Freeware Gems

Tom Clayton

Tom Clayton

Administrator
Staff member
OK, as suggested, I'm starting a thread to point relatively new users to some of the older freeware files that many of us may have but never talk about any more. Here's what I'd like to get from you:

  • Download site - must be free for anyone to download.
  • Filename, including the filenames of any needed updates or patches.
  • A brief description of what you get.
  • Only one or two screenshots please.
I'm opening this up to not only scenery, but aircraft as well. Same rules apply.

I'll start with a couple of my favorites. The first one is on AvSim. It's KBOS scenery by George Grimshaw, one of the driving forces behind FlyTampa. It's a great example of the quality that you pay for in all of their other packages. The base pack is bostonv2.zip and the update is bostonv2.1_update.zip, which adds a few new features.

The second one is also on AvSim. Warwick "Wozza" Carter's P-51D v2 is one of the most brilliant freeware creations I have in my hangar. The quality and features easily beat much of the payware that's out there! In addition, with a little creativity, the paints that Garry Smith did for v1 work perfectly with v2.
 
That's a very good idea, but I guess you should really state some precise criteria for defining what a "gem" really is.
For example, I think that an aircraft without a good VC cannot be called a gem, however
some members who only fly with 2D panels might think otherwise.
In the end, the topic might be filled with anything but gems, don't you think ?
How about creating some topics presenting an addon, and if everybody agrees on the fact that it is a gem, then you add it to this topic, keeping it clean (e.g, only you could enrich it) ?
 
Hi,

By any meaningful criteria most of the releases by our own Milton Shupe would qualify as freeware gems !

His Aero Commanders are great, you can do astonishing things with his Dash-7 despite its size and the Beechcraft D18 is a reminder of how flying was done in the old days.

All can be viewed and downloaded here:

http://www.flightsimonline.com/

Alastair
 
O.K., I'm with:

To put more "combat" into the flight, my recommendation is the
SECTIONF8 F-86 Sabre.

It's not only that she's a real beauty and great fun to fly (and to learn to handle an ancient high-performance aircraft...), she also features some "bells&whistles" which are hard to find in FS2004 aircraft (pay- or freeware).

[It's (or will be some day...) f86_fs9.zip at SOH...]
Wrong link! See below.

Available here:
http://www.sectionf8.com/download.html

Everything you need to know about this gem (including a great support forum) can be found here:
http://www.sectionf8.com/


What else do I love about this aircraft?
Lots of nice repaints out there, such as this... :icon_lol:

bluenose2.jpg


Cheers,
Markus.
 
More freeware Gems:
It feels like a cop-out to say "anything by such-and-such designer," somehow. It is a little bit too all-inclusive, if you understand me. We naturally expect there to be some variation, even among the best of the best. SO, I hope you will pardon me when I say simply: EVERYTHING by Bill Lyons.

His aircraft are many and varied. And so uniformly good!
All file names are the same on both flightsim.com and avsim.com unless otherwise noted.
Peitenpol and Stinson package:[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
Tiger moth: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cctiger4.zip[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]
Water: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]fs9wat2a.zip
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]Cessna T-50: skyking2.zip (marginal in FS9, but the sounds are excellent!)
Fleet 80 Canuck: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]canuck80.zip (not FS9 compatible)
More water: c[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]s9watga3.zip
Golden Hawaii: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc8ghf.zip
Grumman Goose: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc9g21f2.zip on avsim, [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc9g21f.zip on flightsim[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]Luscombe 8A: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc12lusf.zip
Piper Cub: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cub4free.zip (FS9 updated version available from http://www.theoldhangar.net/ - try it out!)
Piper Tripacer: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc13p22f.zip
Piper Apache: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc7pa23f.zip
Quad City Challenger: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc11qc2f.zip
Silver Wings: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]slvrwngs.zip
Skyship SD: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]skyshipd.zip (old, but perfectly serviceable in FS9) avsim only
Fujifilm blimp: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]fuji2002.zip (almost identical to the Skyship SD) avsim only[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]Travel Air series: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]cc10taf.zip
Waco Biplanes: [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]waco4free.zip [/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif](old, but perfectly serviceable in FS9)
Still more water:[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, sans-serif]fs9wat.zip
Ryan STA: ccryan4.zip on flightsim only
Globe Swift: ccswift4.zip on flightsim only
Hot air balloons: blns2002.zip on flightsim only
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, sans-serif]Goodyear Blimp: gydef.zip on flightsim only
Jaguar: jag120.zip

Golden Wings: http://www.goldenwings.info/
Graf Zeppelin: http://www.theoldhangar.net/
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Some of my favorite fliers are by Brian Gladden. These files can be found on Flightsim.com.

Stinson 108-3 Voyager: stin1083.zip

Piper Super Ace: supace.zip

Piper Pacer: Pa20_04.zip

Piper TriPacer: Pa22_04.zip

Cessna 140: Ces140.zip and C140upde.zip

Cessna 140 Float Plane: Ces140fl.zip

Zenith CH 801: ch801_v3.zip

Beechcraft Model 18 Volpar Wheeled: Volpar.zip and vlpr_fix.zip

Beechcraft Model 18 Volpar Amphibian: Vol_AM.zip

Noorduyn Norseman Float Plane: Norsefv2.zip

Brian has a number of other nice aircraft on flightsim.com, for FS2004 and FS2002....and for FS2000 if anyone wants to go back that far. All of the FS2002 planes that I have tried work very well in FS2004.

There are a number of nice repaints for Brian's planes on Flightsim.com.

There is also a FS2004 version of the Nooduyn Norseman with wheels, but I have to find it. The FS2002 version on Flightsim.com does not have a VC, the newer version does.

OBIO
 
Anything from Long Island Classics, available at Avsim.com...:ernae:
 
Rick Piper's HS-748/780 Andover (British Twin Turboprop Transport). http://www.simviation.com/fs2004props107.htm

David Matalby's BAC 1-11 http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/bac_1-11.htm
David Matalby's deHavilland Comet http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/dh106_comet.htm
David Matalby's Hawker Siddeley Trident http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/hs121_trident.htm
David Matalby's Vickers VC-10 (my personal favorite tubeliner) http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/hs121_trident.htm

Dave Garwood's Hawker Hunter(s) http://www.simviation.com/fs2004military26.htm for the Prototype/F.3. However they are scattered all over the place.

I do like my classic British aircraft.....
 
Yeah, D Maltby's stuff is excellent.

One that I always liked alot was Airhead's Decathlon. I stopped flying it after RealAir's came out as I found the FM to be a little more "nuanced" but Airhead's really was great. Very nice VC too...

However, it's tough to find now since it was distributed by ffs who are now out of business.

LIC's Christen Eagle is another fave of mine...http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=71513
 
Ok here's an older one,originally designed for Fs02, from 6th August 2004 we have the

Soko Galeb, over at Avsim

[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]File Description:
FS2002/FS2004 Soko Galeb-2 v1.1 package. The Soko G2-A Galeb (seagull) is a Yugoslav made two-seat advanced trainer powered by the Rolls Royce Viper Mk22-6 engine. Includes installer for both FS2002 and FS2004. Features full animated moving parts - all control surfaces, canopy, gears, "live" pilots, ejection seats, crash effects, custom sounds, cockpit sound effects, high detail dynamic 3D virtual cockpit with clickable gauges and separate flight dynamics files for FS2002 and FS2004. Package includes different visual models with nine real life paint schemes for Croatian, Serbian, Libyan and Yugoslav Air Forces, and civilian 'Acro' and 'USAF' markings. Texture templates included. Flight dynamics, panel and XML gauges by Goran Savic, FSDS2 model by Luka Midic.
Click to expand...
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[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]ttfn[/FONT]
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[FONT=verdana, sans-serif]Pete
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The Nord 3202 at http://www.restauravia.com/page10.html has an excellent vc (either the front or rear cockpit) and some very nice touches like the engine noise becoming quieter when the canopy is closed. Sitting in the rear vc and seeing the moving head of the pilot in front makes it a very real experience. The aircraft shakes when you start and stop the engine. And it has a frightening stall! Definitely payware quality.
 
Bell 212 Twin Two Twelve
(Bell_212_Basepack1.zip)
(Bell_212_Basepack2.zip)

@Sim-Outhouse
@Simviation
@Hovercontrol
 
Daube said:
That's a very good idea, but I guess you should really state some precise criteria for defining what a "gem" really is.
For example, I think that an aircraft without a good VC cannot be called a gem, however
some members who only fly with 2D panels might think otherwise.
In the end, the topic might be filled with anything but gems, don't you think ?
How about creating some topics presenting an addon, and if everybody agrees on the fact that it is a gem, then you add it to this topic, keeping it clean (e.g, only you could enrich it) ?
Click to expand...
Since around here, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, I'm leaving it up to each user. To me, many of Mike Stone's planes are gems, but others relegate them to AI use. I'm just asking for what members here think are their favorites from the past. I don't want to start any "this is better than that" in this thread. If a new user downloads something I like but then they don't care for it, I'm fine with that. As another cliche says, "One man's meat is another man's poison."
 
An oldie, but certainly a goodie...the Bell/Agusta-Bell 47G2, by Jean-Marie Mermaz...available at a website near you...:guinness:
 
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