FS2002 Panel. For Gotha Grossflugzeug G.II, G.II, G.IV, G.V, and G.Vb
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By Claudio Mussner and Stephan Scholz November 2003
Installation:
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1) Unzip GothPnlU.zip into a temporary folder.
2) Move the panel folder into the corresponding FS2002 aircraft folder.
3) Unzip the contents of Gauge.zip into the FS2002 Gauge directory.
4) IMPORTANT:
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Move the file Gaugesound.dll into the main FS2002 Directory. Without this file, the new gauges will cause FS2002 to crash.
5) The Gotha G.II, unlike other Gotha Grossflugzeug, had manual mixture control. With a text editor, edit the "panel.cfg" to enable mixture control by removing the double slash at the beginning of the two lines that refer to the gauge "Gothmix.gau".
Notes on the new panel and the new instruments:
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I have made the panel and yoke bitmaps from an original Gotha G.V flight-deck photograph, and they have been coloured by Claudio Mussner.
By clicking on any of the new gauges, the left half of the panel will be magnified. Click again to return to normal.
By clicking on the metallic symbol at the top left of the dashboard, an altimeter can be made to appear. It will disappear again by clicking again here or on the bottom edge of the altimeter.
All the new gauges enclosed are historically authentic, and have been carefully created by Claudio Mussner, after extensive and dedicated research, with inestimable help from Mr. Cohausz as regards historical accuracy and original instrument photographs.
They have been programmed with "EasyGauge" and require the file Gaugesound.dll, which you will find enclosed, to be copied into the main FS2002 directory, otherwise they will cause FS2002 to crash.
"EasyGauge" is a program exclusively designed for non-programmers, who are willing to create real C++ gauges for the flight simulator without studying a programming language. For more features, please check out www.easygauge.net
This panel shows the original instruments and equipment, some of which are dummies: The manual air-pump on the right for the fuel system and the four metallic, circular fuel-tank valves at the bottom of the dashboard, that manage air-pressure and fuel in the tanks. The levers on the left and right walls operate shutters on the engine-radiators.
Non-authentic gauges still in use from the previous version:
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These are not supplied with the present update.
The spoiler gauge, in the front gunner´s position, extended, emmulates external bomb-drag if these are carried, and on retracting, emmulates loss in bomb-drag when dropped.
Original gauges left out:
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The following gauges, which appear on the original Gotha flight-deck photograph, have been left out, either for programming reasons or for lack of information regarding the original:
- Magneto switch
- Starting magneto selector
- Extra valves below fuel pressure gauges.
New gauges included:
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The gauge bodies and dials are bitmaps copied from original photographs kindly supplied by Mr. Cohausz.
- The airspeed indicator, on the left of the panel in its unusual, laterally mounted position.
- The horizontal marine-type magnetic compass below that.
- Two fuel-pressure gauges for left and right engines, above on the left.
- The peculiar inclinometer is below these, towards the centre. Red liquid in twin glass tubes measures left and right wing-lift separately, reacting to both rolling and pitching. It substitutes the turn-coordinator from the previous version.
- The dual engine-RPM gauge with overlapping left and right needles in the centre of the panel.
- The engine-temperature gauge below, further right. In reality this could be switched from one engine to the other with a contact lever, but it has not been possible for this panel.
- Altimeters in those days were portable, hung up somewhere in the cockpit. In this model, an authentic altimeter can be viewed by clicking on the metallic symbol just above the fuel-pressure gauges. It will disappear again by clicking there again or by clicking on the bottom altimeter edge.
Set small outside marking arrow: Click on left or right dial halves. Set altimeter needle: Click left or right of top altimeter button.
The clock from the previous version has been removed, as the crew in those days all had expensive Swiss wrist-watches.
There were no fuel-quantity gauges - the pilot had to calculate range on his wrist watch by flying time!
Don´t miss the dangling pencil on the right!!
Extra bonus:
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The following historically authentic gauges are also included in case you need them for other aircraft:
- oil-pressure1
- oil-pressure2
- manifold-pressure1
- manifold-pressure2
- extra dual-needle engine 1-2 RPM gauge in aged steel casing (the one installed has an aged bronze casing)
Legal stuff:
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This panel and the enclosed instruments are copyright and freeware.
No responsibility is taken for any loss or damage incurred directly or
indirectly from its use. The original unaltered files may be freely
distributed, uploaded, downloaded and shared, on condition that proper
credit is maintained, and no financial gain whatsoever must be made.
