Want historical aircraft and airports?

[KESTL 12]

Hello everyone.

I’m new to flight simming, and I got interested by watching the great feature Discovery videos, and dreaming myself around the world. But besides that, another draw was the possibility of reenacting some historical flights in aircraft like the C-82, the C-87 or the Boeing 314 Clipper. How much of a priority are these classical planes to everyone else? Is it much more important for you to get a 737 or an A350 for instance?

I would really be interested in flying old WWII cargo planes or the first passenger planes. I’ve seen people on forums being very excited about war planes, and hoping for the sim to include bombing missions or attack planes, which I really hope the developers will not spend their time on, so I’m only into the flying part of these old beasts.

 

I have never seen historical scenery in a flight sim. How likely is it that it will be made for MSFS, say the world anno 1942? I guess it’s just the airports that would need to be altered and the amount of airports in this time period was dramatically lower than today, but is there any wish from the community for this undoubtably large task (which would then cost them a large sum of money)?

[HighBypass 2,339]

1 hour ago, KESTL said:

I have never seen historical scenery in a flight sim...

You mean stuff for existing simulators? Then you are not aware of Sim Outhouse http://www.simouthouse.com/sohforums/content.php and Calclassic http://www.calclassic.com/ to name but two, and/or any old aircraft & scenery available in the AVSIM library.

There are plenty of WWII era aircraft available which work in the current crop of sims.

MSFS 2020 or whatever they call it is too new for any add-on developers to really get to grips with it yet, so I for one, doubt there'll be any historical scenery and planes, at least for a good while yet.

"I guess it’s just the airports that would need to be altered and the amount of airports in this time period was dramatically lower than today"

I beg to differ - the UK was covered in airfields in 1942, many of which are long gone - disappeared beneath the urban sprawl!

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by HighBypass
Extra quote.

[Dominique_K 10,133]

Just now, KESTL said:

Hello everyone.

 . How much of a priority are these classical planes to everyone   

I like my A2A 377 in P3D but propliners are not a priority for me. I'd rather have a couple of warbirds.  Not for bombing or attacks mind you but for the sheer pleasure to drive these powerful and unforgiving beasts. I hope that A2A will give us sooner rather than later their P-51, P-40 and Spit' in FS20. I wouldn't mind a T33 jet either 😏. 

Sceneries of yesteryear are a niche in the niche. The only place I know where you could get an educated answer is Tom Gibson's http://www.calclassic.com/

 

 

 

 

 

[orchestra_nl 925]

2 hours ago, KESTL said:

How much of a priority are these classical planes to everyone else? Is it much more important for you to get a 737 or an A350 for instance?

For me it's a priority. My first aircraft purchase will be either a GA aircraft, a floatplane or an old propliner like the Douglasses (DC-3 through DC7).
PMDG has anounced it will make it DC6 Cloudmaster available for the new sim, looking forward to that. I also hope A2A will convert its Boeing 377. that's a beauty and with the new sound options we'll be in for a treat I'm sure.

These older aircraft gives you more to do during flight, while sounding better too. And with their lower speed there's more time to admire the landscape.

I'd love to have historical scenery, being the nostalgic type, but I don't think that's feasible. Maybe a few historic airports could be created but they would not fit their up-to-date surroundings. A complete 50's earth might be created someday but since there are no satellite images from those days that would be difficult. Nighttime is easier, just remove 80% of the streetlights and you can get away with the current earth.

[Doug47 574]

2 hours ago, KESTL said:

How much of a priority are these classical planes to everyone else? Is it much more important for you to get a 737 or an A350 for instance?

 

Yes I want flying to be a challenge from my desk in my office, not press a button and watch netflix. Love any classical planes. 👍

[bonchie 2,305]

The only problem I have with that is that those planes were extremely complicated to fly and they had the crew to deal with how complicated they were. I don't want to be a flight engineer and a pilot and a copilot all at the same time. 

If a developer can come up with an AI system that works for the other two spots, then sure. 

Edited June 23, 2020 by bonchie

[orchestra_nl 925]

32 minutes ago, bonchie said:

The only problem I have with that is that those planes were extremely complicated to fly and they had the crew to deal with how complicated they were. I don't want to be a flight engineer and a pilot and a copilot all at the same time. 

If a developer can come up with an AI system that works for the other two spots, then sure. 

Even in a 737 one would really need a vitual co-pilot to fly these properly. Most airliners between the 40's and the 90's require a virtual engineer as well. It would be nice if those could be simulated but allowing you to switch roles. That way you still get the thrill of starting those radial engines but can switch to the pilot for taxiing and takeoff. In cruise, you can switch between the roles to lean the engines, configure the radio's for navigation or fly the aircraft.

[HighBypass 2,339]

1 hour ago, bonchie said:

If a developer can come up with an AI system that works for the other two spots, then sure. ..

A2A do so with their Connie and Stratocruiser 😉

[KESTL 12]

4 hours ago, HighBypass said:

You mean stuff for existing simulators? Then you are not aware of Sim Outhouse http://www.simouthouse.com/sohforums/content.php and Calclassic http://www.calclassic.com/ to name but two, and/or any old aircraft & scenery available in the AVSIM library.

Great stuff. However, the airports need a slight overhaul to look anything like the stuff we’ve seen from Asobo, but I guess that’s just natural.

4 hours ago, HighBypass said:

There are plenty of WWII era aircraft available which work in the current crop of sims.

Yeah, I’ve already seen the PMDG DC-6 (awesome! Getting!) and the Aeroworks DC-3. I guess my question was also the hope for some developers like PMDG and A2A to keep making more of the old props, and to find out how much the community would care about them

 

4 hours ago, HighBypass said:

I beg to differ - the UK was covered in airfields in 1942, many of which are long gone - disappeared beneath the urban sprawl!

I stand corrected 👍

[KESTL 12]

4 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

I like my A2A 377 in P3D but propliners are not a priority for me. I'd rather have a couple of warbirds.  Not for bombing or attacks mind you but for the sheer pleasure to drive these powerful and unforgiving beasts. I hope that A2A will give us sooner rather than later their P-51, P-40 and Spit' in FS20. I wouldn't mind a T33 jet either 😏. 

Sceneries of yesteryear are a niche in the niche. The only place I know where you could get an educated answer is Tom Gibson's http://www.calclassic.com/

How about the sweet little P-38 ...? P-51 and P-40 though great ones too!

[KESTL 12]

2 hours ago, HighBypass said:

A2A do so with their Connie and Stratocruiser 😉

And PMDG with their DC-6, no?

[Chock 17,769]

There are a ton of historical aircraft available for FSX, P3D, XPlane and of course a few old military fighter available in DCS. Scenery-wise things are a bit more scarce, but there is stuff out there, both payware and freeware. some examples:

For really old stuff, check out: https://goldenagesimulations.com/

Many of Golden Age Simulations' add-on aeroplane packages include period scenery, for example, their Travel Air Mystery Ship racer includes scenery for Cleveland Municipal Airport circa 1931, complete with two closed course ten mile racing circuits, so you can actually try your hand at setting some of those record-breaking race times.

Lots of those old GAS sceneries are of course suitable for replicating other stuff including mail flights and such, and since for a while, mail flights were flown by military pilots in the US, they are also quite suitable for military aeroplanes too.

If WW2 is you thing, there are a number of WW2 sceneries around, particularly old WW2 bomber airfields depicted as they were back in the 30s and 40s, for example, here you can find RAF Scampton:

 https://www.simshack.net/products/scampton-dambusters-scenery-fsx-p3d-1015

That product includes AI for old RAF aeroplanes practicing in the circuit, so it's ideal for your WW2 bombers, particularly the Avro Lancaster.

Over in DCS world, you can fly a number of WW2 fighters, but you can also use WW2 period scenery of The English Channel circa 1940 onward, including southern England and northern France for your Spitfires and Messerchmitts to clash over. If you prefer later period stuff, there is the P-51, P-47 and Fw190 plus some Normandy scenery circa 1944: 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/products/terrains/

Back in FSX and P3D, there are as noted, many period aeroplanes, some even include an (also available for free) Sextant which will allow you to try your hand at old-style celestial navigation. The Aeroplane Heaven DC-3/C-47 is one such aircraft which has this, and certainly if you like old aeroplanes, their product range is well worth a look:

https://www.aeroplaneheaven.com/

If you want to try celestial navigation in a DC-3 for free though, you can download the Manfred Jahn DC-3:

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?16735-Manfred-Visser-C-47-V3-Beta-Released

In combination with this freebie Sextant:

http://kronzky.info/fs/sextant/

 

[Wobbie 938]

Dont forget Bill Lyons's Golden Wings as well as his collection of older planes & scenery, as well as Lionheart's Bugatti Adventures.

Yes, there are actually some of us that enjoy the low's 'n slow singles & twins (Milton's D18 etc) instead of push button flying.

There are still some great sceneries & aircraft for FS2004, including a whole range of Russian vintage aircraft & scenery.

For fun, yes, the late Garry Smith always said that simming is all about Fun, Facts & Fiction, have a look at the Ford Tri-Motor Project.

 http://ford-tri-motor.net/frontpage.htm

Sometimes, older is more fun!

[HighBypass 2,339]

19 hours ago, KESTL said:

How about the sweet little P-38 ...? P-51 and P-40 though great ones too!

Milviz have a freeware P-38 (FSX:SE here)

[A3bilbaNEO 7]

If its true that you can import aircraft from FSX to FS2020, then i really want to try that with all the historical aircraft that were originally included in FS2004, most of which had their MDL file updated later to work with FSX, so i guess that shouldn't be hard to do.