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CFS2 B-25H 498th BOMB SQUADRON "AIR APACHES"
BY: ERIC (CAPT_SMIRNOFF) NOVESKEY, ANTHONY (GRAMPS) SULLENGER, CHARLES SIMPSON, GRAHAM, AND KEVIN BACON with help from DWALTER (Deeds)
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History Quiz:
The B-25H was one of the most heavily armed attack aircraft of it's day. It could pummel it's target with:
A) the concentrated firepower of 10 .50 cal machine guns
B) shells from a 75mm cannon
C) 3200lbs of bombs
D) all of the above
if you answered D... you are CORRECT!! ...and only 30 questions away from a million Turkish lira (approximate value = $2 US). Only the B-25 PBJ variant had more continuous firepower with the cannon replaced with 4 more machine guns (for a total of 14, and that's not even counting the tail guns and side blisters!)
Installation
Aircraft:
This is a COMPLETE AIRCRAFT! To install, place the B25H folder in your CFS2/AIRCRAFT folder.
Sound:
For the 75mm cannon to sound right, you must place the included wav files (40can.wav and xcan40.wav) located in the B-25H/SOUND folder in the CFS2/SOUND folder. MAKE BACK UP COPIES OF THE ORIGINALS FIRST! Understand that if you replace these files ALL CFS2 Aircraft that use the 40mm cannon sound will be effected.
Gauges:
Now place the contents of the B-25H/PANEL/Gauges folder in your CFS2/GAUGES folder. Also please take the time to read the "readme" file in the B-25/PANEL folder regarding this wonderful freeware add-on Paolo Kromberg has allowed us to include with this plane.
To install the missions, open the enclosed B-25H/Missions folder and copy the files into your CFS2/Missions folder in your directory.
Description:
From an original model by Charlie (with help from Graham) this is a CFS2 version of the B-25H, complete with 10 forward firing .50 cal machine guns (4 in nose, 4 package guns and two in upper turret) plus a 75mm howitzer in the chin.
The model was almost accidentaly lost for all eternity when Charlie installed Windows XP. Luckily, Graham found out when he attempted to convert it to gmax for him that the source file was intact.
When interest in the B-25H resurfaced (did it ever wane?), Charles told his tale of woe... then offered to send me the source file to complete a CFS2 version (Charles no longer had CFS2 on his computer). I accepted, and found Anthony willing to help with the model finishing work so I could do the textures. We all hope you enjoy the result.
The internal sound of the cannon firing was made by DWalter (Deeds). The external sound file is an altered version of a howitzer sound found online that had no documentation.
Kevin Bacon did the VC gauges and provided the B-25H mission included in this download.
Texturing notes:
This wasn't the easiest plane to paint, and it is one of the first I have done where I didn't have any original textures to even use as a guide. Some of you (Steve, aka SBFightingFalcon) have already noticed from the preliminary screenshots that the mouth on the falconhead nose art isn't quite true to life. That is on purpose. I tried to make it as close to the original as possible, but some accommodations had to be made... in this case for the way the textures wrapped around the 75mm port. It was necessary to have the mouth open wider so the black texture would fill the port. I felt it was better to stick to the spirit of the project if not necessarily to the letter and still end up with areas that looked funny besides.
I am also pleased by the way the side blisters turned out. They were incomplete on the original and I didn't want to overload Anthony with too much extra work (he did so much already, and such a great job too). I decided to attempt to "paint" them in. The result is pretty good if I do say so myself and reduces the polygon count, making for faster framerates.
Background:
The B-25H was an all-out armed-to-the-teeth attack aircraft. The co-pilot position was eliminated and the navigator/radio operator moved to a small jumpseat in his place to make room for the flight engineer/dorsal gunner. He operated the large dorsal turret's twin .50 cal MG with 400 rpg (rounds per gun). The turret was often placed in a forward firing position during a strafing run. It had been moved forward to counterbalance the added weight of a tail gunner position (twin .50 cal w/600 rpg) and two side-mounted machine guns (one on each side with 200 rpg).
In addition to those, there were four .50 cal "package guns" mounted two on each side below the cockpit windows. Each of these also carried 400 rounds of ammunition.
The solid nose housed four more .50 cal machine guns lined up horizontally across the front with 400 rounds each and the infamous 75mm cannon protruding from a port below and to the left of center. That's 5600 rounds of .50 cal ammo, over 70% of which can be used for directly strafing the target... plus a cannon the size of friggin' Texas!!
The cannon only carried 21 rounds, but when each shell is roughly the size of a 20 ounce (591ml) bottle of soda it doesn't take many to make your presence felt. Just make the shots count. The cannon was sighted for 1000 yards and firing began when the target came within twice that distance, getting off anywhere from 3 to 6 shots on a run.
There seems to be some debate as to the purpose of the sheilding on the lower outer portion of the pilot's windscreen (which hasn't been rendered in this model). Some say it was needed because of the large muzzle flash from the 75mm. Others say it was armor to better protect the pilot.
I tend to agree with the latter. To purposefully take away such a large part of the pilot's visibility, there would have to be a damn good reason. If the concern was muzzle flash (for only 21 rounds remember) a more effective solution would have been to tint that window area, not block it out.
It makes more sense that the purpose was to provide added protection for the pilot. There was no co-pilot to take the controls if the pilot became incapacitated (death has a way of doing this). That alone would warrant as much extra armor (for the pilot at least) as the plane could handle in a ground attack strafer like the B-25H. Proof positive for me is that these plates (in addition to the heavy armor on the side of the cockpit) were also installed on PBJ and other ground attack B-25s that were not equiped with the 75mm cannon.
In addition to the range weapons, the B-25 also lived up to the "B" in it's name. It was, after all, a bomber. It could carry up to 3200 lbs of bombs or a 2000 lb torpedo. Although the 2000 lb bomb capability was later dropped (no pun intended) due to a hoist mechanism that was rarely used and took up a great deal of space in the bomb bay.
Special thanks to Paolo Kromberg for his B-25 panel (orig. readme incl.) and to Martin Wright for the original B-25H dp file (from the B-25 solid nose conversion project).
Also, special thanks to Dakota93 for last minute fixes to the dp file. Really saved my butt. Thanks. :)
Credits:
Charles Simpson- original FSDS model file reworked to an H configuration from airbuda's B-25 Mitchell
Graham- gmax conversion
Anthony Sullenger (Gramps)- completion of multi-res model and animations, texture mapping, virtual cockpit, internal textures (incl. cockpit) and part coloring.
Kevin Bacon- virtual cockpit gauges, mission files
Eric Noveskey (Capt_Smirnoff)- external textures, dp file modifications, exterior cannon sound.
DWalter (Deeds)- interior 75mm cannon sound file.
Martin Wright- original dp file
Paolo Kromberg a.k.a Strawberry5 (pamak99@yahoo.com)- addon 2D panel (see panel readme for further info)
Legal type stuff:
These files are FREEWARE and cannot be redistributed, sold, given, altered, copied, teased, stared at directly in the eye, talked about behind their back, cast in a broadway play, lose their amature status in a pick-up game of dwarf-tossing, blah-blah-blah... or otherwise used in ANY way where monies are charged or the original authors are not properly credited.
If you do violate these terms, nothing will probably happen because we likely won't have the time, energy or cash to hire an expensive international copyright laywer to sue your ass, but that doesn't make it any more okay or you any less of an asshole. But have a nice day anyway. :)
These files have been extensively and repeatedly tested with no ill effects on thou... hun... a doz... okay, a handful of computers. That doesn't mean it can't fry yours but I don't know how it could if it did. Either way we are not responsible. You use these files at your own risk okay? Just so you know.
That being said, may you all have hours of wonderful simming. :)
