Fsx Lancaster Bomber Plus It Includes

It depicted a dramatic scene of an aircraft attempting to land at an airfield just before dawn (having no doubt returned from a night mission) with its undercarriage lowered and flames billowing from its port outer engine.

My imagination was immediately fired and my enthusiasm and interest in the Lancaster has remained strong ever since.

So, when I heard that Aeroplane Heaven (AH) had released a simulation of the Lancaster B Mk.I for FSX and Prepar3D, I could not wait to get hold of a copy to find out what AH had done with this iconic aircraft.

Special note should be made of the front gun turret which is animated from the external view and you can also elevate and traverse the guns from inside the gunners position.

A nice touch is the inclusion of a number of external ancillary equipment comprising a refuelling truck, bomb trolley and ground-start trolley; all of which can be toggled on and off from the cockpit.

AH provides you with 16 conventional iron bombs and one large Cookie bomb, which was the standard load for a Lancaster on a regular bombing mission.

This panel also allows you to initiate a cold and dark start option.

As far as the latter is concerned, the developer has modelled the main positions of the Lancaster apart from the mid-upper and tail turrets and the rear section of the aircraft.

You therefore have access to the following positions: front gunner, the bomb aimer, the pilots cockpit, the engineers station, the navigators room and the radio operators station - all of which include accurately rendered equipment; much of which is functional.

Fsx Lancaster Bomber Plus It Includes

One is named Cockpit guide and flying notes and covers every aspect of the simulation, plus it includes a detailed Flying Guide tutorial which takes you from pre-start-up through to approach and landing.

The other document is an exact copy of the original Pilots and Flight Engineers notes for the Lancaster handbook.

Now that we have an overview of the package, lets take a closer look at this simulation by examining each of the aircrafts stations.

The instrument panel is beautifully rendered and is particularly striking as shadows move across it, with the instruments exhibiting a convincing glass-like quality.

Comparing this to the photograph of a real example which is included in the accompanying Pilots and Flight Engineers notes handbook, confirms that it is a faithful reproduction of the original.

The modelling of the rest of the cockpit is of a good standard, although one or two elements lack a little polish, but that may have more to do with the style of the rendering.

The cockpit is dominated by the control yoke which has a metallic look about it and can be toggled on and off to aid access to various switches and levers located on the instrument panel.

The latter is dominated by the six blind-flying instruments, comprising the altimeter, airspeed and vertical speed indicators, directional gyro, artificial horizon and turn and slip indicator.

Other notable items which are nicely rendered include the P8 compass, the port and starboard fuel cocks, the feathering switches and the protruding throttle and propeller levers dominating the bottom centre of the instrument panel.

In essence, this controlled the aircrafts attitude and heading.

On this panel you will find items such as the fuel tank cocks and boost pumps, oil pressure and temperature gauges, ground supply switch and the radiator coolant temperature gauges.

You can also toggle the fuel tank and bomb trolley on and off from this position.

More importantly, the engineers panel is accessed during the Lancasters start-up sequence.

In order to carry out his duties, he had a few instruments at his disposal which included position indicators, an early navigation system called GEE (which is inoperative in this simulation) and a duplicate altimeter and airspeed indicator.

Fsx Lancaster Bomber Download Free