Not surprisingly, the combination of firepower and high speed made the A-26 a highly effective aircraft. Operational service of the Invader began on 19 November 1944 and was first deployed to the 9th Air Force units operating in Europe.
THIS IS A 3 MODEL PACKAGE:
"Douglas A-26B Invader"
This model is best suited for night fighter missions, after reaching production fire power was achieved by providing eight 0.50 caliber guns mounted in nose, and three 0.50 calibar guns mounted in each wing. This fire power was given over to the pilot and enhanced the total forward firing capability to 14 forward-firing guns. Two each 50 caliber guns in remote- controlled dorsal and ventral turrets
"Douglas A-26B-10 Invader"
The desirability of enhancing firepower for the ground-attack and anti-shipping roles. The Invader was enhaunced with two 37mm cannons in a solid nose configuration. Combined fire power with three 50 cal. machine guns on each wing gave this version a devastating punch. Two each 50 caliber guns in remote- controlled dorsal and ventral turrets
"Douglas A-26C Invader"
This model is well suited for tactical bombing the A-26 could carry an internal bomb load of 4,000 lbs and an underwing load of up to 2,000 lbs. Two each 50 caliber guns in remote- controlled dorsal and ventral turrets
Missions:
I've had the honor of doing the missions for this aircraft and can say I've enjoyed flying every one of them. There are 3 missions for each aircraft. For the A-26B-10 there are 3 shipping attack missions with a variety of goals, make sure to use your wingman wisely. For the A-26C we have 3 high altitude bombing missions to make good use of the bombsight, and for the A-26B 3 night missions that vary in difficulty.
These mission were made by 46th Irish and the 46th Fighter Squadron. Our squad can be found at http://www.46th.org
There are many more missions available for download from our downloads page.
Hope you enjoy these missions as much as I did.
S!
The model in this set is ONLY FOR CFS3. There are a number of items unique
to CFS3 that will not work in CFS2 or FS2002.
FEATURES:
This is a GMAX model. Ed Wilson and JP Demmerle have worked several months on modeling the key features of this airplane and animating them for FS2002 and CFS2. ED Wilson did the Conversion for CFS3.
1. Fully Animated Control Surfaces, Cowl Flaps, Landing Gear, Flaps, Bomb Bay Doors,
and Canopy. These operate with standard CFS 3 keys.
2. Full 3D cockpits with operating instruments. These are on original bitmaps
created by JP Demmerle. They are based on photos, diagrams and verbal reports. The virtual interior views are a result of hard work by Ed Wilson.
Full Panning is supported and all the instruments function in the VC view.
The control yoke and throttle quadrant also feature-moving parts. Be sure to check the interiors of the wheel wells and bomb bays in exterior view.
You can Zoom in or out in VC view to change perspective from the cockpit.
SOME NOTES ON USING THIS MODEL:
1.There are some general notes on how the A-26 should be operated in the 'note' files keyboard command: press the n key. Check the 13th bomb squadron web site http://www.13thbombsquadron.org/ for their document on how to fly the B26, which is the desination of this aircraft during the Korean war.
2. The use of instruments is the same as any other aircraft.
3. The configuration is set-up to use the same views for bombing and bomber defense (turrets)
as a default CFS3 Bombers.
4. (Shift +B) will open and close the bomb-bay. If you are in HUD view (F5) the list will show if the bomb-bay is open or closed.
Background:
This model has been a long time in development. Sometime in the early days of
CFS2, Spin-dry built an FSDS model but it was never painted. Nevertheless, it was a popular
model. He later said he would not be developing it further pending a remake and also related to
his new work with a pay ware developer. Two of the Old Geezers contacted Spinny and
asked if they could complete the model. At that time, the intent was merely to polish it up a bit and do a number of skins. The FSDS model was nearly completed when GMAX arrived on
the Scene. Ed Wilson (GZR_Groundhog) and JP Demmerle (GZR Graywolf) then decided to
start from scratch and build a full range of the versions of the Invader. As with many projects, it continued to grow in scope. A number of other people have been involved in gathering information. The Credits section more fully describes all those involved.
CREDITS:
There were a number of people involved in this project over the approximately 18
months it has been in progress. It owes a lot of its life to the Old Geezers Flight Sim Squad. The Geezers provided the contact points and the magnet that pulled the project together originally. After that, it took on a life of its own. As noted in the background paragraph, It originated with Spin-dry's unfinished A-26. From that beginning it has become a totally new model-essentially built from scratch. *** The major exception was the use of 714th programs and spreadsheets to build the air files. The Old Geezers are not much for on-line flying. Mostly they are guys interested in developing and playing with the add-on capabilities offered in CFS2 and FS2002. A great number of people have provided advice, gauges, scenery, flight models and methods that were used in this model.
Airfile: Jerry Beckwith put together the airfile for this model, checkout his excellent web site for flight modeling tools and replacement airfiles for the stock models. http://www.mudpond.us
I've put together a spreadsheet for the A-26B version. I found a lot of data in NACA Report 816, which is a comparison of an A-26B scale model in a wind tunnel and actual flight data taken on an instrumented A-26B. It's pretty rare that they did a report of this type that focuses primarily on stability and control characteristics. For this flight model it's a great all-in-one source of dimensioned line drawings, surface areas, airfoil types, roll rates, etc.
In addition, Charles Hinton and John Harris must be singled out as a Korean War Veterans and A-26 Crewmembers who provided outstanding encouragement, advice, photographs and contact with pilots who flew or do fly the A-26. The following is an excerpt from a message John sent about flying out of Kunsan Korea.
"The runway was asphalt in 1951 when I was there. When Charley Hinton was there in 1952, they closed down operations at K-8, moved to another base, and upgraded it to handle jets. I don't know what material was used but Charley will know. Its probably not worth changing. (in Frenchy's Kunsan scenery for CFS2).
The seaward end of the runway ended at the mud flats (no rice paddy). There was seawater at high tide and mud flats that went far out at low tide. I'm talking about maybe a couple hundred feet to water. We had a bird come back from a mission with hydraulics shot out. He didn't know but the compressed air bottle he was counting on for brakes, was capped off between the bottle and the system. He rolled out on the mud flats a ways and they brought him back with the old Cletrac.
The whole base was on a hard crust on a soft base. When they rolled the 500 lb bombs off the back of the 6 X 6, it jarred the ground for a ways. Must have given the engineers fits.
John "
Principal Designers:
Ed Wilson- GZR "Groundhog" did the primary models, the VC, the interiors, and the primary
air and animation modeling. ED did ALL the conversion to CFS3.
JP Demmerle-GZR "Graywolf"- All the bitmaps for the cockpit and all the Textures for the
exteriors. JP was also the 'whip' to keep things moving
Hermann 'Krazy" Boltz- Did all the effects, much of the configuration and the lighting for
FS2002
Charles "Chuck" Dome- Original gauges specifically for CFS2 and FS02. All were built from
scratch and they are much appreciated
Ric Charlebois-GZR "Frenchy" testing, suggestions and Scenery for the CFS2 Version
Marv Howell- GZR "Sactargets"- research and coordination.
Steve Downing-GZR "Ridgerunner"-CFS3 flight dynamics.
Jerry Beckwith- Flight model. http://www.mudpond.us
LEGAL STUFF: THE DESIGNERS OF THIS MODEL AND ASSOCIATED ITEMS ACCEPT NO
RESPONSIBILITY TO ANY DAMAGE YOU MAY FEEL IS CAUSED BY USING THIS MODEL.
YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK! This model has been tested on several
different computers and running different Operating systems. The
designers do not assume any responsibility for damage to your flight sim
program, operating system or computer. You install and run this panel
and aircraft at your own risk.
This aircraft is freeware. It will not be bought, sold, or traded for profit without the
written permission of JP Demmerle and Ed Wilson. This aircraft may NOT be
uploaded to another site, re-textured, and re-posted without proper permission from
the designers.
INSTALLATION: This zip file was created using the directory option.
The easiest way to install is to unzip it to your Combat Flight Simulator 3 folder. This will copy additional weapon, help and mission files to the correct folders and establish all the folders needed for the airplane to operate.
That should be all that you need to do-Start CFS 3 and look in the aircraft menu
under 'AMERICAN' You should see the Invader ready to fly.
THE HARD WAY;
For those of us that like to know where the files are being extracted to, you can do a manual install.
1.Unzip gzra26.zip to a temporary folder. This will create the directory structure that you will need to copy files and folders from.
2.Copy the a-26 folder from your temporary folder/aircraft to Combat Flight Simulator 3 folder/aircraft folder.
3.Copy the following files;
37mmcannon_gun.bdp
37mmcannon_gun.xdp
50calbrowningmgun.bdp
50calbrowningmgun.xdp
from your temporary folder/guns to your Combat Flight Simulator 3/guns folder.
4. Copy the following folders;
37mmcannon_round
50calbrowning_round
from your temporary folder/weapons to your Combat Flight Simulator 3/weapons folder.
5.Copy the following files;
besttaca26.htm
checkcruisea26.htm
checkdescenta26.htm
checklandinga26.htm
checktakeoffa26.htm
emergproca26.htm
infoa26.htm
from your temporary folder/help/topics to your Combat Flight Simulator 3/help/topics folder.
6.Copy the following files;
46th-19.xml
46th-20.xml
46th-21.xml
46th-23.xml
46th-24.xml
46th-25.xml
46th-26.xml
46th-27.xml
46th-28.xml
from your temporary folder/missions/historical to your Combat Flight Simulator 3/missions/historical folder.
7.That should be all that you need to do-Start CFS 3 and look in the aircraft menu
under 'AMERICAN' You should The Invader ready to fly.
