READ ME for 'Proctor I' 4 Oct 2008 (Installation details clarified)
This version for FS2004 features a completely new airframe, cfg file and VC with the 2D panel modified to suit the instrumentation from memory and photos of existing Proctor and Vega Gull aircraft. (All instruments have been redrawn and .xml programmed and are as near to those used in the actual aircraft as I can remember or as shown in the Pilots Notes. Photos of existing aircraft cockpits vary and are presumably using instruments currently available.)
This is my first attempt at a complete package including textures, effects, gauges etc., so please excuse any shortcomings :-)
The aircraft flies as well as I can judge from 40 years on, but rough weather flying in the real thing was much more difficult as the aircraft was not as directionally stable as it is in FS2004 - this is probably a fault with FS 2004!
This flight simulation was constructed using gmax with MS gamepack plugins as well as the very necessary MDL Commander and Middleman plugins, and was based on data from an old Airframe maintenance book, web downloads of Vega 3 views, G-AHNA C of A document, AP1708C&D Pilots Notes, and the Civilian maintenance & repair manual, together with photographs and memories of my fathers Proctor I which he owned and maintained (he was also a licenced ground engineer) for 18 years from 1949 to 1967. Unfortunately it was written off in a precautionary forced landing by the new owner in 1969.
G-AHNA was manufactured by F.Hills & Sons Ltd, Manchester in 1940, having Constructors number R7486. It is believed to have been the second manufactured by them. It was granted its civillian registration on 24th May 1946 and owned by Brooklands Aviation at Weybridge Surrey (by whom my father had been employed before WWII!).
INSTALLATION
Make a new folder in your FS9\Aircraft file named Proctor I.
Unzip all files & folders into this folder.
Within the gauges folder you will see a folder named Proctor I, move (or copy) this into your FS9\Gauges folder, and the .fx files into your FS9\Effects folder.
I have designed this aircraft to be ideally flown in the Virtual cockpit at a zoom factor of 0.5, where all switches & controls should work. The view on the ground from the cockpit was better than that represented in this simulation, because one could move ones head and body more easily, although great care was needed, and another pair of eyes very useful when taxying!
It can be flown from the right hand seat by moving the eyepoint sideways using CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER. (I unofficially learnt to fly in that seat!)
In the 2D cockpit the handbrake & fuel cock operation are not visible in this cockpit. A separate window allows Throttle, mixture & Propellor control (SHIFT+3), but is not really needed as these controls work in the 2D cockpit and are best operated using the mouse wheel.
A separate window (SHIFT+2) allows the right hand switches (Landing lamps, nav lamps and the Master Battery) to be operated, and one (SHIFT+4) allows Flaps and elevator trim operation.
In the VC, Flaps, elevator trim, fuel cock, brake lever, throttle, propellor pitch control & mixture control, electrical switches for fuel contents, Outside Air Temp, landing, nav & cockpit lights and the master battery are all operable by mouse, although it is a lot easier to fly if you can assign some controls to the joystick e.g. trim, brakes & flaps (or use the keyboard of course). Carb Priming and Flooding as well as Carb Heat work. It was normally necessary to operate the Primer at least 3 times to fill the float chambers, and to have a person outside of the aircraft watching the overflow pipes under the fuselage (not included in this model).
Shift+E will open/close both doors, CTRL+E will start the engine after setting the pitch control to fine. The starter button does work, but don't forget to switch on the Master Battery & magnetos first. The Gypsy Queen II should really be started in coarse pitch, and there is a start effect smoke that can be seen from the exterior - Tower view or aircraft view.
Lighting: 'L' for all lights, Shift+L for cockpit lights & CTRL+L for both landing lights. There was no requirement at that time to have strobes and/or a rotating/flashing beacon. The cockpit light switches (2 in the roof & 1 on the LH instrument panel) will operate the flood lighting of the instruments in conjuction with the Nav lights, although interaction between these switches is possible. No dimming is available.
The Stopclock button operates the clock & resets it, the DGyro, Altimeter & P8 compass can be adjusted & the fuel & OAT switches enable the appropriate gauges. The ammeter & voltmeter are however a cheat and are fixed.
There was a radio in the original aircraft in its later life - I think it was a Murphy 6 channel remote controller crystal tuned device, and there was a handheld microphone, but I have not yet fitted it!
Take off in fine pitch with elevator trim just aft of neutral. The pilots notes recommend half flap for take off, but this was probably a way of reducing takeoff run and vibration on rough grass airfields. Lift off should occur with slight backpressure at about 65 mph.
On climb out reduce engine revs to between 1900 & 2000 rpm and reduce the throttle to achieve -2.5 psi boost. Elevator trim is speed sensitive, so try to avoid overtrimming until cruise speed of 130 to 140 mph is reached - (this might be due to the data in the .AIR file for the aerofoil section, and this has proved difficult to modify). For prolonged climb 90 mph is the optimimum.
You might need to give the rudder a bit of Left Trim to stop it drifting to the right in S&L flight - Num lock off then CTRL+Num pad 0 for left trim, CTRL+Num pad Enter for right trim. Num pad 5 centres Aileron & Rudder. It also helps if the Starboard Fuel Tank is selected!
The model will perform aerobatics, but were forbidden in the real thing, although the handbook says it will drop a wing and spin if stalled with the elevator fully up - in the model one has to force the spin with rudder, it will recover quickly, nose (elevator) down, neutral (or opposite) rudder.
Approach & Landing: Reduce eng revs by closing the throttle and change propellor pitch to fine. Lower flaps to halfway at about 100 mph and trim out the pitch down movement. Continue the approach & on finals lower flaps fully, trimming out pitch down, & maintain a speed of 70 to 75mph. Round out at about 60 to 65mph and aim for a 3 pointer at 55mph. If rough weather landing add at least 5 mph!
Differential braking is available, F11 or F12, and is best steered with rudder and Differential brakes. On the real aircraft one set the brake lever on by 3 to 5 notches and then the rudder bar controlled the differential brakes as well as the rudder. (I have allocated Brakes to my rudder equipped joystick, and can then set rudder and by operating short 'blips' on the trigger can manoeuvre quite well.)
The aircraft was named 'Nannie Ann' by my then 6 year old sister and was her version of the then phonetic alphabet for HNA 'HOW NAN ABLE' which she reinterpreted as 'Happy Nannie Ann'.
A pilot is present - at least in the exterior views with only an animated head (that is connected to the rudder) and the RH co-pilots seatback moves forward for rear passenger entrance (Keyboard (I).
Sorry about the Cessna soundfile - its the nearest available at present, and I hope sometime to be able to change it to that of a Gypsy Queen II.....
Have fun with an gentle oldy.
In this package there is a screen shot showing the aircraft at Blackbushe (Just Flight British Airports version) and a copy of a photograph of her outside the terminal building at Blackbushe in the late 1960's, in as near the same position as I can replicate. (Apologies for the bad colour rendering of the photo!)
Keith Paine
Sept 2008
Thanks must go to the unknown (to me) creators of instruments that I have used as a basis as well as to Fr Bill Leaming, to Herbert Praille and other contributors to the Avsim Forums!
For the purists there are too many different texture maps, but it is too difficult to redo them all and then set them up again in gmax!
LEGAL NOTICE: THIS PROGRAM IS FREEWARE AND IS NOT TO BE SOLD AS IT USED FREEWARE PROGRAMS IN ITS CREATION.
