It’s not a big place, don’t be thinking it’s like Duxford, but I don’t know anywhere else where you can get into the cockpit and get hands on with the controls, I was in the Hunter, the Harrier, a Sea Hawk, my son and myself were in the cockpit section of a Jet Provost.
We were unable to get into the Canberra due to the enclosed nature of the cockpit, thus was early last July when Covid restrictions were still in place. I would have loved to get in the Lightning, unfortunately this wasn’t possible, was still great to be beside such an epic craft.
A lot of the staff are ex RAF with great stories and specs of all the aircraft.
There is a simulator there as well, I didn’t have a go, not sure what sim it was, it looked like DCS but it was the Hunter you were flying, they had a Saitek X-52 hotas for controls.
We spent a good hour and a half in the place, it didn’t cost much. We’ve got some great photos from the visit. Bring some aviator sunglasses for the full effect
South Wales Air Museum (SWAM) at the Former RAF Saint Athan near Barry. They allow hands on interaction with a variety of Aircraft, Sea Harrier, Pembroke (Navy version) a few JPs and a few helicopters. They also have a Shackleton and a Nimrod fuselage and many more… Including, I think, a DC6 out the back awaiting rebuild too.
The staff are mainly ex-RAF
Pride of place though is held by the one and only Black Mike, the Phantom that holds the record for the fastest Lands end to John O’Groats
Plus the marvelous “Hangar round” cafe
Well worth a visit if you’re in Wales
The below is based upon what I have been flying lately and is not necessarily indicative of the quality of the models over one another. This is just what have been the most fun for me lately.
//42 Fox2 dropped off the list, for no other reason than I’m flying everything else more. Still enjoying bush trips in it though. The Asobo Longitude is underrated with the WT mod and flight dynamics mod by dakfly0219.
Changes are more at the TOP END of the charts this week! The Cessna 414 finally overtook the Arrows for 2nd place and the Fenix is rising (a bit) again. Weirdly no change at all in the bottom half of the top 25, where even a few points can have a bigger effect on the order.
2 new planes mentioned this week bringing the total to 130 now:
Aeroplane Heaven - Spitfire Mk1
Dave Garwood - Hawker Hunter [Free]
I’ve never really looked into AH’s version of the Spit. The FI one has been one of my faves for a long time so don’t really see the point for myself getting the Mk1 also.
I see the Kodiak only had 2 “new” points this week and actually lost 3 overall since last week, so MAYBE that gap is indeed achievable for the chasers.
Surprised the number of mentions the Stearman has had all of a sudden. Could this be a creeper hit? It is a nice plane to fly - very smooth.
The Stearman is OK but far more responsive than the stodgy military trainer the real one is. Aerobatic capable but only under the hands of a good pilot. The real one is basically an American equivalent to the Tiger Moth.
The original MSFS version of it was apparently much closer to the real one but a lot of people, under the impression that all biplanes fly like a Pitts, complained so they “gamified” it a bit.
None of that is accurate. We were advised by pilots with as much as 7,000 hours on Stearmans as to the handling. Some things were reduced, such as brake force, to avoid people too easily standing her on the prop when landing, and flick roll requests were catered for in roll-rate as MSFS’ flight model does not handle wing-stall rolls, but otherwise it’s bang-on.
The Tiger Moth is much lighter than a Stearman, as well as much less powerful, they’re not comparable other than the fact they’re both bi-planes ( and I have stick time in them both in RL ).
Would like old school 70s era steam 747-200, L-1011, dc10. VOR ILS type guy.F 16 is nice cockpit textures are lacking. Sounds definitely need improvement.
I have to adjust my list, I have only flown one Aircraft this last 7 calendar days… So she has to a new entry at number 2, sadly this is at the expense of the J170
So here is my new list;
Dave Garwoods Hawker Hunter, she is sublime and so much fun… although I’m not sure about the overspeed warning at 300 knots. These ladies were quick for their day.
