Introduction
Every now and again I get the distinct honor to review an airplane
that makes me realize why I love aviation simulation and aviation
in general. When I was given the opportunity to review the PSS Vulcan
I jumped on it immediately. I have always been fascinated with this
aircraft. Its very shape exudes beauty. Its graceful lines and elegant
shape has made it one of the most easily recognized aircraft in the
world. In fact if any of you have seen the movie "Jet Pilot"
(1957) with John Wayne and Janet Leigh, and the scene where they were
flying, there was this music they played. When I was flying the Vulcan
around, that music just popped into my head. It was weird yet it made
the whole mood appropriate. Sadly though, there are no more in service.
However the last remaining airworthy Vulcan XH558, the one which PSS
has modeled, is being restored to full flying status. The biggest
obstacle is funding and by buying this aircraft, 50% of the proceeds
go to the "Vulcan to the Sky Company". As of the writing
of this review, 7500 pounds have been raised toward the company just
based off the purchases of the PSS Vulcan. It is a worth while cause
to keep a piece of aviation history alive. You can get info on the
ongoing project here.
Test
System
Intel P4 2.4GHz Flying
Time: What Do You Get? System Requirements
The requirements are not too steep considering of what kind of hardware
is out today. I ran it on a 2.4 GHZ, a GeForce 4 Ti4600 w/ 128 MB
RAM and 512MB of RDRAM and was getting 20 to 26 fps.
Minimum Vulcan XH558 Specs: Setup
PSS has there usual download program which is about 440 KB which sets
up the download from their site directly. With my cable modem it took
about 5 minutes to download. Once the program is installed it took
up 43 MB of HD space. I had no problems in the setup or installation
process.
Manuals
XH558 comes with 3 well written manuals. The flight manual gives you
pre flight information, Flight Simulator setup, history on the Vulcan,
and specifications. The second manual is the Tables and Charts Manual.
This is the meat and potatoes of flying the Vulcan successfully. Rotation
rates, circuit speeds, level cruise specs, climb operations; reduced
RPM climb info and a test flight, (highly recommended). The 3rd and
final manual is comprised of the panel operation and usage.
It is very in-depth and covers how to use the autopilot which, if
you don't read, you will not figure out how it works. It covers each
instrument and how to use them. There is also the throttle pop-up
which is also explained in full detail like the rest of the panel.
You must read these to get the real feel of what it took to fly the
Vulcan. They are very well written as I stated before; loaded with
great graphs and charts. Read it, know it, love it, and fly it correctly.
History
I've taken this from the ""Vulcan to the Sky"" website, rather than try to rewrite
the history in my own words. These next few paragraphs sum it just right:
"Dimensions: About the same size as a Boeing 737 airliner "The Avro Vulcan is a long-range high-altitude
bomber, designed in response to a 1945 Tizzard Committee report for
a strategic nuclear capability for Britain, for an aircraft capable
of flying at a height of at least 40,000ft at 500mph and with a range
of 3000 miles with 20,000lb bomb load. In its final development, the
Vulcan could operate well above 50,000ft, with 30% greater range.
"Roy Chadwick, the designer of the Avro Lancaster, laid down the basic
design of the Vulcan in 1948. Innovations included the tail-less delta
blended-wing-body planform, electrically-powered controls and for
the time, advanced avionics. Four Rolls-Royce Olympus twin spool jet
engines, a new design, powered the aircraft. Duplicated electrical
and flying control systems enhanced operational safety. Unlike previous
bombers there was initially no defensive armament, instead pioneering
electronic countermeasures such as jammers were employed. For its
era, the Avro Vulcan represents a major achievement of British design
and leadership, as it required aerodynamics, system engineering and
propulsion systems that were boldly innovative and effective. The
Vulcan remains the only mass-produced large tail-less delta aircraft
in the world, and the shape of the Vulcan is very close to the blended-wing-body
configuration that is now being investigated for the next generation
of quiet, clean and efficient commercial airliners.
The Vulcan's RAF Service Life
"Following the first flight in 1952, the Vulcan entered RAF operational
service in 1957. The last Vulcan squadron was disbanded in 1984, the
type having seen service not only as a bomber, but also in marine
reconnaissance and tanker roles. With a total of 134 manufactured
at Avro's Woodford, Cheshire plant, the Vulcan is still acknowledged
to be a milestone in British aviation - "the best aircraft of
its time in the world, a design fifty years ahead of its time".
The most recent flight of a Vulcan - XH558 - was in 1993.
"In the late 1960s, the Vulcan fleet stood alone in the deterrent
role, with aircraft and crew of five on continuous readiness to deliver
the RAF's Quick Reaction Alert commitment. Indeed the Vulcan was the
only V-bomber type with the intrinsic strength and flexibility of
design to transfer successfully from the high-altitude to the low-level
role following the Soviet deployment of anti-aircraft missiles. During
the 1970's, the Vulcan remained in support of the Polaris deterrent.
Subsequently the Vulcan took on many other roles including maritime
reconnaissance and as an air-to-air re-fuelling tanker, before its
swan song, the first and only time the Vulcan saw action, in the seven
famous "Black Buck" bombing raids during the 1982 Falklands
conflict. At the time, these missions captured the record for the
longest range bombing raids ever. The Vulcan's operational service
ended in 1985, after which it remained in a display-only flying role
until 1992. Few other RAF combat aircraft can boast of such a long
time in operational service: over 28 years of preserving the peace.
"One of the main reasons why the project has gained support from the
original manufacturer is that the Vulcan's in-service safety record
was exemplary, as the result of a highly redundant design. Panel
The amount of detail put into the panel leaves you no doubt of how
it might have looked. Some try to recreate a panel then end up winging
it, making it look close but not close enough. PSS' panel is about
as accurate as you can get it while still keeping everything readable.
When looking around you see that there really wasn't much in the way
of windows to look out of. It seemed cramped and claustrophobic. Being
a nuclear capable bomber I think this was designed this way to keep
the atomic flash down to a minimum. Also the limited views must have
made landing tricky at best. All of this is wonderfully recreated.
One of the coolest features is the 2 speed windshield wipers. That
adds a lot of immersion when descending though clouds in zero visibility
and it is raining. The pop up autopilot gauges, radio stack and throttle
quadrant all got the same treatment. Very readable and this was by
now means a glass paneled aircraft—its very much 1950s technology and
you can see it as to how the gauges and the panel were painted. To me
PSS also has succeeded in making the needles, numbers, etc. an off-white to indicate
years of use.
The Virtual Cockpit was given the same attention to
detail as you would expect from one of their panels. Throttle handles
and sticks moved. You can see the visor they put over the windows
to keep out bright sunlight. One of the things I saw in VC mode was
that looking at the orange light above the Mach Meter, you can see
glare in it from the windows. Now that says it all right there. Two
thumbs up for the panels.
Visual Model
Again GMAX never ceases to amaze me. Is there anything it can't do?
The paint job for one is gorgeous, but I am a military guy in real
life and to me anything camouflaged is gorgeous. The Vulcan's delta
wing shape and smooth design says "Baby, I am all speed. Catch
me if you can." It looks like a big bat, a big bad fast bat.
It has reflective textures of a highly buffed surface and glares beautifully
in the sun. You can see in the engine recesses and see the engine
itself. Open the bomb bay and you can see where some serious iron
could have been loaded. Hitting <Shift> <W> opens the doors and <Shift>
<E> opens the access hatch at the bottom where the ladder retracts. You
feel you can walk up to it and climb in.
The speed brakes are an interesting
lot in themselves; they come right out of the fuselage, and you just
have to see it. I for one have never seen speed brakes open like that
before. Look at the screen shot and you will see what I mean. Landing
gears compressed and tilted on takeoff. The nose gear is steerable, making
my parking easier. One thing I would have liked to have seen is a white
Vulcan. I am not sure if XH558 was ever painted white but the white
ones were stunning in a way all to themselves.
Sound
I am quite pleased with the way the sounds were done for this. Clicking
a gauge made a clicking noise, duh. But cutting to the chase, the
engine sounds are excellent. I love the way the engines sound when
you run those bad boys up to full power. 68,000 lbs of thrust, you
hear them screaming to take off. Speaking of screaming, when you go
the outside view you get to hear the full authority of 68,000 lbs
of thrust. At first I was like this is a little loud, then it struck
me. You are outside a plane generating 68,000 lbs of thrust. Of course
it's going to be loud! Very loud. In fact it was so loud my wife thought
a plane was coming overhead. The dog ran for cover and my cat had kittens.
Sorry did I mention it was loud? Of course it didn't help when I cranked
up the subwoofer too.
Flight Model
Here is where it gets tricky. I have never flown one or been aboard
one while it was flying. It acts though like a bomber that wants to
be a fighter. How so? In the manual it states and I quote "Be
gentle with the throttles... she has so much power you will easily
over speed at low altitude." That's an understatement if I ever
heard one. This plane climbs like a bat out of hell with its tail on
fire. I was FL350 in no time. She likes to climb, then leveling her
out I stretched her legs. Long story short, getting somewhere in a
hurry is not a problem. At high altitude she turned quickly. I read
at one Vulcan website at high altitude she could out turn an F-15.
I would like to see that but if that is any testament to how she really
flew I wouldn't want to mess with her. She flies very smoothly with
very little if any quirks. Very stable.
Summary
What PSS has done is to recreate one of the most beautiful bombers
and aircraft of all time. It looks great, flies
great, and eye candy abounds, yet you can still fly this as a sim. She lacks
nothing except maybe to be overshadowed by her real life counterpart
when it finally does fly. For some reason my gut is telling me she
will. For 20 pounds you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
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