven't got a clue what the marking on the right side of the nose stands for. Cheers, Huub

Dumonceau, I have them all, so I'll put the same flight characteristics together for the Alphasim/Virtavia models as well, and upload them all together as one set (covering all three sets of FSX AT-6 productions). The reason why I don't tend to fly the Alphasim/Virtavia model is because the view from the cockpit is far more restrictive than it really is in the real aircraft, due to the way they modeled the canopy and windscreen. As you can see with the more accurate Wozza and SU models, the canopy on the AT-6 is quite tall, and when you sit in the AT-6 you also sit quite tall as well, almost able to see over the nose, with a great amount of vision provided to you. The Alphasim/Virtavia models, however, of course have a large amount of superb repaints, and it is a solid aircraft.

As stated in the book, Fighters of World War II, by Jeff Ethell and Robert Sand, "The AT-6 was the first dose of real horsepower given to Army Air Force Cadets and they took to the beefy trainer with unbridled enthusiasm, much to the horror of local townspeople who were constantly buzzed and chased at all hours of the day and night. It was intoxicating to ride behind 600 horsepower with the canopy slid back and the landing gear tucked up. A pilot's first taste of "rat racing" in trail, leader trying to shake those following, came with the Texan." "Once we got into advanced training with a hot 600 hp airplane, we flying cadets considered it the hot rod we never could afford during the Depression. We could cruise about the Texas plains after dark, harassing train crewmen to the point of serious injury. We would spot a slow freighter ambling down the track, fly ahead of it for several miles, turn and meet the locomotive at cab level, and wait until we were right on the engine before turning on one landing light. The engineer would know that he couldn't avoid a sure collision, and order the fireman to jump before the "other train" hit. The engineer promptly slammed on the brakes and ground the wheels flat as the AT-6 roared overhead and we hightailed it back to base with our night flying training completed. This was great sport for both Army and Navy pilots." - William Bell, an AT-6 flying cadet.

I'm sure some have already read this before, but if you haven't, or if you haven't in some time, it is a great insight into what it is like to fly the AT-6 (including the differences to watch out for between variants). One of the items mentioned in this article that I enjoyed reading, is that with the AT-6, if you just don't look at the airspeed indicator, it will feel like you are going much faster than you really are, especially if you build some airspeed in a shallow dive and go buzzing over the countryside with trees and power line poles whizzing by you at 180-190 mph. http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepT-6.html Note that this was written more than two decades ago, so information about prices of airframes is almost ancient by what has happened to the market since then. In it it discusses that you can buy a fairly nice, flying, AT-6 for between $30-$35,000, and the prices go up to about $60,000. Today, most sell for around the $150-$200,000 region, and I have seen one advertised as high as $350,000 (a fresh, award-winning restoration, thought to be the most authentic flying SNJ), but it didn't sell.

Do you really think out current police force look different? :icon_lol:

Every day I open this thread to look what beautiful shots have been added during my night. And I'm always pleasantly surprised to see how pretty FSX actually looks, like Walter already mentioned when he opened this thread! Keep posting! Huub

Becker entered the Fliegertruppe in 1916. After serving as an observer on the Eastern Front, he was trained as a pilot and sent to the Western Front to fly two-seaters. In May 1917, he was assigned to Jasta 12 as a single-seat fighting pilot. Becker scored his first victory on 6 June 1917. In May 1918, Becker assumed command of Jasta 12, replacing Ewald Blumenbach. On the afternoon of 3 November 1918, he scored his final victory, shooting down a SPAD XIII east of Joncq. During this dogfight, he and his men were credited with the loss of five SPADs. Although Becker was recommended for the Blue Max, the Kaiser's abdication prevented him from receiving it. With 30 years, Becker was an old pilot. Nearly all of his 23 victories were against "for those days" modern fighters. He survived the war, but there is not much more known about him. Strange, as we still know what his aircraft looked like in March 1918.....

A little evening Texan flight in the Seattle area

Some lately adventures

Nice shots, the last one could have been taken over my country. I hope we will see a native Bf110 in FSX soon..... Cheers, Huub

The 'Wozza' Texan is available at Flightsim.com Filenames are: fsds_t-6.zip and fsds_t-6update.zip Most all of the repaints that have been available were made for the updated models. An exception is Michael Flahault's RCAF repaint (woz_t-6_rcaf.zip - also available at Flightsim.com), one of my favorites, which requires the original non-updated exterior model, before changes were made to the cowling mapping. When using it, all you need to do is make a new model folder (name it whatever you want), and use the original non-updated exterior model with the updated interior model, and make sure to assign the Aircraft.cfg file entry for that repaint to the new model folder you created. Other repaints (that I'm aware of) for the Wozza Texan: saafhvd.zip - available at Flightsim.com

I thought this photo was awesome, and just had to share it here. This particular example is based in Anchorage, Alaska (Lake Hood) and is operated by Ketchum Air Services, flying again since 2007. In all, there are five 'Ducks' that fly in the world today, operated by owners Kermit Weeks, the Friedkin family (whose Duck is often displayed at Planes of Fame), the Tillamook Air Museum, Chuck Greenhill, and Ketchum Air Services.

I'd just like to consider it much like a 'beta', and would be willing to try and improve anything that anyone may notice and report on. Both the Wozza and SkyUnlimited Texans get an equal working-out on my end (for instance, with Wozza's Texan, it's fun to leave the canopy cracked open through the entire flight (like the Kermie Cam video I posted above), hearing the sound of the wind and prop wash via Accu-feel). Quicksand, DL, and TuFun, you are very welcome! ; )

he's back

Also, be sure to watch these videos first, and then load up your favorite AT-6, and the Dimus Fantasy of Flight scenery, and have some fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFXOpLReNgg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAHNnHBBJT8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOmH6ZiEUXg

Many thanks, my friend. :salute::medals::icon29::guinness:

You're welcome Matt! Von Richthofen or the Red Baron is more or less synonym for a red Fokker Dr.1 "Driedecker". However van Richthofen scored only 19 from his 80 victories with a Fokker Dr.1. In most cases this Dr.1 was not even painted (overal) red. From the seven Fokker Dr.1s, from which it is know he has flown them, only two were painted completely red. The best known one is of course the 425/17, the aircraft in which he scored his last two victories and in which was killed. The other one is the 152/17 which originally only had red struts, wheel covers, tail and upper wing, like most Dr.1s von Richthofen flew. Later the 152/17 was painted overall red like the 425/17. When the 152/17 was on display in the Berlin Züghaus Museum is was completely red. I have painted the 152/17 as it originally looked, which is very similar to most of the Fokker D.1s von Richthofen flew. For those who want it: Its available in the file library.

Thanks for the link falcon409. Been watching this thread with some interest since I've started dabbling in AI and airport parking. Still a noob with a lot to learn. :salute:

I have the same problem, Paul. I have no idea how to fix it. :blind:

Much appreciated, John.:icon29:

I love it, Huub! I'm in agreement with you that 'some red' is better than all red.

Rick, the Paine Field scenery is default part of the ORBX Pacific Northwest scenery. Although far from perfect, it is a rather nice representation (it doesn't have anything where the Historic Flight Foundation facilities are located, just the ramp and taxiways, but there is a hangar located at the location of the FHC hangar which does, generically, look quite the part). It does have an aerial photo scenery as the base of the airport. And you are absolutely right about FHC's Fw 190A-5. It is the only original Fw 190 airframe flying in the world today (and extremely original at that, with something like 90%+ of the original internal structure, and even 85%+ original skins (which is just crazy, that that much remained preserved well enough to be used in the restoration)), and is powered by a BMW 801 engine, as per original. At this time, there are a couple of other original Fw 190 airframes which are also being restored to airworthy to be powered by BMW 801's - probably most noteworthy, the example known as "White 1", which was obtained by the Collings Foundation last year and remains on track to completion and flying (will likely be the next one to join the ranks of the FHC example). All of the other full-size Fw 190's you see flying today are Flugwerk replicas, and aren't really all that close to the originals, being largely 'based on' the original design, and not entirely copied from the original design - for instance, those who have tried have found that the Flugwerk parts/assemblies don't match up with original Focke-Wulf parts/assemblies, and thus cannot help in getting an original airframe completed.

Mike, Cleartheprop, and Quicksand, I'll polish them off (the flight dynamics files) and send them to you via PM. My aim was to have flight performance similar to the Virtavia/Alphasim models (airspeeds, acceleration), with the flight handling of the Warwick Carter models (control forces), together with the visuals of the SU models (I've done the same/use the same flight dynamics with the Warwick Carter models as well). If interested, I'll also include the modified panel.cfg files and gauge that I wrote for the tailwheel locking mechanism for the SU AT-6G and LT-6G variants, which, unlike the earlier Texans, had a tailwheel locking mechanism just like the P-51 (that was connected to the control stick position). If anyone else would be interested, just PM me, and I'll get the files off to you as well (volume 1 and 2). I'm still working on the textures (its been a bit of a long-term project).

Just picked up Sky Unlimited's pack two.. John, I would love to have your improvements, flight model and texture wise, to these outstanding models... I have all the available Texans, BTW, and they are all very well done... Thankful to all the modellers who make these planes available, be they payware or freeware. :salute::medals::icon29::guinness:

we will have to sleep on that last pic

Looks great! Huub

Nice shots, I would love to see them (and hear them) once with my own eyes (and ears). The nice thing from modern technology is that I can see (and hear) them on You Tube. Not quite the same but a nice substitute. So thanks for the video. Cheers, Huub

the real couch potato "Where's the beef"

Even in my small country there are already 2 flying replicas I know of, so you are most probably right when you think the number of replicas is close to the number of DR.Is originally built. For a period when photography was still something new an amazing amount of pictures were taken from the Fokker Dr.1. Personally I think the aircraft would have been forgotten already a long time when the guy above hadn't died in one. Manfred von Richthofen was made a myth by propaganda already during his life time. After his death people only continued to add to the story until he had turned into something which was completely invented and had no nothing to do with the real person von Richthofen. But ike Mikael Carson said in one of the interviews; when you build a replica it should be something people recognise. Well everybody has heard of the Red Baron, although most people think it is a guy with a big moustache and a pike on his helmet :icon_lol:. The myth around the red Baron leads to weird things. Like all the bad guys in the movie Flyboys fly in a red Fokker, while in reality even most of the 7 (!) different DR.Is van Richthofen flew, were painted only partly red! Fantasising about von Richthofen did also lead to the weird idea that some dogs can fly on top of their doghouse.......

Thank you Paul - I had just noticed that too while flying that model last night and was going to mention it to you today. I've been really enjoying these aircraft, and thank you for sharing your superb work with us all!

BTW, continuing off of what you mention, Huub, I was a bit surprised to find that there are as many original period photographs of Dr.I's as there are available. For those that wonder about such things, only 320 Dr.I's were ever originally produced, and by the time of WWII only one of these of the original production was still surviving - which was serial no. 152/17, which had been one of the examples flown by Manfred von Richthofen, who had claimed three of his kills with that aircraft. Unfortunately, having been on display in a museum in Berlin, the aircraft was destroyed by the Allied bombing raids, and thus no originals remain today (save for a few parts and numerous pieces of fabric from originals (some have joked that there is so many surviving pieces that are claimed to have been from Richthofen's aircraft, that a complete example could be assembled from those pieces that are on display or in private collections around the world). Fokker did assemble one from existing parts they had in the 1930's, but that one too was destroyed during WWII while on display in Berlin. With only 320 having originally been built, it would be interesting to know in comparison the total number of the replicas which have been produced since WWI (probably quite a ways up there to matching that original production number).

Thank you Huub!

Dave, I have both, and with Volume 2 you get quite a bit more than you do with Volume 1, for really no difference in price. The flight dynamics are very nice, but a bit underpowered (much like the flight dynamics with the Warwick Carter model). I've simply increased the horsepower and changed a few other items regarding the engine and prop in mine to get more airspeed out of them. I've been working on new textures, specs, and bump maps for the SU models at double the resolution as they come, with the hope of producing a number of my favorite Texan, SNJ, and Harvard paint schemes.

For those who want it, the Voss repaint is available in the download section. Enjoy, Huub

the dishwasher

Thanks for the links John. Very interesting read and the demonstration in the second video gives a fine impression of what this aircraft actually could do. It gives whole new definitions of STOL, steep turns and fast climb. On of the nice things about repainting is that during your research you learn a lot about history. I never knew that all German aircraft manufactures used their own paint. Therefore the grayish light blue from Albatross is quite different than the turquoise Fokker used. Standards like RAL and RLM were not introduced yet. With engines which develop less power than the ordinary family car, all the weight counts! Therefore on Fokker aircraft the olive paint was applied as thin as possible. The (later) production models had the upper surfaces not painted turquoise, but the olive brush strokes were applied on the bare fabric and afterwards coated with two layers of varnish. The later lozenge fabric was mainly invented to reduce weight as the ink of the printed pattern weighted less than paint. This also explains a bit why Mikael Carlson's replica weights more than the original. Although I must admit not the full 80 Kilograms.... :isadizzy: Cheers, Huub

Compression calculations can be tricky until you get used to it. It sounds like you need to raise the nose a bit. That means you need a stronger spring. First, remember that FS begins ALL calculations assuming a full load. Second, the actual contact point position is at the maximum extension. The next thing you need to know is how much travel that the landing gear actually has. So for argument's sake, let's say that the gear has a total travel of one foot. That means you max compression is 1. If you want the plane to sit on the runway with that gear point compressed six inches, that's half of the max, or 0.5 for the "Static Compression." The last step is to calculate the compression ratio. You can either divide 1/.5 or convert to inches and divide 12/6 - either way, 2.0 is your answer. For that same gear to get a stronger spring, you start with decreasing the static compression. Let's say that you want that gear point to sit with only two inches of compression. Since you're dealing in feet, 2 inches out of twelve is (2/12) is 0.17 feet. At this point, it's worth using inches for the ratio. So divide your max compression (12) by your static compression (2), so 12/2=6. FS will then use the static compression and the compression ratio and calculate the correct spring strength. Hopefully everything's as clear as mud now... BTW, which aircraft are you working on?

Huub, that repaint looks brilliant! I really do like your paintwork very much, the brush-stokes on the fabric turned out great. And what an interesting airframe - the history about it, and the colors and markings. Definitely looking forward to flying that one if you decide to upload it! BTW, on the topic of Mikael Carlson and his Dr.I reproduction, and the experience he has with flying it, there is a rather interesting discussion (originated a few years ago) at the Rise of Flight forums, that starts with some interesting feedback from Mikael Carlson about flying and operating an authentic Le Rhone powered Dr.I: http://riseofflight.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=14008 And here are some interviews with Mikael Carlson, discussing the Dr.I: http://www.clipwings.com/clip/1318/Mikael_Carlson_Fokker_DRI___Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEbzXZ0d6XA

And here are the two real aircraft, performing together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItiOsA9VMWs