A2A Update

[JoTayhen 6]

Ahh my friend, please don't discount the lump in the throats of some of us who can barely remember the wonderful sound of those machines when that sound meant business, when that sound meant danger and death and when that sound meant another youngster was doing his best to help us all live another day. For those of us with long memories, these good folks at A2A are providing the opportunity to experience something we honestly never believed would ever come our way. These aircraft might appear, for some, to be inappropriate but for others they represent the only opportunity we will ever have to "climb aboard" and get some sort of feel for what it was like to have such a beast literally strapped to our butts. Saunter up to that P-51D. Up on that wing and down in that seat, your shoulders almost touching the airplane. Close that cowl and look up along that long, long snout at that huge prop. Run through that checklist, wanting to pee just one more time before you fire her up. Feel her come alive with all the twitches, shimmies and roars of something both magnificant and unholy in the same instant. A2A, through its expertise and passion for producing quality aircraft of this period, offers us all a little slice of what it must have been like to take to the skies in these machines, concentrate on getting where we are supposed to get to when we are supposed to get there and then perform our assigned tasks. What must it have been like for those youngsters - some just out of high school! That's why I, for one, am thrilled for A2A and their willingness to not allow dreams like these - dreams that rest mostly with us "oldsters" - to remain close and vivid. Thanks for letting an old man ramble. John

[kdfw__ 542]

The mustang looks amazing. It must be a blast to fly that plane low over the deck. It's the look and feel of flight that A2A is simulating, not the weapons. If you want simulated weapons, go get the DCS A10, it's that good. We make believe there are passengers behind that door, no reason we can't pretend bombs do their things when released.

[tf51d 284]

I got there Cub. How and why are a Spitfire used as an civilian aircraft thses days?

This is one way Mustangs are used in General Aviation these days!!

[Guest jahman]

Ahh my friend, please don't discount the lump in the throats of some of us who can barely remember the wonderful sound of those machines when that sound meant business, when that sound meant danger and death and when that sound meant another youngster was doing his best to help us all live another day. For those of us with long memories, these good folks at A2A are providing the opportunity to experience something we honestly never believed would ever come our way. These aircraft might appear, for some, to be inappropriate but for others they represent the only opportunity we will ever have to "climb aboard" and get some sort of feel for what it was like to have such a beast literally strapped to our butts. Saunter up to that P-51D. Up on that wing and down in that seat, your shoulders almost touching the airplane. Close that cowl and look up along that long, long snout at that huge prop. Run through that checklist, wanting to pee just one more time before you fire her up. Feel her come alive with all the twitches, shimmies and roars of something both magnificant and unholy in the same instant. A2A, through its expertise and passion for producing quality aircraft of this period, offers us all a little slice of what it must have been like to take to the skies in these machines, concentrate on getting where we are supposed to get to when we are supposed to get there and then perform our assigned tasks. What must it have been like for those youngsters - some just out of high school! That's why I, for one, am thrilled for A2A and their willingness to not allow dreams like these - dreams that rest mostly with us "oldsters" - to remain close and vivid. Thanks for letting an old man ramble. John

Fly the B-17 home after the War, RODN to KLAX via a single refueling stop at PMDY. See if you can understand the engines and range charts. Let the hours go by doing pretty much nothing else. The sun sets behind you and everything goes dark as she drones into the night over the Pacific. Yoiu turn-on the UV cockpit likt and the gauge needles and card markings light up with green phosphorescence (a true first in the history of FS). Suddenly a glimmer, then the full moon looking up over the horizon, liquid silver streaking towards you. How's the weather? Are you keeping tabs on your fuel and range calculations? Is your star navigation good enought to feed you into he range of the PMDY NDB so you can land "dry" instead of "wet" and then sink two thousand fathoms down to the bottom? After a good night's rest, are up to repeating the experience to get you from PMDY on to KLAX? Man, let me tell you, after you do a flight like this (38 hrs. total, bless that Sperry C-1 Autopilot!) you will feel like you really did fly this beautiful aircraft accorss the Pacific. Let the engines drone along into the night... See:RODN - PMDY - KLAX Route,FSX Bubble Sextant (FS9, but works just fine with FSX)Operating the B-17's Sperry C-1 AutopilotLovely

Cheers, - jahman.

[Phantom88 3,287]

A2A Updated their FB Page with some WIP Starfighter pics!

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, and that does look good; it makes all the other FS F-104s out there are out there look very poor in comparison. Hopefully they are getting the engine sorted, I want to hear that 'mad moose howl' you get when you throttle it up! Al

[Guest jahman]

Since A2A is doing vintage military jets, would an Accu-Sim SR-71 be too much to ask? The AlphaSim SR is very nice, but also very basic, so I would love a version of the SR-71 with the attention to detail and systems similar to the A-10 Warthog as implemented by DCS. Cheers, - jahman.

[Chock 17,769]

I should think an SR-71 would probably still have stuff on it that was classified, so it would be kind of hard to do a completely accurate version of it. Al

[Guest jahman]

I should think an SR-71 would probably still have stuff on it that was classified, so it would be kind of hard to do a completely accurate version of it. Al

Yes, but you could still fully implement electrical, hydraulic and navigational (Astro-INS) systems. And even if spike control isn't 100% accurate (DAFICS - Digital Automatic Flight and Inlet Control System, with true inlet unstarts simulated), it still would be better than nothing. Cheers, - jahman.

[Chock 17,769]

I don't think A2A would see it that way. AccuSim tends to be largely about engines. I'd like a realistic SR-71 myself, though! Al

[Guest jahman]

I don't think A2A would see it that way. AccuSim tends to be largely about engines. I'd like a realistic SR-71 myself, though! Al

Yes, we all would, but just because we can't get to 100% doesn't mean we shiouldn't go for 85% (guess). The Alphasim SR already is a nice add-on at "60%". Cheers, - jahman.

[rodger 0]

sorry wrong forum!

Edited September 15, 2011 by rodger

[Chock 17,769]

Yes, we all would, but just because we can't get to 100% doesn't mean we shouldn't go for 85% (guess).

I'm not sure 'FairlyAccuSim' scans well as a marketing name. Al

[Guest jahman]

Accu-Sim doesn't mean Perfect-Sim! :( Cheers, - jahman.

[Chock 17,769]

That's true, after all, the nav system on the A2A B-17G isn't completely accurate, certainly not as accurate as it is in the old Microprose B-17 game, which is still the best simulation of that aspect of steering a Flying Fortress, even after all these years. Best stab at that sort of thing for FS with warbirds was either the Just Flight Mosquito variant with the bomb aiming window, or the Plane Simulation Lancaster which included the freebie sextant you could use with the stars in FS. It's a shame they didn't have a stab at modeling GEE in the A2A 17. Al