McDonnell RF-101A Voodoo RoCAF
An aircraft for FS98/FS2000 by Keith Clifford/Pegasus Aviation Design
This aircraft flew from Taiwan on strategic reconnaissance missions
into mainland China. The Republic of China Air Force operated the
Rf-101 from 1959 to the seventies.
This is a major rework of the original Voodoo series.
Features include full moving parts and checklists.
INSTALLATION
Extract all files to your aircraft folder. A folder called rf-101-3 will be created.
Start up FS and select McDonnell RF-101A RoCAF from the Select Aircraft drop down menu.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks go to Don Ferguson, a former Voodoo pilot and navigator for loaning me some of
the best technical data on the F-101 I've seen.
LIMITATIONS
This aircraft is copyrighted freeware and subject to the conditions in the accompanying
Pegasus.txt file.
RECOMMENDED PANEL AND SOUNDS
I have found the F-101 panel by Alpha Simulations to be the best one available. I also use
their Tu-16 sound. Both of these are available for a small cost from Alpha Simulations.
Their site is www.alphasim.co.uk You can buy their F-101 panel as part of an USAF F-101
they have in their FS Supermarket. The same goes for the TU-16.
Nationalist Chinese RF-101's
The Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) were supplied with a variety of RF-101's ostensibly to conduct strategic reconnaissance of mainland China. The operation was called 'Boom Town' and the first aircraft were delivered in 1959. RoCAF intrusions into the mainland used everything from B-17's to U-2's. Several RF-101's were lost and the RoCAF operations of the RF-101 ended in the seventies. It is known that the following RF-101A's were supplied to the RoCAF. Serials 54-1498, 1499, 1500, 1501, 1503 and 1518. I have chosen to portray 54-1498. The paint scheme is derived from an RF-101 in RoCAF markings at a museum in the United States. I have used that scheme but changed the serial to '498. There is a single example preserved in Taiwan. It is camouflage colours. I have yet to find photos of the RoCAF RF-101's from their operational era. Two USAF pilots who ferried RF-101's back to the US reported that the aircraft were bare metal.
FLYING THE CF-101
There is a set of checklists based on the real CF-101 checklists. There is a multitude of
systems that FS98 doesn't simulate so these have been left out of the checklists. Some further
notes may help you when flying the Voodoo.
Take Off: Use full power and set the trim at one trim unit nose up. At 155-160 knots pull
the nose up and lift her off the runway. Immediately retract gear and flaps as the max
speed on these is 250 knots. Included in the checklists are specifications for both Max
and Military thrust climbs. As there is no afterburner control in FS98 the engines have
been adjusted so maximum thrust occurs at 105% RPM. Use a setting of 85 to 90 % for
military thrust.
Climbing: Using either profile climb checklist you will get to FL200 fairly quickly.
Cruising: The aircraft is set up so that she burns 1300 pph per engine at idle settings
on the ground. You will want to take the aircraft up above FL300 to realise some fuel
savings. When you reach your desired altitude the usual cruise was in the range from Mach .70 to
Mach .75
Engine Limitations: The real aircraft is limited to following engine limitations.
Maximum continuous after burner operation: 5 minutes on the ground; 15 min in flight
Maximum continuous military thrust operation: 30 minutes
While the FS98 version won't incur an engine failure with these limits, I tend to
respect the real world ones.
Airspeed Limitations: Clean Above 25000 feet Mach 1.73 or 700 KIAS (whichever is lower)
Below 25000 feet 600 KIAS
With external tanks Mach 1.3 at all altitudes
G Load Limits: No external Tanks - Full Fuel +6.0 -2.5
No external tanks - 8200 lbs fuel +6.8 -2.8
With External Tanks +4.0 -2.0
Prohibited Manoeuvres: -any snap manoueveres
-rolls continued past the 360 degree point
-with external tanks do not exceed 2/3 aileron travel above 300 KIAS
-intentional pitch up and spins
-Negative G conditions in excess of 15 seconds
-Zero G in excess of 10 seconds
Autopilot: The real aircraft was handflown for a major portion of the time so I use
the auto pilot for maintaining altitude once I reach cruise heights. Otherwise
I use power and trim settings. This is particularily true when doing ILS approaches
and VFR circuits. I don't use the autopilot for approaches with the Voodoo. It wasn't
designed with couple approaches in mind. Sorry to disappoint the airline crowd!
Beware! The default settings for vertical speed are 8000 fpm.
Descent and Landing: When descending speed brakes (spoilers) are used to slow the aircraft
to 250 knots when it reaches the circuit altitude or when it intercepts the glide scope.
The gear and flaps are then dropped. There are only two flap settings on the real Voodoo!
Flaps were used on take off and landing. During the final portion of the approach the speed
brakes are opened again to allow the engines to maintain high RPM during the approach.
Maintain a descent rate of 800 to 100 fpm and about a 2.5 to 3 deg approach angle.
If you let the RPM fall off you will find the descent rate increase to an alarming rate.
Every landing was done with full spoilers deployed and the rate of descent controlled by
angle of attack and power settings. In this respect the Voodoo is similar to a carrier
aircraft. In fact "Velvet Smooth" landings were discouraged as these led to hydroplaning
in slippery or wet conditions. If you have 3000 lbs or less fuel on board then the
approach speed is 175 knots. For evry 1500 lbs of fuel above 3000 lbs add 5 knots
to the approach speed. So with 6000lbs of fuel left the approach speed would be 185 knots.
PERFORMANCE DATA
The RF-101A has a combat range of 1101 nautical miles. It has a ferry range of 2,195 nautical miles.
