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Free Aircraft Release! : Concorde by Dr Gary Hunter Growing up in the sixties was a time of huge speed advances. The predictions were of New York in 3 hours and Singapore in 7 hours via Bahrain, and then we went far faster again... to the moon. Looking back now it all feels like we lost have something, yes we can afford to travel the world on a few thousand dollars... but the excitement and the sheer feeling of the momentum of advances in technology has now been reduced to smart phones. The real tragedy was that the machines that gave us our biggest breakthroughs were then never advanced forward, there was no Concorde Mk2 or Space Shuttle Mk2. And so there came no advancements on their ideas and weaknesses, like the noise and sound barrier on Concorde and the better insulation tiles for the Shuttle. Instead they were all consigned to museums and with that a negative backward feeling now exists. You know it can be better, as we lived through that now past era of huge ideas and advancement that actually came true and real. But you can still relive a little of what one machine of that era was, in the Concorde. Dr Gary Hunter created a Concorde for X-Plane9®, so yes this aircraft is old now even by X-Plane standards. It didn't fly very well either lately because of the advances of the simulator, so an update to v10.50 was carried out and the aircraft has been gratefully passed over to the X-Plane.Org to be released... yes that is right this Concorde is for free! And no matter which way you look at it this aircraft is still one of the very best looking machines ever built, The modeling is slightly old, but not enough not to make it feel totally outdated. The panel is from an era of X-Plane seasons past, and the instruments are quite blurry. But it is totally functional and does have a 3d Virtual Cockpit. There is also a great engineers station, and you need to watch those fuel gauges, they gulp down fuel like no tomorrow, but hey you are also covering the ground at a one mile every two and three quarter seconds! Full cabin as well with the all important speed Mach numbers and altitude. You are seriously moving at m2.2, you can feel the speed even over the smooth Atlantic Ocean, watching my moving map on my iPad, the aircraft is moving as you are watching it even at a high distance, the Nm counter is clicking over click, click, click fast as well... this is no sub-sonic slow ride to China or as in this ride... to New York. Distances of descent to any airport will need a bigger or longer distance with this machine as it is a long way down from 50,000ft or even 60,000ft if you are game. Liveries included: Blank or Eurowhite, BA Union, BA Landor, BA Flag, AF, AF Retro, Prototype and Singapore. New York and "Look Mum, no Flaps!" drop the nose and the speed to 195knts and you get that over familiar hawk look... The aircraft is surprisingly easy to fly on approach, but watch for a high nose in the air after landing. Concorde is back in New York! ______________________________________________________________________ There is a big thanks to the work of Dr Gary Hunter in creating this X-Plane Concorde, and now passing it over to Nicolas of the X-Plane.Org for you to download... for FREE!, yes just go to the link below (sign in first) and download this Concorde and go.... Supersonic! Yes! the My Planes (Dr Gary Hunter) Concorde is available for download here: CONCORDE Price is Free! Features: Accurate dimensions 2D and basic 3D Cockpit Object-based model, Very detailed model 8 liveries Cockpits have been totally redesigned. Go to the virtual cockpit and move to the center laterally (right arrow key) then translate backward through the aircraft (shift-pagedown key) to see the virtual cabin interior. All cabin windows are in 3D, and the cabin interior is modeled (seats etc). These differences are most obvious when using LIT textures as you can see inside the cabin more easily. Try circling the plane when flying in low level lighting conditions (sunset for example). Updated and tidied up the 3D virtual cockpit a little. The horizon is 3D now but its hard to notice so I may drop it in future versions. All fuselage doors are operable using keys 8 fuel tanks Full 3D Model Regular Concorde and Concorde 'B' included The model B was to have been the definitive airline version of Concorde, produced from airframe number 17 onwards. As production stopped at airframe number 16, the model B never actually took to the air, though much of the design work and improvements were retrofitted to existing Concordes. The most noticeable difference would have been the big wing of the model B, non-afterburning (more powerful) engines and a much greater range. This version also features an airbus style “glass” cockpit. ______________________________________________________________________ Overview by Stephen Dutton 6th October 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews

Freeware Release : Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G The Avro Vulcan BMk2 has been purchased (former payware) by Nicolas of the X-Plane.orgStore and has now been released as freeware on the X-Plane.Org site. The Avro Vulcan (officially Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963, is a four engined jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956; deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system and electronic countermeasures (ECM); many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it was capable of conventional bombing missions, a capability which was used in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. In spite of its radical and unusual shape, the airframe was built along traditional lines. Except for the most highly stressed parts, the whole structure was manufactured from standard grades of light alloy. The airframe was broken down into a number of major assemblies: the centre section, a rectangular box containing the bomb-bay and engine bays bounded by the front and rear spars and the wing transport joints; the intakes and centre fuselage; the front fuselage, incorporating the pressure cabin; the nose; the outer wings; the leading edges; the wing trailing edge and tail end of the fuselage; the wings were not sealed and used directly as fuel tankage, but carried bladders for fuel in the void spaces of the wings; and there was a single swept tail fin with a single rudder on the trailing edge. The normal crew of five, the first pilot, co-pilot, navigator radar, navigator plotter and air electronics officer (AEO) was accommodated within the pressure cabin on two levels, the pilots sitting on Martin-Baker 3K (3KS on the B.2) ejection seats whilst on the lower level, the rest of the crew sat facing rearwards and had to abandon the aircraft through the entrance door. The original B35/46 specification had specified a jettisonable crew compartment but this requirement was removed in a subsequent amendment and the issue of not providing the rear crew with ejection seats remained highly controversial, especially when a practical scheme to fit them was rejected. A rudimentary sixth seat was provided forward of the navigator radar for an additional crew member; the B.2 also had an additional seventh seat on the opposite side from the sixth seat and forward of the AEO. These seats were no more than cushions and a full harness and an oxygen and intercom facility. The visual bomb-aimer’s compartment could be fitted with a T4 (Blue Devil) bombsight but in most B.2s, the space was eventually fitted with a vertically mounted Vinten F95 Mk.10 camera for the assessment of simulated low-level bombing runs. (wikipedia) The Vulcan was powered by four Bristol-Siddeley Olympus 201 12,000 lbf (53 kN) thrust or Olympus 301 of 20,000 lbf (89 kN) thrust) - two-spool axial-flow turbojets. Vulcan B.1 XA903, surplus to Blue Steel trials, was converted to a similar layout to XA894 to flight test the Olympus 593 Concorde engine installation. Performance : Cruising speed Mach .86 indicated, Maximum speed Mach .95 indicated Mach .93 indicated (Mach .92 with 301 engines) Mach .93, Service ceiling 55,000 ft (17,000 m)[253] 45,000 ft (14,000 m) to 56,000 ft (17,000 m)[nb 2], Maximum Takeoff Weight 204,000 lb (93,000 kg). Avro Vulcan BMk2 If you like to fly aircraft that are very different and a challenge, then you can't go past the Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G. This Cold War bomber is like nothing else from its very tight (Nuclear bomb proof?) cabin to the huge wide delta wing. The work by Daniel is very good and you do have a 3d cockpit to squeeze into. Today the cockpit detailing here is now a little flat and old, but it all still works were it counts with pop-up panels (Pilots side, Co-Pilots side and centre), and most of the controls are well created and functional. features of the released version include. - Flight dynamics modeled to Avro operating data - Object model exterior incorporating detailed animation of control surfaces - speed-brakes undercarriage and crew hatch - 3D virtual cockpit with plugin-free pop-up panels - Avro avionics modeled with generic instruments for all X-Plane capable Vulcan instrumentation - JERA engine sounds sampled from Olympus engines - Compatible with X-version 9 including 9.4 on Mac, PC and Linux - 14 Liveries The Vulcan is really like nothing else you have flown. The cockpit is very military and you will need to read the manual (Flight Manual) to work yourself around the cockpit... Flaps? There isn't any. but the speed brakes are very effective. If you feel like starting a Nuclear War then here you have a tactical nuclear bomb in the bomb bay... The Vulcan initially carried Britain's first nuclear weapon, the Blue Danube gravity bomb. Blue Danube was a low-kiloton yield fission bomb designed before the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb. These were supplemented by U.S.-owned Mk 5 bombs (made available under the Project E programme) and later by the British Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon. The UK had previously embarked on its own hydrogen bomb programme, and to bridge the gap until these were ready the V-bombers were equipped with an Interim Megaton Weapon based on the Blue Danube casing containing Green Grass, a large pure-fission warhead of 400 kt (1.7 PJ) yield.%5B133%5D[N 6] This bomb was known as Violet Club.[ Only five were deployed before the Green Grass warhead was incorporated into a developed weapon as Yellow Sun Mk.1. The aircraft here also includes Avro Vulcan BMk2 modeled on XH558 "The Spirit of Great Britain". Which is the last flying Vulcan that is flown by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust. Operation Black BuckThe only combat missions involving the Vulcan took place in 1982 during the Falklands War with Argentina. This was also the only time V-bombers took part in conventional warfare. The missions flown by the Vulcans became known as the Black Buck raids, which flew 3,889 mi (6,259 km) from Ascension Island to Stanley on the Falklands.] On 1 May, the first mission was conducted by a single Vulcan that flew over Port Stanley and dropped its bombs on the airfield concentrating on the single runway, with one direct hit, making it unsuitable for fighter aircraft. The Vulcan's mission was quickly followed up by strikes against anti-air installations, flown by British Aerospace Sea Harriers from nearby Royal Navy carriers. In total, three missions were flown against the airfield, two further missions to launch missiles at radar installations; another two missions were cancelled. Victor tankers conducted the air-to-air refuelling; approximately 1.1 million gal (5 million L) of fuel were used in each mission. At the time, these missions held the record for the world's longest-distance raids. The Vulcan's ECM system was effective at jamming Argentine radars, British aircraft in the vicinity had a greatly reduced chance of coming under effective fire. Considering the Vulcan was never part of a long lasting conflict (Falklands War aside). The Aircraft had a very colorful history. The Sky Trust history is well worth reading in that many missions including Operation Black Buck (And the other Black Buck Missions of which there was 7 in all) are all highly detailed. So the Avro Vulcan BMk2 is well worth the download and It would be nice if you could support and donate at the Sky Trust to keep XH558 in the air. Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G Is available here - Avro Vulcan BMk2 Stephen Dutton 11th February 2014 Copyright©2014 : X Plane Reviews