By dawn's early light... out of Tengah

[HighBypass 2,339]

Climbing through the clag out of Tengah, Singapore, on the way back to Gan.. even the stock clouds with FSOpen Clouds looked right IMHO! There were some thunderstorms in the area and the Victor got tossed around a little not long after take off:- 

 

By way of a (tenuous!) link to the title, did the Victor drop what she was designed to drop? Or is the instant sunshine just the FSX Sun?  :Whistle:  B)  (I guess the wing pods give it away!).

 

For those curious enough to wonder why I've been flying to some strange places, it's all thanks to Tony Cunnane's website (ex-Victor pilot among other things). They used to fly out to Singapore and back (Lone Ranger trips) in the early seventies. The route was from the UK (Tony was based at Marham at the time, but I used Coningsby  ), to Akrotiri, then RAF Masirah, RAF Gan, RAF Tengah. The return trip would stage through Dubai to Akrotiri, because the early Victor would not manage a hot takeoff from the shorter runway at Masirah with enough fuel to reach the Cyprus base.

[HLJames 2,568]

Beautiful airplane in wonderful places!

 

HLJAMES

[jonesrob 96]

I worked in air traffic at RAF Tengah 69-71; I've never forgotten the sight and sound of a fully-laded tanker trying to get airborne in the Singapore heat, on its way to refuel 74 Sqn Lightnings, I also knew the Handley Page Chief Test Pilot, Hedley Hazelden (Hazel), when he was a 1-11 captain with Court Line at Luton, until the end of that airline in 1974.

A Victor features in the movie 'Sound Barrier', pretending to be an airliner. My favourite aeroplane.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Thanks for the comments guys. And Rob; thank you for your insight! Have you perused Tony Cunnane's site? It's the web based version of his free autobiography.

 

You may be distinctly underwhelmed to find out that Tengah, as served up in FSX:SE is just a strip of appropriately numbered tarmac and a control tower.... 

[Phantom88 3,284]

Great Mood!

[A320FAN 370]

Nice shots!

[Paul K 1,293]

Very nice pictures. I remember Gan very well. As a boy, I flew with British Eagle from Heathrow to Singapore, via Bahrain and Gan. To someone who had only ever experienced Skegness, the soft white sand and warm waters of Gan were a very welcome surprise. :smile:

[HighBypass 2,339]

.....As a boy, I flew with British Eagle.....

 

 

...and now I've had to Google an airline I never knew existed! (I was born in '66) Thanks, Paul! (genuine thanks, not sarcastic thanks!). 

[Paul K 1,293]

...and now I've had to Google an airline I never knew existed! (I was born in '66) Thanks, Paul! (genuine thanks, not sarcastic thanks!). 

 

And you are genuinely welcome, Mark. The aircraft was a Britannia, and from my paltry research, there's a 50/50 chance it was Duxford's G-OAVT, which was subsequently operated by Monarch. Only two British Eagle Brits had the passenger seats facing the rear - G-AOVT was one of them.

 

By the way, whose Victor is that ? The Alphasim one is a B.Mk2 , and your's looks to be a Mk.1. I could be wrong, I often am.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Not just the one model, Paul! The Alphasim Victor includes a B.1A in anti-flash white, a K.1A and K.2 in old camo & with the glazed bomb aimer's compartment (I used the K.1A in the screenshots), and a K.2 in hemp - "Lusty Lindy" with unglazed bomb aimer's compartment. I've also got the prototype paint schemes (freeware UKMIL) for the Vic which utilise the B.1A Alphasim model - not strictly accurate, but hey, it'll do for free!

 

The Alphasim doesn't come with a 2D panel, but I found an excellent one in the form of a freeware panel and gauges by Jean-Pierre Langer based around photos taken by Ollie Suckling in Lusty Lindy's cockpit (steady, Matron!)

[Paul K 1,293]

Ah okay, thanks for that, Mark. I recently grabbed it as freeware just to try it out in P3Dv3. Clearly, I didn't look at the contents of the package closely enough and missed the Mk1. Talking of Mk 1 Victors, did you see that the only complete Mk.1 left, Duxford's XH648, is about to enter a three year restoration program ?  At last !

 

By the way, here's a pic I took of the Alphasim K.2 in P3Dv3 with Orbx Global and Vector below.

 

[HighBypass 2,339]

The Victor's just a stunning, menacing late 40s early 50s design which still looks great even post-millenium. XH648 you say? Excellent news! Also, If I might post a link to an ebay item which I've purchased, take a look at the first photo!

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HANDLEY-PAGE-VICTOR-HISTORICAL-MAINTENANCE-SERVICE-MANUAL-RARE-ARCHIVE-1960s-/371624327641?hash=item56868939d9:g:I5oAAOSwMVFXIJtp

[Paul K 1,293]

Nice find ! I see it has D.A.S. written on it - Duxford Aviation Society, I presume. I also presume they don't want it back.  :wink:

[HighBypass 2,339]

Paul - it's on a CD/DVD, so I'd hope the original is still stored somewhere.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Paul - a small favour if I may? Did you have any issues with the Victor sound pack in P3D? The reason I ask is that in FSX:SE with the engines running, the sound in the cockpit is far too loud, drowning out the ATC voices. I have managed to set the Victor up cold and dark and it seems that only when starting No.2 does the sound go wrong - a constant jet ROAR. When switching to an external view and panning around, the sound behaves as you might imagine.

 

Not sure if it's an issue with the Alphasim Vic itself.

 

Like many 4 engined FSX aircraft, the sound.cfg file only uses 2 engines. I've yet to obtain sound editing software and research the "problem" a bit more.