FS 2004
C.R.D.A.Cant.Z.506B ready !!!
Hi Friends,
Good news for all !!!
From FSAviator :
The C.R.D.A. Z.506 Airone (military versions) project has grown in both visual complexity, and dynamic realism. Consequently the decision has been taken to release this project in two parts. Part 1 "The Wartime Years" will be released "soon" (I hope during the next week). Part 2 'The Peacetime / Post War Years' will follow "later" (probably before Christmas).
Part 1 will feature four different wartime "models", each with slightly different appearance, and as in real life with three slightly different sets of flight dynamics, and three slightly different VCs, mixed and matched correctly with each of the four types of wartime Airone. The FS9 selection menu will provide these five brief descriptions.
Early series:
Evolved from the mid 1936 Z.506A airliner, the early series Z.506B medium level bomber made its RA debut in June 1938, but combat debut was with the Spanish fascists in October, briefly bombing Spanish ports from Majorca. In RA service they helped to invade Albania in mid 1939, before bombing Tunisia in June 1940 and Greece from November. With only 800Kg of bombs, and rising losses, transfer to high level maritime patrol with no bombs accelerated. Then radar vectored RN carrier interceptors quickly imposed new series and further role transfers.
Mid series:
Retaining the retractable powered 1 x 7.7mm dorsal turret, the mid series Z.506B Airone added the two beam guns of the Z.1007bis and a sixth crew member to fire one or the other. Still flying high level MR, but increasingly tasked for transport and training, in between flying ASR sorties, to which the Z.506B was poorly suited. A few bombing sorties versus Yugoslavia in April 1941. Crews steadily retrained for all weather operations and around 100 early or mid series in service mid 1940 to early 1942. Barely present in the eastern MTO.
Late Series:
From December 1941 the late series were optimed for low level missions including long endurance convoy escort with no bombs, or short range Anti Submarine Warfare with ASW weapons, but retaining Ricognizione Marittima unit designations. Now all with crews who could fly at night and in any weather. Shallow dorsal manual cupola with 12.7mm counter balanced gun due to low level role. AVGAS supply problems and allied invasions caused bases to move north to southern France and the northern Adriatic. From late 1943 mid and late series also served in non combat roles in the allied Italian Co-belligerant Air Force.
Z.506S Airone Soccorso:
From November 1941 the Regia Aeronautica took delivery of 56 Z.506S Aironi Soccorso with fully functional bomb bays adapted to air drop inflatable life rafts or survival canisters. Bomb bays were normally crudely sealed with mastic. Gun positions retained but the guns were dismounted. Only the late series Z.506S had a different internally stowed entry ladder with a guide for a casualty lifting chair and a hand operated winch (hoist). At least 30 Aironi served in Soccorso or Sanitario roles with the Italian Co-belligerant Air Force after the surrender of Italian forces in September 1943.
From late 1943 Aironi of various kinds came under Luftwaffe command. Most were based in north east Italy, or Suda in Crete, and were used exclusively for type conversion training and then transport duties. In late 1944 a few Z.506S moved to Peenemunde under Luftwaffe command for Soccorso duties. Bomb bays were normally crudely sealed with mastic which could be removed. Gun positions retained but the guns were dismounted. In Luftwaffe service the Airone Soccorso gained a manually operated RMI.
Each different type of Z.506 then has several selectable liveries appropriate to the Balearic Air Forces of the Spanish Civil War, the Regia Aeronautica, the Italian Co-belligerant Air Force, and the Luftwaffe. Many different RA liveries applicable to different roles and geographical bases are also included.
Sequenced phase by phase, and decision by decision, on screen handling notes are provided, further explained in a wartime Airone crew training manual. This explains how to configure the visual appearance of the simulation, how to open and use "FS9 cameras" to act as your virtual crew, how to microzoom, the animations available and how to invoke them, how to use each prototypical gauge and control in the simulation, how to use the "human autopilot", how to conduct a cold and dark start, how to control the airscrews to control engine power, the V speeds, the associated variable geometry compliances and how to impose them, the engine limits, take off time required, how to keep the Airone in trim, how to control total co-efficient of drag, how to go agile, how to fuel versus payload plan, how to achieve parallax compliances, including the compliant head up glideslope, how to 'operate' the ventral and dorsal guns, how to occupy the gondola, and how to cope with engine failures.
It is however only a supplement to the earlier Z.1007bis Crew Training Manual and the Z.1007bis contextual history and so it does not explain vintage era en route or terminal navigation, how to use the real Traguardo Iozza U.3A bomb aiming equipment as the Air Gunner, or how to use the vertical photo recce equipment. It does explain the procedures for Z.506S Air Sea Rescue parachute drops and Z.506B blockade runner oblique photographic identification sorties, along with a detailed explanation of Z.506B mixed package navigation leader sorties.
Because this is a hydroplane release, its real bases in harbours, lakes and lagoons will not appear in the FS9 menu, and will be (mis)represented differently in your personal installed scenery. A MAPS folder is provided with five overview maps of the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations, and more detailed MAPS of each real Airone base so that you can identify the location of those real bases in your personal scenery, and then identify the nearby FS9 airfield whose NDB also serves that hydroplane base, as well as the target locations cited in the part 1 1935-1945 Contextual History.
That history explains how Airone operating doctrine, flight plan profiles, and role redeployment developed and cites many real sorties, in many different roles, that can be replicated inside MSFS, including where the four types of Z.506 were based, where they flew to, their flight plan profiles, the types of mission they flew, whether the real mission was flown by day or night, the detailed timeline that can be replicated in MSFS, and why all those things were done the way they were as enemy capability changed. We hope it will allow you to "inhabit" the Airone fully understanding the context of the procedures being simulated.
For maximum head up flight and bomb aiming realism this simulation uses a Virtual Cockpit and Virtual Gondola with multiple crew locations and real 4D parallax compliance procedures. Crew stations outside the forward cockpit and the forward gondola are instead represented by pop up 2D sub panels. The role of P2 is abbreviated to "Human Autopilot".
WARNING - This high realism simulation includes working controllable pitch airscrew rheostats for the first time in any desk top aircraft simulation. It is also only the second MSFS release to replicate the dynamics of controllable pitch aircrews with any significant realism. You will find controlling the engines difficult if you fail to read the relevant parts of the wartime Z.506 Crew Training Manual.
CAUTION - All gauges and controls are 3D. You will experience gloom and glare as the weather changes. You will experience the real parallax reading errors of the real 3D gauges from the real P1 eyepoint.
We wish you many months of immersive pleasure investigating the capabilities and limitations of the various wartime Z.506 Aironi while you learn about and experience the real performance envelope, handling envelope, workspace, equipment and procedures, as different crew members within a highly detailed and realistically functional multi part virtual environment.
Originally Posted by Daube
. All that aside, the Z.506, like to Z.1007 is yet another expertly modeled representation of Italy's Aviation History. With all of the fast war jets, popular WWII fighters such as the Mustang, Thunderbolt, Focke Wulf Fw190's... etc, having a plane like this one is a real treat. Thank you Manuele and your team for your gallant efforts.
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