Air Power - The Cold War
By Jason Mlot (3 September 2001)
oday
I'm here to review Air Power - The Cold War, part of
the budget priced FS Classics collection by Just Flight. As I was waiting
to receive this in the mail, I anxiously gathered information from the
Just Flight web site. I saw aircraft like the B-52, F-104, F-102, MiG-15,
De Havilland Vampire, Sukhoi Su-11 and many more. My excitement grew until
finally it arrived. I immediately installed the software, which is
compatible with FS98, CFS, and FS2000. There is a detailed manual in PDF
format, which contains information on each aircraft. Custom sounds and
panels are included as well. For an added bonus, CFS users get combat
missions as well. Scenery is included for two United Kingdom airbases. I
chose to concentrate on an assortment of aircraft from the package, but
not each aircraft specifically.Aircraft Included:
| Avro Shackleton MR.3 | Avro Vulcan B.1 |
| B-45C Tornado | B-47E Stratojet |
| B-52F Stratofortress | P-3A Orion |
| Convair B-36 Peacemaker | Convair F-102A Delta Dagger |
| Dassault Mirage IVA | De Havilland Vampire T.11 |
| De Havilland Venom | English Electric Canberra B.2 |
| F-86K Sabre | F-100D Super Sabre |
| F-104S Starfighter | Gloster Javelin Mk.5 |
| Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 | Handley-Page Victor B.1 |
| Hawker Hunter F.6 | Yak-28 |
| Ilyushin IL-28 Beagle | McDonnell F-101A Voodoo |
| MiG-15 | Sukhoi Su-11 |
| Tupolev Tu-16 | Tupolev Tu-142 |
| Vickers Valiant B.1 | Hawker Hunter T.7 |
American Aircraft
I started up FS2000 and decided to pull out the trusty B-52. What I found was a plane that is not up to the latest standards of aircraft design. The paint scheme is not high resolution. The ailerons, elevators, and rudder are not animated. The flaps protrude from the bottom of the wing and aren't attached, but floating below the wing. The spoilers extend, but aren't textured at all. The engine intakes are black discs. Some of the exhausts are black discs, while some are just brown. The best part of the visual model is the transparent cockpit windows featuring a crew inside. There isn't much of night lighting. When you switch the lights on at night, one tiny red light flashes on the fuselage. The nav lights also illuminate on the wingtips. Overall, the visual model is poor by FS2000 standards; this aircraft definitely is an FS98 model. The panel has a very good background bitmap and looks very good. Unfortunately it is not functional. The altimeter can be calibrated on the panel, which is not
true of some of the aircraft, where none of the gauges can be adjusted on
the panel. The only things that can be adjusted are the autopilot, landing
gear, and flaps. At night, the gauges do illuminate. The panel features a
hidden navigation panel, with additional navigation instruments. It also
has a hidden autopilot panel. It does not feature FS2000 GPS, which is
also true of the other panels in the package. In fact, this B-52 panel is
available at FlightSim.Com as freeware. As for flying, the B-52 behaves
much as you would expect an aircraft of its size to behave, although it
does seem a little light at the controls.
Next, I pulled out the F-86 Sabre. This aircraft gave me some relief, as
this visual model is better than the B-52. But it still lacks many of the
finer points of recent FS2000 visual models. All control surfaces are
animated on this one. It has a transparent cockpit with a pilot inside.
Flaps and airbrakes, located on the fuselage, are animated. The night
lighting is the same as on the B-52. There is still a lack of engine
intake or exhaust textures. The panel once again is a great art piece, but
isn't functional. No gauges may be manipulated at all, including flaps
and gear. The gauges illuminate to a pink color. It too features the
hidden navigation and autopilot panels. Overall, this is one of the
better aircraft in the package.
Now on to one of the best aircraft included. The F-101A Voodoo. This plane features a nice colorful paint scheme, which is in a good resolution and is clear and crisp. It features fully animated control surfaces. It has animated airbrakes and flaps, and a drag chute that deploys at full flaps as well. It has a transparent cockpit with a pilot inside. Unfortunately, it doesn't have detailed intakes and exhausts. It does feature flashing nav lights on the wings at night as well as two landing lights on the nose gear strut. These lights are just white discs and don't project beams. The nose gear just sinks into the fuselage when retraced, while the main gear go into bays. The panel once again looks good but lacks functionality. It has a hidden navigation panel and autopilot panel just like the others. Overall, this plane is definitely one of the finest birds in the package.
The final American aircraft I will examine is the Convair B-36 Peacemaker.
This aircraft is definitely one of the most interesting aircraft ever
built. Unfortunately, the model of the aircraft in this package is not
quite as interesting. The feature that most grabs my attention when I look
at the visual model is the black painted squares on the nose that are
supposed to be the windows. Overall, the paint on this aircraft is good,
until you get to the front of the fuselage. I can understand, though,
where it might be hard to make transparent windows on such an odd shaped
area (see screen shot). The propeller animation is good. There is a lack of
aileron animation, but the elevators and rudder are animated. The landing
gear sequence is animated. Flaps are not animated. Airbrakes are not
present in the aircraft, so therefore are not animated. The panel has
basically the same features as the others with good pilot perspective, poor
functionality. The panel features a hidden navigation panel with a clock,
VOR gauge, and radio frequency panel. There is also a hidden autopilot
panel. If this plane only had transparent windows and better animation, it
would be a very good aircraft, however, night lighting is still poor. On
the whole, this airplane is a fun plane to fly and has incredible range,
which allows for testing pilot endurance.
Soviet Union Aircraft
I decided to try out the MiG 15 as the first plane from the Communist
Bloc. This is probably one of the most famous aircraft of the Cold War,
and of course it gained fame in Korea for its duels with the
American F-86 Sabre. The aircraft closely resembles the F-86. This model
is very close to the F-86 included in this package. The quality is almost
the same. A very nice little fighter. It has animated ailerons and
elevators, but no animated rudder. The flaps are animated as well as the
airbrakes on the rear of the fuselage. The engine exhaust is a black disc.
The landing gear sequence is OK, but could be better. The gear do retract
into textured bays, but they only retract so far, and then disappear and a
door closes. It has a transparent canopy with a pilot inside. The night
lighting is still poor. A white dot above the engine intake is a landing
light, and red and green dots on the wings are navigation lights. The
panel fits in with all the others. Good looks, poor functionality. It has
the usual hidden navigation and autopilot panels.
The next aircraft I chose to discuss is the Tupolev Tu-142. It is a prime
example of some unique Soviet engineering and aircraft design techniques.
The Tupolev Tu-142 (NATO code name: Bear), was a Soviet heavy bomber
powered by four turboprop engines turning 8 contra-rotating propellers.
Basically, this aircraft is of the same standard as the others in this
package. The panel is in line with the others too. One odd fact I did
notice while "testing" the Bear was that it has some aerobatic capability.
I was able to roll the plane upside down and fly this way indefinitely.
The only thing stopping it from flying inverted was my rolling out. I
think this is a little odd for a massive aircraft like the Bear. Overall,
this aircraft is typical of the others in this package.
British Aircraft
The first British aircraft I chose to review is the Gloster Meteor. This aircraft gained fame as the first operational Allied jet fighter in World War II. This aircraft definitely comes in as one of the better aircraft in the package. It features animated ailerons and elevators and flaps that are animated. The landing gear look better, with textured bays; unfortunately, the wheels only come up a little way then disappear and the doors close over the bays. The canopy is transparent and there is a pilot inside who turns his head with the aileron movements. The rudder is not animated and it also appears the airbrakes are not animated. The paint scheme is OK.
The engine intakes are black discs once again. The panel on this one is
better, also. You can adjust the gyro, the flaps, the gear, and the
altimeter on the panel with a click of the mouse. The background bitmap is
also good. The aircraft is a fun flyer too. It is stable, which isn't
usually a characteristic of these types of aircraft. It isn't too fast and
maneuvers well, but is stable. It is also very stable on landings. Actually,
this is probably my favorite aircraft from the package.The second British aircraft I picked is the English Electric Canberra. This is a twin jet aircraft used in a variety of functions. It was used as a bomber, reconnaissance platform, trainer, and a long-range bomber. It was also built in the United States by Martin aircraft and was designated the B-57. This aircraft is also one of the finer aircraft in the package. It features animated ailerons, rudder, elevators, and flaps. Airbrakes are not animated. The canopy is transparent, but there is just a head of a pilot in there, and it does not move with the controls. The gear sequence is OK, a little sloppy, but not the worst I've seen. The panel is also good. This plane is also a fun and stable flyer. It is obviously larger than the Meteor or any other fighter, so it isn't quite as nimble or fast, but it can still move around well. It is one of the better aircraft in the package and fun to fly.
The third and final British aircraft I will look at is the De Havilland
Vampire. Another early jet fighter, this is one of the later versions of
the aircraft, and it is a two seat model. The model features animated
ailerons, elevators, flaps, and airbrakes. The rudder is not animated. The
canopy is transparent and features two crewmembers inside, and they do not
move with the controls. The paint scheme on the outside is nice. The
landing gear sequence is good. The instrument panel is OK--very cluttered
with gauges, switches and other items, most of which are just part of the
bitmap and aren't functional. None of the gauges can be calibrated on the
panel. The aircraft is a good flyer. It is a little unstable in some
situations. Approaches can be tricky. Overall, this aircraft is one of the
best in the package.
Scenery
Scenery of two bases is included in the package. RAF Woodbridge, located in Suffolk is included. There is also a fictional East German air base called EGAF Schmoldow. Woodbridge is nice. It is much smaller than I expected. There is only one runway with several buildings and scattered static aircraft. The runway markings are a little faint, but visible.
Strangely, the two static aircraft are one USAF F-101 and one USAF B-47.
Not an RAF plane on the field. Schmoldow is an interesting field. It has a
very large runway. One thing that is very nice about it is that it shows
up on the map and GPS in FS2000. It features an ILS system on one runway.
It is considerably larger than RAF Woodbridge. I stumbled upon one MiG-15
when I was touring the airport; this definitely is better than at RAF
Woodbridge. The only aircraft I was able to find were MiG-15's. There are
many buildings scattered around the area. Several large hangars, a control
tower, and many small hangars. Overall, this scenery is a good way to go
back in time to the Cold War.
Sounds
The package features many custom sounds. I really am not an expert on sounds; however, I can say that the aircraft sounds do sound realistic. The B-36's six engines have a very nice whine at full power. The B-52's 8 jets roar on takeoff. The sounds are not really noticed by many people, but these are noticeable if you listen. They are definitely better than some sounds included with other aircraft, or the default aircraft.
Conclusion
Overall this aircraft package is worth the price. It is not a very good example of the finest Flight Simulator 2000 quality, but it does give you a chance to fly many aircraft that are not represented in the freeware libraries. For the 9 pounds or 14 US dollars and change, it is worth it. I didn't really get into the CFS aspect of this package. It features full missions, campaigns, aircraft with damage profiles, and bases. There is very good documentation included with the package, which is very informative. I learned a lot about the aircraft just by reading it. With a little more extra work, this package could easily be one of the best add-ons ever. It is a good value. If you break it down, it works out to less than 2 dollars per aircraft. If this package was expensive, I would say don't buy it, but since it is relatively low-cost, I say go for it. These planes are ideal for VFR fun flying, and flying sorties on CFS.
Air Power-The Cold War 1949-1970 gets a 75 out of 100. All it needs is
some extra FS2000 technology to make it a 90. Its CFS compatibility and
value grab it a few extra points.
|
Tested on:
PIII 866 MHz |
Jason Mlot
Visit publisher JustFlight at:
JMlot@aol.com
http://www.justflight.com
