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| Category: Flight Simulator X - Aircraft Repaints, Textures and Modifications | |
| Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX EN186 Bluebird |
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File Description:
Spitfire IXc EN186 was the personal aircraft of S/L L.C. Wade, an American flying with the RAF. Wade was born in the small farming community of Broaddus, Texas in 1915. He was the second son of Bill and Susan Wade, who named him L.C. (only after the RAF demanded a forename did he call himself Lance Cleo Wade). After the family moved to a farm near Reklaw, Texas in 1922 he worked on the family farm and attended the local school. He was unable to join the US Army Aviation Cadet Program due to a lack of a college education. He began flying at age 17, at Tucson, Arizona. In 1934 at age 19, Wade joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Arizona. He joined the RAF in Canada in December 1940 and trained with No. 52 Operational Training Unit (OTU). Wade was then sent to the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal and flew off her deck in Hawker Hurricane to reinforce the depleted ranks of aircraft on the island of Malta. He was then sent to Egypt as a Hawker Hurricane Mk I pilot in September 1941, and was posted to 33 Squadron. The squadron's mission was to provide close air support for Operation Crusader, the British assault launched on November 18, 1941, against the German Afrika Korps. His first kills were two Fiat CR.42s on 18 November. He attained the rank of "ace" on 24 November 1941. He began flying Hurricane Mk IIs in April 1942, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He had 13 victories as of September 1942. He spent the next several months back in the US on various RAF projects including evaluating some American fighters at Wright Field. He returned to combat as a Flight Commander in 145 Squadron with a Bar to his DFC, flying Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vs. Promoted to squadron leader, he had a busy 60 days, as by the end of April his score was 21, by then flying Spitfire Mk IXs. His squadron moved to Italy, and as a Spitfire VIII pilot he claimed two Focke-Wulf Fw 190s of Schlachtgeschwader 4 on 2 October 1943. His last claims were three FW 190s (again of SG 4) damaged on 3 November. Wade became a wing commander and joined the staff of the Desert Air Force but was there only briefly, as he was killed in a flying accident on 12 January 1944 at Foggia, Italy. In 30 fights for which he made claims he was credited with 23 victories including two shared), one probable, and 13 damaged. He is also credited with one destroyed and five damaged on the ground.
Wing Commander Wade is usually listed with 25 victories but official RAF records show that he had 22 solo victories and half each of two more for a total of 23, not counting one probable. Regardless of whether his score is 25, or 23 victories, he is still the leading American fighter ace to serve exclusively in any foreign air force.
Since he never transferred to the USAAF, or any other American Air service, Wade never got the publicity that other American aces received and thus is more obscure than his peers.
The aircraft depicted in this repaint, EN186, started its active career with 249 sqn on Malta, who used it for high flying reconaissance, and who were responsible for replacing the dark green with Mediterranean Blue. The aircraft was then transferred to Tunisia, where it was the personal aircraft of W/C Gleed of the 244 wing. After his death, it went to L.C. Wade, who scored 5 victories with it in april 1943. He did not apply any codes to it, and referred to it in his logbook as BB, for Blue Bird. He flew it till august 1943, when he changed to flying Spitfire MK VIII JF472
Repaint by Jan Kees Blom, based on the paintkit by RealAir.
| Filename: | Supermarine_Spitfire_MkIX_EN186_Bluebird.zip |
| License: | Freeware |
| Added: | 11th July 2018, 16:54:01 |
| Downloads: | 103 |
| Author: | Jan Kees Blom |
| Size: | 3.59 MB |
| Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery | |
| Gander CYQX in Newfoundland Canada |
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Gandeer is on the east coast of Canada and is the closest North American airport to Europe on the great circle route. In the early days of transatlantic flight, and in fact into the 1960's, this made it very important as a refueling stop either before the ocean hop or just after. Since then it's importance as an airport has faded somewhat as planes now fly directly to the larger city destinations. It is still an active air force base for ocean patrol and search and rescue planes, and military flights are around half of the total flights into and out of the airport. The main attractions of the airport now are the long runways and the cheaper landing fees, and there are some cargo flights and cheap charter passenger flights. This version of Gander is based upon a forgotten-about video taken in October 2010. By then the two longer runways, 13-31 at 8,900 feet and 03-21 at 10,200 feet (though in FS9 this is still designated 04-22, as it had been in 2003) had been closed (one at a time) and totally resurfaced. The third runway 09-27 (3,500 feet in 2003) was closed and starting the process of being broken up, along with associated aprons. This was part of a long process of demolition of some of the older buildings, aprons, and taxiways as they became unused with the fall in the number of daily flights. I have made it clear which of the 2010 taxiways and aprons were still in use by showing them as asphalt, while those in the process of decaying disuse or removal are in the darker tarmac texture; this is somewhat realistic as when asphalt aprons are "ploughed" for removal the darker underside becomes visible. In the renovation process of taxiway repairs only the centre strip of the taxiways was repaired and this is marked by new and closer edge lines. One end of the closed runway was still being used in 2010 for access and parking. There is a warning note in the April 2010 edition of the NAV CANADA Flight Supplement that states "surface rut on Gander Flight Training's private taxiway" (written with extremely shortened words). The Gander layout page is included here, showing that in the Spring of 2010 a much-shortened version (1,875 feet) of the 09-27 runway was still in use; my version is for late 2010 and after that runway was closed. The older buildings (and some of them are now 70 years old or more) are built in concrete and flat roofed with bitumen water proofing; hence the almost black roofs. The terminal building is one of these, though it has been enlarged by the inclusion of a hangar that is now used as the main terminal space. Almost all of the buildings are correctly replicated here. The main GA parking area is to the east of 03-21 where there are two large hangar buildings. One of them is for maintenance and the other is for a large FBO called Gander Aviation. There are other FBO's on the airport, closer to the terminal. These are Irving and Woodward, both to the west, and Allied to the south. There is a further FBO at the eastern end of the apron, name unknown. Shell, who only did refueling, were next to Woodward in 2010 but left, I believe, in 2012. The large red building behind Woodward and Shell is for the maintenance of all airport equipment (from luggage trolleys, snow clearers, de-icing trucks etc to air conditioning, radar, and radios). Most of the remaining buildings are for the air force base, though there are some private companies (such as Universal Helicopters) and even a small private cottage.
| Filename: | Gander_CYQX_in_Newfoundland_Canada.zip |
| License: | Freeware, limited distribution |
| Added: | 29th April 2020, 19:15:01 |
| Downloads: | 665 |
| Author: | Roger Wensley |
| Size: | 29.37 MB |
| Category: Flight Simulator X - Aircraft Repaints, Textures and Modifications | |
| Consolidated PBY-5A VB-126 #20 |
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A repaint for the Aerosoft PBY-5a Catalina in the colors of PBY-5a #20 (BuNo 7277) of VB-126 as it looked during a rescue operation on the Greenland ice cap in 1943. On 5 november 1942, a C-53 en route from Iceland to Greenland was reported missing off Greenland's east coast. Four days later, a B-17F, en route for England was aked to to keep a lookout for the missing plane, but it crashed on the ice cap. The crew of suffered only minor injuries, and they soon received food and other supplies that were dropped on the ice. Unfortunately, they had landed in a heavily crevassed part of the icecap, making an evacuation difficult. On 28 november, a USCG Grumman Duck, flown by Lt Pritchard, managed to make a wheels-up landing on the ice and brought out two of the crew. The next day, a ground rescue team arrived on the dite as well, and things looked good....
One crew member and a rescuer died when their sled disappeared in a crevasse, and later the same day, Lt. Pritchard's Duck disappeared as well, with a crew of three. On 6 december, an attempt was made to evacuate the B-17's navigator, Lt. O'Hara, who suffered from gangrene in his feet. One member is the rescue party fell into an crevasse, and the motorsled they were using broke down, so the men had to dig in and wait for help. The days continued until over christmas, but morale was kept high with airdrops whenever the weather permitted. A rescue by sled became impossible however due to bad conditions and heavy snows. Lt.Col Balchen, who had used a PBY the previous summer to rescue the members of the B-17 'My Gal Sal' (currently under restoration in Ohio) of the ice, and was now in charge of the rescue operation, proposed to try the same here. The last summer, the PBY landed on a melt water lake on the icecap however, this time he wanted to belly land the PBY, and nobody knew if the hull could withstand such a battering. In the meantime, a ski-equipped T8P1 aircraft tried the same, but dispappeared over the east coast. The crew members were found five days later in a rubber dinghy. The Navy finally gave permission to try an attempt with the PBY. and two PBY-5a"s were send to airfield BW-8, to wait for the right weather. On 5 febuary 1943, Lt Bernard Dunlop succesfully bellylanded BuNo 7277 / 20 (the above paintjob) at the motorsled camp, and the three survivors were taken on board. It has frozen solid in the ice, but after two hours of hard labor, the crew managed to free the PBY and it took off. Now only the three crew members still at the original site needed to be rescued. A ground rescue party was sent to the wreck to transport the survivors to a spot where the PBY could land, but bad weather prevented any flying until 17 march. On that day, Lt. Dunlop landed on the ice, dropping off Lt.Col Balchen and the rescue party, who reached the wreck the following day. The weather closed in again until finally, on april 5th, Lt Dunlop landed his PBY for the third time on the ice cap. All hands were taken on board, but after five attempts to take off, the starboard engine caught fire. The blaze was extinguished, but repairs were necessary. The next day, they managed to take off, but without the rescue party, to lighten the load. 149 days after their crash, the B-17 crew was finally clear of the ice. It wasn't until 18 may that the last member of the rescue party was finally evacuated, making this a six and a half month rescue operation...
Repaint by Jan Kees Blom, based on the paintkit by Aerosoft
| Filename: | Consolidated_PBY5A_VB126_20.zip |
| License: | Freeware |
| Added: | 13th July 2018, 20:33:17 |
| Downloads: | 135 |
| Author: | Jan Kees Blom |
| Size: | 10.19 MB |
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