PC flight simulators

On 19 Nov 2003 22:30:20 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

Subject: PC flight simulators
From: Steve
Date: 11/19/03 2:22 PM Pacific Standard Time

1943!! ROFLMAO!!

If you were with us (The 344th Bomb Group) in 1943 I don't think you would
have found much to laugh about. We sure didn't. There was a lot going on, but
none of it was very funny.

Could you tell more about that simulator, Art?
How were the visuals done? What computed the flight model?

Bye
Andreas

Subject: PC flight simulators
From: Andreas Maurer
Date: 11/19/03 4:34 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

On 19 Nov 2003 22:30:20 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

Subject: PC flight simulators
From: Steve
Date: 11/19/03 2:22 PM Pacific Standard Time

1943!! ROFLMAO!!

If you were with us (The 344th Bomb Group) in 1943 I don't think you would
have found much to laugh about. We sure didn't. There was a lot going on,
but
none of it was very funny.

Could you tell more about that simulator, Art?
How were the visuals done? What computed the flight model?

Bye
Andreas
..

Sure Andreas. Since you ask like a gentleman, I'll be glad to discuss it with
you. As I stated before, it was a real B-26 truncated behind the radio/Nav
compartment and mounted on a swive-l tilt base in a hanger. When we climbed
into it the pilots went into the cockpit, and went through turning on all their
switches and starting and running up the engines as if for a real takeoff.
Everything lit up and came to life. I climbed into the nose, and switched on
everything activating the bombsight, watched the gyro stand up and come to
speed, watched the intervelometer light up and the bomb rack station indicator
show loaded bomb racks on each station. Now to the interesting stuff. My view
was a color photograph chart that rolled under me at groundspeed. But it was
a scrambled image, That is the target area might be a port that showed
Manhattan in the center, the China coast to the West and San Francisco to the
East. This was to prevent anyone rom being familiar with any area so you
couldn't say, "hey I lived there and know it well" You had to fly and navigate
since no one had a recognition advantage. We had been briefed before the
simulator drill as to the exact rarget are we were to hit and the route we were
to fly. Where we were to expect flak and fighters but we were never given any
indcation of the damage that we would sustain. On course we had extensive flak
that shook the simulator violently. We had an engine out that rolled us
violently into the dead engine but Paul and Bob caughtiit in time and we
connued on course on sungle engine. We were now losing about 300 feet /minute
and couldn't do a damned thing about it. We were jumped by fighterand returned
fire. Our cockpit and my nose filled with smoke and had a strong cordite
smell;; mixed with the odor of urine and vomit which was always present. I
opened the vent and a strong relative wind blew the nose clear of smoke. We
stopped losing altitiude and the target came into sight.I lined up the Norden
head with the target uncaged the gyro and called "on course" to Paul locking
in the Norden head to the base, Suddenly we got heavy Flak that rocked the
plane violently. "please don't tumble my gyro" I prayed. ****, The gyro
tumbled.I grabbed the gimble ring erector knobs, got the gyro up and caged it.
But it was too late. We would now have to do a go around through that ****ing
flak again. I had totally forgotten I was in a simulator. I was sweating ,
tense and upset about the go around as though it was real It was real to me at
that point. I got on the intercom and asked Paul to hold us steady through the
run.I forgot that the simulator was pre-programed and there were certain things
that were going to happen that was beyond our control. On the second run we hit
the target with good results. closed the bombay doors and we turned for home.
The run was over, We got out of the plane sweating and shaken. Note that I
call it a plane, not a simulator because to us it was a plane,not a simiulator.
And we were almost surprised to find that when we got out of the plane we were
in a hanger. Reality rushed back. That night we went to the officers club and
over a few Scotches we drank and kept saying. "holy ****. holy ****"

Adreas that is as I remember it. If you have any questions I will be glad to
answer them.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

On 20 Nov 2003 02:47:43 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

When we climbed
into it the pilots went into the cockpit, and went through turning on all their
switches and starting and running up the engines as if for a real takeoff.

Real engines or simulated ones?

On course we had extensive flak
that shook the simulator violently.

How was that simulated? Hydraulics? How were the visuals of exploding
flak shells simulated?

We were jumped by fighterand returned
fire.

Cool... how were the visuals of the fighters done? Did you use real
guns t return the fire (I'm sure yur gunners needed something to aim
at)?

I
opened the vent and a strong relative wind blew the nose clear of smoke.

Interesting.. so your sim was mounted in some kind of wind channel?

I got on the intercom and asked Paul to hold us steady through the
run.
How could he do that? Did he also have visuals or was he relying on
instruments only?

I forgot that the simulator was pre-programed and there were certain things
that were going to happen that was beyond our control.

I see... pre-programmed. So you were more or less sitting in a movie
theatre, correct?

Interesting stuff... you'd love to see one of the custom cockpits that
have been built for the "game" MS Flight Simulator. These days people
are using cut-off Boeing-737 noses.


Bye
Andreas

Subject: PC flight simulators
From: Andreas Maurer
Date: 11/20/03 7:24 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

On 20 Nov 2003 02:47:43 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

When we climbed
into it the pilots went into the cockpit, and went through turning on all
their
switches and starting and running up the engines as if for a real takeoff.

Real engines or simulated ones?

Simulated

On course we had extensive flak
that shook the simulator violently.

How was that simulated? Hydraulics? How were the visuals of exploding
flak shells simulated?



Hydraulics I think. We never saw wthe bursts only heard thenand felt the
concussion.


We were jumped by fighterand returned
fire.

Cool... how were the visuals of the fighters done? Did you use real
guns t return the fire (I'm sure yur gunners needed something to aim
at)?


Projected on a screen


opened the vent and a strong relative wind blew the nose clear of smoke.

Interesting.. so your sim was mounted in some kind of wind channel?

No. It was just a blower motor that went on when the flap was opened.

I got on the intercom and asked Paul to hold us steady through the
run.

How could he do that? Did he also have visuals or was he relying on
instruments only?

He could't.But I forgot that in the excitement of the realism. We laughed about
it later.

I forgot that the simulator was pre-programed and there were certain things
that were going to happen that was beyond our control.

I see... pre-programmed. So you were more or less sitting in a movie
theatre, correct?

Well in a sense yes.But how we navigated and bombed was not pre programmed. The
results were real scores in real time.

Interesting stuff... you'd love to see one of the custom cockpits that
have been built for the "game" MS Flight Simulator. These days people
are using cut-off Boeing-737 noses.


Yes I would. But it is not likely that I ever will.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

In message , ArtKramr
writes
Subject: PC flight simulators
From: Andreas Maurer
Could you tell more about that simulator, Art?
How were the visuals done? What computed the flight model?

As I stated before, it was a real B-26 truncated behind the radio/Nav
compartment and mounted on a swive-l tilt base in a hanger.

large snip - good stuff

The run was over, We got out of the plane sweating and shaken. Note that I
call it a plane, not a simulator because to us it was a plane,not a simiulator.
And we were almost surprised to find that when we got out of the plane we were
in a hanger. Reality rushed back. That night we went to the officers club and
over a few Scotches we drank and kept saying. "holy ****. holy ****"

Adreas that is as I remember it. If you have any questions I will be glad to
answer them.

The key question, I suppose, is "was it useful to you"? Sounds like it
successfully scared the hell out of you and your crew, but also forced
you to deal with too much happening too fast, often with the "aircraft"
bouncing around and filling with smoke (the smoke generator, fans and
vents sound very effective).

Looking back on it after having done in combat what it was trying to
simulate, was it useful in training you or just preparing you?

--
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
W S Churchill

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk

Subject: PC flight simulators
From: "Paul J. Adam"
Date: 11/21/03 6:32 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

In message , ArtKramr
writes
Subject: PC flight simulators
From: Andreas Maurer
Could you tell more about that simulator, Art?
How were the visuals done? What computed the flight model?

As I stated before, it was a real B-26 truncated behind the radio/Nav
compartment and mounted on a swive-l tilt base in a hanger.

large snip - good stuff

The run was over, We got out of the plane sweating and shaken. Note that I
call it a plane, not a simulator because to us it was a plane,not a
simiulator.
And we were almost surprised to find that when we got out of the plane we
were
in a hanger. Reality rushed back. That night we went to the officers club
and
over a few Scotches we drank and kept saying. "holy ****. holy ****"

Adreas that is as I remember it. If you have any questions I will be glad to
answer them.

The key question, I suppose, is "was it useful to you"? Sounds like it
successfully scared the hell out of you and your crew, but also forced
you to deal with too much happening too fast, often with the "aircraft"
bouncing around and filling with smoke (the smoke generator, fans and
vents sound very effective).

Looking back on it after having done in combat what it was trying to
simulate, was it useful in training you or just preparing you?

--

It was very useful. In fact just last night I was thinking about it and came to
some realisations that I haven't thought about in 60 years. It occured to me
that every time I started a bomb run, locked in the head and went on course
and, uncaged the gryo, flak concussions hit. This ended up in a tumbled
vertical flight gyro, Now to a Norden bombardier a tumbled guro is a nightmare
that requires a go around, a very dangerous procedure. And every time that
damned gyro tumbled I would have to frantically erect it by pressuring the
gumbal rings to get it erect and caged. I don't know how many, if anyone on
this NG has ever fought a tumbled gyro, but it is a dread experience. And that
hanger trainer gave me a lot of practice erecting and caging gyros. every time
we flew the trainer I became a bit faster and more proficient at getting that
gyro up and running again., It occured to me last night that those *******s
did it ail on purpose. The flak hiting once the gyro was uncaged was no
coincidence, it was programmed that way. And I guess it was a good thing in
the end because it sure built proficiency especially in B-26's. Why B-26's?
Well B-26's used to tear autopilots apart in short order. Therefore every
bomb run was done via PDI (PIlots directinal indicator). In other words the
pilot kept a needle centered as I operated the bombsight. If he did one
skidding uncordinated turn, he would tumble my gyro. That is much less of a
problen on other planes where the bomb runs were done on autopilot. So I can
see why the hanger trainer was set up to tumble gyros. Yup. I sure learned a
lot. And fast.Very fast..

Regards,




Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer