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A Grand Old Lady


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This is just a nostalgia trip to what got me interested in aircraft. When I was a youngster my family went to live in Gisborne in New Zealand. There wasn't a lot to do so I took to sitting at the small airport to watch the NAC F27 Friendships land. Then I got intrigued with a DC3 that lived at the airport and was flying in an out all day. This plane grabbed my attention so much that I soon only ever went there to watch this grand old lady working. The following is from Wikipedia describing the company that operated it and the pictures are also from an internet search, but is the actual plane.

 

Fieldair

Lawson Field (1896–1981), a farmer and pilot, converted one of Gisborne Aero Club's de Havilland Tiger Moths, Barbara II, so that Ken Young could drop superphosphate during the week and the club could fly the plane at weekends. The arrangement was typical of the system adopted by all early firms; a steep sided hopper was installed in the Tiger Moth's front seat, which the pilot, by pulling a lever, opened the vent at the bottom to release its load. When the club complained the hopper could not be removed from the passenger seat without causing structural damage, Field bought Barbara II and started the Gisborne Aerial Topdressing Company on 2 August 1949. In 1951 he renamed the company Fieldair Limited and brought in modern De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers, and in 1955 Lockheed Lodestars and DC-3s. Fieldair developed the tractor-mounted hopper loader, adopted throughout the industry, and became the largest topdressing firm in the country by the time of Field’s death in 1981.

 

Fieldair's logo is a strangled goose. According to legend, a hungry Fieldair pilot flying between airstrips saw a single goose which looked like dinner. His somewhat hopeful method was to attempt to manoeuvre alongside the bird, side slip into it and grab hold. The first few attempts failed and the goose got wise. A dogfight developed, and both fliers lost altitude. A hundred feet over a gully the goose broke towards the aircraft, and hit the prop, breaking it. The pilot force-landed, and concocted a suitable story of a bird strike, which was sadly undone when the farmer requested the company's services, as "You blokes must have the best pilots in the country ... one of your blokes chased this goose around my farm for about a half an hour. He must have just missed by inches every tree on my place. And to top it off this bloke succeeded in killing the goose and landed to pick it up".

 

dc3-6.jpgzk-apb.jpgzk-awp.jpg

 

. I would like to be able to replicate her livery and resurrect her, albeit as a sim on FSX and operate out of Gisborne - it's a dream I have :)

Hold my beer and watch this...
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ahh lovely, thanks

 

Even found it in our Library!

 

FSX - FSX Propliners FSX Douglas DC-3 Awesome 4Some

[ Download | View ]

Name: as4sumje.zip

Size: 53,388,198 Date: 06-05-2007 Downloads: 7,554

 

as4sumje.gif

FSX Douglas DC-3 Awesome 4Some. A modification of the default DC-3 that includes four different models (DC-3 normal, DC-3 Viewmaster, DC-3 cargo, and LC-47). Remodel includes higher resolution textures, unmirrored tail texture and conditional appearance items. Paints included: NAC, NAC Freight, SPANZ, Fieldair, United Airlines and more. Requires default installation of DC3. By James Eden and Jon Murchison.

Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer!  ✈️

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Even got a Fieldair paintjob - oh well, that's my project at least halved

 

CAUTION:

 

1. Rename the aircraft folder before installing to SimObjects/Airplanes. Unchanged, it matches the default DC-3 and you don't want to overwrite that!

 

2. You will need to "borrow"/Copy the .air file, panel folder, and sound folder from your default DC-3 to make these aircraft show in the selection screen.

 

Have fun flying!:pilot:

 

fieldair dc3.JPG

Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer!  ✈️

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That's excellent, thanks. I will be proud to keep her flying as I know the real thing has had her wings clipped and is now on display at the airport - if only I'd had the bottle to ask the pilot to take me up for the experience at the time!
Hold my beer and watch this...
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