Lucky Lindbergh

By Andrew Herd (17 January 2003)

ith the Lindbergh season upon us, it is good to see some Flight Simulator add-ons celebrating an anniversary that is never likely to be forgotten - and introducing us to a generation of planes that have been. In 'Lucky Lindbergh' Lago have brought us the nearest thing to a biographical package as you are likely to see for FS2002, complete with three planes, a couple of period fields and all kinds of other goodies thrown in. Let's take a look.

Lindbergh's flight needs no introduction from me, but the bones of the story are that on May 20th 1927 he set off on a successful attempt to claim the $25000 Orteig prize for the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris. It was widely held that the Orteig was an impossible venture and several pilots had already died in the attempt, but Lindbergh had a great deal of experience flying long distance mail between Chicago and St. Louis and was certain that, given the right airplane and favorable conditions, he could do it. Though some called him 'Lucky' it was a nickname he never adopted and most of his friends called him Slim. Luck wasn't something that Lindbergh courted, or he would never have made it through his barnstorming years.

Lindbergh's plane was a highly modified Ryan M-2 that had been hacked about until just about all it had left in common with the original was the wing spars, fittings and ribs. Into this he managed to fit 450 gallons of aviation spirit, five sandwiches, five tins of army rations, a canteen of water and his self - he set off on his 3600 mile flight. When you bear in mind that there was a fuel tank where the front seat should have been and the only way he could see forward was to use a periscope, you get some idea of the what must have been going through his mind as he sat, alone in his cockpit at Roosevelt field that cold morning all those years ago. Of course, you can read about it, because Lindbergh's book The Spirit of St. Louis has never gone out of print, but thanks to Lago, we can all share the experience. Reckon you are tough enough? The flight took 33 hours.

A while back, FlightOne released a rather good freeware Spirit, but the developers of Lago's product have gone several steps further and have produced an extremely well rounded add-on. The package is available as a 36 Mb download from Lago's website, at a cost of 25 euros (approximately $25 US). Once you have paid for the package, a registration code should reach you by email within 24 hours.

I found the installation very straight forward, though I would point out that running 'Lucky Lindbergh' definitely requires a minimum of a 750 MHz Pentium III and 128 Mb of RAM, as the manual indicates. The package won't run on anything less than FS2002 standard and the developers don't guarantee that it will run on Windows 95 either. Given that Microsoft no longer support that product, I guess this is fair enough. With Lindbergh installed, I checked out the start menu and found a new entry in the Lago group, containing links to the html manual, a readme and Lago's webpage. In my install, the readme link was broken. If you haven't got any other Lago products installed, you will find a new menu item when you start Flight Simulator, under the Lago name, but this duplicates the start menu links and Lago specifically caution against trying to launch the manual from FS2002, as it may give your processor more work than it can cope with.

Whereas FlightOne's freeware package was restricted to the Spirit alone, Lago have gone all the way and have included three planes, two period airfields and a whole slew of flights. There are no less than 14 situations covering the transatlantic crossing, ranging from the one at the start of the takeoff roll to one that puts you on short final; so if for some reason you chicken out of flying the whole thing, you can still bask in the simulated welcome of the crowd at Le Bourget, you cheapskate.

While some might eye the addition of two 1920's airfields to FS2002 with a degree of doubt, they add immensely to the fun of the package and in the case of Roosevelt, make you realise just how tough that takeoff run actually was. If you load flight 01 in the series, you will find the Spirit with its back to the western fence - you are in spot plane view, so jump into the cockpit and admire the view. Yep, that's right, there isn't one. With all that fuel in the way (Lindy put it up front so there was less danger of the weight killing him if he crashed on takeoff), the only way to look forward is to use the periscope; that's the window, just above the tachometer. Don't worry about it - most of the time you will be flying on instruments anyway - it is only the takeoff, the first few hundred miles and the landing that are the really scary bits.

Until now, it hasn't been possible to do more than a passingly authentic simulation of the flight, because Roosevelt doesn't exist in the default installation of FS2002, given that the ground is now covered by a shopping mall. What Lago's detailed Gmax scenery makes immediately apparent is that (a) it wasn't the most beautiful spot on earth; (b) that the wires at the far end are a little closer than you would wish them to be; and (c) that the immediately adjacent Curtiss field has been left out. If you take a look at the very first screen shot at the top of the review, you can just see the wires, bottom right. They aren't that much further away from the Spirit than they look in that shot, either.

The problems Lindbergh faced weren't confined to those wires. The field was soft, the plane accelerated more slowly than he had expected and he narrowly avoided hitting a tractor before staggering over the wires. The flight model in the sim has been very well tuned to this phase of the flight and I still found it unnerving the third time I did it - the Spirit takes a horribly long ground run before it gets to anything like flying speed and then it just stops accelerating. The experience is very like taking off in long wet grass in real life and demands the same solution - you have to ease back on the stick and pop the plane into the air - before pushing it back forward again to save a stall and gain a couple more knots - and then ease it back again to clear the wires, which aren't that easy to see... Overall, Lago's plane flies more like Lindbergh's description of the real thing than FlightOne's, barring the ineffective ailerons and adverse yaw that he complained about. Neither flight model replicates that and reading Lindbergh, it is clear that the real plane was much harder to keep in a straight line than either sim suggests, since he complained that just reaching for the canteen was enough to alter the heading by several degrees.

You get the picture. If you feel bad about your takeoffs, check out the multimedia folder (\FS2002\Lago\Lindbergh) where you can review the video of Lindy trying to do the same thing.

The manual advises an initial cruise level of 500 feet, which is ambitious, given that the fully laden Spirit climbs at about 50 feet a minute at best, and incorrect, because Lindbergh didn't go that high for quite a while. You will find it takes long enough to climb a couple of hundred feet and once you are there you will battle to keep the speed above the stall any further - Lindbergh flew right over Long Island at this altitude. Like the original, Lago's plane is a pig to fly. Things ease up a bit as the fuel gets used up, but the flying is never easy.

The 2D panel is excellent, by most FS standards, though it isn't in quite the same class as the FlightOne release, to which comparisons are inveitably going to be made. All Lago's instruments are fully operational, with the exception of the fuel selector valves, which is a real pity - they are on that nightmarish tangle of piping below the panel. The VC, on the other hand, is significantly better than the freeware plane's and I have moved the POV back a little here just to show how much detail has gone into it. The visual model is on a par with the FlightOne offering, chiefly because there isn't that much detail to show on the Spirit, it wasn't that kind of a plane. While the F1 Spirit scores by having an animated periscope, Lago's has more detail in other areas, including a particularly well executed engine. On the whole I find it hard to choose between them, though the VC and Mike Hambly's sound set just nose the Lago offering ahead in my opinion. Close call.

But, as I mentioned earlier, the Spirit is only part of Lago's package. A great deal of effort has gone into the fields, which really look the part, right down to industrial smokestacks and water towers (now I think of it, the same industrial smokestacks and water towers) and a wide collection of authentic-looking buildings. You also get crowds, though should you tire of them, there is a work-around in the manual for getting rid of them. Personally, I like the people. Neither of the fields is the last word in historical accuracy: Lindbergh was worried by how narrow Roosevelt's runway was, something you would never guess from the scenery; and there is no sign whatsoever of the adjacent Curtiss field.

And then there are the other planes, the Lockheed Sirius and the Curtiss Jenny, which Lago have included to allow simmers a flavor of what the rest of Lindbergh's flying career was about. Lindy bought a Jenny in 1923 after deciding that a career as a parachutist and wing walker had limited prospects - this was the plane that he saw out his barnstorming days in. The Sirius came later, a 1929 design by John Northrop and Gerard Vultee that originally packed 450 horses and went like the wind. By then Lindbergh was already a legend and he was well matched to this fire-breathing 185 mph monster.

Lindy modified the Sirius quite considerably, fitting Edo floats and changing the engine for a Wright Cyclone that pushed out a frightening 680 hp (increased to 710 when the plane capsized during launching at Hankow). From the manual, it appears that Lago have chosen to simulate the Sirius with the 450 hp engine Lockheed originally fitted, although it would be fascinating to see the wheeled version and the Cyclone engined mod too, given that is the one in which Lindbergh made his epic flight to Nanking. The aircraft acquired its name - Tingmissartoq - in Greenland, of all places, the word being the Inuit for 'one who flies like a big bird'.

I think it is fair to say that the Sirius isn't absolutely the best bit of the package. The fault doesn't lie with the visual model, although Lindbergh's paint scheme doesn't go well with FSDS - all that black paint makes the plane look two dimensional from certain angles. However, the plane is impeccably detailed, right down to the bracing wires and the engine is an absolute treat. In the right light, the Sirius looks a million dollars in spot plane view and I would rank it as one of the most striking planes I have seen - as was the original.

This was an incredibly powerful aircraft for its day and few pilots other than Lindbergh could have aspired to own one; as it happened, the plane was designed as a result of a direct request by Lindbergh, who needed a plane to fly ocean route surveys. To give a little idea of what it was like, the floats broke clear at 105 knots and its optimum cruising altitude was at 15,000 feet; so the Sirius must have been an intimidating thing to fly. For a start, the forward view is about as bad as it could possibly be, thanks to that long cowling stretching forward in front; then again, all the speeds are so high that they take a bit of adjusting to - the approach, for example, is flown at near airliner speeds until you cut power into the flare. Despite the restricted production run, several originals still survive in the hands of collectors, such is the reputation of this amazing machine.

The flight model for the Sirius seems to be about right - though don't take that as gospel. Lindbergh's was a specialised aircraft designed for transoceanic travel and it differed a good deal from its sisters. There is very little information to read about Tingmissartoq and it is anyone's guess what it was really like to fly. Johan Dees, who did the flight models, has opted to set up the sim so that it conveys a feeling of raw power, yet has the slightly ponderous control responses that I believe to be true of the original. It certainly makes a big contrast against the Jenny, or even the Spirit, neither of which can be said to have an exactly sprightly performance.

The 2D panel is where the problems begin; the fascia and windshield bitmaps don't quite seem to belong with each other and the effect is compounded by blurry imaging in places, particularly the sides of cockpit, as you can see in the screen shot. This effect is usually caused by shooting images in a poor light, or scanning off low quality originals, either explanation being quite reasonable, given the difficulty of getting access to a Sirius these days - although the original sits in the Smithsonian. This is a shame, because the Sirius has great character and deserves a little more attention than the developers had time to give it.

The VC isn't terribly impressive, either. The gauges all work fine and the animations are perfectly acceptable, but the whole cockpit shouts 'average' which makes it sit badly in what is otherwise an excelllent package. I realise I am marking the plane down pretty heavily, but when you see the rest of 'Lucky Lindbergh' you will appreciate why; it stands out by comparison. It wouldn't take much attention to the cockpit, to bring the Sirius up to the standard of the other two planes and boy, would that please me, because this must be one of the most interesting floatplanes ever to fly.

Lago have included a rather wonderful flight for the Sirius, which starts with the plane in New York harbor and if you try any of the situations in the package, I definitely recommend this one, because it shows off FS2002 really well. If you would like more information about the plane, then visit the link here.

The third and final aircraft is the Curtiss JN-4D Jenny and for all that it is the slowest and most unexciting bird in the add-on, it is my absolute favorite. The visuals are by David Eckert, who is fast making a name for period aircraft - you may remember his fantastic freeware Stearman, which is so good it ended up being reviewed once by me and then again by Phil Colvin. Dave has also released a freeware Lockheed Electra [eleca10a.zip] for FS2002. J.L. Stubbs was also involved in the graphics for the package (if you haven't downloaded the freeware Cessna Bobcat he did with Bill Lyons - do so [skyking2.zip]). Anyway, for whatever reason, the idea of the Jenny clearly turned the team on and they have produced one of the best biplanes I have ever seen. Of the few criticisms I can make of this plane, one is that the livery is a little dull and I would love to see some alternatives, even if Lindy did prefer mud brown and black in real life - and it sits a little deep on the runway.

The Jenny was one of the classic first world war trainers and thousands of them were built. The plane was very cheap to buy and run, but the downside was that they were was slow, struggled in the climb, had unpleasant spin characteristics and was fitted with an engine which had a strong tendency to quit if it wasn't given full time attention. Despite the drawbacks, the chance of picking up an airplane for a few hundred bucks made Jennies immensely popular with barnstormers and JN-4s were common sights at fairs and shows all over America during the twenties and early thirties.

Though the manual makes out that Jennies could be bought for $50, they were treated like a commodity and prices fluctuated madly. At one time Lindbergh found that the cheapest replacement on offer was priced at a thousand dollars, but it didn't stop him doing all kinds of stunts using these planes, including wing walking and parachuting. What is interesting is that although he apparently lived a dare-devil life in his early twenties, the reason he survived was that he never took chances unless he could control the variables - that is why Lindbergh survived when so many did not. At a time when it was regarded as reasonable if an engine went a hundred hours between failures, crashes and forced landings were common and Lindbergh flew like a glider pilot - assessing every field he passed as a potential landing site.

Where the Sirius fails to deliver, the Jenny is a peach. The visual model is exceptional and overall I would judge it as the most convincing biplane I have yet seen for Flight Simulator. Biplane models usually fall over when it comes to depicting the fabric covering on the wings; all those ribs defeat the average designer's patience, struts are hard to do and wires are no-one's favorite. But some chemistry has been at work here, perhaps the fact that at least two of the team seem to enjoy developing twenties and thirties planes.

As the manual points out, you have to be a little wary when you are flying the Jenny, because it has no power to speak of, making any kind of cross wind landing a real event. Here, the FS2002 flight engine is kind to us, because in real life, ground-looping Jennies were a common sight. Your cruise speed is 90 mph, only 45 mph over the stall and there are no flaps, so pay careful attention to the airspeed on approach and sideslipping may be necessary if you come in too high - fortunately the sim does this really well. Where the flight model doesn't quite hack it is in the climb; I could comfortably get 1000 feet per minute initially at sea level at 70 mph, whereas the real thing barely gave 300 fpm.

You can select which cockpit you sit in when you load the Jenny, which governs which view you get. Here I have shown the view from the rear cockpit - the first thing to note about it being that not only does the panel look right, but the forward view along the fuselage is spot on. For some reason it isn't easy to create this view in an FS plane; before FS2000 it was quite normal for designers to omit any view of the cowlings at all, giving the impression that all a pilot can see is the top of the glareshield. While this might be correct for many airliners, it certainly isn't the case for most light aircraft and where a plane like the Jenny is concerned, the angle of the cowling relative to the horizon is essential for maintaining the correct attitude of the aircraft. The only problem with the 2D cockpit is that the rear quarter views have been missed out of the distribution.

The Jenny's VC is just as good as the 2D cockpit and I have panned right back here to show it in all its glory. Look at all those running wires and longerons, eh? Now cast your eye outside the cockpit and you can see why this is such a great plane - the VC is so good that you really can fly it without ever using the 2D panel. But hold on, I hear you say, how do you use the controls? Well, after you have started the Jenny, there aren't any. No flaps, no brakes, no nothing. All you have to do is keep flying and enjoy the view... and please don't bounce it on every landing like I do. This is an old lady and she might take the odd bit of rough handling from a reviewer, but no way will she stand up to repeated crash landings.

Lago's Lucky Lindbergh is one of the most interesting flight simulation packages I have had to review. If the Sirius isn't up to the standard of the other two planes, that is a shame, but the Jenny and the Spirit more than compensate. The fields are terrific, the preloaded flights interesting, even the manual repays reading, with its list of all the flights (bar one) that Lindbergh ever did in his modified Ryan. It is slightly strange that there isn't a flight plan included, but if you have a copy of Lindbergh's book, it isn't difficult to create one. I would like to see the Sirius improved and a wheeled variant added, and it would be terrific to see a couple more liveries for the Jenny, because it is such a great plane, but overall this is a package I am likely to keep coming back to; which is a tribute to how well it has been put together.

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