I am very happy to share my Supermarine S.5 freeware project. Get it on flightsim.to.
These Schneider Trophy racers have always been interesting to me. They are just so sleek and sexy looking and I always wondered what it would be like to fly. This was modeled from scratch using historical photos and I have been experimenting with ways to improve detail on my models. There are some areas that could have had more attention, but I’m proud of the result.
Because I understand that seaplanes are not the most practical type of aircraft and it’s hard to find a seaplane base everywhere you would like to fly, I created a fictional land-based version. Sort of a Spitfire Jr.
Included in the package is a seaplane base in Venice (ICAO VN27) and POI markers and custom lighthouse models at the waypoints of the 1927 race course. You have all the pieces needed to try your hand at the race and set your own speed records.
In order to get a realistic top speed, you should keep the engine RPM under the redline. To help enforce this, you can enable the engine management setting in the booklet which will keep track if you go over the limit and display penalty points so you can judge your performance.
It will be challenging to takeoff and land. Water in the sim can be fickle. Smooth enough sometimes and very bumpy at others. This is a very low-drag airframe and bleeding speed takes some effort. But it’s possible and very rewarding when you get it right.
While I would like to do a Macchi as a companion to the S5, I think I will take a break from vintage racers for a bit and make something more conventional next.
You did an amazing job. I flew it around Southampton and the Isle of Wight last night in VR and it was wonderful. Thanks for bringing the S.5 to the sim. I would gladly ‘buy you a cup of coffee’ if you turned on the option.
The planes of these period are some of the coolest ever, and the S.5 is no exception. So happy to be able to experience this beast in VR. The cockpit textures and detail is really good!
Water handling is really challenging, but I suspect it has to do more with the shortcomings of FS2020 than the actual plane. But once in the air, she flies like a dream.
I’ve always had an interest in the Schneider cup planes so seeing this along with the course was quite a treat! Do you have any tips on landing it on water? I had quite a bumpy landing myself.
The water handling in the sim unfortunately has some limitations. I tried well over a hundred different configurations of the float contact points to try to get it to work better.
For landing, speed is the main factor that causes the bumps. But with the super low-drag, it’s very difficult to get slow enough. My technique is usually to get a meter or so above the surface and maintain a nose up attitude until the plane can no longer maintain flight and starts to touch the water. I try to maintain some lift so it doesn’t dig the front of the floats down into the water. I have a key bound to mixture cutoff and kill the engine so it slows down.
The water sometimes is smooth enough but sometimes has large bumps. I don’t think weather conditions affect this, but I haven’t tested that thoroughly. There are also times when you encounter a terrain tile seam that is very uneven. I can only guess that water is just not as flat as it should be.
To help with slowing down, you can mod the flight model, especially the induced_drag_scalar. I left it at 1.3 because I had the flight characteristics where I wanted and did not want to sacrifice that. The engine also produces a lot of thrust at idle. If you don’t mind changing the flight performance a bit, landing can be made a little easier by reducing the thrust scalar.
I’ve found some NACA document on the Schneider trophy planes and it does mention landings were pretty fast. Approach at 240 Kmh for the S.6.
Interestingly the deceleration was pretty abrupt once the floats touched the water, with real danger for the pilot to hit the instrument panel with his face!
