T-6 Texans by Sky Unlimited

By Bill Stack
27 March 2009

The Need

Default aircraft in FSX lack historical and military aircraft that many home flight simmers would enjoy flying.

The Solution

Sky Unlimited has released a T-6 Texan and its Harvard counterpart for those flight simmers who want to fly historic combat aircraft.

The T-6 Texan was a single-engine trainer aircraft designed by North American Aviation and used for training fighter pilots of the Allied Air Forces during World War II. More than 54 nations have used them. Those flown by the British Commonwealth Air Forces were called "Harvards." They have been popular for racing since the war.

"Sky Unlimited Productions has taken great measures to replicate these great aircraft in the most historic and accurate fashion for your enjoyment," says Sky Unlimited. "[Our] Texans and Harvards have been designed with strong emphasis on realistic flying and operations. We have done our best to make this a true 'Pilot Maker' experience."

Many features are heralded by Sky Unlimited, including "highly detailed exterior models," "newly designed custom gauges," and "by-the-book flight dynamics using the latest in airfile design technology."


Sky Unlimited's T-6 Texan

Major Features

Two basic models are available, each with two versions: There's an AT6-D Texan and an MKII Harvard, and each has a 2D propeller and a 3D propeller version. The Texan is painted in the United States Army Air Force scheme, and the Harvard is painted in the British Royal Air Force scheme.

Self-shadows, reflections, and bump mapping make the aircraft look more realistic than MSFS's default aircraft. (Bump mapping applies random textures to make surfaces look coarse like an orange skin. Skins of real aircraft usually are not mirror smooth.)

All working switches, levers, and buttons are animated and labeled. Labeling makes learning the aircraft much easier.

Sky Unlimited says its flight dynamics are "by the book," which they explain as follows: "You can fly this plane accurately using a flight manual or real world checklist."

The custom sound sets are a welcome feature. Too many add-on aircraft use sound sets from MSFS default aircraft that don't represent the add-on aircraft accurately.

The checklists, references, flight information, procedures, and animated and labeled switches, levers, and buttons are helpful toward learning to fly this aircraft.

This product is available for instant downloading from the Flight Sim Pilot Shop.


Sky Unlimited's Harvard

Nice Features

The aircraft are very easy to install. All files are deposited into the correct folders, and all four versions appear in the aircraft-selection menu.

The very realistic cockpits add to the sense that you're simulating flight inside a real aircraft.

The checklist includes V speeds and keyboard commands, which is more convenient during flight than the MSFS convention of listing keyboard commands at the top of the checklist and V speeds in a separate reference sheet.

The reference sheet shows maximum safe airspeeds and prohibited maneuvers.

The student pilot and his back-seat instructor move their heads and blink their eyes.

Contrails, wingtip vortices, and blue flames in the exhaust pipes make the aircraft look more realistic during flight.

Chocks, pilots standing outside the aircraft, and removable pilots inside the aircraft make it look more realistic while parked. The aircraft must be in the parked position with the parking brake on.

The very back canopy opens on the T-6 Texan, and the cargo door opens on the Harvard.

A text file named "Pilot notes.txt" in the aircraft's MSFS folder provides some useful information about using and flying the aircraft.

The contrails are produced when the aircraft is above 21,000 feet, which requires precise adjustments to the propeller speed and fuel mixture or the engine quits. Attaining this altitude and seeing the contrails is a challenge and an achievement, respectively.

Seeing the wing vortices requires extreme maneuvers such as tight turns and loops. Executing these maneuvers and seeing the vortices are also a challenge and achievement.

Photoshop templates are included for those who would like to repaint the aircraft.


Sky Unlimited's T-6 Texan & Harvard Cockpit


Sky Unlimited's T-6 Texan & Harvard Cockpit

Downsides

I found a few issues with Sky Unlimited's T-6 Texan and Harvards:

No V-speeds are provided in the reference sheet, which is the MSFS convention. Showing the significant V speeds in the checklists is more convenient during flight, but not if you're accustomed to getting them in tabular format from the reference sheets. Including them in both might have been better.

Complete manuals for using the model and flying the aircraft are not provided. The text file covers only some of the necessary knowledge. Users are referred to a for-sale DVD available on a commercial web site. There's also reference to another website with an article about flying a real-world T-6. This model is very sensitive to all pilot controls, so having some flight instruction would have been helpful.

There are no data about ceilings, climb rates, or ranges.

Popup menus do not follow MSFS keyboard conventions. In almost all MSFS aircraft, the radio stack is displayed with SHIFT-2 and the GPS is displayed with SHIFT-3. But those are SHIFT-4 and SHIFT-5, respectively, in these aircraft. Those differences are frustrating for someone like me who is accustomed to using keyboard commands.

I don't see the benefit of having a choice between a 2D propeller and a 3D propeller when the latter is better. Sky Unlimited said "a chorus of unhappy simmers" complained about its 3D propeller, so it developed the 2D version and now offers both. I had to switch back and forth between them many times to see the differences, which are most notable when the prop is at high speed. Because I don't see any advantage to having the 2D propeller when you have the 3D propeller, I see two models instead of four (the Texan and the Harvard). But don't feel cheated; both models are worthwhile.

Turning the standing pilots on and off is cumbersome because we have to go to a switch hidden beneath the pilot seat. Once they're turned on, however, the standing pilots, the chocks, and the interior pilots can be switched on and off with the CTRL-period keyboard command.

Sky Unlimited's Checklist

Sky Unlimited's Flight Instructor

Summary

Providing V-speed data in the checklists is handy in one way and unconventional in another. All significant V-speeds for most MSFS default aircraft are provided in tabular format in the reference sheets, so that's where I'm accustomed to looking for them. But having them in the checklists is very convenient during flight.

I cannot speak for the accuracy of the flight modeling because I have never flown a T-6 Texan or Harvard. This aircraft model is very sensitive to all pilot controls. It consequently takes some practice to fly without stalling or crashing.

These models offer lots of features and reflect considerable attention to detail and accuracy, yet they don't diminish frame rates.

I recommend this product to any flight simmer who wants to go beyond the default aircraft and fly models that have more to offer and reflect historic uses of the real aircraft.

Bill Stack

Learn More About Sky Unlimited's T-6 Texans and Harvards

Bill Stack is author of several books about flight simulation, a regular author in flight-sim magazines, and a contributor to Flight Sim Com. His website is www.topskills.com