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If you are into aviation or possess a passing interest in aviation, you will have heard, I am sure, of the iconic, and one of the first of purpose designed bombers, the Vickers Wellington. A might beast, perhaps not in stature, or payload, but in the sense of its role playing a major part in the opening days of aerial bombing of World War 2 In fact it was to be seen in the air on the first wave of bombing raids.
So versatile was this incredible steed, it was used to great effect in the coastal command role. Equipped with radar, this aircraft sounded the death knoll of many an enemy ship or submarine. Because of its incredible versatility it was used for clandestine ops The Wellington surely became one of the aircraft to hold a well deserved iconic status.
I read a very interesting book about this aircraft and without doubt it was loved by its crews. It may be a little under powered, but the handling and above all, the safety aspect of her construction was held in high esteem.
OK, bombing was around for many hundreds of years, in one guise or another, but this aircraft heralded a quite revolutionary method of construction, geodetic construction. What did this mean? Well incredible rigidity and stability, and incredible resilience to damage. The construction time was vastly increased by modular, almost flat pack design, (eat tour heart out IKEA, I'll bet there were not any screws or allen keys left over!)
Many a crew survived, and more importantly returned home due to the Wellington's construction. This can be seen to great effect on the exterior and interior detail of the aircraft within FSX and FS2004.
I could wax lyrical about this incredible aircraft, but I will not. There are many dedicated sites that will do a better job than me extolling its virtues.
The single CD is held securely in a black plastic DVD case. The in-lay card has a fabulous picture of the Wellington in its maritime role and an insert picture of a more conventional camouflage paint scheme.
On the reverse we see the usual 'spattering' of historical info, and of course the tech data. There are five in-set pictures, further 'tempting' you. I have to say these look pretty impressive, so rip open the cellophane protective covering and open that CD ROM tray and install!
Worthy of note, on the inside front cover, you will find a manual covering some basic information. Please ensure you do not lose these as there is a serial code number on the lower left front cover. If you have to re-install the program at a later stage, for whatever reason, this number is vital to enable the additional installation.
You get four versions of the aircraft in the distinctive liveries of the most notable squadrons, drawn from bomber and of course coastal command.
To add a little more authenticity, also included is the scenery of RAF Station Driffield in East Yorkshire UK, the home of many a Wellington squadron and an ideal place to start your sortie. Actually, if you are using FSX, you have two sorties included. I have completed both and they feel authentic, and fun to complete.
If are eager to fly some more sorties (within FSX) more are available free (as stated in the accompanying info booklet page 4) on the First Class Simulations site. This is a nice gesture. Or at least so I thought. I looked on the web site listed, contacted the tech desk, and was informed via email there are not any expansion missions as yet. Odd that, especially when we are told there are some more missions to download from the web site.
I have now had the privilege to review a number of First Class Simulations software, and the installation procedure is fairly typical Load the CD, and follow the simple instructions and hew presto, you have another aircraft in your 'private' hangar.
Worthy of note here guys, is that you have the option for installation in both FSX and FS2004. I have both installed, so I was thankful for this feature, and all the aircraft and scenery was successfully installed.
In the first instance, I have selected FSX to best appreciate the detail offered. So, RAF Station Driffield selected, you instantly note the new war time scenery, which actually is rather good.
I selected the Halifax from the on screen aircraft selection, press OK, and then wait. A second or two, there it is. Agreed with the option, and I was ready for a sortie, but before we take to the skies, let's have a walk-around.
Standing back, you will notice the excellent effort of getting an authentic and accurate color schemes including excellent roundel and lettering on the wing, fuselage and tail. On first glance you may feel the coloring is slightly odd, not the same intensity as if applied to a metal substraight. Do not panic, as mentioned this aircraft had fabric applied over an aluminum frame (engine nacelles are an exception) so the colors reflect this, actually to good effect. I felt the exhaust staining to the upper wing surfaces did not take on the lighter grey effect due to a high level of lead in the aviation fuel of the time.
I do not have an accurate pictorial reference, so I may be misguided, but all other aircraft of this era had the light grey staining evident on the fuselage or upper/lower surfaces of the wings, not 'rust' colored staining, as I say this only a personal view and may not be factually correct.
Moving rearwards, the engine nacelle intakes are on show, some lovely front of engine detail is in evidence. I would have to say the spinners looked a little odd, in terms of the color, more about that later.
On the walk around, obvious things like olio legs display excellent detail, the tires have also had the detail treatment bestowed on them, correct tread patterns are seen, a good attempt has been given to the color of the rubber, also tire wheel 'check' marks (white painted line across the tire / wheel to check alignment) The same detail can be seen on the tail wheel, minus the white marks.
One of the most important features of an aircraft is the crew. In all of the aircraft types on offer you will see a pilot, front bomb aimer and tail gunner; all are excellently rendered.
All control surfaces move accurately. The flaps have some lovely frame detail once the flaps are in the deployed position.
My overriding opinion, it looked accurate. I simply loved the Perspex reflections from the cockpit, nose astro-dome and tail (reflections to great effect in FSX).
Take a good peek on the side of the fuselage. Look through the side windows and you will see some tables and various equipment on show, such is the detail on offer.
Once selected the aircraft is running, so you can see the prop 'haze'. This looks very good indeed (in FS2004 I got a strange green haze that looked totally wrong; on investigation from the tech team, it was stated some other customers have identified this issue and they are working on it, the possible resolution has been offered: "you have to set the mip map level to maximum in FS2004 to solve the haze effect"). So, there we have it.
I have not mentioned the sounds as yet. Why? No real reason, I say they are excellent, and adds so much to the overall effect. In fact I would say good sound sets are pivotal to the success or failure of any offering. Here my friends, they work exceedingly well.
Lighting, OK, it does not have incredible strobe lighting, nor should it. What it does present looks authentic, nav lights other wing tip white lighting, a great port under wing downward facing light, which works very well in low light conditions showing you the ground approaching.
Under fuselage, identification lighting, looking from the outside, the cockpit has a red glow, not disproportionate, actually the effect works very well.
Often the disappointment of many a package, but I am glad to report the interior is simply lovely, with great attention to detail showing off the frame structure and instruments on offer. Many are inter-active. One feature, so important when flying in FSX, in VC mode the instrumentation have to be presented in an easy to read format. (FS2004 the same applies to 2D and VC modes). The instruments look authentic and perform well.
One feature I felt looked a tad out of place was a number of large screws running across the top the instrument panel. These looked, well 'hurried' if they are there at the correct scale presented, attention to getting a seamless round outer edge would not have gone amiss.
I would end this section by saying the overall effect is excellent, and looks and feels like a bomber of that time.
Let's assume I have been to pre-flight briefing, patted the obligatory black Labrador good bye, and paid my mess bill, ordered my breakfast on my return from my 'daring-do-mission' and been dropped off at the dispersal point by a manic driver of a jeep or similar where I have been hanging on for dear life... (we have all seen those films!)
With the magic of pressing a button, I was placed in the left seat (just as well not the right, because there is not one!) engines hot, and running, so taxi to the active. Note directional braking is available and works. Select a constant RPM, to get you moving and start your taxiing to the active. If at RAF Driffield, line up on the grass strip, deploy some flaps, hold the brake, increase the throttle quadrants gradually to 100%, brakes off, hold the nose straight with the rudder, as it is a 'tail-dragger' nose down a tad, get the tail wheel off the ground, not too much, otherwise you will give your bomb aimer a heart attack!
The speed increased, gentle back pressure will reward you with ascent in to the air.
Above tree height, gear up, a whine is heard, ASI increased, flaps in, speed increases further as you would expect.
Up to 6000 agl, let's have a play. I tried all control surfaces, all performed in what I can only assume to acceptable limits, certainly the responses felt like a 'heavy'. It did not turn like a Spitfire, or climb like one, which is a good thing! From the cockpit, I took a look out of each window, loved the sound effects, i.e. tracking from left to right, sound changed, nice detail.
One thing I did notice that stood out, was the spinner detail, the effect was not convincing at all, in fact the color of the rotating spinner just looks odd.
I think the effect is trying to emulate a 'weathered' spinner i.e., paint missing from it. Whatever the aim, it has not worked. But it is a minor issue, and does not detract from the other 95% of loveliness.
Keeping the airfield in sight I decided to return, losing the height, in circles around the airfield, gear down, flaps deployed, established on long final. I must admit, not having runway lighting, I lost the airfield once or twice, or is that three or four times. Oh well... I am not paying for the fuel!
A quick point here, I am running a fairly quick machine and I decided to view the aircraft's progress from the exterior. As the Driffield scenery came into view, I noted a specific slow down in frame rates (some 30 or 40 miles away the airfield). If this is unique to my machine so be it, but on a slightly slower machine this slowing down could be quite pronounced.
At long last established, gentle reductions on the throttle gave me a decent and accurate rate of descent, gradual increases, gave me additional height when I demanded it. Over the threshold, cut the throttle, full flaps, sank to the ground, and made contact. Gradual braking resulted in a controlled full stop.
Off the active, flaps up, gentle taxi back, lovely.
One of the many external views you can opt for shows the detail off. When taxiing, I noticed that from time to time the main wheels appeared to be just off the ground. This may be due to the FSX/FS@004 and not this program reviewed. Although I have to say I was at the scenery provided in FSX, RAF Driffield.
I simply adore any aircraft from this period, especially RAF bombers. I was extremely eager to have a 'play' with this beauty, the Wellington.
The scenery included is actually very nice, and does without doubt add some 1940's atmosphere.
The scenery slowdown when some way out on the approach, was not something I expected on a commercially available product (this could be unique to my machine, but I doubt it) especially as many freeware offerings are excellent and flawless.
Personally, I feel the cost is however, spot-on, if you have FSX and FS2004, you will be able to install on both resulting in excellent value.
If you like aircraft from this period, especially affiliated with the RAF, this simply has to a part of your collection. OK, in my opinion it is not 100%, because of some minor detail areas, but I'll bet you be hard pressed to find an offering with so much detail and accuracy any where else.
I have a feeling many more sorties awaits for me!
Tested for approximately ten hours (eight on FSX, two on FS2004).
System used:
AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core
2.60 GHz
2GB Ram
Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Flight Simulator FSX and FS2004
G-Force 9500GT
Nigel C. Martin
n.c.martin@btinternet.com
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