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Post by paulopp on Dec 1, 2015 10:39:11 GMT -5
Stumbled across the Avro Lancastrian mentioned briefly in FSAviator's 2008 Propliner Tutorial. The fate of the Star Dust still gives me shivers... Anyway, the Lancastrian is a beauty in my opinion. As far as I know there are currently two Lancastrians modelled for FS9, a freeware version by Manfred Jahn with a basic 2D pop-up panel and a payware model created by Plane Design which features a full VC with external model visible from the cockpit. So, I wonder if folks here do have first hand experience with the ship and if it lives up to the expectations of realistic propliner simulation. Grateful for any comment.
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Post by warbaby on Dec 1, 2015 14:16:21 GMT -5
I know nothing about the payware, but Manfred's freeware is a lot of fun. Don't know how accurate the flight dynamics are. But I downloaded "lancsnds.zip" from flightsim for the sounds. It really adds to the experience. Also use the panel from the Dam Buster Lancaster on Flightsim for the panel. Its fairly complicated. Allen
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Post by chris_c on Dec 1, 2015 19:57:08 GMT -5
No idea what the Plane Design version is like but I have many hours in Manfred Jahn's offering including several trans-Atlantic and cross-Andes trips. Using data from Flying with the Stars, the story of British South American Airways, Manfred's model comes pretty close to the real-world performance at least for long-range cruise segments and requires attention to the fuel management (or else!). You used to be able to get BSAA liveries for Manfred's offering over at Bluegrass Airways but not sure if they're still on offer.
The BSAA aircraft were different from the wartime Lancaster in that they had a fully equipped co-pilot station with a complete set of instruments and lacked a flight engineer station and dedicated navigator. I believe that the Canadian built Lancastrians used by Trans Canada Airlines and based on the Victory Aircraft Lancaster Mk-X were similar but used a navigator. Combat Lancs were single-pilot only, at least until after the war.
I added the CalClassic DC-6B Navigator station, driftmeter and bubble sextant gauges to the existing 2-D panel (I do not use virtual cockpits anyway) and it's one of my favourite propliners.
Chris
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Post by paulopp on Dec 3, 2015 4:41:14 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing your experiences! I tried MJ's Lancastrian and I can only agree that it's indeed a lot of fun. From JBK's DC-4M I already use Des Braban's Lancaster sounds, thanks for reminding though. The Dambuster Lanc from Ross McLennan actually is a panel-wise sized down Plane Design Lancaster which happens to be their successor of the Lancastrian. What bothers me is that the Dambuster easily climbs with 2k+ ft/min fully loaded whereas MJ's Lnacastrian doesn't barely climb over 200 ft/min as described in his reference file. Also, NAV1 and ADF1 don't work properly and the pitch AP seems to evolve a life of its own after some time...
I also followed your advice, Chis, and searched for the Bluegrass VA. Even though I could find their website there was no BSAA repaint. :-(
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Post by Defender on Dec 3, 2015 5:08:17 GMT -5
Hi, I've only used Manfred's York which is very good. He admits himself that the AP is not easy but an attempt to replicate the actual AP and its limitations. In fact his York is so easy to trim for straight and level flight that the AP is not really needed. Have you got the Lancaster's pilot notes? This set is the best I think. Although it's headed FE notes, the pilot notes are there as well. www.fiskertonairfield.org.uk/photo_2.htmlGood luck Bill
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Post by paulopp on Dec 3, 2015 12:33:22 GMT -5
Hi Bill,
thank you for the information. Wow, where do you find all this nice stuff? Have you ever thought of opening a thread where you could list all those interesting links? ;-)
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Post by Defender on Dec 3, 2015 14:31:49 GMT -5
Thanks Paul, being retired helps a lot!
What I find almost weird, and I'm sure others of my generation think the same, is that there's a thousand times more information available to us now than when these classic aircraft were actually in service.
All the best
Bill
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Dec 3, 2015 18:00:00 GMT -5
I remember taking my first long trip, I went to the UCLA Map Library and studied maps of the towns I was going to visit. I pinpointed airports, rail yards, and other points of interest, since I had no internet to find things. I had to guess if this was the important one in a town, and sometimes I guessed wrong...
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Post by aeroart on Dec 3, 2015 20:16:46 GMT -5
I've been flying Manfred's Lancastrian during the last few days, and have the same sound package in it and Jen's North Star. It's good not to live in an apartment so I don't have to turn down the roar of those four Merlins!
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Post by Willy on Dec 4, 2015 9:12:03 GMT -5
Don't know about Manfred's Lancastrian, but I do have the Plane Design payware version which was an impulse buy. I like it well enough, but haven't really flown it in a few years. I do remember that fuel management is necessary with it. I ended up in the Caribbean near Martinique from not knowing that little detail. It will do a dead stick ditching at sea quite nicely. It does include the textures for the BSAA G-AGWH "Star Dust". And there are a few repaints for it.
The guys I fly online with and I are doing a South American trip now. I might have to try the Lancastrian again in FSX.
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