Atomic Systems

In the 1930s, most British long haul flights were made using flying-boats, mainly the Short Empire which was used by both Imperial Airlines (later BOAC) and Qantas.

The Armstrong Whitworth Ensign was used by Imperial Airways on European routes and London to Calcutta.

My Stepfather was a line engineer for Imperial Airways on the Flying boats, just before the war, he was at Create, during the war he was first at Alexandria before being sent to Durban, he retired from BOAC in the 1960s when he was a development engineer on the Boeing 707 fleet.

Mike

I have run into a massive problem with my DC3 model when I try to make the Geopcdx file and am now unable to help.

I have had a hunt around and on RWA there is a collection of DC4s available:
http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/d ... =22:models

I haven't checked them out yet, but hopefully they will solve the problem for those wanting older aircraft.

I reckon those DC 4 would be ideal for late 1930's routes and from 1945-65's routes, I joined BOAC in 1965 and BOAC were still using them for cargo work, BOAC called them Argonauts

michaelhendle wrote:I reckon those DC 4 would be ideal for late 1930's routes and from 1945-65's routes, I joined BOAC in 1965 and BOAC were still using them for cargo work, BOAC called them Argonauts

According to Wikipedia the DC4 was introduced in 1942, so any time from then on.

I spent a few hours on a DC3 which I'm happy to finish if you think it's good enough.

PenninePacer wrote:

DC3.jpg

I spent a few hours on a DC3 which I'm happy to finish if you think it's good enough.

Looks good - good luck with it.

Thanks for having a go at making a DC3 they will be ideal for 1930's routes as they were built between 1936-1950, Imperial Airways and KLM jointly owned some DC3's in the 1930s, they were used between Croydon and Amsterdam on mail and passenger services
Mike

DC3 ready for take off.

All the pictures I can find have the gear down, does anyone know if the rear landing gear retracts or if it's permanently down?

The DC 3 rear wheel doesn't retract, also when the front wheels are up you can still see the wheels, they don't fully retract

Thank you, thats a great help. When I was quickly looking through pictures and saw front wheels I thought the gear was down, on closer inspection I have now found a picture with the gear up.

European Airlines that used DC3 pre WW2

Were SABENA, KLM,( Imperial Airways, BOAC).SWISSAIR. AIR FRANCE, AER LINGUS.
The KLM/BOAC ones were jointly owned for use on Croydon Amsterdam services, carrying mail between Britain and Holland, they were painted in KLM livery

Post WW2
As above plus Finnair, BEA, instead of BOAC, longest route operated was by KLM Amsterdam to Sydney

Mike

I'm using the DC4 for the moment, but that will be replaced by the DC3 when it's done - It looks fantastic!

What animations would people like to see? I have the following ideas, please feel free to suggest changes or others.

1. Stationary
2. Stationary with propellers turning
3. Take-off 500M runway (animated landing gear?)
4. Landing 500M runway
5. Flying in a straight line (1KM line?, 200MPH?)
6. Flying in a circle (1KM diameter?, 180MPH?, bank angle?) Quick test texture has revealed issues with the UV map around the cockpit, so I'll have to redo it.

I reckon Stationary engines not running, at the end of the runway propellers turning, flying straight for 1 km but for realism, some on the ground could you do some repaints in either Swiss Air, Air France and or Aer Lingus
Mike