The year is 1942. The Second World War has just reached its second year of battle. Many young men have enlisted to help fight for their country. Only a handful of applicants are chosen to join the Army Air Corps. You have embarked on a journey that has taken the lives of hundreds of men, even before leaving American soil.
Now picture yourself at 20 years old, just graduating flight school. Now, you move on to flying fighters. They assign you to a brand new P-47 Thunderbolt. You climb into this beast of a machine and wonder: "How can I fly this?"
Well, fast forward 69 years and I bet you're asking yourself the same question now with your brand new Wings of Power III P-47 Thunderbolt with Accu-Sim.
Now you can explore what pilots encountered over sixty years ago with this remarkable aircraft.
Purchasing this aircraft is simple. Upon checkout, you are given the option to instantly download the aircraft or download it and have the backup CD mailed to your house for only $3.95. After purchase, the aircraft is downloaded to your desktop and will contain three files, WOP3P47, P47Accusim and Patch 1.1.
At first, install the aircraft file (WOP3P47). After the Accu-Sim, then the patch--in that order. This keeps everything in order and will ensure the installation is done correctly. Upon completion, load up FSX and select the Thunderbolt and take her out for her maiden flight.
After a successful installation, I loaded up the P-47 "Miss Behave" and took a tour around the cockpit then the exterior. I noticed while inside the cockpit the complexity that might occur when piloting this fighter.
After a brief pause, I realized that mastering this bird might take some time and went to the flight manual provided by the makers of the aircraft, A2A Simulations. The "Jugg" comes with eight stock historical paint skins, which were actually flown during World War 2. Each aircraft skin comes with its own aircraft modification.
The cockpit of the Thunderbolt is a little complex at first. Virtual cockpit view allows you to pan around 360 degrees so all instruments and switches can be seen at any time. If you pan down to the throttle quadrant, you will find the red mixture control. Unlike many aircraft, this aircraft has the option of auto-mixture.
This feature automatically sets the aircraft's fuel air ratio to gain the most horsepower from your engine. Intercooler shutters and oil cooler flaps can be opened or closed by two switches on the lower left hand side of the electrical control box. The oxygen control unit is located on the right side of the cockpit and its gauges on the panel. You must remember to use your oxygen or risk blacking out; another great feature of the P-47 thunderbolt.
A2A Simulations has worked extremely hard getting every detail right while giving this bird a real world historical paint job. Markings, rivets and engine exhaust dust were given special attention to during the painting process. I want to give credit to the A2A team, which placed an African American pilot inside the red tail Tuskegee paint variant. Historical accuracy makes this Thunderbolt worth owning.
Weapons, such as bombs and drop tanks, can be placed on the wing of the aircraft. The load manager lets you place rockets, 500 lb or 1000 lb bombs under the wings; also the ability to extend your range of flight with its three drop tanks. All can be modified to fit any amount of fuel.
After through flight testing and ground testing, I can now say getting used to flying this aircraft will take time. Between learning how to properly start up the "Jugg" to taxiing it out onto the active, you must practice. Don't fall under the assumption that this airplane will be as easy to fly as other payware add-ons.
A2A has given special attention to the aircraft's flight and engine dynamics. You may notice on your takeoff roll when increasing power to full the aircraft will pull. Lowering flaps and landing gear will put excessive drag and cause you to stall. Weather will affect the aircraft's performance. Icing can make all control surfaces inoperable. Flying this fighter is as close as it gets to the real thing.
Accu-Sim technology allows the aircraft to be as realistic as it can be. Accu-Sim oversees every action you make with the Thunderbolt. Improper startup, run-up or flying style will cause negative results. For example, when applying full power on takeoff and not reduced power will cause the engine to catch fire. Not opening cowls, intercoolers or oil flaps will over heat the engine and have it fail.
Rough landings take a toll on the landing gear, which will result in Accu-Sim choosing the correct sound to accompany that landing. Improper shutdown will cause engine detonation. Idling the engine below 1,000 RPM will foul the spark plugs, causing the engine to not start up properly.
With the several pop-up panels included with his aircraft, it will provide you will engine settings, radio frequencies, maintenance hangar to repair your Thunderbolt and a payload manager. The payload manager allows you to refuel, add oil, and even add ordnance to the aircraft. An interactive map is included to guide you while in-flight.
The A2A team has taken it upon themselves to thoroughly research and collect authentic sound bites used with this product to replicate the real world aircraft. Engine sounds replicate how you treat it. Keeping the throttles and turbos at full power will cause knocking and rattling. A hard landing will produce crunching metal, braking cause squealing. All audio is lowered when in the cockpit with the canopy closed. As what it would sound like if you were realistically sitting in the P-47. The audio seems to be in high definition. Nothing less would most likely be accepted by the team at A2A.
Improved flight dynamics, realistic engine performance and proper aircraft sound tracks resemble how well or poor the aircraft is running. Extending the landing gear at a high speed will cause damage to the landing gear and will not fully deploy and lock. Hypoxia at high altitudes will cause the pilot to black out and lose control of the airplane unless oxygen is used above 10,000 feet.
In my opinion, I feel that the braking sound does not replicate how the real aircraft sounds. Braking the aircraft sounds the equivalent as braking a four engine airliner from the 1950's with the screeching and groaning of the metal fuselage coming to a halt. The aircraft was not frame rate friendly with my computer. It took a while to properly load the gauges and paint skins while switching stations.
After several days of conducting various tests on this aircraft, reading through both manuals and learning how to fly this fighter by the book was quite interesting and different from how I normally fly in flight simulator. This is one aircraft where spending time on the Internet trying to get a hold of real world flight manuals' will improve your skills to master this bird.
Some improvements might be possible to make this aircraft better, but for now it's definitely worth the $59.99. Accu-Sim technology brings the real world aircraft to your desktop. After concluding my review on the Wings Of Power III P-47 Accu-Sim I can proudly give this product a rating of 9.5 and highly recommend it to any World War 2 or aviation enthusiast.
Nick Incatasciato
nincatasciato@gmail.com
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