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Overview
rom the Handley Page
Heyford to the Tornado F3, the Royal Air Force has been introducing aircraft for the
past six decades that have changed the lives of many people. Interactive Magic now
brings us a collection of 32 aircraft of all kinds that made their debut in the Royal Air
Force since 1930. This review will only cover a quarter of the aircraft
available, but these eight will give you a good idea about the program. To give you
a better feel for the aircraft and a little bit about the history, I've included excerpts
from the manual on each plane. These are straight from the manual and belong to
John Burtenshaw at Interactive Magic, who was responsible for the RAF Collection manual.
Transports- Bassingbourn Field
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"The Beverly had a large box-like fuselage, with the tail carried on a boom-like extension. This gave room for large doors under the tail. Large loads could be carried in the main fuselage, while room in the tail boom was available for passengers. The landing gear was fixed, and twin rectangular tail fins of considerable size completed this purposeful ugliness." Flying the Beverly for the first time was fun. It handles well and seems fairly realistic as for the flight dynamics of a large aircraft of its time. |
| Lockheed Hercules C-130J (RAF) "The C-130 has all the characteristics that have become the standard for military STOL- transports: A high-set wing, turboprop engines, an upswept tail with a loading ramp, multi- wheeled landing gear. The latest version is the C-130J, intended to replace older models at the turn of the century, which was rolled out at the end of 1995." This aircraft really needs no introduction at all. The C-130 has been used by several different nations over the past couple decades because of its reliability and effectiveness. |
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Old Fighters- Tangmere Field
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"This best known US fighter of WWII was built to British requirements. The British reluctantly accepted North American's proposal to design a new fighter for them, instead of license-building P-40s, and the USAAF was at first not interested at all. The P-51 was a clean and very refined design, with a laminar flow wing and carefully positioned radiator bath. The early P-51, with Allison V-1710 engine, was an excellent low-altitude reconnaissance fighter, but had low performance above 15,000 ft (which the RAF wanted). After being fitted with the Rolls Royce Merlin (at the RAF's request), the P-51 was one of the best fighters of WWII. The P-51D sacrificed some speed for the introduction of a 'bubble' hood, offering much better view." This aircraft handles very well and is fun to do aerobatics in.
"Probably the most famous military aircraft ever. An uncompromising, fast and maneuverable fighter. The remarkable thin elliptical wing made the Spitfire capable of very high speeds. It served as a frontline fighter throughout WWII in increasingly fast and powerful versions, first with the Merlin, later with the Griffon engine. The Spitfire was continuously changed to meet all kinds of threats and demands, as a low and high altitude fighter, tropicalized, navalized, or equipped as unarmed photo-reconnaissance aircraft. The RAF retired its last Spitfires, PR Mk. 19 reconnaissance aircraft, in 1954." |
 Spitfire Mk. II returning to Tangmere Field |
Modern Jets- Westcott Field
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"Despite it's size and bulky look, the F-4 had excellent performance and good maneuverability. Originally designed for the US Navy, it has been used by many nations around the World. The RAF flew both ex-Royal Navy F-4Ks and their own F-4M models. Its place in the RAF was taken by the Tornado." This aircraft was popular during the Vietnam War era because of its excellent performance. The highlight of its career was when it was designated aircraft of choice of the US Navy's Blue Angels. |
"Derived from the Hawker P1127 VTOL prototype, the Harrier is still the World's best S/VTOL attack aircraft. The RAF have operated various versions with the GR7 being the most recent. The GR7 can operate in all weathers and at night." Getting used to the GR7 as a S/VTOL aircraft is somewhat hard. Once you've got the control of the engines down, you'll be landing on tops of buildings and terminals all over the country (try it, it's fun!). This aircraft flies very well for the complex design of the engines. |
 Harrier GR7 in the city near Westcott Field |
Old Bombers- Tangmere Field
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"The most used British heavy bomber of WWII, Lancasters flew over 156,000 missions. The Lancaster was a development of the unsatisfactory twin- engined Manchester. It had a rectangular fuselage, mid-set wings and twin tail fins and rudders. It was able to carry very heavy bombs and bulky special weapons; with modifications to the bomb-bay even 10,000 kg bombs were carried." When I first flew the Lancaster around Tangmere Field, it was very different from something like a DC-8. It was more like driving a car without power steering after being used to one with power steering. When I got the hang of it, I took her out for a mock bombing run. |
"Some Canberras are still in service, mainly in training and electronic warfare roles. Production began in 1949 and continued until 1961. In the US Martin built the aircraft as the B-57. The Canberra is an impeccably streamlined aircraft, with a straight mid-wing section inboard of the engines and tapered wings outboard. At the time of its introduction it was safe from interception by fighters." After flying the Lancaster for a while, it was very strange to fly a lighter, faster, smaller bomber like this one. Its speed and agility allows it to do many things that larger bombers cannot. |
 Canberra Mk. II sitting on the tarmac at Tangmere Field |
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Panels / Scenery
RAF Collection also comes with a couple add-on panels and 4 detailed RAF airfields. The airfields mentioned above are the four included with the program, so you should be able to get a feel for those just from the screen shots. The panels look very nice as I'm sure you can see, but I wasn't too impressed with how they functioned with the aircraft. If you look closely at either of the two panels here, you'll see that the gauges are kind of small and sometimes unreadable. I had a hard time with some panels reading different gauges and even distinguishing what was what. I noticed it happened most in DME and autopilot gauges, but sometimes in others. They are very nice looking panels, though.
Overall
This is really an outstanding add-on for Flight Simulator 98! The flight dynamics for all of the planes are very well done, the models look nice, and the panels also look nice. One thing I forgot to mention is that with some of the planes, when you retract the landing gear, the canopy closes. The scenery that comes with the program is very well done, and includes miles and miles of beautiful coastline. This is also good for people who want to fly old planes without having to deal with the extra features of war games. This lets you concentrate on your flying, which is really fun with all these new planes.
Features
Requirements:
Recommended
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Aaron Read
jester007@usa.net
