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Wilco Harrier (Download version released!)

AndyG43 said:
Looking nice, may well have to add this to me FSX stable.

Bazzar, sorry to be a pedant, but was the twin Sidewinder installation really applicable to GR3; I remember it being a post-Falklands fit applied to the Sea Harrier, but don't ever recall seeing it on the RAF mudmover? Not that it will stop me picking this up when it is released!!!! :icon_lol:
Click to expand...

Hi Andy,

You are quite correct on the SHAR so we have made the outers single Sidewinders and mixed things up a bit by adding pods to the GR3. Thanks for the HU.:engel016:
 
bazzar said:
Hi Andy,

You are quite correct on the SHAR so we have made the outers single Sidewinders and mixed things up a bit by adding pods to the GR3. Thanks for the HU.:engel016:
Click to expand...

You're welcome Bazzar. Looking forward to this one, hope it's not too resource hungry as I don't really have an optimal FSX system; it will run most things fairly happily, but the Aerosoft F-16 (for example) turns things into a slideshow.

Always had a soft spot for the Harrier, as I used to live down the road from Wittering so we had them flying over on a regular basis. My ex-father in law was posted to 1 Sqn in the early days of Harriers, he was an armaments crew chief (his penultimate posting before leaving the mob after 38 years service), also spent two years in Germany with them. Used to tell us some interesting stories of the early GR1's barely having enough grunt to get from one side of Wittering to the other.
 
Yes the Harrier can easily be overloaded (max 21,000 bs for Sto work for example, less for VTOL) and can be a handfull. Must have been a nightmare for armourers and logistics people trying to work out what would get where and back in one piece!

My favourite "modern" jet - it deserves more recognition than it got.
 
I am sure the Wilco one is the same as ours. We have coded the GR7 to close at a certain airspeed. They also close on the ground when the engines are off
 
This looks ready to go:jump:...have we got to wait til 16th May as Wilco site was saying or have they brought it forward at all?

Matt
 
bazzar said:
The Harrier is native FSX.

The radar is indeed "non-standard". We have put it in because a)It is a great piece of programming and actually works as a tracking and identification radar and is linked to targeting on the HUD. A moving map in FSX is really only possible using a version of the traffic radar or GPS, with terrain detail. This was tried but hard-coded into the VC, the resultant loss in framerates would be unacceptable. We believe that the radar is a happy compromise.

Of course, you can always turn it off, a switch is provided and there's a perfect facsimile of the moving map underneath with the Goose Green area depicted.

The radar and moving map facsimile are mapped spherically under the glass lens.:engel016:
Click to expand...

Thanks Bazzar for clearing that up! I can live with that. :jump:

Cheers,
Hank
 
Chris Sykes said:
looking good there! Can i ask how the intake doors operate? Is it on throttle setting or some other trickery?
Click to expand...

Because of the way the new system is set up, they operate on demand, together with Boundary layer bleed-air doors operating automatically at low speeds for extra manouevrability, using the "puffers". Can't say much more than that as I am bound to secrecy...:icon_lol:
 
A few comments have caught my attention..

twin sidewinder on GR.3's
Click to expand...

Was going to be an option introduced on phase 7 upgrade; the wiring was all put there as part of phase 6 upgrade; also would provide option for a wingtip rail (akin to F16);
but Phase 7 got canned by intro of the new GR.5

inner pylons not removable
Click to expand...

Certainly were removable; just wasn't an easily/quickly accomplished task; when pylon removed the harness was stowed in a 'blister' cover panel. Incidentally the Phase 6 upgrade introduced longer wiring harness to outer pylon too; (as well as white strobe lights; a Rad Alt and some other goodies) ; as the first Phase 6 wasn't done until 1983, the Falklands ones shouldn't have white strobes or rad alt either!

Aden pods
Click to expand...

Fit was either pods or strakes; as combined with the small gear doors on main and nose gear; the space they enclose on lower fuselage forms an air 'dam' that increases lift in the hover by trapping rebounded (from ground) jet blast beneath the fuselage.
Incidentally some 'Falklands War' GR3's flew with an empty gun-pod converted to house the Blue Eric jammer (Google it).

VFF
Click to expand...

Problem with VFF ; particularly for GR.3's was the fatigue life penalty that was applied;
IIRC each VFF was counted as 5 'normal' flights. Wings and fuselage were separate 'lifed' components; and would have to be swopped around regularly to even out the fatigue life consumption. The RN did practice VFF; but IIRC none of the air-air combat's in Falklands required use of the technique; the SHAR was naturally more agile.

ttfn

Pete


Ps How about the extended 'Ferry (wing) Tips' to go with the big 'Ferry' external wing tanks...
 
Motormouse said:
Certainly were removable; just wasn't an easily/quickly accomplished task; when pylon removed the harness was stowed in a 'blister' cover panel. Incidentally the Phase 6 upgrade introduced longer wiring harness to outer pylon too; (as well as white strobe lights; a Rad Alt and some other goodies) ; as the first Phase 6 wasn't done until 1983, the Falklands ones shouldn't have white strobes or rad alt either!
Click to expand...

This could have been the SHAR only from pictures on the net it looks like the SHAR had the inner pylons on when the outer were removed???
 
Chris Sykes said:
This could have been the SHAR only from pictures on the net it looks like the SHAR had the inner pylons on when the outer were removed???
Click to expand...

The phase 6 upgrades were to GR3's only; the SHAR was slated for a Phase 1; but those improvements were largely incorporated and superceded by the FRS2 re-build.

Now, to wings and pylons...(I spent my last 6 months in RAF overhauling Harrier and Sea Harrier wings; @ 1992); it was usual squadron practice for all four pylons to be fitted; and within that description, the two inner pylons would normally have external tanks mounted; leaving the outers and centreline to carry things wot go bang.

As Bazzar pointed out earlier there was a weight/performance balancing act to be performed; especially when certain flight profiles meant use of 'hover' modes; removal of outers (each outer pylon is @ 2 hours work to remove and/or fit) would be because the flight profile and planned load-out demanded it for weight-saving.

Inner pylons; although removable; were rarely removed once fitted as they took even longer to remove and/or fit.

Hope this helps.

ttfn

Pete
 
When we started this project for Wilco, we thought, where the hell do we start? The amount of info one needs to accumulate and digest is enormous on this type of aeroplane.

Then of course you have to teach the sim not to be so silly and obey all these new commands.

Pete obviously has a vast amount of experience knowlege, we have just scratched the surface but have endeavoured to provide as realistic a simulation as possible. There will always be errors of some sort or another but that is what upgrades and patches do. As new info comes to light or as we learn more we can adapt the project.

It is interesting though. just how much knowlege we have to accumulate on different aircraft,from biplanes to airliners. We'd probably do well in a quiz show!:engel016:
 
One other thing I read in sharkey wards book was that they'd drop the nossels 80 degrees while keeping the throttle at idle with full flaps down on approach to the carrier to slow the aircraft, he actually says that it was like having 4 airbrakes but was different from a VFF, as soon as the speed started getting down around 120kts power would be applied, water injection switched on then finally the gear and airbrake would be deployed, really can't wait to fly the SHAR what a huge miss the aircraft is over here!
 
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