SOH Team Project - Grumman Tracker, Trader, Tracer

[Duckie]

Thanks Duckie. That's the first time I have seen this not being a Navy guy.

Your welcome. The bridal is what attaches the aircraft to the catapult shuttle and slings it off the deck! 0 to 120 in under 3 seconds! That will out drag a Chevrolet!

This one appears to have just been shot! Notice the prop tip condensation "cork screw" forming aft if the prop.

 

[hawkeye52]

Duckie, I don't think it's been shot as the hold-back link is still in place. But he is reving up in anticipation, though!

- H52

 

[Milton Shupe]

That is an awesome picture. I wonder if there are any YouTube videos of this action from a similar vantage point.

And, have you seen any pictures or drawings of the bridle.

 

[Duckie]

Duckie, I don't think it's been shot as the hold-back link is still in place. But he is reving up in anticipation, though!

- H52

You're right H52, the hold-back is still holding! I guess the corkscrew is from the ship making knots! That copilot is hanging on too.

BTW, the gear wells for the -1 are all done.

View attachment 65109 View attachment 65110

View attachment 65111

 

[Milton Shupe]

Wow! That looks amazing!

 

[Maarten -]

Duckie, that looks awesome!!

Cheers,
Maarten

 

[Blackbird686]

Awesome work, Duckie! The "-1" is comming along nicely!

BB686:USA-flag:

 

[Wings of Gold]

Duckie: Wonderful shot of the bridle. Thanks. Do you have, or does anyone know, if the NATOPS manual for either the C-1A, E-1B (WF-1) or S-2E happens to have an illustration of the bridle? I'm sensing that Milton is getting interested - but we need to give him better data if we are going to get a bridle for these aircraft. Anyone???

Milton: I have looked at MANY Youtubes for better bridle shots, but so far without success. I haven't given up, but the best option is some official documentation.


Bill

 

[Milton Shupe]

Well, I am interested in its operation. However, I see no animation tags or mention of it in the FS9 Makemdl animation parts list so modeling one would be an issue for me.

 

[Maarten -]

Hi there,

I checked the NATOPS Flight Manuals for the E-1B, the S-2A/B/C/F, and the S-2D/E. In neither of them I saw an illustration of the bridle. Sorry guys.
Maybe it can can be found in a maintenance manual, but I don't have those, at least not for these aircraft.

Cheers,
Maarten

 

[fliger747]

Cat Launches are possible in FSX Accel, the bridle would be part of the ship animation (I think).

T

 

[tankerguy72]

check this out

 

[tankerguy72]

View attachment 65177

 

[Daube]

Cat Launches are possible in FSX Accel, the bridle would be part of the ship animation (I think).

T

Well, it appears the bride is part of the plane animation.
I have just launched the S2F3 from the Clemenceau, and the bride doesn't appear. However, when I try to launch the Wyvern or the Etendard, the bride is there. So that means that the bride is part of the plane model.

 

[Rallymodeller]

Come to think of it, what was the first aircraft to use a launch bar? The Phantom, Crusader, Skyhawk and Vigilante (as well as other types) used strops/bridles up until their retirement as did all of the RN fixed-wing up to the Harrier, and the French still use them for the Super Etendard. Might have been the A-7, as it uses a launch bar, or possibly the Hawkeye/Greyhound.

As far as animation, the IRIS Phantom FG.1 has a launch animation as well, activated by using the Concorde visor angle keys:

 

[SkippyBing]

Reference the bridal, I'm not 100% sure how you'd work it in FS9 as I can't remember what variables are available that are appropriate.
In FSX what I've done is model the bridal as part of the aircraft and then set the visibility based on the aircraft being attached to the catapult, the code looks something like this:

<PartInfo>
<Name>strop</Name>
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>
(A:SIM ON GROUND,Bool) 0 >
(A:LAUNCHBAR HELD EXTENDED,Bool) 0 > &&
if{ 1 } els{ 0 }
</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</PartInfo>

I can't remember why I checked if the aircraft is on the ground or not but it seemed to work better that way...

 

[Milton Shupe]

Reference the bridal, I'm not 100% sure how you'd work it in FS9 as I can't remember what variables are available that are appropriate.
In FSX what I've done is model the bridal as part of the aircraft and then set the visibility based on the aircraft being attached to the catapult, the code looks something like this:

<PartInfo>
<Name>strop</Name>
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>
(A:SIM ON GROUND,Bool) 0 >
(A:LAUNCHBAR HELD EXTENDED,Bool) 0 > &&
if{ 1 } els{ 0 }
</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</PartInfo>

I can't remember why I checked if the aircraft is on the ground or not but it seemed to work better that way...

Well, thank you SB. I will try this once converted to FS9 format.

 

[Milton Shupe]

I converted the code to FS9 format xml and tried the following:

<!-- custom anims for Hiding Bridle by SkippyBing -->
<Part>
<Name>strop</Name>
<visible_in_range>
<Parameter>
<Code>
(L:SIM ON GROUND,Bool) 0 >
(L:LAUNCHBAR HELD EXTENDED,Bool) 0 > &&
if{ 1 } els{ 0 }
</Code>
</Parameter>
</visible_in_range>
</Part>

I get an error on open as follows:

A name was started with an invalid character. Error processing resource
'file:///C:/gmax/plugins/mkmdl.parts.xml'. Line 43...
(L:LAUNCHBAR HELD EXTENDED,Bool) 0 > &&

Any ideas?

 

[Megadog]

Megadog

Thanks for that input. Frankly, I have never heard of the bridle, and of all the pictures I have and scoured, I do not recall seeing it. Interesting.

Milt,

I am a little late in giving all of you on the Grummans project a Bravo Zulu on an outstanding job! The Fudd needs the same yoke as the S-2s and that is the only change that i would make. I have included the best vatapult holdback/bridle info i have seen.


http://warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/topic/11738/Lets-make-a-bridle-catcher?page=1

 

[Wings of Gold]

Megadog: Wonderful illustrations. Just what we were looking for.

Milton: There was ALWAYS a holdback cable, in addition to the bridle. In fs9, using either "ARRCab 2.6", "3 wire" etc., the "holdback" feature (which would I would think should also display the bridle) was using the set brakes key combination (Ctrl + .). The launch command (which released the brakes) was triggered by depressing the period key. Depressing this key would also make the bridle disappear.

Bill