FS2002 Douglas DC-3 Royal New Zealand Air Force NZ3551
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Well, maybe just one more repaint .... here's your chance to transport Her Majesty The Queen in the world's finest aircraft. Set your watch back fifty years ...
The DC-3 NZ3551 (c/n 16963/34223 USAAF 45-0960 DC-47B-45-DK 14/08/1945) started her life in New Zealand as a C-47B BOC No.1 Aircraft Storage Unit, Hamilton. She was allocated to No 40 Squadron on 29 August 1945 and then in October to No 41 Squadron. With No 41 Squadron it made many flights to Japan in support of J-Force. On 17 April 1953 she went into service with No 42 Squadron. However, this was short-lived as the aircraft was transferred to De Havilland Ltd. Rongotai, for conversion to the flagship of the Royal Flight. On the 13th November 1953 she was delivered back to No 42 Squadron at Ohakea as a VIP aircraft. In this VIP role N3551 was well known as she carried Royalty, Governors General, Prime Ministers, Ministers of the Crown and visiting dignitaries on various flights around the country. Records show that the aircraft operated with either No's 41 or 42 Squadrons for a continuous period of over 32 years. The aircraft took part in the final RNZAF DC-3 flypast on 12 November 1977 and was withdrawn from service with 42 Squadron the same day. She and NZ3546 were the last DC-3s in service with the RNZAF. SOC 24 January 1978, she was presented to the RNZAF Museum Wigram, near Christchurch, on 25 January 1978. NZ3551 is displayed exactly as she left VIP service in 1977.
This download includes flight plans for the Royal Tour.
Based on Jan Visser's legendary DC-3 model for FS2000, updated for FS2002, the model includes transparent cockpit and cabin windows, nightlighting, lit 3D interior with opening passenger door, boarding steps and other details. Includes FS2002 lights fix by Paul Pridmore. Default panel and sound. Repaint by Mark Beaumont.
About the Royal Visit 1953/54:
"For those New Zealanders old enough to have experienced it, the visit of the young Queen and her dashing husband, Prince Philip, to New Zealand in the summer of 1953-54, is a never-to-be forgotten event. For those who were children at the time, we recall the BIG Day, marked for months in the calendar, when we dressed in our posh clothes, pinned a royal tour medallion to our chests, collected a butter box to stand on, a Union Jack to wave, and perhaps a periscope to look through, and set out to 'see' the Queen.
Perhaps three in every four New Zealanders did see her, as the Queen visited 46 towns or cities and attended 110 separate functions. One woman saw her 30 times. Crowds would turn up hours before and wait patiently for the split second when she drove past. At Tirau, a community of 600 people, there was a crowd of 10,000. At the Ellerslie and Trentham races, crowds turned their backs on the horses to gawk at the royal box.
People went to extraordinary lengths to show their devotion. Sheep were dyed in the patriotic colours of red, white and blue; in New Plymouth both bowling club members and the local pony club formed into an E on the ground. Screens were erected to hide unsightly buildings, and citizens were instructed when and how to plant blue lobelias, red salvias and white begonias. Hardly a car did not sport a Union Jack, hardly a building in the main cities was not covered in bunting and flowers during the day and electric lights at night. This was truly a remarkable event."
Enjoy flying Her Maj around The Godzone. If you need to know whether she enjoyed flying on NZ3551, please telephone her, not me.
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INSTALLATION
Either:
Unzip DC3RNZAF.ZIP directly to your main FS2002 folder. The folder 'Douglas DC-3 RNZAF NZ3551' will be installed in your FS2002/AIRCRAFT/ folder.
The smoke file will go to FS2002/EFFECTS/.
Royal Tour Flight Plans will go to FS2002/FLIGHTS/MYFLTS/.
Or:
Unzip to a temporary folder and move the respective folders to your FS2002 directory manually. This way you can ensure that no file is unwittingly overwritten.
Whichever way you do it, your new aircraft will appear in your FS2002 aircraft selection menu under the manufacturer 'Douglas' type 'DC-3', variation 'RNZAF NZ3551'
No DC-3 sounds are included, but it is highly recommended that you replace the default file, which aliases to the C182, with realistic sounds. If this is not your first DC-3, then you may already have some; but otherwise, recommended are both those found on Trevor "Mr. DC3" Morson's site at www.douglasdc3.com (a must-visit site, particularly for this aircraft, in any case) or by sound guru Mike Hambly: search for the file DAKSND1.ZIP.
Or find it directly at: http://ftp.SurClaro.com/library/sendfile.php?DownloadID=12776.
Alternatively, if you have the MAAM R4D-6, those sounds will do nicely!
You will also wish to install a decent panel; again, if you are a DC-3 buff, you will have a couple by now! I have not installed one here to save filesize but I recommend:
1. The panel by Jorge 'Eko' Salas', which is excellent for most use; I included it in my Cathay Pacific upload CPABETSY.ZIP and you can find it separately too.
2. The panel on which Jorge's panel is based, by Samuel Linnell.
3. The panel included with the MAAM R4D-6, known to every flightsimmer I think. This is a spectacular and very complex panel.
4. The DC-3 panel by James Underwood, which has interesting internal and external views.
5. Pasquale Rinaldi's DC-3 panel for FS2002.
6. The panel, with gorgeous internal views, that shipped with the Dutch Dakota Association's PH-DDZ; it comes with a very comprehensive manual.
Whatever you do, get rid of those C182 default aliases! Fly DC-3!
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OPERATION:
To open and close the door and position the boarding steps, hit "SHIFT/L". On closing, this will also move the pilots to the cockpit. On opening, they will leave the cockpit (cocktails with HM, perhaps?).
Navigations lights are triggered by the "L" key. Landing lights are activated with "CTRL/L".
Smoke can be activated by hitting the "I" key.
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FLIGHT PLANS:
Included are rudimentary flight plans (i.e. derived using the FS2002 flight planner) for those legs of the Royal Tour 1953/54 on which Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled on this aircraft. The balance of their transportation was by train and car. They arrived at Auckland on 'S.S. Gothic' and departed on the same ship from Bluff in the South Island, sneaking in a quick private visit to Milford Sound before leaving NZ waters. I recommend that you visit Milford's airport by air, incidentally, departing from Queenstown. It's my own favourite flight in FS, although tricky at the best of times.
The legs are as follows, together with their file names:
RNZAF Whenuapi NZWP / Kaikohe NZKO 28 December 1953 Whenuapai (Military) to Kaikohe.pln
Rotorua NZRO / Gisborne NZGS 6 January 1954 Rotorua to Gisborne.pln
Gisborne NZGS / Napier NZNR 6 January 1954 Gisborne to Napier.pln
New Plymouth NZNP / Paraparaumu NZPP 9 January 1954 New Plymouth to Paraparaumu.pln
Paraparaumu NZPP / RNZAF Woodbourne NZWB 16 January 1954 Paraparaumu to Woodbourne (Military).pln
RNZAF Woodbourne NZWB / Nelson NZNS 16 January 1954 Woodbourne (Military) to Nelson.pln
Nelson NZNS / Westport NZWS 17 January 1954 Nelson to Westport.pln
For the couple's detailed itinerary go to http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/royal-tour/itin-a.htm
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CREDITS:
Jan Visser, for the original aircraft; together with Bill Rambow, Roy Chaffin and others, Jan remains on the leading edge of development within FS. This repaint is based on the wonderful model of DCA N1776; the first time I have repainted her. Most of the wonderful textures are Jan's, together with interior fixtures and fittings etc., etc. I simply made sure this lady knew how to curtsy for the Queen (or wiggle her tail wheel, at least) and that there was plenty of HM's favourite tipple on board. The Queen's crest is on the bulkhead in the entrance, left; Her Majesty's personal flag for New Zealand is on the boarding steps. Oh, and HM has chosen a left hand seat so that she can watch the port P&W fire up!
For the purists: the design of the model precludes getting the shaping of the nose cheatlines just right, and she cannot carry her number on the nose; also, she's missing her astrodome here. Furthermore, as the Queen's aircraft she was refitted to become a luxurious Rimu wood panelled 8-seater; you'll find the wood here, but this interpretation has seats for the Press Corps as well! Lastly, if the truth be told, the livery she sports today is not actually as it was when she made her 1953/54 tour - any fule no that 1953 was at least two sets of roundels ago - but at least she's flying again! We haven't been able to trace good colour pictures of her in those days, so we've gone with her final livery as preserved today.
Allan Dickie, ex-RNZAF of New Zealand for suggesting this aircraft and for his very useful input. Allan even made a special visit to the museum at Wigram. Thanks, Allan.
The author of the smoke effect. I do not know who this is, but it is not a standard FS2002 effect.
Paul Pridmore for permission to use his FS2002 lights "fix" for the FS2000 model.
Anyone else whose work might be here that I am unaware of. All files here, other than my repaint work, have been uploaded previously in the public domain as freeware. If anything is here that shouldn't be, please let me know and I'll replace it.
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This package may not be redistributed or further modified without prior consent from ALL the authors listed in the credits. Each has their own policy for distribution and modification, so please ensure all are contacted. They can all be traced through the major flight simulation sites.
Here's a complete list of my DC-3 repaints for FS2002 to date, available at SurClaro.com, SurClaro and Simviation.com, or directly from my own site at www.swiremariners.com/dc3.html:
Cathay Pacific 'Betsy' VR-HDB (2) CPABETSY.ZIP (includes panel by Jorge Salas)
Cathay Pacific 'Betsy' Cargo CPABETSY2.ZIP (only at www.swiremariners.com\cxkaitak.html)
Cathay Pacific 'Nikki' VR-HDA CPANIKKI.ZIP
Ansett MAL VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3ANSOC.ZIP
Ansett PNG VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3ANSNC.ZIP (Pratt & Whitney engines)
Airlines of NSW 'Viewmaster' (P&Ws) DC3ANSW.ZIP
Bush Pilots Airways VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3BPA.ZIP
Air Queensland VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3AQAC.ZIP
BBA Cargo VH-BAB DC3BBA.ZIP
BOAC G-AGHE DC3BOAC2.ZIP
Dan-Air G-AMPP DC3DAN.ZIP
American Airlines N21798 DC3AAFK.ZIP
Lambair CF-CBJ DC3LAMB.ZIP
Air Vietnam XV-NIA DC3VIET.ZIP, DC3VIET2.ZIP (includes flight plans)
Bahamas Airways VP-BBU DC3BAHAM.ZIP
Delta Air Lines NC28341 DC3DELTA.ZIP
Swiss Air Lines HB-IRN DC3SWISS.ZIP
C-47 BBMF ZA947, Aces High N147DC C47RAF2.ZIP
C-47 USAAF 41-18385 C47BETSY.ZIP
All the above will benefit from the recommended upgrade DC3AIR.ZIP. The following uploads already have this upgrade:
Ansett ANA 'Cargomaster' DC3ANSCA.ZIP
Airlines of NSW 'Viewmaster' (Wrights) DC3ANSW2.ZIP
BEA 'Pionair' G-AHCZ DC3BEAPI.ZIP
Qantas VH-EDC DC3QNTAS.ZIP
Cambrian Airways G-AGHM, G-AHCZ DC3CAMB2.ZIP, DC3CAMUP.ZIP
Air France 'Aeropostale' F-BAIF DC3AIRFR.ZIP
Mandated Airlines (PNG) VH-MAL DC3MANDA.ZIP
Air Atlantique G-AMRA DC3ATLAN.ZIP
Canadian Air Force RESCUE (CC-129) 12905 DC3CAFRS.ZIP
C-47 Canadian AF 'Canucks Unlimited' C47CAFCU.ZIP
Ozark Air Lines N763A DC3OZARK.ZIP
Nordair CF-HTH DC3NORDA.ZIP
Caribair N8011E DC3CARIB.ZIP
Buffalo Airways C-GPNR, C-GWIR, C-FLFR DC3BUFFA.ZIP, DC3BUFF2.ZIP, DC3BUFF3.ZIP
South Pacific Airways of NZ ZK-BYD DC3SPANZ.ZIP
New Zealand National Airways Corp ZK-AWP DC3NZNAC.ZIP
Royal New Zealand Air Force NZ3551 DC3RNZAF.ZIP
These repaints started with a long-overdue paint of the legendary "Betsy" for my own use, later shared; this led to paints of her other liveries in her long career, and the others simply caught my eye or were interesting requests.
Like everyone else, I await Jan Visser's GMAX bird with keen anticipation. What with that and a default DC-3 in FS2004, all DC-3 fans have some excitement ahead! I have not yet decided whether to paint DC-3s for FS2004, but there may be one or two ...
All the above aircraft fly well enough in FS2004 and all animations, lights etc. work with the exception of the propellor axes and prop circles. There may be no way around this, regrettably (thanks, MS!), but it's not actually too annoying if you spend most of your time in the cockpit! We must move on, I know; but like many others, FS2002 will remain on my hard drive for some time to come. I have too much invested in it, and I love these DC-3s. It will be some time before a collection as comprehensive as that above is produced for FS2004, but it will happen, of course.
To those who have asked for repaints I've never got to - Eastern, United, North East, Mohawk, Trans Canadian, BKS, Austrian, KLM, ARCO, Four Star, to name but a few - forgive me. I can't get to them all, but I greatly appreciate your support and interest. I encourage you, however, to look closely at the Visser GMAX DC-3 when it arrives; it will spawn a host of repaints and I know Jan to have prepared quite a few himself already.
So until then, thank you for downloading my repaints for FS2002. I have made many new and very special friends through this work. Of the aircraft above, at least five of their original pilots have been in touch, and I have had more mail about the DC-3 than any other aircraft with which I've been involved.
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Visit my own site at:
www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitak.html
to find listings and downloads of Cathay Pacific aircraft and other add-ons for FS2002.
