Flight 1 Messerschmitt Bf 109 For FS2004 And FSX
By Andrew Herd
17 August 2008
Not so long ago, I took a look at
Flight Replicas' Messerschmitt Bf 109F
for FS2004 and FSX and liked it a lot - actually, I was surprised to see how good the addon was, because it was the first review I had done of a product by the developer. Flight Replicas are a relatively new kid on the block and given the length of time it generally takes developers to get their heads around Flight Simulator, I wasn't expecting to see something quite as accomplished as I did. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but whatever it was, it wasn't a product which rivalled the
RealAir Spitfire - which is also marketed by Flight 1.
The product we reviewed is still available and Flight Replicas still sell the Bf 109 through the Pilot Shop, but they market it as a series of separate packages costing just under $22.00 each - in addition to the F, there is a G and a K. I reviewed the 109F in vanilla FSX, but according to the developer, none of the 109 variants will work in this version of Flight Simulator if Acceleration has been installed, which I hope will get fixed at some time in the future. The only other downside to the 109F addon was that there wasn't any manual to speak of - more or less all you get with the installation is the plane itself and a bunch of liveries. The downloadable Flight Replicas 109s are great, but if you get them all it will set you back over sixty dollars, whereas the new Flight 1 pack includes all three for $45, which is a bargain in anyone's money. So - are the G and the K as good as the F and will they work in FSX with Acceleration installed? Stay tuned to the next exciting installment of FlightSim.Com review!
The Flight 1 product comes in a DVD-style box, which contains a single CD-ROM, a 25 page manual and a flyer for the Flight 1 product line. Minimum system specs are given on the box as FSX or FS2004, a 2.8 Ghz processor, a 256 Mb video card, a gig of RAM, 1.4 gigs of free hard disk space and either Windows XP or Vista. I did the review on a 2.66 Core2Duo with 4 Gb of RAM and a 768 Mb GeForce 8800GTX, running Vista SP1 and FSX with Acceleration installed. Getting the 109 on the disk involved little more than putting the CD in the drive and choosing which version of Flight Simulator I wanted the addon installed to - a check of the Start Menu didn't show up any new program groups and a search through the FSX folders drew a blank, apart from the checklists, so don't lose the printed manual.
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You get seven different variants of the 109F, with a livery each; 12 different variants of the G, with a total of a thirteen paints; and 3 models of the K, with a dozen schemes, although what counts as a different model depends on how you look at these things. Just about the only major variant of this famous fighter that is missing from the pack is the 109E, which played a key part in the Battle of Britain - the F has been covered in the original Flight Replicas 109 review, but it might be worth saying a few words about the two other variants. The G went into production in May 1942, at which time it was clear that the 109 had had its day, but Germany had no choice but to continue to build it, because there wasn't the time or resource available to start afresh (Messerschmitt tried to develop the airframe further in the guise of the Me 209 and 309, but neither of these was exactly a success and the FW190 clearly had much greater potential). So the G ended up going into production despite the airframe having come to the end of its practical development life, the irony being that 70% of 109 production was of this variant. The major plus point of the G was that it has the more powerful DB.605, which developed 1475 h.p. at first and up to 1800 h.p. later, and this allowed the plane to carry a greater payload - some of the late variants were literally stacked with weaponry. The 109K was the last operational variant of the type built in Germany and resembled the G so closely that in practice it would have been difficult to tell them apart, were it not for the fact that all Ks were fitted with the 'Galland' canopy, which did away with the numerous metal struts that obstructed the pilot's view in the older versions. The K only went into production in 1944 and relatively few saw action.
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At first glance, there seem to be more liveries for each plane than you would expect, this being explained by the fact that some liveries are presented with several different weapons fits: so for example, you get Major Hannes Trautloft's F-4 bare, with a drop tank, equipped as a fighter bomber, and with gun pods. You get a G-2, a G-3, a G-4, a G-6, a G-8, a G-10 and a G-14 in a good selection of schemes, ranging from a tropical G-2 to a Swiss G-6; while all the Ks are the -4 series. As you might expect, the Ks look very like the Gs, apart from having the 'clear view' canopy.
Firing up FSX brought up the 109s under the 'Flight Replicas' banner and an impressive collection of aircraft they make, too. The liveries are all very well done, which is a tribute to the developer, given that Flight Simulator needs a lot of fine tuning to display camo liveries realistically; I have seen enough failed attempts at this apparently simple job to realise that there is more to it than meets the eye - the problem being that Flight Simulator majors at displaying glossy finishes on planes. The visual model is very well detailed, capturing the lines of this compact, but potent fighter extremely well, right down to the wing bulges on the later planes. You don't get huge amounts of animations, mostly because there isn't a huge amount of anything to animate, but all the usual ones are there, including an opening canopy; I guess it would have been good to see a maintenance mode that flipped open the cowlings, but maybe that will come along in a future version.
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There isn't a 2D panel, beyond the default compact 'bottom screen' set, which is seriously useful if you haven't mastered the curved approaches necessary to land WWII fighters; there is no forward view on a straight in approach worth mentioning. The virtual cockpit (VC) is up there with the best I have seen for any version of Flight Simulator and really does make you feel as if 'you are there'; capturing the claustrophic feel of the 109 cockpit is quite an art, but Flight Replicas have managed it (if you are anything over average height, banging the canopy shut on one of these planes risks concussion, because there is absolutely no room to spare). Most of the controls work and the panels vary from one model to the next, as they did in reality - fortunately, Flight 1 have included short guides to the various cockpit layouts, so you aren't left guessing quite as much as you are with the downloadable Flight Replicas 109s. Realistic engine starts are possible in FSX and the details of how to do it are given in the manual, as are the details of how to operate the reflector sight. There aren't any views associated with the A key, other than the full VC, the mini-panel and a clear screen, but apart from that, the only criticism I have to make is that some of the click spots are quite small, which makes some actions tricky unless you pause the sim.
The sound set is excellent and the flight models are all good,
which means to say that the plane is fun to fly and a handful
anywhere near the ground. An astonishing fact about the 109 is that
more of them were lost in landing and takeoff accidents than to enemy
action and I can pay no better tribute to the sim than to say that
once you have flown it, you will understand why. The plane swings
badly on takeoff and full rudder is necessary to maintain anything
like a straight run, the lack of any forward view making the whole
process fairly hair-raising - yet once you are in the air, the 109 is
transformed into the most delightful plane you could imagine, only to
revert back to an awkard customer again as you turn long final. With
everything down, the Messerschmitt is a real handful; let the
airspeed decay too fast and it will bite and if you tread too heavily
on the rudder pedals, perdition beckons - and once you have landed,
your troubles really begin, because if the plane is even slightly
unbalanced, you will enjoy a wild ride as it bounces back and forth
on that narrow track gear that the maker's cursed it with.
Verdict? The downloadable Bf 109F is good, but the Flight1 109 pack is better, given that it provides three major variants of this classic fighter and a hangar full of liveries. There is very little to criticize about this addon and if you are into FS warbirds, it is a compulsory purchase.
Andrew Herd
andy@flightsim.com
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