Hi!
First, this IS a friendly community. Most of the best devs (freeware and commercial) post here, so I believe in time, you'll come to see things differently. Second, I'll suggest my personal expectation around requests: if someone answers in under 24 hours, that's reasonable. Expecting an answer within two hours of a post may - just may - be a bit steep.... :focus:
There are others who are more deeply immersed in the time period you're after than I - I'm more of a 50's era guy. That said, I'd recommend some of the following:
- Gloster Gladiator by Thicko - and get the paints by Morton.
- Beech 18 - by Milton Shupe and gang
- Piglet has a whole pile of funky planes - Kingfishers, Flying Wings, too many to remember.
- Hawker Fury FBII - get the latest update from flightsim/avsim, and the great repaints from Robert Saulnier
- Spartan Executive - also from Milton Shupe and co, with a ton of repaints by John Terrel (Bomber_12) here and on flightsim.
- Warwick Carter's DH Tiger Moth
I'm just scratching the surface - the 30 years of aviation period you're after has had tons of releases on it, both civilian and military - so you may want to give some more ideas of what you are after. I find the main core packages are usually found on flightsim and avsim, whereas what you'll find here is more of the specialty, high-quality repaints and mods that don't always find their way to those sites. For example, every plane I've listed can be downloaded from those two main sites, and you'll have tons to explore. If you find you're really digging into a particular plane - do a search for threads here - and that often links you to repaints that are being worked on or have been released.
I'm the first to acknowledge that the search function is not always the easiest to use here, but in the 4 plus years I've been a member, I've never had a considerate question unanswered, I've learned tons, I've been humbled by the generosity of strangers willing to do me the kindest of favours and requests - and made some great friends through it all. Notwithstanding that I'm a "half-full glass" kind of guy, I'd say my experience reflects that of the majority here, and given the price of admission, a great treasure trove.
Just my view - good luck, and welcome. :ernae:
dl