"Many people here not only fly for real but have flown wwii planes."

[SCTusk]

"Many people here not only fly for real but have flown wwii planes."

.....that's a quote from one of HiTech's posts, and I thought it would be interesting to get some feedback. So fess up, who's flown what warbird and how does the AH model of it stack up? No graphs or tables, just some plain old 'hands on' impressions for comparison. It's not necessary that you flew it as PIC, so long as you took the controls long enough to get a feel for the a/c. I'll risk public ridicule and start the ball rolling, guess I'm going to claim the booby prize and own up to the Goonybird - if you're going to fly a warbird that's probably the last one you'd pick lol.

Anyhoo, my warbird : the C47 - probably a dozen or so hours at the controls (over 400 as aircrew) : AH FM seems reasonable, difficult to model the heaviness of the controls in a sim (does AH have force feedback? That would probably do it). Cockpit graphics not overly impressive but it's clear which a/c is being modelled. Engine sounds... I'm half deaf these days (maybe from over 400 hours in a Gooneybird) but I'd have to say good enough. Smells.... just as well they left that one out, the airflow in a C47 runs from tail to nose (hehe) so if anyone sicks up or farts down the back, the cockpit claims it.
 
Bottom line, if I wanted to reminisce I'd load up the C47 in FSX, but for a combat sim the AH Gooney does what it should and feels ok, apart from the lack of heaviness in the controls. If you fly the AH C47 like a transport and avoid the temptation to hurl it around, I believe it's a pretty convincing flight model.

Hopefully there will be some real warbird experiences (i.e. fighters) to follow.

[JOACH1M]

I think there will be some liars, but let's hope not

[715]

(does AH have force feedback? That would probably do it)

AH does have force feedback, but I've never noticed any difference in trim forces for different aircraft. 

Comparing flight models to real life is sometimes limited: for example, I doubt you will be trying the standard AH pull up into a vertical loop troop drop in your real C47 anytime soon. 

[Karnak]

I neither fly a general aviation aircraft nor have I even flown in a WWII aircraft.  The most I have done is seen them in air shows, on the ground, on display, in historical footage, in photos, seen pilots who flew them talk about them, talked to pilots who flew them....

And read lots and lots of books and reports on them, as much of it primary sourced as I could.

[cactuskooler]

I have a whooping .6 hours at the backseat controls of a P-51. I didn't get to wring her out, but I did get to do some turns and a roll. While I was up I couldn't help thinking how similar it felt to our virtual P-51. Just the way the ailerons felt when you turn or the way everything looks and feels when you pull back on the stick.

The big difference is the absence of Gs when flying at the computer. Pulling out of a 250 mph dive to climb into a roll pushes you into your seat a lot more in real life than it does while sitting at my computer seat.

[BrownBaron]

"Many people here not only fly for real but have flown wwii planes."

.....that's a quote from one of HiTech's posts, and I thought it would be interesting to get some feedback. So fess up, who's flown what warbird and how does the AH model of it stack up? No graphs or tables, just some plain old 'hands on' impressions for comparison. It's not necessary that you flew it as PIC, so long as you took the controls long enough to get a feel for the a/c. I'll risk public ridicule and start the ball rolling, guess I'm going to claim the booby prize and own up to the Goonybird - if you're going to fly a warbird that's probably the last one you'd pick lol.

Anyhoo, my warbird : the C47 - probably a dozen or so hours at the controls (over 400 as aircrew) : AH FM seems reasonable, difficult to model the heaviness of the controls in a sim (does AH have force feedback? That would probably do it). Cockpit graphics not overly impressive but it's clear which a/c is being modelled. Engine sounds... I'm half deaf these days (maybe from over 400 hours in a Gooneybird) but I'd have to say good enough. Smells.... just as well they left that one out, the airflow in a C47 runs from tail to nose (hehe) so if anyone sicks up or farts down the back, the cockpit claims it.
 
Bottom line, if I wanted to reminisce I'd load up the C47 in FSX, but for a combat sim the AH Gooney does what it should and feels ok, apart from the lack of heaviness in the controls. If you fly the AH C47 like a transport and avoid the temptation to hurl it around, I believe it's a pretty convincing flight model.

Hopefully there will be some real warbird experiences (i.e. fighters) to follow.

Let's see some pics of said Goonie!

[Tupac]

When th Collins foundation P51 came to town I told the pilot I'd buy him an hour in a 172 for 30 mins in the P51, then attempted to do the same with the pilots of the B17 and B24..........

They told me no

[Muzzy]

I have exactly 7 minutes of flight experience in a Mooney, but I will say this...we sim pilots tend to be really good on instruments but comparatively worse in "feel", largely because of the "feedback" issue.  Also, trying to keep the plane level visually was harder than I thought.  I had to keep looking at the climb gauge and the artificial horizon. 

[Ruah]

I fly gliders irl, don't like engined aircraft - too noisy.

[Tupac]

Muzzy - knowing where your plane is and what it's doing comes with experience, through no fault of your own were you unable to use visual references to fly.

[Muzzy]

I totally could have nailed that Cessna when it flew under us though.   

[SCTusk]

Let's see some pics of said Goonie!

Ok you asked for it hehe....this one's an 'off the shelf' shot from the RAAF archives of one of the two a/c we flew, I think the second a/c was A65-124 but that's just from memory. We flew out of RAAF Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. I was posted there from 1977 to 1981. One of our main tasks was to patrol the northern coastline (mainly to the west of Darwin), generally we were looking for illegal incursions into Australian waters.      



Each mission would usually last three days, stopping overnight at places like Broome, Port Hedland and Kununurra, sometimes one of the big outback stations would put us up. Lots of long flights over beautiful tropical blue ocean straining your eyes for the next dot on the water. When we found one we'd drop down and make a couple of low passes with me hanging out the copilot's window snapping away with the old Nikon F1 (I was the photographer). If necessary we'd call up a Navy patrol boat to intercept. These days they have a civilian mob doing the same job with multiple a/c, back then we were it.



The above shot was one of our more memorable excursions, a PR exercise involving flying Miss Australia 1978 (Gloria Krope) and her chaperone around our usual haunts. That's me on the far right, standing next to the big Nav, we were the only two guys on the base who could leap up onto the Dak's wing root unassisted (I'd need a bloody ladder these days lol).



A shot of me hanging out the pilot's window, although I'd generally use the other side for shipping work.



Gratuitous pic of me sitting with Miss Australia 1978 in-flight...... sigh. Those were the days, flak to the left of us, flak to the right. It was a dirty job but somebody had to do it....

Btw nice one cactuskooler, that P51 ride must have been awesome. As you say the G forces are missing in-sim, I also miss the bumping and lurching from turbulence.

Ruah, I flew gliders also back in the day (started in the early '70's) and yeah nothing beats that quiet ride. Happy landings to you <S>  

[gpwurzel]

Not quite a warbird, but got 20 mins at the controls of a Tiger Moth - as it was a (supposedly) ride along, wasnt meant to touch the controls, but blagged my way into actually flying it. Very close in performance with the WW1 a/c, minus the jumping all over the place from wind etc.

Cost me around the 100 pound mark or so, at Duxford in 2009 -  more than worth it tho.

Wurzel (dreams of being a pilot one day)

[colmbo]

One hour in a Mustang, 300 hours in B-17 and 300 hours in B-24.

The sim gives a good "impression" of flying the real thing.  Sim is much to forgiving...you can routinely do things in the sim you wouldn't dream of doing in real life.

[Tupac]

Jeez colmbo, ill buy you an hour in a 172 for a ride in the B17