|
AVSIM Freeware Aircraft Package Review
|
|
|
 |
|
| Product
Guide |
 |
Aircraft designer:
Kotaro Akikawa |
Description:
Cold War Heavy Bomber |
Format:
Zipped file |
D/L Size:
14,530kb |
Simulators:
FS2002, FS2000, and CFS2 |
| Reviewed by: Steve (Bear) Cartwright, AVSIM Senior Reviewer |
| Freeware Review Rating Policy: Freeware reviews are unrated, but may earn an Avsim special award. Please see details here. |
Introduction
The Army-Air Forces recognized in early 1944 that a jet powered bomber was needed to counter the speed of aircraft like the German Me-262, so the request for a high-speed high-altitude bomber design went out to the US aircraft designers, of which there were five designs submitted by 1945. In 1947, Boeing received the contract to build the B-47, which used much of the technology gained from the retrieved data from the German design work in jet fighters.
|
Reader Survey
This survey is intended for those that have used
this product or add-on. If you have used it, please
let your fellow simulation enthusiasts know how
you rate it by taking this survey. Please, if
you have not used this product, do not take this
poll (you can view the poll from the "Results"
link below).
|
|
|
In 1948 the USAF gave the green-light for Boeing to begin development of their proposed bomber, the 464-67! As Boeing began work in earnest, the USAF designated the two prototypes ordered to be the XB-52 and YB-52, with only slight differences between the two models (except that the XB and the YB did sport tandem seating, rather then the production side-by-side seating arrangements). The XB was set to fly first in the summer of 1951, but due to some engineering snags with the "XB" model, the "YB" version prototype flew first, but not until April of 1952. The B-52B went into full production in 1954 (the first operational 52s didn't happen until 1955) with all production ending in 1962 with the H model. There were a total of 744 B-52s (all models) built, with 102 of the H models included in that (there are a total of 71 of the H models currently operational, which is the only model flying today).
Originally designed as America's primary nuclear delivery system and our best deterrent against imagined nuclear aggression by the Soviet Union, the B-52 became the symbol of America's determination during the Cold War. In the early 1960s, up to 100 B-52s or Long Rifles (SAC code name for the B-52s) at our SAC (Strategic Air Command) flight centers could be airborne within 20 minutes, with each aircraft carrying two 15-megaton thermonuclear bombs (each bomb yielding 100 times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb). Fortunately for all of us, they were never flown on their intended mission!
With the United States involvement with the war in Vietnam, the B-52 (mostly D models) were called upon to deliver conventional ordinance over North Vietnam and these Arc-Light missions were flown from Guam (8 hours round-trip) during operation "Rolling Thunder," then later with "Linebacker" and "Linebacker II." Each of these B-52s (Vietnam) could carry up to 108 500lb gravity bombs (loaded both internally and externally), making this aircraft one of the most devastating aerial weapon platforms ever conceived by man! By the end of the Vietnam War, B-52s had dropped over 3 million tons of ordinance. It was during this time that the B-52 gained its most commonly referred to name of BUFF, for Big Ugly Fat Fellow (or some other version you may have heard).
During the Gulf War, B-52s (G models) flying out of Barksdale AFB, LA, flew the longest strike missions in the history of aerial warfare by flying nonstop combat missions from Barksdale to Iraq and back to Barksdale (35 hour combat missions).
Over the years there have been several times when replacement bomber types have been proposed or have even been tested and built (XB-70 for example), but it is highly unlikely that will ever happen. The GAO (General Accounting Office) has estimated that the end of the service life for the current inventory of B-52H models will occur on or about the year 2040. Interestingly enough that's 5 to 10 years after the expected end of service life for the B-1B and B-2 bombers! There even have been some suggestions of building new versions of the B-52 when the service life of the current aircraft inventory runs out in 2030 - 2040. So, Air Force personnel joke that when the B-1B and B-2s are flown into retirement, it will be a B-52 that picks up those flight crews—well, that probably is not far from the truth! If the current inventory of B-52s do go to that estimated time of end of service (2040), this would mean 84 years of highly successful military service! A military service life exceeded by only one other weapon, the 1911 Colt 45 automatic handgun at 87 years of military service.
At one time or another, just about every conceivable aircraft has been rendered for Flight Simulator, with the exception to that being the B-52 – at least not a high quality version – that was until Kotaro Akikawa of Yokohama, Japan released his freeware version of the B-52 "H" model intended for FS2002 in early February. Kotaro's B-52 H model was uploaded with versions for FS2002, FS2000, and also for CFS2 (the CFS2 version also requires an additional file download so that you have all the correct gauges installed).
(See the attached sidebar interview with the FS aircraft designer, Kotaro Akikawa, as you may find it a bit surprising that he is not only an accomplished designer, he is also a young man of only 14!)
Over the last 2 or 3 weeks, I have logged nearly 30 hours of flight time (FS2002) with one or more of the 6 liveries that Kotaro included and I am simply ecstatic over this FS aircraft. Kotaro has truly captured the feeling of flying this aging warrior in a way no one has before and learning to fly this aircraft has been a real blast and a real challenge for me.
Aircraft
From a visual point of view this aircraft is quite stunning and very accurate in its overall appearance, right down to the fully animated landing gear (it even includes the wing outrigger gear as well). The landing gear on the B-52 is in a tandem arrangement and during retraction, each wheel truck assembly rotates up into its gear bay in a cross-fold fashion. Kotaro has duplicated this quite well (see my gear retraction screenshot sequence for a visual on how this works), but he does explain that he was unable to get the wing outrigger gear to retract precisely as in real-life due to limitations of the animation programs.
Each of the 6 liveries are styled after real USAF bomber groups and the ordinance loads do vary slightly between aircraft in accordance to those bomber groups. Kotaro used the Abacus FSDS FS aircraft design program to put this aircraft together and his attention to detail is outstanding, even down to the shape of the EVS pods under the cockpit.
From all angles, the Kotaro B-52H holds true in its appearance to its real-world counterpart!
|
In all details, this FS B-52 is very accurate, right down to the small
vortex generator tabs on the topside of the wing.
|
Even that downward slope of the main wing spar line is nearly perfect.
|
Activation of the reverse-thrusters also releases the drag-chute; this along with the spoilers and full flaps are all needed to stop this behemoth! Turning on the landing lights (with the gear retracted) will also open the bomb-bay doors. Each of the liveries contain the correct ordinance as according to their squadron groups, which obviously points out to the level of detail and-or accuracy Kotaro extended his design.
Panel
Kotaro gives credit for the panel to Phil Perrot from his earlier work at a near photorealistic B-52 panel. Phil's panel is actually from an earlier model of the B-52 as it is lacking the EVS screens, but regardless it is still more than adequate for the job. The panel also has more than acceptable night-lighting along with the standard functions (pop-up windows for the autopilot, radio panel, and the default GPS) required to successfully fly this aircraft.
Though the Kotaro B-52H does have a virtual panel, it is merely the generic type and is not dynamic at this time. Future models of the B-52 from Kotaro may be different in this area soon, as he (Kotaro) has indicated that future updates include versions that will be rendered using GMAX.
Phil Perrot's panel—though not really accurate for an H model 52—is on the other hand more than acceptable.
|
With the autopilot, radio panel, and default GPS on pop-up windows, plus pretty authentic panel night-lighting, the Kotaro B-52 has a more than adequate business office!
|
|
Test
System
|
Compaq 1.3GHz Athlon
Windows ME
286 Mb RAM
GeForce2 GTS
DVD, CDR-W
JBL speaker/sound
Saitek 3D Cyborg Gold joystick
Compaq 19" flat screen monitor
FS2002 Professional
Flying
Time:
28 hours
|
The B-52 is best known to me by its black silhouette, as it has a shape that can never be confused with any other aircraft in the world.
Kotaro's B-52H, like the real thing, takes off with a nose down attitude.
With the drag-chute deployed, the main spoilers up, reverse-thrusters activated, and the massive spooling up sounds of this aircraft's engines it is very exciting after a perfect approach and landing.
Your choice of airports requires that you also consider runway width, as the wing outriggers need to stay on the hard-surface as does the main gear. Here I am on 7R at Los Angeles International, yet my outriggers are on the very edge of the runway!
Here you can see the detailed animation of the main gear to follow how the main gear works in reality for the B-52!
|
|
Sounds
The included sounds for this B-52 are from the default 747, so I did a quick search of the various sim website libraries and found a set of FS98 B-52 sounds from Mike Hambly, which I installed. Apparently Mike too has seen this latest aircraft from Kotaro, because barely a week after its release, Mike uploaded his version2 B-52 sound files, presumably optimized for FS2002. I strongly recommend that you locate these sounds and install them along with the Kotaro B-52. (b52hsndp.zip by Mike Hambly at flightsim.com or b52strat.zip by Aaron Swindle at simviation.com).
Airfile
This is the section that Kotaro spent the most time and also where he received the most assistance from some real-world B-52 pilots. Two different individuals contacted Kotaro directly to offer their help with the flight modeling, and between Ret. Maj. Clayton Dopke (former commander of a B-52D/G over Vietnam) and B-52 Crew Chief Jason Peters, this aircraft is modeled with their help, as closely to the real thing as one could expect. Flying this FS aircraft successfully is simply not for the inexperienced, but it is wonderful platform for learning to fly an aircraft of this size and weight. Knowing that this FS aircraft flies within 90%+ of the real-thing and then learning to fly with the trim, the patience, and the concentration required, it is a good feeling to perform the perfect approach followed by a smooth landing, right on the centerline of the runway.
Initially there were noted a couple of problems with the flight modeling, mostly difficulties when operating on the autopilot. In the AVSIM Forums, one of the airfile gurus (Steve Small) noticed that the position of the right and left tip tanks were set at 400 feet from the aircraft's centerline, where 75 feet should have been set. If you correct this oversight, it will yield a greatly improved flight experience when flying on the autopilot. (See my screenshot here for where to correct this line in the aircraft.cfg file).
To correct a minor handling prob-lem when flying on autopilot, you will need to make a small correc-tion in the aircraft.cfg file for the B-52H. You will need to change the centerline to tip tank distance of 400 feet down to a more realistic 75 feet or so. (Click for legible image)
|
Another area that had to be dealt with is that the real B-52 has over 70 individual fuel bladders, Kotaro has only installed 9 individual fuel cells into his FS version of the B-52, whereas Flight Simulator was designed for a maximum of 3 fuel tanks. This created a situation where Kotaro was unable to provide any kind of panel controlled fuel management, so you will need to control your fuel loads by entering the Fuel section from the dropdown menu under Aircraft from your top menu bar. Each of these aircraft are loaded with a near maximum level of ordinance, so taking-off with a 100% fuel load is all but next to impossible considering the limited runway lengths you will most likely depart from.
Speaking from my own experience at flying Kotaro's B-52H, I would suggest taking-off with a maximum of a 30 to 50 percent load of fuel (be sure you have an equal percentage of fuel in all 9 cells with the fuel selector set for all!). Then you will set the flaps at maximum (the B-52 requires a full flaps down setting for take-off, when loaded as heavy as these FS aircraft are). If your trim and all other settings are correct, then the rear set of main gear should leave the runway first, followed immediately by the front tandem set of gear. Yeah, the B-52 actually climbs with a slight nose down attitude when heavily loaded. Get the gear up as soon as possible, while trimming for slight nosedown and then getting the flaps up. By restricting your rate of climb initially, using this technique your speed build up will be more efficient. As you gain altitude, you will need to restrict your rate of climb, reducing power if need be so that you don't overspeed your aircraft. Once stable at my cruise altitude (usually above 30,000 feet or so), I would simulate a midair refueling by bringing all 9 of my fuel cells up to a 75% fuel load from the aircraft dropdown menu.
Even with all this, there are still some issues concerning the flight modeling, mostly to do with your fuel loads. It is recommended that you not land with more than 25% capacity in any of the 9 fuel tanks, but this low fuel settings also contribute to a real problem with a controllable taxi! I found that if you allow Kotaro's fuel burn selection to run itself out, then bring all of the "center" tanks back up to at least 75% capacity, then taxiing is very controllable. Another minor issue is that this B-52H (at high altitude) cruises with a definite nose high attitude. Future updates from Kotaro promise to correct or at the very least improve upon these minor complaints.
I set up several IFR flight plans (default flight planner), following the high-altitude airways between several AFBs here on the West Coast of the USA and then by placing the aircraft on the active runway, I saved each flight so that I could later select a flight (most of my saved flights are about an hour or so in length) from my startup menu. I have saved flights between Beale, Luke, March, Nellis, and Travis Air Force Bases. In addition I have saved two long range flight plans (and flights) one from March AFB (Southern California) to Elmendorf AFB (Anchorage, Alaska) and another from Elmendorf AFB to Yokota AB near Tokyo, Japan (this flight is 9 hours and 35 minutes in length).
Summary
Considering the many wonderful aircraft that have become available for FS2002 (many of which were updated from FS2000), the choices offered all of us are so broad and so many, it is impossible for any one single person to continuously fly them all. As a reviewer, I do have the opportunity to try out many different aircraft or aircraft packages, which is interesting, but on a personal level I have my own small choice of aircraft that I do fly on a regular basis. Those of you that have followed my reviews can probably guess that my preference is more toward GA aircraft and particularly those aircraft related to bush style operations. I do on occasion like to fly a large aircraft (jetliner), but that in all honesty is a rare moment. This aircraft though is different somehow, I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy the challenge of flying it and I am sure that I will be flying it for a long time after this review is posted and on a pretty regular basis too. Besides, it is really an interesting experience to hear the MS ATC controller make reference about you to other aircraft and you clearly hear something like... "Soar 234, you have a Stratofortress 4 miles at your 4 o'clock FL320, please advise," that is so cool!
Kotaro has done a truly outstanding job with his version of the Boeing B-52H Stratofortress, plus when you add the Mike Hambly or Aaron Swindle sounds, flying this FS aircraft is most certainly as close as any of us will come to experiencing the real thing! If this had been a commercial package I would still feel the same way about it, so given the fact that it is a freeware package, well that just raises my enthusiasm up a couple of notches!
Download the B52H files by clicking on the following links:
b52h2k2.zip for FS2002
b52h2k.zip for FS2000
b52hcfs2.zip for CFS2 (also requires b52h_g.zip for CFS2 applications)
Here's some additional files to look for:
b52hsndp.zip by Mike Hambly for sounds (flightsim.com FS98 sound library) or
b52strat.zip by Aaron Swindle, B-52 sounds (simviation.com sound library);
ojsmoke.zip by Rolf Keibell for that heavy old jet smoke on take-off (AVSIM library)
|
