This CFS2 aircraft was produced with Abacus FS Design Studio 3.5.1, FS Panel Studio 2004, and Paint Shop Pro X. The original FS2004 visual model was converted to CFS2 using MDLC version 7.5.
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Installation CFS2:
-Extract the contents of the main zip file XB15CFS2.zip into CFS2's Aircraft folder. This should create a structure something like the following:
- c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Combat Flight Simulator 2
--- AIRCRAFT
----- BOEING_XB-15
-------- Gauges
-------- model
-------- panel
-------- sound
-------- texture.camo1939
-------- texture.metal
Copy or move the contents of the Boeing_XB-15/Gauges folder to the CFS2 GAUGES folder.
-Once these files are extracted, Combat Flight Simulator 2 should exhibit two new entries under Player Aircraft: --Boeing XB-15 Natural Metal
--Boeing XB-15 Camouflage
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Known issues:
-Inoperative features.
-- Virtual Cockpit animations from FS2004 do not work in this conversion to CFS2.
-Fictional features.
-- Relatively little documentation exists on XB-15. Much of interior is made up. Flight deck layout is roughly correct, based on one available photograph.
-- Hypothetical interior details are mostly based on either Boeing Model 299 (or Y1B-17), or Boeing 314.
-- Bomb bay, wing tunnel, bombardier station, bunk/galley area, and waist gun area are all hypothetical.
-- Sperry bomb sight modeled. May have been Norden, or none at all.
-- Flight instruments are purely hypothetical.
-Sound. To save space, this model comes with a sound.cfg file that points to a default sound package, the A6M2.
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Authorship:
The visual model and textures are completely original. They were initially created for FS2004 by George Diemer.
Flight dynamics, panel, and damage profile were created by Pedro Paulo Rezende.
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Background:
The Boeing XB-15 was a response to Army Air Corps request for a long-range bomber. Boeing Model 294 was designed in 1934, and the Army designation of the plane was XBLR-1 (Experimental Bomber, Long Range).
Only one example was built. In July 1936 the Army changed the designation to XB-15. The airplane first flew in October 1937, two years after the B-17's first flight.
The airplane was supposed to carry 4000 pounds of bombs for 5000 miles at 200 miles per hour. The original design called for Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engines of 1000 hp each, but these were unavailable.
The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial was substituted, rated at only 850 hp. The XB-15 could not quite reach a maximum speed of 200 mph, and actually cruised at 152 mph.
It had a huge wing, thick enough for the flight engineer to visit the engines in flight and make minor adjustments. The wing was copied almost exactly in the later Boeing 314 Clipper flying boats.
With expected flight durations more than 24 hours, the XB-15 had provisions for a relief crew, with bunks and a galley.
The XB-15 was assigned to the 49th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, at Langley Field, Virginia in 1938. It had natural metal finish and was given aircraft number 89. In 1939 and 1940 it was photographed in two-tone experimental camouflage, a water-based paint which deteriorated rapidly.
In 1939 the XB-15 carried medical supplies from the Red Cross to earthquake victims in Chile, covering 4933 miles in 49 hours (29 hours flying time).
The XB-15 was determined to be obsolete as a bomber design, but it was a functional airplane, and performed patrol missions in the first years of WWII. In 1943 it was converted to a cargo plane and designated XC-105. It served 18 months carrying passengers and cargo in the Caribbean, for the Sixth Air Force in Panama.
Despite being underpowered, the XB-15 had significant load-carrying ability and set a payload-to-height record (31,205 pounds to 8200 feet) in 1939.
The XB-15/XC-105's career ended in 1945. One report says it was scrapped at Kelly Field, Texas. Another says it was pushed into a swamp in Panama and abandoned.
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References:
Peter M. Bowers, 'Boeing Aircraft Since 1916', Aero Publishers Inc., 1966
Peter M. Bowers, 'Fortress in the Sky', Sentry Books, 1976
Michael O'Leary, 'A Selection of Classic American Aircraft', Air Classics Magazine Vol. 41, Number 5, June 2005.
Jack McKillop, 'Boeing 294 XB-15', http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/McKillop/5384.htm, May 2006
Joe Baugher, 'Boeing XBLR-1/XB-15/XC-105', http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b15.html, July 1999
Leo Kohn, 'Boeing XB-15 Super Flying Fortress', WWII Journal 15, 'US Warplanes vol. 1', http://books.google.com search "U.S. Warplanes of World War II"
Stan Cohen, 'Wings to the Orient', Pictorial Histories Publishing 1998
Edward Jablonski,'Sea Wings', Doubleday, 1972
http://www.boeingimages.com, search for XB-15
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This model is freeware.
All comments and suggestions welcome.
E-mail: pepe_rezende@yahoo.com.br
