Martin XB-51

[Mick]

A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FS 2004 Aircraft

Description: Martin's XB-51 competed for the contract to equip the U.S. Air Force with a new jet attack bomber to replace the A-26 Invader in the night interdiction role. The package includes authentic skins for five of the color and markings schemes worn by the first prototype during its long career at the Air Force Flight Test Center and ten speculative skins in the colors and markings of B-57 operators that would have flown the B-51 had it won the production contract. Model by David Wooster, skins painted by Mick.

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Martin XB-51
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

[Mick]

Couple more:

There were B-57 target tugs that wore this scheme:



B-57s served in numerous Air Guard squadrons. This one wears the livery of the Vermont ANG:



B-57s went to Vietnam in lizard camo:

[MrZippy]

Confusing, Mick! Isn't the B-57 a Canberra?

[Mick]

Like it says, "...speculative skins in the colors and markings of B-57 operators that would have flown the B-51 had it won the production contract."

[normb]

Wow! Thank you and Dave for another nifty fifties bird!

normb

[Mick]

Wow! Thank you and Dave for another nifty fifties bird!
normb

You're very welcome!

And unlike the Air Force, we put our B-51 into service!

[ian elliot]

wow, you kept that quiet Mick, i wonder'd if the 51 was next on your list, will take it for a spin this evening. Im old enough to remember the old Alpha model

[stoney]

Oh way cool Mick, thanks!

[Mick]

wow, you kept that quiet Mick, i wonder'd if the 51 was next on your list, will take it for a spin this evening. Im old enough to remember the old Alpha model

I remember it too. In fact, I still had a copy in the Big Jets section of my Post-WW2 hangar drive. Not sure why I kept it since some of the animations (landing gear, I think?) don't work in FS9. I swiped the kneeboard checklist and reference files from it, just adding in the information about the animations David made. I thought of borrowing that panel too, but it didn't look like the panel photos we found.

[Hurricane91]

Very happy to see this interesting aircraft modeled for FS9. Thank you Mick and Dave, you put another great package together.

[anels9]

Wow very nice surprise! Always found the xb51 so fascinating!

thank you Dave and mick

[huub vink]

Thanks David & Mick, your efforts are highly appreciated!

Cheers,
Huub

[ian elliot]

Dont be put of by its strange looks, its a fine aircraft to fly, it flys more like a big fighter than any of the other "B"s, fast as well, but easy to land, as long as you give yourself enough room, i jump'd straight into the cockpit without reading the readme, im guessing no drag chute. Couldn't be more different from your B45, big fun thumbs up from me

[Mick]

Dont be put of by its strange looks, its a fine aircraft to fly, it flys more like a big fighter than any of the other "B"s, fast as well, but easy to land, as long as you give yourself enough room, i jump'd straight into the cockpit without reading the readme, im guessing no drag chute. Couldn't be more different from your B45, big fun thumbs up from me

Yes, there's a drag chute, and it really works! When you deploy it, it activates the FS9 reverse thrust function to slow you down real quick. The instructions are in the ReadMe and in the kneeboard checklist and reference files. You can deploy it with the keyboard command or with the panel switch, but Only After you touch down. Deploy it while still airborne and you'll touch down quicker and harder than you'd like! You can jettison it before you come to a stop, or else it will jettison automatically when your speed gets down to 1 mph. Hmmm... We never checked to see, and now I wonder if you have to jettison it with the key command or the switch if there's a wind blowing down the runway.

To avoid accidental deployment errors the real XB-51 had a big T-handle down low to the right of the pilot's seat to deploy the chute and a jettison switch on the panel. Due to the limits of a 2D panel, we put both functions on the switch.

And yes, it does fly like a big fighter, and it should. It was originally designed as an attack plane, to be the A-46, optimized for quick handling during nighttime interdiction missions in mountainous terrain, then became a bomber when the Air Force retired the A for attack category. It played a fighter in it's movie role as the Gilbert XF-120 in "Towards The Unknown," and Frank "Pete" Everest flew it like one in the film.

[Mick]

Had it won the production contract the B-51 surely would've gone to Vietnam to work the Ho Chi Minh trail at night, as did the B-57, dodging kharst outcrops like it would have dodged mountains in Korea had it been produced in time. It's been written that one reason (among others) that the B-57 won the contract was that the Air Force thought it could be ready sooner and was in a rush to replace the old B-26 before that conflict ended. But it wasn't.

The Vietnam skin is my first ever "lizard" scheme and I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I think it turned out OK. The nose art is sort of an exercise in symbolism. I did it before we even started the XB-51 project and set it aside for a future opportunity to paint a fictional bomber or fighter skin.

[Sbob]

Um, you want engine smoke with that order?

Let me goof around with it and I'll post a quick how-to on how to add it.


Also, here's a quick add-on to the Aircraft.cfg file so ATC knows what's going on:


[General]

atc_heavy=0

performance=ANIMATION CONTROLS ARE LISTED IN THE KNEEBOARD CHECKLIST & REFERENCE FILES.\nB-45A-5: Top speed: 539 mph (495 knots) (860 KPH)\nRange: 2,900 mi (4070 km)\nCeiling: 40,256 ft (12270 m)\nRange: 2529 mi (4070 km)\nClimb Rate: 5950 ft/min (1814 m/min)\nBoam Load: 22,000 Lbs (9979 Kg)\nB-45C and RB-45C had greater range with tip tanks.\nBy David Wooster, 2023
visual_damage=1
atc_type=MARTIN
atc_model=XB36


Just copy the above and paste it in as the new General section. These are stock FS9 ATC files so no need to worry about adding anything.
You could also sneak in:

atc_model=B52

..if you want a more "what if the Air Force bought it?" feel.

[Sbob]

Adding exhaust smoke is pretty straight-forward.

I didn't want to play around with [lights] so just add the following new [smoke] section to the aircraft.cfg file:


[smokesystem]

smoke.0 = -3.00, -4.20, -4.50, fx_ALPHA_F105_smoke,
smoke.1 = -47.3, 0.0, 0.00, fx_ALPHA_F105_smoke,
smoke.2 = -3.00, 4.20, -4.50, fx_ALPHA_F105_smoke,

(NOTE the last comma in each line after "F105_smoke", make sure you add them)

I wanted some darker smoke to give it that 1950's "rolling coal" look which is why I used the 3D smoke effects from the later Alpha/Virtavia F-105 Thud.
You can also find some darker 3D smoke effects at HJG (https://simviation.com/hjg/main.htm).

You may also want an automatic switch if you don't like hitting the I key.
I raided the Alpha F-105 again and added the following line to the panel.cfg file:

Under [Vcockpit01] add the following line:


gauge52=ALPHA_F-105!Alpha_exh_smoke2, 1,1,1,1

..and that's about it. The smoke with this switch should kick in at RPM above 65% (as I recall).
You could also use any smoke switch you already have installed.

[Mick]

Um, you want engine smoke with that order?
Let me goof around with it and I'll post a quick how-to on how to add it.
Also, here's a quick add-on to the Aircraft.cfg file so ATC knows what's going on:

[General]

atc_heavy=0
atc_type=MARTIN
atc_model=XB36

Just copy the above and paste it in as the new General section. These are stock FS9 ATC files so no need to worry about adding anything.
You could also sneak in:

atc_model=B52

..if you want a more "what if the Air Force bought it?" feel.

I didn't put the type as MARTIN because the type isn't Martin, it's XB-51 or B-51A. And ATC would never use the word Martin in their radio calls. So if you put the type in as it would be used by ATC, you don't meed a Model= line at all.

If the Air Force bought it their ATC guys would talk to it like any other airplane. ATC would use the Airline= and the Type= name on the initial communication, preceding the last three or four of the serial, as if "Air Force XB-51 six eight five" and after that they'd say just "Air Force 685." I don't think FS9 is smart enough to leave out the Airline= line after the initial contact, so I guess you'd be stuck with it all the time.

You'd put the type= line in the General section only if you wanted it to be the some for every variation. If you want to to be correct, XB=51 for the authentic prototypes and B-51A for the operational types, you have to put it in each UI section, as we did.

Engine smoke, hmmmmm we didn't think of that. At least I didn't. Maybe David did. But I recall seeing exhaust smoke when I tested the drag chute, accelerating down the runway to sufficient speed so I could pop it, then slowing to let it jettison automatically. I wasn't expecting heavy black smoke like you'd see if there was water-alcohol injection. And those early turbojets didn't pump out heavy black exhaust like a J-75 or a J-79. More like an F-86 or a T-33, methinks.

[Sbob]

Well, to be honest, the type of smoke I used isn't as important as the locations in the [smoke] section.

I used the darker smoke because its my preference on 1950's jets but also because I wanted to make sure the locations were correct.
You could also use lighter gray, almost none (IRIS freeware jets have a good smoke effect for this) or even the older 2D "ribbon" smoke.
It mostly depends what you think looks right plus how you have FS2004 set up (overall screen size, resolution, GPU card, etc.).

Check out the (stock footage) scenes of the XB-49 in War Of The Worlds. Its rolling some coal.

With the ATC stuff, again, I'm basing this what you would expect to hear and what FS2004 can deliver.

[Sbob]

BTW, Mick, you're right. It does handle more like a fighter.

I've been shooting some touch and go's and having a great time.
Once you get into "final" you kinda want to fly it like a modern fighter doing a carrier landing:

Keep the nose (attitude) steady and control your sink rate with the throttles.
Also, make sure the spoilers and flaps are fully deployed before you enter the glide slope.

Otherwise, I treat it as a "flat flyer" like the B-47 or B-52.

You and David knocked it out of the park again.

[Mick]

BTW, Mick, you're right. It does handle more like a fighter.

I've been shooting some touch and go's and having a great time.
Once you get into "final" you kinda want to fly it like a modern fighter doing a carrier landing:

Keep the nose (attitude) steady and control your sink rate with the throttles.
Also, make sure the spoilers and flaps are fully deployed before you enter the glide slope.

Otherwise, I treat it as a "flat flyer" like the B-47 or B-52.

You and David knocked it out of the park again.

Thanks Bob,

And don't forget to deploy the drag chute when you touch down. It's not just eye candy, it actually works. The way it stops will be even more like a carrier landing!

I was amazed to read that for some incomprehensible reason, when the Air Force did the competitive test of the XB-51, Canberra, B-45 and AJ Savage to pick their new night intruder, the XB-51 didn't participate in the short field landing test.

[wbuchart]

WOW, just WOW.... I've loved this bird ever since I found the freeware 2002 Alphasim one (It doesn't work well in FS9). This one is beautiful and as stated earlier, it flies like a heavy fighter.
Fantastic modeling Dave, and fantastic paints, Mick! I could keep gong but you gurs already know hew great this model is....

Thanks Dave and Mick!!

Bill

[Mick]

Thanks for your kind words!

Glad you like it!

[Sbob]

Here's one just for Dave and Mick :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH7yg5oeluo

Top Gun it is NOT, but still a fun throw back to the mid 1960's, white helmets, and silver planes.
Note the olive drab face masks and orange flight suits.

[Mick]

Here's one just for Dave and Mick :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH7yg5oeluo

Top Gun it is NOT, but still a fun throw back to the mid 1960's, white helmets, and silver planes.
Note the olive drab face masks and orange flight suits.

Interesting! I'll definitely check it out when I have a little time.

I thought I had DVDs of every aviation movie ever made in my video library but I never even heard of that one!