Uncle was my name in AW3 and I managed to get it here when it went thru the free trial period a few years ago. Fester's my handle in WW2OL and IL-2 hence the name in the website:)
Now for the bad news. It costs AU$1100/20 min, AU$2200/40 min and AU$3300/60 min. For you folks in the states the Aussie peso is worth roughly half what the greenback's worth.
I've got no experience with powered aircarft but have been flying gliders on and off for the last 20 years or so. After doing my first aileron roll unassisted I guess he trusted me at the controls.
Getting in the plane it was pretty tight because of the dual configuration but I can imagine it being fairly roomy as a single. Having sat in the cockpit of a Spitfire Mk5 2 years ago this is a great improvement.
On start-up as you can hear in the video the Merlin has got a beatiful throaty roar to it which Mitsu has captured quite well in his soundpacks. (I've sent them to Mitsu already) Next we do the taxing down the runway doing the zig-zag motion 'cause you can see SFA with that big nose in the way. HT's left and right views are a bit too much 'cause when you're strapped in tight you've got around 6" of head play either side.
I was really surprised during take-off as to how quick we got up in the air, it would've been less than 200 yards. As soon as we took off he fairly pointed the nose up and by this time we were doing 150 knots.
According to WA regulations we were only allowed to do 200 knots:( More on this later. The visiblity was amazing. If you try to look back your peripheral vision will just allow you to spot a bogey on your 6. HT's rear 3/4 view is pretty well spot on as to what you see in the plane itself. Mind you, this plane has no headrest to obstruct the view.
The other thing I wasn't prepared for is how loud the Merlin is. Try this- DL the barrel roll avi., crank up both your speakers and subwoofer to Max. and you'll get a good idea of how loud it is. I tried but never got to hear the landing gear go down or retract.
At the start of our first loop before we went vertical the g's hit the 4.5 mark. It was being hit by a steamroller. It took all my neck muscles to stop my head snapping back and I could feel my facial muscles starting to peel back. Neg g's were even worse 'cause they made me feel like throwing up. Even a small dose of forward stick and I could feel my breakfeast coming up. Mind you, being on the piss the night before didn't help:( Plus there must have been some fuel leakage when going inverted 'cause you could smell petrol for a minute or so afterwards.
I found the controls to be fairly stiff compared to gliders and what most game sticks have got to offer. They require positive and assertive use to get the nose pointing in the direction that you want but when it does it's like it's on rails unlike the wavering that I find in most flight sims. (Could be my stick settings though) Doing rolls was very easy, just point the nose up a bit and move the stick as you apply a bit of rudder and presto, done. Wingovers were the same, just take her into a gentle climb, roll the plane as you pull the stick back and then you're into a shallow dive. Now I've got the spring on my TM stick to hardest setting and it's very much lile the real thing.
I wasn't allowed to do loops because of the danger of me stalling the plane. Apparently the 51 can get pretty nasty when it gets out of control.
Spent the rest of the time doing turns with the wings vertical to see how much E I'd loose. I had to keep the speed above 150 but it seemed to maintain E pretty well.
Towards the end of the flight the pilot demonstrated an air-to-ground attack and by the time we got to 500 ft we were doing around 320 knots and you could start to feel the vibrations coming thru and the g's climbed as we pulled out of the dive. The acceleration in the dive was pretty bloody quick.
And now as to how it compares to our beloved sims. I can't comment on WB's, but WW2OL, IL-2 and AH do a very good job of simulating something that's very hard to simulate. Within the limits of what I was allowed to do the pony in AH seems very much like the real thing. It's impossible to judge acceleration in a sim unless you look at speedo 'cause you haven't got the g forces that really let you know how fast you're going plus the vibration as the plane speeds up. Stalls and the like aren't allowed so I can't pass comment on them.
And now to personal preferences. Personally I think that IL-2 gives me the most feeling as to what it was like for me being in a real warbird. When it comes to game play and sheer fun AH is hard to beat, so that's what I play most of the time.
And now for a thank you to my sponsors- The M.A.W's and all those other wonderful gentlemen flying for a just cause and all that is decent in this world- the Knights!:D
The written word isn't my strong point so I apologise for not being as articulate as I would've liked.
BGB, try using Quicktime to open them because that's what my camera uses to process the video.
Uncle.
