Attention all DC-3 fans !

[Bjoern]

So I guessed right. Cool.

From when on were nav lights used? Late 1930s?

 

[Javis]

You can do a bit of fancy stuff with the code for the lights. Remember the bit of code I posted a few pages back regarding visibility controlled by "title=" line entry?
This could be used to control the visibility of the entire light switch. A "VINTAGE" entry would produce no beacon light switch and no strobe light switch for an even ye-old-time-ier experience.

Sure, that would be cool, Bjoern (in conjuction with (no) light housing on the external model of course). But f.i. there's the astrodome and antenna configs to think about too. (doors will come later, that's just too far fetched if we want a VVC release this year.. ) Manfred's C-47 already consists of two models, we could stick to that too. Not to forget the Control Panel..

I have a great collection of KLM DC-3 photos ( from the 'Jackson Collection'. They cost money but these are extremely rare photos of vintage aircraft in their natural habitat and in super resolution straight from the collection of a professional aviation photographer. For anybody interested : http://www.ajjcollection.co.uk/ ) ranging from 1940 up to the end of the 1950's. The only one that carries a big light on top of the vertical stab is PH-DAI in 'new' KLM livery from 1958. All others appear to have no vert. stab. light at all.Remarkable is that all of them feature the astrodome and a forest of antenna's. There's only one 'real' DC-3 amongst them, PH-ALH, portrayed on the 1940's photo. It has Wright Cyclone engines, no astrodome and a pax door on the starboard side. No sign of any light housing but nav lights on the wing tips.

Jackson Collection photos are just about all in b/w. I'd love to see a color cockpit photo of one of the KLM Dak's but that'll probabely never happen.

 

[BendyFlyer]

The carriage of lights on an aircraft or aeroplane at night has always been mandatory and as per maritime tradition red for port and green for starboard were placed on the wingtips and a white position light (on a ship it is a mast light) which went to the rear of the tail cone or similar end of the fuselage. Rotating beacons (red) began to be used in the 50's and were and still are primarily a collision avoidance addition, though the use of strobe or flashing lights was favoured by some sections of the industry and mandatory installation began in earnest in the 1970's. Retrofitment on older aircraft like the DC3 was not mandated and hence you can find a DC-3/C-47 today without strobes and some even a flashing light placed top or bottom of fuselage it just depended on what country the aircraft -was registered when they became a requirement for operating into a controlled aerodrome with ATC services. I have flown lots of aircraft over the years of various vintages and many 50's era aircraft had no flashing beacon or strobes and some had only one miserable landing/taxi-light and the awful and hopeless red only cockpit night panel lighting but they all had a red and green wing tip light and a white light on the tail cone. You were also restricted to operating only into and out of uncontrolled non ATC aerodromes if the aircraft had no flashing red light. Anyway no strobes on any of my MJ C-47's or DC-3's. perfectly correct.

 

[stansdds]

So I guessed right. Cool.

From when on were nav lights used? Late 1930s?

Mid-30's for certain, perhaps early 30's.

 

[Javis]

The carriage of lights on an aircraft or aeroplane at night has always been mandatory and as per maritime tradition red for port and green for starboard were placed on the wingtips and a white position light (on a ship it is a mast light) which went to the rear of the tail cone or similar end of the fuselage. Rotating beacons (red) began to be used in the 50's and were and still are primarily a collision avoidance addition, though the use of strobe or flashing lights was favoured by some sections of the industry and mandatory installation began in earnest in the 1970's. Retrofitment on older aircraft like the DC3 was not mandated and hence you can find a DC-3/C-47 today without strobes and some even a flashing light placed top or bottom of fuselage it just depended on what country the aircraft -was registered when they became a requirement for operating into a controlled aerodrome with ATC services. I have flown lots of aircraft over the years of various vintages and many 50's era aircraft had no flashing beacon or strobes and some had only one miserable landing/taxi-light and the awful and hopeless red only cockpit night panel lighting but they all had a red and green wing tip light and a white light on the tail cone. You were also restricted to operating only into and out of uncontrolled non ATC aerodromes if the aircraft had no flashing red light. Anyway no strobes on any of my MJ C-47's or DC-3's. perfectly correct.

Thanks mucho for this information, BF, very welcome!

Can i ask you for your thoughts about what it might've looked like inside the cockpit of a DC-3 at night, during, say, the 1950's ?.... As far as gauges lighting is concerned only fluorescent dials ? ( until 'eyebrows' came about ? See http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...ll-DC-3-fans-!&p=939819&viewfull=1#post939819 ) Would there have been an option to change dome lights and/or individual light sources f.i between red and white ? If also available when (and why) would fluorescent lights have been used ? They usually appear as tubes situated at the Captain's and Co-Pilots sides and are also referred to in DC-3/C-47 hand books. ( a typical WWII type of light maybe ?... Not used in civil aircraft ?... )

Very interested in anything you might be able to shine your light on.

 

[gaab]

"Flying by the numbers"

I recently bought a throttle quadrant and I am trying to fly this awesome aircraft (many thanks to the authors) according to the manual.

But there are some informations on the control panel I don't even understand, for exemple the f/a value.

Is there somewhere a documentation with a full description of all parameters and value settings ? So far, the search function did not helped me.

Gérard

 

[Bjoern]

Is there a tooltip when you hover over the item?

Anyway, I'd interpret f/a as "fuel/air ratio" with a red value indicating that your mixture is too lean.

 

[gaab]

Is there a tooltip when you hover over the item?

Anyway, I'd interpret f/a as "fuel/air ratio" with a red value indicating that your mixture is too lean.

No tooltip
And the mixture is Auto Rich - how can it be too lean ?

 

[cavaricooper]

No tooltip
And the mixture is Auto Rich - how can it be too lean ?

@Gaab:

Just a thought, looking at your CHTs... they are WAY too hot... middle click the CHT and it will change to cowl flaps... that will help manage your CHTs.... not sure why they are not red as well...
Again, perhaps this sort of thing is best done in a new post- leaving this for Jan's masterpiece...

Try that- HTH

Best- Carl

 

[griphos]

That's because he has it showing EGT rather than CHT.

I'm not sure what the red means on the fuel/air mixture, but I've noticed that if you adjust auto-rich and auto-lean, those numbers chance. Pulling back a little puts them in the black. I too would like to know what they mean.

 

[paiken]

Actually, your mixture is too RICH...lean that baby out...optimal ratio is 0.078 to 0.088 ish depending on altitude.

 

[stansdds]

I never really liked automixture. I know it is supposed to maintain the correct A/F ratio, but I turned off automixture in FSX and manually lean the mixture. I lean until engine rpm begins to drop, then enrichen until the rpm reaches its peak. If the aircraft has an EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) gauge, then lean I lean until temperatures peak, then enrichen or lean, depending upon the recommended engine operating specs, to drop the temps by 50C.

 

[gaab]

Actually, your mixture is too RICH...lean that baby out...optimal ratio is 0.078 to 0.088 ish depending on altitude.

Ok - thanks for the target figures. So you confirm that f/a means "fuel/air ratio"

I never really liked automixture. I know it is supposed to maintain the correct A/F ratio, but I turned off automixture in FSX and manually lean the mixture.

My FSX automixture option is off. I was referencing the AutoRich/AutoLean native C47 fonction....

 

[Javis]

Goooooood morning SOH brothers and sisters! This is Radio VVC on the 580.3! And a Good Golly Miss Molly to you !

Now that you're awake, let's talk radios. Today the first radio has been added to the VVC and it's a gift and a fine one too ! :

Actually, when it comes to ADF radios i had my eyes on this here great looking set :

And particularly the instruments on the left and bottom right simply because i already have the code for this type of radio. The AN/ARN-44( or ARN-6) at the top right would have to be made from scratch i.e. 3D models of the housing, all the knobs, swivel, fuse caps, and cards, textures and coding. Certainly for the other types as well but, very important, i already have the coding and texture for the digit drums. Also would be easier to tune compared to the ARN-6 of course.

Anyway, it proved that the two radios on the left are ARN-89 and could not have been used in a 1950's DC-3/C-47. Actually the same with the ADF receiver at the bottom right which is a Collins 614L-6, also still too 'modern'. So if we want to do it right it will have to be the AN/ARN-6 made from scratch afterall....

First thing is to find info about it, no prob at all. But it turned out it was my lucky day because during the search i stumbled over a topic about it in the FSDeveloper forums. A gentleman modeler was just completing a project to build a complete working ARN-7 model ( just about the same as ARN-6) and it looked great ! In light of the dutch saying " No is what you have, Yes is what you might get " this great looking ARN-7 ADF radio now sits on the Overhead of our VVC, tremendously kindly donated by this very talented Gmax modeler.

How about that, huh....

He still has to do some of the coding and i'll have to do a bit of weathering on it. As you can see it comes right out of the workshop, brand new and never used.

Ok, onwards with the nav radios.

Btw, all switches, including magnetos and feather buttons, on the Overhead are now animated and coded with click sounds and all. The lighting knobs still to do because in conjuction with the actual night lighting of the cockpit/gauges,etc. I'll get the code for the Ampere and Volt meters from Mike one of these days.

This concludes the first broadcast from Radio VVC on the 580.3. Thanks for listening. ;-)

 

[fuzz1]

Proving once again Javis that all this is just meant to be
Great score and looking superb.
Kleenex box sits next to my keyboard each time I view this thread.
Drool reflex and all.

 

[Anthin]

Puts payware to shame.

Magic!

Anthin.

 

[cavaricooper]

Jan-

Bravo! Without intending to offend any of our other talented aircraft developers, this just gets better and better. I await your release with patient enthusiasm, checking here daily .

Best- C

 

[manfredc3]

MAGNIFICENT!!!!

Another example of willingness between designers to share their accomplishments.

I have a bed sheet laying next to my chair, as Kleenex can't handle the flow of my "happy" tears.

I will keep my radio tuned to VVC 580.3, as I don't want to miss any of it's broadcasts.

Hang on, my sight is getting blurry again, where was that bed sheet????

 

[Alan_A]

As the Ninth Doctor would say.... FAN-TASTIC!

You're making the wait harder, though.

Javis = the ghost of DC-3 Christmas flights yet to be?

 

[Ian Warren]

Jan .. BLOODY GORGEOUS !