Flight Simulating The Avro Lancaster Four Engined Bomber On Your Personal Desk
The moment I write this I am 64 years old and so is the peace that followed the Second World War. This means that I'm "post war", which is the way I want to keep it! It also means that I only saw Roy Chadwick's Avro Lancaster impressive in peaceful fly-by's which is a scarce enough happening anyway, considering that there are only two (!) airworthy Lancasters left in the whole wide world. There's very little airtime to be shared among the eager crowd, so there are probably less than a dozen people who get to fly a real Lancaster from the left seat every once in a while.
The closest us sorry ground hogs can come to flying Lancasters, is via flight simulation. I am dedicated to Microsofts Flight Simulator X, in which I fly "my own" version of the B1 Lancaster, a hybrid based on the "Wings of Power" version for exterior and flight dynamics, and for the panel on just about everything up to and including the kitchen sink. Out of many available panels that I collected during the years, I created a completely individual panel.
Panel redrawing required!
There are several reasons for me to design my own panels. Mainly because there's no existing Lancaster panel available that's even remotely to my liking "looks-wise". Secondly because available panels put the simulated captains eyepoint somewhere in the middle of the cockpit, like straight behind the throttle and propeller levers. That's truly bad because it takes away much of the illusion or immersion. Although my real world flying experiences are sadly confined to single engined pipsqueeks like Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee, I know that Lancaster pilots did not sit with their valuable parts shoved painfully into the throttle/propeller quadrants of their Avro Lancaster bomber!
My panel redesigns produce a more natural pilots position, and considerably enlarged gauges. Simulation, including flight simulation, is simply illusion - and I don't really care about the panel lay-out being realistic: I want it to look and feel realistic within the confines of a computer screen!!
The controls and such
To produce a sufficient level of realism, flying your simulated bomber with the keyboard or mouse won't do. If you can even remotely afford it, a steering yoke is an absolute must, with a set of pedals coming in a close second. Fortunately these things are available in a wide price range, from very strong but equally expensive, to somewhat wobbly but easily in the affordability sector of most of us.
Now, bashfully I have a confession to make. Some six years ago I got the cheapest yoke and pedals I could get, and I'm still using them without a problem and to my continuing joy! In those years I must have acquired a couple of thousand dollars worth of other flight sim equipment, but I never saw any reason for discarding my old and faithful pedals/yoke set! Sure, eventually I'll replace them, even if it is only on account of normal wear and tear from almost daily use, but I'm not holding my breath in either hope or despair.
A very flustered face!
I will never say that a relatively simple computer simulation like MS Flight Simulator X can ever give you the joy of flying the real thing, but sometimes it comes astonishingly close. I've made many a simulated landing under conditions that turned my whole head red with concentration, and sweaty with almost physical fear! Nor am I the only one with such experiences. I think it was around 2004 that an RAF flight crew trained for, and eventually flew, an MS-simulated Raid of the Dam Busters. Those jet pilots and "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime" types left their specifically constructed after their hours long flight with a healthy respect for flight simulation, and for the good old Avro Lancaster bomber. You won't see them looking down on "that game" or "that old bomber" anymore!
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