=========================================================================
=============== Series: LOST AND FOUND: historic propliner ==============
=========================================================================
All-new plane by Harry Follas based on DC-6b by Harry Follas and Tom Gibson
Original textures by Tom Gibson, bare metal textures by Harry Follas, repainted by Hans Hermann
Flight Model by Brian Horsey
Sounds by Mike Hambly,
mhambly@SurClaro
Repainted, MDL-file modified for night light textures and night light textures added by Hans U. Hermann (Germany)
E-mail: virtual.birds@gmx.de
Facts and figures research: Hans Hermann
This plane features textured props, animated passenger door and
airstairs, and steerable nose gear. It is complete with moving landing gear, flaps, ailerons, elevators, and rudder. It also features night light textures with switchable landig lights and realistic engine start.
NOTE: Many other classic airliners can be downloaded free from Tom Gibson's Classic Airliner WEB site at - http://members.aol.com/TGFltsim/
Installation in FS2002:
-----------------------
Copy the extracted folder to the \FS2002\aircraft directory using WinZip or similar program making sure the paths option is turned on.
If you are using WinNT/2000/XP, you may have to "repair" the MDL file before you can use it (you'll get an error when you try to load them into FS). The file is mdrepair.zip at SurClaro.
Panel:
------
I recommend Tom Gibson's DC-6 IFR panel for flying this plane realistically.
The DC-6 IFR panel can be downloaded from the Classic Airliner Page;
http://members.aol.com/TGFltsim/panels.htm. You will need to change
the panel.cfg file; instructions are in the panel.cfg file.
Sound:
------
Sound files by Mike Hambly, Pegasus Aviation Design are already installed in the folder sound.
(Originally developed for FSW95 & FS98 and Lancaster Bomber, which was equipped with engines Rolls-Royce Merlin as well, but it also runs with FS2002)
Visit his website at: http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/pegav/
OPENING DOOR
------------
The passenger door will open and airstairs will roll up to the door when you
press the / key (spoiler-key). Press the / key again to close the door for flight. The latest DC-6 panel (v5 or later) from Tom Gibson will do this automatically.
STEERABLE NOSE GEAR
-------------------
The nose gear will rotate if you move your yoke or joystick (assuming you
have autocoordination ON).
REALISTIC ENGINE START
----------------------
To start the engines realistically and individually, do this:
1. Go to spot view (SSSW) or look back at your engines
(3 on the numeric keypad with NumLock on).
2. Press Ctrl-Shift F1 to change mixtures to Idle Cutoff.
3. Press E3 to select engine #3.
4. Press M and then = (on the main keyboard); hold down the = key.
5. Wait for 6 prop blades to pass by.
6. Let go of the = key and press Ctrl-Shift F4 (mixture to Full Rich);
engine 3 will start.
7. Press E4 to select engine #4.
8. Repeat steps 4-6 to start engine #4.
9. Repeat steps 3-6 to start engines 2 and 1 (E2 and E1).
10. Normal start sequence is 3-4-2-1.
Copyright:
----------
These data in no matter what shape are for private use only and therefore must not be sold either as single items or as parts of an FS-collection. All elements put togehter are Freeware!
Note:
-----
Naturally, nobody can guarantee that these data will function properly and that no problems will occur along with installation and usage. We ourselves have no problems at all running this aircraft on our system.
Our FS-models are certified as authentic-VIRTUAL-aircrafts when their originals are or were present in the real Aviation's world rectified by photographs or other documents. The main evidence is the registration number of the aircraft. In case we have expressive pictured documents, comparisons of the originals and the FS-models are made with regard to equalness and differences.
In case an FS-model differs significantly from the original, it will not gain a certificate.
In case precise data about the flights of this certificated plane's original are available, those are provided thereafter:
B.O.A.C. - British Overseas Airways Corporation (United Kingdom)
Canadair CL-4 Argonaut, Registration: G-ALHK, sn 157 (1950) and
Registration: G-ALHX, sn 169 (1957)
----------------------------------------------------------------
By 1949 BOAC had taken delivery of the Canadian version of the Douglas DC-4, the Canadair C.4 Argonaut. The Argonaut was introduced on most of BOAC's routes quickly. 1950 began with BOAC re-starting mid-Atlantic flights to South America using Yorks and then Argonauts on flights to Buenos Aires and later on to Santiago.
The Argonaut with registration G-AHLK was later sold to Overseas Aviation Ltd and then tranferred to the danish airline Flying Enterprise. Finally it was broken up at Copenhagen-Kastrup. More details are unknown.
The Argonaut with registration G-ALHX was transferred to Aden Airways, a BOAC associated company. More details are unknown.
Registration Aircraft Type c/n Origin Fate/Remarks
----------------------------------------------------------------
G-ALHC C-4 Argonaut 145 to Rhodesia RRAF-180
G-ALHD C-4 Argonaut 146 to VP-KOY
G-ALHE C-4 Argonaut 151 w/o 24jun1956 Kano
G-ALHF C-4 Argonaut 152 b/u Redhill, temp.reg:VP-KOI
G-ALHG C-4 Argonaut 153 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHH C-4 Argonaut 154 to Rhodesia RRAF-181
G-ALHI C-4 Argonaut 155 to Rhodesia RRAF-182
G-ALHJ C-4 Argonaut 156 b/u Heathrow (ground trainer)
temp.reg:VP-KOT
G-ALHK C-4 Argonaut 157 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHL C-4 Argonaut 158 w/o 21sep1955 Tripoli-Idris
G-ALHM C-4 Argonaut 159 to Air Links, temp.reg:VP-KOJ
G-ALHN C-4 Argonaut 160 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHO C-4 Argonaut 161 to VP-KNY
G-ALHP C-4 Argonaut 162 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHR C-4 Argonaut 163 to VR-AAR
G-ALHS C-4 Argonaut 164 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHT C-4 Argonaut 165 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHU C-4 Argonaut 166 to Overseas Avn
G-ALHV C-4 Argonaut 167 to VR-AAT
G-ALHW C-4 Argonaut 168 to Rhodesia RRAF-179
G-ALHX C-4 Argonaut 169 to Aden AW/BOAC Associated Companies
G-ALHY C-4 Argonaut 170 to Overseas Avn
Source:
AeroTransport Data Bank
http://aerotransport.free.fr/index.html
b/u = broken up
u/u = unused, aircraft owned but operated on behalf of third party
w/o = written off
To the Plane: DC-4-M (C54-GM) North Star, Canadair CL-4 Argonaut
---------------------------------------------------------------
Throughout 1944, design work on the DC-4M, as the new transport was designated, gathered speed, with most activity taking place at the TCA engineering facilities at Winnipeg and Dorval. At Cartierville, Canadair was gearing up to produce a reduced Canadian requirement of 44 aircraft: 24 for the RCAF and 20 for TCA. The chosen design was basically a DC-4 airframe with some DC-6 components and British Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.
The major difference between the RCAF and TCA aircraft lay in cabin pressurization. While TCA regarded pressurization as essential for high altitude trans-Atlantic operations, the RCAF felt that its operations did not merit the expense of pressurization. The RCAF version, designated C-54GM, was to be unpressurized and consist mainly of Douglas C-54 Skymaster parts. TCA aircraft, designated DC-4-M2, were to be pressurized and have a Douglas DC-4 empennage, rear fuselage, flaps and wing tips; C-54 wing centre and outer wing panel; a DC-6 fuselage shortened by 2 metres (80 in.), and a DC-6 nose section and landing gear. To put Canadair to work as quickly as possible and avoid impending layoffs, the first six aircraft on the line were to be C-54GMs with fuselages selected from the C-54 fuselages Ben Franklin, president of Canadair, had acquired from Douglas' Chicago plant.
Though initially destined for the RCAF, the first six aircraft were allotted temporarily to TCA. The airline modified their aft cargo doors for passenger use and installed a DC-6 landing gear to permit a gross weight increase of 2,000 kg (5,000 lb.). TCA designated them DC-4-M1s and operated them until the first of its pressurized DC-4-M2s became available, whereupon they were returned to the RCAF.
The prototype C54-GM made its maiden flight on July 15, 1946, shortly after Ben Franklin had suggested the name North Star, as a tribute to Polaris, friend of the traveller. One problem surfaced immediately: engine noise from the unmuffled exhaust stacks vented straight against the fuselage was too loud for passenger comfort. After his first North Star flight, Franklin's successor as president of Canadair, H. Oliver West, gave his engineers two weeks to come up with an answer. It was six long years before TCA and British Overseas Airways engineers each produced quieter cross-over exhaust systems but neither solved the problem completely.
The first DC-4-M1 was delivered to TCA on November 16, 1946 and went into trans-Atlantic service on April 15, 1947. There were teething problems, but TCA established an unparalleled reputation for speed and dependability combined with high utilization. In the first 58 days of operation it completed 58 Atlantic round trips. Before the end of 1947, the six M1s were making 14 round trips a week on the route, and during the year, they set three world records between Canada and the British Isles.
The first RCAF aircraft was delivered to 426 Squadron on September 12, 1947; the last flight by an RCAF North Star was on December 8, 1965. In the intervening 18 years, the North Star established a remarkable RCAF safety record by flying 310 million km (193 million mi.) without a fatality. RCAF operations took North Stars to every part of the globe; to the Korean War; support of United Nations activities in the Congo, Cyprus, Indo-China, the Middle East and Yemen, and on mercy operations in Jamaica, Italy and Chile.
The North Star flew on the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and reached its finest hour with the Korean Airlift of 1950-52. With a terminal point at the Montreal International Airport, aircraft of No. 426 Squadron staged through Tacoma, Washington to Tokyo. Japan carrying men and supplies for the Korean conflict. They flew 599 round trips over the Pacific route and delivered 7,000,000 pounds of cargo and 13,000 personnel both ways. This amounted to 6,000,000 miles. Not an ounce of it was lost nor was there any loss of life. A record that is remarkable because the Tokyo run provided some of the 'hairiest' pilot traps on earth.
While many of the North Star's accomplishments have gone unsung, one of them did step into the limelight briefly in 1949 to set a speed record for the first non-stop flight from Vancouver to Halifax in 8 hours and 32 minutes, thereby establishing a trans-Canada record which stood for more than ten years. A North Star of No. 412 Squadron made the RCAF's first round-the-world flight to carry The Honourable Lester B. Pearson (later, the Prime Minister of Canada) to a conference of Commonwealth foreign ministers at Colombo, Ceylon, on 2 January to 8 February, 1950.
It became the fire truck of international brush-fires and answered the bell in Hungary, Egypt, Morocco, and Chile to attend man-made and natural disasters. One of the last great mercy missions of the North Star was in 1963 when five of them airlifted a complete hospital from Canada to earthquake-shattered Chile. North Stars were used as a regular vehicle on the Pisa-Congo run as well as shuttling through the Middle East points at El Arish and Cyprus where UN emergency forces serve. RCAF support of the UN operations in the Congo got underway on 18 July 1960 when 24,000 pounds of meat and 20,000 pounds of powdered milk were flown from Trenton to Leopoidville via TCA North Stars. TCA initiated 'Operation Mallard', an intensive 20-day airlift of troops, equipment and supplies to the Congo, following which two scheduled flights per week were established on a continuous basis between the UN staging unit at Pisa, Italy and Leopoidville.
The Canadair-Douglas licence agreement restricted the sale of North Stars to the United Kingdom and Canada, nevertheless, by the time production ended in 1950, Canadair had produced a total of 70 North Stars. In addition to the RCAF's 24 C-54GMs and TCA's 20 DC-4M-2s, Canadair delivered 22 C-4 Argonauts to British Overseas Airways Corporation, and four C-4-1s to Canadian Pacific Airlines. One C-5, a VIP transport version powered by Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines, was supplied to the RCAF to replace a DC-4-M1 lost while in TCA service. Only one North Star survives; former RCAF C-54GM, No. 17515, belongs to the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa.
North Star Specifications
=========================
(Canadair designations were CL-2 for the CL-54GM, DC-4-M1 and M2; CL-4 for the C-4 and CL-5 for the C-5)
Designition Production Delivered to
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadair CL-2 (DC-4M-1) North Star 6 TCA/RCAF
Canadair CL-2 (C-54GM) North Star 18 RCAF
Canadair CL-2 (DC-4M-2) North Star 20 TCA
Canadair CL-4 Argonaut 22 BOAC
Canadair CL-4-1 Argonaut 4 Canadian Pacific
Canadair CL-5 1 RCAF
Engins/Triebwerke (CL-2 and CL-4)
---------------------------------
Four Rolls-Royce Merlin 620, 622,624, in-line (each 1760 hp).
Three-or four-blade Hamilton Standard constant-speed reversible propeller
Engins/Triebwerke (CL-5)
------------------------
Four Pratt & Whitney R-2800 "Double Wasp" radial (each 2100hp) Three-blade Hamilton Standard constant-speed reversible propeller
External Dimensions/Äußere Abmessungen
--------------------------------------
Wing Span/Spannweite 35,8 m 117 ft. 6 in.
Length/Länge 28,6 m 93 ft. 7.5 in.
Height/Höhe 8,4 m 27 ft. 6.3 in.
C-5: 8,8 m 29 ft.
Internal Dimensions/Innenabmessungen
------------------------------------
Cabin Length/Kabinenlänge 14,17 m 46 ft. 6 in.
Max.Width/Max. Weite 2,64 m 8 ft. 8 in.
Max. Height/Max. Höhe 2.,3 m 7 ft. 8 in.
The History Of B.O.A.C. - British Overseas Airways Corporation (United Kingdom)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOAC became Britain's state airline at the end of 1939 taking over service from Imperial Airways and British Airways Limited. In 1974 BOAC was merged with its sister airline BEA to form the now world rated British Airways.
For the history of BOAC you may have a look at:
http://airlines.afriqonline.com/airlines/560.htm
