October 13, 20241 yr This is a repaint I've been wanting to do for a long time...and it's also been a while since I've posted any repaints here... In older (sim) versions of PMDG's DC-6. a Canadian Pacific livery was offered as part of the package. Surprisingly, for the MSFS 2020 release, there is no "official" CPA livery available (although, the Empress of Suva livery is provided/available). There is one CPA DC-6B repaint available at Flightsim.to...a pretty good recreation...that aircraft depicts the later livery which came in at the time the jet aircraft were introduced (approx. 1961). Growing up in Greater Vancouver, Canadian Pacific Airlines, later CP Air was very prominent here at YVR, with Vancouver being their base and Corporate Headquarters. Although CP Air has long since gone (absorbed by Air Canada), there are still many reminders of their local history, including the motorway leading up to YVR, named Grant McConachie Way, after the founder of Canadian Pacific Airlines. Most aviation enthusiasts will likely remember the livery of CP Air from the 1970's/1980's...the bright, unmistakable, orange livery. Just recently, I was watching the second Dirty Harry film, Magnum Force, one of CP Air's planes can be easily seen during the SFO Airport scene where the actors are talking at the airport hamburger stand. Back to this particular livery... CF-CUR was delivered new to Canadian Pacific in June of 1953, one of the six original DC-6B's to be delivered...over the next 2 years, CPA would take delivery of an additional 14 DC-6B's for both Domestic and International Service. This particular aircraft was assigned to the Vancouver - Amsterdam - Vancouver route during 1955 thru at least 1957...the "Empress of Amsterdam" moniker, it is told, was more of a marketing name that an actual aircraft "name" that stuck with the airframe. In fact, some of the early DC-6B's would have their Empress designation changed depending upon the route they served. The first attached photo illustrates the actual aircraft in 1955. The Empress of Amsterdam (CF-CUR) was still flying the Vancouver - Amsterdam - Vancouver route in November 1957...at the time both my Mom and my (20 month old) oldest brother emigrated to Canada. My Mom recalls the first flight on a Lufthansa DC-3 from Hamburg to Amsterdam...my brother stood up straight in his seat, and as my mother described, screaming defiantly at the top of his voice the entire trip...my Mom said she was so stressed out by the time they arrived in Amsterdam, she was ready to call my Dad in Vancouver (he arrived a few months early by ship from Hamburg to the Port of Montreal) to cancel the trip! Fortunately for my Mom, brother and my Dad...and later me and my older brother!...Mom carried on. I'm assuming the DC-6 was a much more pleasant flight than the DC-3...my brother didn't make a sound for the rest of the trip! Air travel was so much more different at that time. Many moons ago, I was a part time Sailing Instructor...I used to tell my students that the difference between power boating and sailing is simple...one is about the destination, the other is about the journey. I have to believe that flying on one of these magnificent, radial, propellor aircraft was certainly about the journey! Reading up on Canadian Pacific's "Polar Route" from Vancouver - Amsterdam - Vancouver, a single fuel stop would normally occur in Sondrestrom Air Base, Greenland (now BGSF - Kangerlussuaq Airport). My Mom recalls that their flight made a second fuel stop in Edmonton, Alberta before continuing on to Vancouver. I can only surmise that this was a fuel requirement, possibly due to stronger headwinds than anticipated...no mention was made to passengers that a technical/maintenance stop was required. Total duration for that flight was 24 hours...I cannot fathom what air travel would have felt like back then. Imagine the skill of those flight crews as well, with much more primitive navigation aids available...if any (dead reckoning over the polar route with magnetic disturbances, and only celestial fixes if the weather cooperated). The CPA DC-6B's were used for many long haul flights out of Vancouver...destinations including; Sydney, Australia, Hong Kong and Buenos Aires...all with multiple stops along the way. Sadly, the DC-6B fleet was short-lived for Canadian Pacific...a "victim" of the Jet Age and the introduction of the new DC-8 fleet. The balance of 18 aircraft would be phased out between 1959 and 1965. After 1961, the CPA DC-6B was only assigned to domestic routes...one of the original CPA DC-6B's (CF-CUQ) was lost to a bombing over central British Columbia (CPA Flight 21) on July 8, 1965. CF-CUR left the CPA fleet in January of 1959, after only 6 short years. This airframe would go on to fly for UAT (Union Aeromaritime de Transport), then UTA (Union de Transports Aeriens). Sadly, she would be lost to a CFT accident on Mt Alcazaba on October 2, 1964 with the loss of all 80 people on board. Hope you enjoyed the photos and the little history (and my family's connection) with this particular airframe. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! For those interested, this livery will be posted to Flightsim.to today.
October 13, 20241 yr Great story and nice shots of this beauty!! The livery looks perfect, many thanks. Downloading it now. Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080
October 13, 20241 yr Beautiful shots and livery and for shure a fine Oldie the DC-6 is ! cheers 😉 08.2024 new PC is online : ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI Mainboard, AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D Prozessor, G.Skill DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB) Dual-Kit, MSI GeForce RTX 4090 VENTUS 3X E 24G OC Grafikkarte, 2x WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD 4 TB - Drive C+D, WD Gold Enterprise Class 12 TB for storage HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W PC - Power supply, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU Aircooler with 7 Heatpipes, Design Meshify 2 White TG Clear Tint Tower-Case, 3x 4K monitors 2x32 Samsung 1x27 LG 3840x2160, Windows11 Prof. 23H2 - now Windows11 Prof. 25H2 Flightsimulator Hardware: Honeycomb Throttle Bravo, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Logitech Flight Joke System, XBox Controller, some Thrustmaster stuff, Winwing CDU Panels.
October 13, 20241 yr Author 2 hours ago, bernd1151 said: Great story and nice shots of this beauty!! The livery looks perfect, many thanks. Downloading it now. Thank you for the feedback Bernd!
October 13, 20241 yr Author 48 minutes ago, pmplayer said: Beautiful shots and livery and for shure a fine Oldie the DC-6 is ! cheers 😉 Thank you...and I couldn't agree more! MSFS has certainly made things much better for the "low and slow" crowd!
October 16, 20241 yr Great background history and amazing pics! Latest video at The Flight Level Flight Over Frozen Lake Erie - Between Ice and Clouds - Ultimate Solitude - The Perfect Memory
October 17, 20241 yr Good paint, particularly the metall parts look just right. PC: Ryzen 7 3700x AM4, 16 GB RAM, RTX 3060 12GB, Storage SSD 3TB, HDD 8TB, USB 8TB, 2 Screens, Win10-64 SIMs: FSX SE, P3d 3.4/4.5/6.1, Xplane 10/11/12, MSFS 2020/24, Aerofly FS 4
October 17, 20241 yr Author 43 minutes ago, andiflyit said: Good paint, particularly the metall parts look just right. Thank you Andreas! I intentionally tried to make the aluminum look more "oxidized" rather than shiny...as per the original photo. Appreciate the comment!
October 17, 20241 yr Author 2 hours ago, The Flight Level said: Great background history and amazing pics! Thank you!
October 17, 20241 yr Great work and a fantastic story. In the early part of my fathers CP career, he flew the DC-6B as 2nd officer from YVR to Tokyo through Cold Bay, Alaska, a bit of an epic. They would spend a week there, I beleive, and fly back. I'll need to check his old log books for the airframe code. Thanks for the livery. I have been considering the DC-6 model, this makes it very attractive. Cheers. Edited October 17, 20241 yr by ozcanuck55
October 17, 20241 yr Author 2 hours ago, ozcanuck55 said: Great work and a fantastic story. In the early part of my fathers CP career, he flew the DC-6B as 2nd officer from YVR to Tokyo through Cold Bay, Alaska, a bit of an epic. They would spend a week there, I beleive, and fly back. I'll need to check his old log books for the airframe code. Thanks for the livery. I have been considering the DC-6 model, this makes it very attractive. Cheers. Thanks for the additional comments...sounds like you personally have a closer tie to the CPA DC-6 than what I have shared here. Great comment! I believe the route you described was the same as the Hong Kong route. The PMDG DC-6 is very much a niche aircraft...I've been flying it since the P3D days (never flew the XP10 version). It is a handful to fly without the use of the AFE...but very satisfying! Thanks for the comment and thanks for the share!
October 17, 20241 yr Great set of shots! I especially like the second last. Great job on the repaint too. Cheers, Calum Cheers, Calum CPU: RYZEN 7 5800X – GPU: GEFORCE RTX 3080TI (12GB) - RAM: 32GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz - STORAGE: 1x 1TB SSD + 1x 2TB SSD - MONITOR: 28” GIGABYTE M28U UHD 4K MONITOR 144Hz 1MS – MOTHERBOARD: ASUS AMD PRIME B550M-A MAT X - OS: WINDOWS 11 - COOLING: COOLER MASTER 120L WATERCOLOUR
October 17, 20241 yr Author 5 hours ago, CBass said: Great set of shots! I especially like the second last. Great job on the repaint too. Cheers, Calum Thanks Calum! I appreciate the feedback!
October 18, 20241 yr Lovely story, and some great shots of a very fine looking lady. I'll be off to grab your repaint now, and look forward to seeing her in my skies. Ryzen 9 7900X, Corsair H150 AIO cooler, 64 Gb DDR5, Asus X670E Hero m/b, 3090ti, 13Tb NVMe, 8Tb SSD, 16Tb HD, 55" Philips 4k HDR monitor, EVGA 1600w ps, all in Corsair 7000D airflow case. Sims in use - 2020, 2024, XP-12 and -11, FSX/SE, P3Dv4.5 and v5.4. DCS and AFS2 installed but rarely used
October 18, 20241 yr Author 4 hours ago, andy1252 said: Lovely story, and some great shots of a very fine looking lady. I'll be off to grab your repaint now, and look forward to seeing her in my skies. Thank you for the feedback...hope you enjoy the repaint!
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