Introduction The FDG2 B-17 package is more than just a B-17 model with a couple of liveries. Instead you will be getting 5 models, including the E, early F, late F, early G, and late G, 7 historic liveries, and 6 WWII era RAF airfields detailed to reflect the era. But perhaps the most significant aspect of this package is not what you get, but what you don’t…a loss in performance. Why do these aircraft perform so well? Because they are not the premium detailed aircraft like you might find at Maam-Sim or Shockwave in the Wings of Power series, but instead, they have been modeled to provide the simmer with as much authenticity as possible without impacting the frame rates. Therefore, if you are looking for a B-17 that pushes the technological cycle, then these aircraft are not for you. But if you want to add a fleet of respectable Flying Fortresses to your hangar that will perform well, then read on. If you stuck with me then you might be wondering how much your bank account will be affected by this package. Well, a quick flight to www.donationware.net can put this package in your FS2004 or CFS2 world (sold separately) for a price of only $15.00. If you’re not familiar with donationware, in this case it means that all of the revenue generated by FDG2 goes towards keeping the Sim Outhouse up and running, which can be found at www.sim-outhouse.com. So now that I have laid out the theme of this review, it’s time to find out if this add-on is suited for your virtual world. To do this we are going to start with a quick review of the B-17’s history, then we will get it installed and start checking it out. Will it meet your standards? Can the performance make up for a level of quality that might not meet your demands? Let’s go find out. The B-17 “Flying Fortress” “Without the B-17, we might have lost the war”. That statement was made by General Carl Spaatz; Commander of the U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe after the Allied Forces captured Berlin. How accurate this statement is we will never really know, but one thing that leaves little room for debate is that the B-17, dubbed the Flying Fortress, certainly made an enormous impact in the European theatre, and in fact, throughout the world. The B-17, originally called the Boeing 299, took its maiden flight on July 28th, 1935 piloted by Boeing’s chief test pilot Les Towers. Though the Flying Fortress, which received its name by Seattle Times reporter Richard Williams, was passed up in favor of the Douglas DB-1 it eventually became the first mass produced four engine heavy bomber with 12,700 built. Intended for daylight strategic bombing of German industrial targets, the B-17 actually served in all theatres of WWII, and would become known as the “Queen of the Skies” with its 4 Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone radial engines producing 1,200 horsepower each, and its ability to take an incredible beating and still bring its crew home in one piece.
The Flying Fortress was modified in a number of ways to accommodate different missions during WWII. Each variation was modeled to accommodate a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, nose gunner, bombardier, flight engineer, dorsal gunner, radio operator, waist gunners, belly gunner, and rear gunner, all of which were qualified to operate there station plus at least one other. On short missions the aircraft could carry up to 17,600 lbs of bombs, and 8,000 lbs on long range missions. Accompanying the bomb load were 13 Browning M-2 .50 caliber machine guns, which could put a hurting on enemy aircraft when flying in formation, which was the B-17’s only defense in the early stages of the war before fighter aircraft were developed with the capabilities of escorting the bombers all the way to the target and back. Though the B-17 could reach speeds approaching 287 mph (462 km/h), it only cruised at around 150 mph (240 km/h), which gave it a range of 1,850 miles (2,980 km) at a service ceiling of 35,600 ft (10,850 m). And though the relatively slow cruise speed (when compared to fighter aircraft) made the B-17 that much more vulnerable, the Flying Fortress still had a great payload delivery success rate given the intensity of the war.
The aircraft was produced from 1936 through 1945, at which time the U.S. Army found the B-17 to have outlived its use. However, the B-17 was not officially retired from service until well into the jet age, when the Israeli Air Force finally decommissioned its last B-17 in 1958. During this official retirement a quote was read from Wally Hoffman, a former B-17 pilot of the 8th Air Force, who said “…this plane can be cut and slashed almost to pieces by enemy fire and still bring its crew home”. Cut and slashed it certainly was, in fact, the aircraft could take such a beating that it was often compared to the P-47, which was also known for being able to sustain great amounts of enemy fire and still get the pilot back to base. And now, thanks to the team at Fightertown Design Group 2, you can bring this aircraft into your home for use with either FS9 or CFS2 (FS2002 compatible). Installation Since the FDG2 B-17 comes with an auto-install program, there is little to do but sit back and wait. Simply click on the file downloaded, enter the key code that you received during purchase, and the rest is handled for you. If you wish to install the U.K. air bases that are included, then you will need to add the scenery to the FS9 library in the sim. To do this you will need to start FS9, click on the “settings” tab, and then click on the “scenery library” tab followed by “add area” and “add-on scenery”. Once there, you will have to highlight the folder titled “B17 bases” with a single click of the mouse, then click on “add”, and exit out of the sim. The next time you start FS9 the airfields will be generated. The “aircraft” includes a “read me” file that contains information you may find of interest. Aside from a brief historical review of each plane, these files also have information related to the performance and limitations of the aircraft and a checklist. There is a third document included with the B-17 package that gives information for the airfields, including the ICAO, coordinates, and a short history lesson on each base. How’s It Look From The Tower? To be honest, I began inspecting the exterior models subscribing to the theory that the low price and high frame rates would lead to low quality and high disappointment, but I was wrong. In fact, all of the aircraft are modeled accurately, and with one exception, are textured with a weathered look and historical nose art and tail markings. Beginning with the modeling, each of the B-17’s are modeled and sized very accurately to represent the near 80 feet in length, 19 feet of height, and 104 foot wingspan. The bombardier and navigator, flight engineer, and ball turret gunner positions are all modeled, as are the waist gunners and tail gunners. Complimenting each of the operators positions you will also find the operators themselves, .50 caliber guns, seats, panels, and a few small details here and there.
Looking into the cockpit you will get a good view of the flight engineer, pilot, and co-pilot. The panel is not very exciting from this view and there is not any activity going on with any of the crew, but from a distance it all looks pretty good. Unfortunately, there is a little problem with the relation of the pilots to the yokes. Even though the pilots have there arms stretched out as if they were holding the yokes, they are actually too high and not touching the yokes at all. This same design flaw can also be found with the bombardier as his hands are stretched out but do not make contact with the .50 cal. But since I do not spend a whole lot of time focusing on these little details while in flight, I can overlook these minor errors. And in reality, these discrepancies are hardly noticeable without scrolling in for an extremely up close and personal look. Moving on to the animations you will come across the standard “must haves”, including four increments of flaps, animated propellers, landing gears, rolling wheels, suspension, ailerons, elevator and rudder. By use of the “shift” plus number keys you can also activate the bomb bay doors, jump door, and the crew door. Each of the 7 models are textured sufficiently to resemble the aircraft they represent. Five of them, including the Honi Kuu Okole, Memphis Belle, Fast Woman, Chow Hound, and Thunder Bird are a two-toned green and grey, the Blood N Guts livery is a flat grey, and the Fuddy Duddy has a reflective metallic texture.
The level of detail is not overwhelming, but the texturing does reflect the era of these aircraft quite well. I would have liked to have seen a little more indication of the rivets, panel overlap, and dirt / dust effects, but for the most part I am generally happy with the paint work. My opinion is that FDG2 has textured these aircraft about as well as they could before the FPS starts taking a noticeable hit. There are a number of original effects included with the B-17’s. The most notable being the startup engine smoke, normal engine smoke, contrails, and tire marks / smoke upon touchdown. The startup sequence involves a thick black cloud of smoke from each engine, and then the smoke will clear up to a thinner grey effect. The contrails are very light but visible, and the touchdown effects will leave a small puff of smoke and a short set of tire marks.
With the few exceptions that I listed, I am satisfied with each of the 5 models included in this package. You will certainly notice a lack of eye candy when compared to other renditions of this aircraft, such as the Wings of Power B-17, but this lack of detail allows for some fantastic frame rates. I did not notice any loss in performance when compared to the default aircraft, and when matched up against most of the other aircraft in my hangar, I actually picked up a few FPS. But will the VC perform as well? What’s Inside? I am not quite as thrilled with the interior modeling as I was with the exterior. The first thing I noticed was that there is some jagged modeling, especially where the dash overhangs the panel. I was also a little disappointed to find the textures yielding much room for improvement. But there are also some good things to say about the virtual cockpit, such as the fact that it is very functional and frame rate friendly. By default, you will be positioned entirely too close to the panel. I have found the best zoom for me is .50 (twice back), which provides a clear and fairly legible view of the altimeter, IAS, VSI, ammeter, heading indicator, attitude and turn indicators, and the oil and hydraulic pressure gauges along with a more panoramic view. If you zoom out any more you will make most of the instrumentation pretty much useless.
Turning towards the co-pilot, which is not displayed in the VC, you will have access to the throttle quadrant and manifold pressure selector, both of which are fully functional. From this view you can also access the magneto switches, cowl flaps toggles, battery switch, fuel boost pumps, fuel gauge selectors, lights and flap control. If you move all the way over to the co-pilot's seat you can get even more of the action. Here you will have access to the manifold pressure gauges, tachometer, fuel pressure gauges, volt meter, oil temperature and cylinder head temperature gauges, fuel gauge and tank selectors, and the engine primers. The only components that are not functional are the fire extinguishers, so let’s hope you don’t need them.
One of the best aspects of the virtual cockpit, in my opinion, is that all of the gauge dials react swiftly; in fact, they are just about as smooth as they are in the “cockpit” view. This is especially nice when it comes to the gauges that I use more frequently, such as the altimeter, IAS, and turn indicator. This also goes for night time flying when the gauges get a red illumination. If you look towards the rear of the cockpit you will see the U.S. Air Corps embroidery on the seats, the engineer standing in his gunner’s position, and some indication of worn texturing. Unfortunately, you will not see anything behind the engineer because the modeling ends there. This was not too much of a shock to me, after all, continuing to model all the way to the tail gunner would drain your resources more than necessary. If you do happen to tour the VC, I wouldn’t look back towards the panel once you get behind the seats or else you will see a texturing error. The U.S. Air Corp embroidery is reversed on the back of the seats and makes for quite the eye sore, but then again, the engineer is the only one who has to look at it so I don’t mind too much.
In many ways, the FDG2 B-17 VC’s are up to par, but some of the modeling could be improved upon. I am mostly dissatisfied with the modeling in the front of the cockpit as that is what I see the most. The texturing does a fair job of indicating a well used, worn aircraft, but I could have used a little more detail around the throttle quadrant, floor in front of the seats, and the roof. On the other hand, there is a good side to leaving a little to be desired in the VC…the frame rates. Though I did not get quite the performance as I do from my default aircraft as far as the actual numbers are concerned, the difference was not even noticeable to the naked eye. On average I lost about 2 FPS from the normal low 40’s I am used to. The Panel Like the rest of these aircraft, the panel has its ups and downs. On one hand I am pleased with the texturing, performance, and all around authenticity, but on the other hand, I would like it to be more functional than it is, and I am not enthused about the sub panels. From the “cockpit” view you have a very clear and legible view of the RMI, compass, voltmeter, VSI, turn indicator, IAS, altimeter, and the heading and attitude indicators. You also have a decent unobstructed view out of the cockpit, and the co-pilot's gauges are fairly legible if you look to the right.
There are five sub panels, three of which I could do without, one that is too large to position on the panel, and one that won’t move. The first sub panel can be brought up by use of the “Shift” plus “2” key, but you won’t be able to keep it open if you want to see out of the cockpit. This panel contains most of the functions that can be found in the VC, such as the cowl flaps toggles, lights, and a ton of gauges. Some of the sub panel’s switches are functional, some are not. For the most part this particular panel is only useful if you want to make a quick check of the gauges, open or close the cowl flaps, or flip the lights on, but most of what this panel has to offer can be accomplished without it. The second sub panel (“Shift + “3”) is somewhat useful, but not very authentic. This panel will give you access to the NAV1 and NAV 2 radios, the ADF, HSI, and an autopilot, which I really don’t care for in a B-17. But if you do want to use the autopilot you can also use this panel to switch between the NAV and GPS control. The third panel, opened as above but with the “4” key, will open the default radio stack. As you can imagine, the authenticity suffers a little with this panel open, but it can be useful for those of you who don’t mind a modern radio stack in a WWII aircraft.
The next sub panel (“Shift + “5”) displays the default Garmin 295 GPS. If you want to keep the realism alive, then I would keep this panel closed. But the final sub panel (“Shift + “6”) is a little more useful. This is the pitch, aileron, and rudder trim control, all of which are quite useful. The only problem with the trim wheels is that they cannot be moved, or at least I was unable to re-position them. On the bright side, they are located in the upper left corner of the screen out of the way. All in all I am mostly satisfied with the B-17 panel, but I really wish that it was more functional without having to use the sub panel that is entirely too large. I do not like the autopilot or GPS, but perhaps some simmers will. Personally, I have removed them from the panel.cfg file for a more authentic flight. But one thing I won’t be changing is the sound set, let’s go find out why.
Turn Up The Volume If you really want to make your desktop rumble, then this aircraft is for you. The sound set included with this package will allow you to experience the deep and gritty rumble of the B-17 just about as authentic as I have heard. At startup and shutdown the aircraft sort of resembles the default DC-3 sounds, but with a little more bite. When you get on the throttle, the pitch increases slightly and the grit takes over. Of course, it is not always easy to put sounds into words, but I would describe this sound set as having a very powerful overtone. By that I mean that while you can hear the flaps, bomb bay door, and toggle switches, they are all weakened by the enormously powerful engines, especially when you have the throttle wide open. I really don’t know what other sim aircraft I can compare this sound set to, but the closest I can think of is the freeware sound set by Des Braban (b17sndpk.zip). If you have ever heard his sound set before, just take that and make it a little louder and add a little more grumble, and you will be pretty close to the FDG2 B-17. My analysis of this sound file is that it is very close to that of the real B-17 and is a perfect companion for these models. But the sound set is worthless if the aircraft doesn’t fly like it should. The Airfile Though each of the models have their own airfile, the difference is minimal. I had expected this aircraft to be slow, sluggish, and handle like a battleship, but in reality, once you get off the ground it performs quite well. It is certainly not a jet fighter, but it doesn’t exactly fly like a battleship either. To get airborne you will need about 20 degrees of flaps and a couple thousand feet of runway. The rollout speed is somewhere around 110 KIAS, which can be achieved fairly quickly at 2,400 RPM. According to the checklist you should climb at about 125 KIAS, which is close to what you will get at a vertical speed of 1,500 to 1,700 fpm at 2,500 RPM, which is the max for takeoff and climb out. Once you get to cruise altitude, which can be upwards of 35,000 feet, you can get about 240 KIAS out of this aircraft, but it handles best around 210 to 220, which can be accomplished at 1,700 to 1,800 RPM. I was surprised to find that while cruising at 210 KIAS at FL220 the B-17 could maneuver quite well. I had no problems making 45 degree banks as effortlessly as I do with my Beech 18. Landing is the most eventful aspect of flying the B-17, but this model does not require a whole lot of skill on the part of the simmer. It is easy to stay aligned with the runway because at slow speeds the B-17 does not bank too swiftly, making it hard to over correct. The aircraft can sustain lift at 75 KIAS, though 90 to 100 knots is a little more suitable for a safe touchdown. While I have found this model to be very user friendly, I have also noticed that the performance does not match that of the actual aircraft specs as closely as I had hoped. Some of this may be in part to limitations within FS9, but I think that a few modifications to the airfile might be in order for the advanced simmer. We’re Not Done Yet Getting five B-17 models for $15.00 seems like a good deal to me, assuming that the quality is to your liking, but FDG2 has also added some bonus scenery to this package, sweetening the deal a little. The add-on scenery includes six historical AFCAD enabled RAF airfields, all of which were at one time host to the Flying Fortress. The airfields include RAF Bovingdon, Framlingham, Ridgewell, Sculthorpe, Thurleigh, and Watton, all located in the southern UK. During WWII, these airfields were used by the U.S. and British forces as training facilities, staging zones, and were home to a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft. Some of the bases were constructed for U.S. use, others were transferred to the Air Corps and later returned to the British after the war. More information about all of these airfields can be found in the Adobe documentation included with the B-17 package. Each of the airfields includes bunkers, barracks, and other buildings that are modeled and textured to represent WWII structures. They also have AI B-17 traffic, and with the traffic sliders up around 80% or so, the airfields become very active. There is not a whole lot of lighting, in fact, most of the runways have none, which makes for a challenging landing after dark.
On the upside, these facilities make a great addition to FS9 because they let you take a trip back in time to airfields that are not included in the default scenery. But the problem is that they can seem a little out of place if you have your scenery settings set high because all of the surrounding buildings interfere with the scheme of things. Of course the CFS2 scenery does not have this problem. I am pleased
with all of the airfields included in this package because, not only are
they designed
accurately, but they also include original
modeling of the structures, and the AI B-17’s are a nice change
from the modern traffic. It is also nice to have an era related location
to take your new B-17’s. Having spent countless hours inspecting these aircraft, I have finally formed what I deem to be a reasonable analysis. I believe these aircraft fall into a category that is short of most of the premium payware products, such as those found at Maam-Sim and Shockwave. On the other hand, I also believe that they are leaps and bounds beyond the default aircraft quality. Given the exceptionally reasonable price of the B-17 ($15.00), I find it to be a great alternative to the higher priced B-17 packages, especially if you are concerned about the frame rates. No, you are not going to get all of the thrills and frills that come with some of the high quality aircraft, such as dynamic scenery upon shutdown, VC modeling beyond the cockpit, and extravagant sub-panels like FMC’s, which would be out of place with these aircraft anyway. But what you do get is a good all around package at an affordable price. And given the great performance in FS9, I believe that these aircraft might also be good for FSX since performance will certainly become an even bigger issue for many simmers. The only major or at least notable complaint that I have is with the virtual cockpits, which I think could use a little work. Some of the modeling is a little jagged, and I would like to see the texturing improved to show more detail, especially on the larger flat areas, such as the top and side of the B-17 center console. But other aspects, like the array of models and liveries, great sound set, descent exterior modeling, and reasonably authentic panel tilt the scale towards my favor of this package. So to sum up my thoughts about this add-on, if you are looking for the best B-17 available and performance is not a concern of yours, then these aircraft are not for you. However, if you want to add a good Flying Fortress to your collection without having to lower your scenery settings for a smooth flight, then I would recommend giving these classic birds a closer look.
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