RealAir Spitfire 2008 Flying...

Welcome to the RealAir Simulations Spitfire 2008 Flying Guide. This guide is essential read-ing, even if you are an experienced pilot and FSX user, since it contains important tips for setting up the aircraft in this package to fly properly within the simulator. If not set up prop-erly, advertised features such as spinning and side-slipping may not work!

This version of the RealAir Spitfire is a very significant upgrade over the FS2004 version. Many major changes have been necessary to simply allow these aircraft to perform as well as they did in FS2004, but the most exciting news is that we have also taken full advantage of the new FSX architecture, adding many new features and improvements that weren’t pos-sible in FS2004.

The following pages give useful information about all aspects of operating these aircraft in FSX, written in plain language. For more detailed, technical operating procedures please re-fer to the separate Pilot’s Notes included with this package.

RealAir Spitfire 2008

Flying Guide

The new versions of the RealAir Spitfire included in this package have been nearly a year in development. We are aware that simulating one of the most charismatic aeroplanes ever built in the history of aviation – and some would say THE most iconic of all aircraft – leaves us open to close scrutiny from the many Spitfire historians and experts who will naturally want to see if we’ve got close to their perception of how the aircraft should look, operate and fly.

We are of course always subject to the sometimes frustrating limitations of FSX, and where absolutely authentic functions have been possible, we have implemented them. We are con-fident that we have, most importantly, captured the soul and essence of this fabulous aero-plane.

If you see or perceive something which you think is missing, it will most likely be because it was not possible. Everything that could be faithfully reproduced has been included.

The aircraft we have simulated are not combat ready. We have included a faithful recreation of the Mark II reflector gun sight in both the Griffon and Merlin variants, but the guns them-selves don’t fire. Our goal was not to attempt to simulate a shoot-em-up aircraft, of which you can find many examples in combat-type simulators, but to provide a very high quality aircraft which looks and flies as closely as possible to the real thing within FSX limitations. We are peaceful folks at RealAir and we want our customers to appreciate the Spitfire as a fantastic flying machine.


Introduction

New Features

The RealAir Spitfire 2008 package is brimming with innovative features, many completely new for FSX. These include:

• The Merlin-powered Mark IX and XVI are included in addition to the Mark XIV. • New and improved VCs, designed from the ground up for FSX with new features including specular and bump mapping (See below). • True 3D gauges with silky-smooth movement that are an additional improvement on our already acclaimed ‘Smooth Gauges’ (See below). • New exterior models compiled specifically for FSX, with improved textures, new features such as bump mapping and specular mapping, and many new liveries (See below). • Improved sounds for both the Merlin and Griffon Engines with realistic stereo and doppler effects. These sounds have been designed to really capture the famous Spitfire sound. • New camera views in the VC (See below). • Advanced flight modeling with numerous new features (see below). • High-quality 32bit textures are now available as an option. (Requires an additional down-load, see below).

Features carried over from the FS2004 version

• Visible and audible pre and post stall buffeting. • Overstress sound effects. • Realistic engine torque effects. • Engine failure simulation, causing complete engine failure if engine limits are exceeded. • Visible oil splatter on the fuselage and windscreen following an engine failure. • Custom scenery, including AI Spitfires, of RAF West Malling in Kent, UK, circa 1944.

New Flight Dynamic Features in the FSX Spitfire

We have redesigned the flight dynamics of both the Mark XIV and Mark IX for this version of the Spitfire. With a new and more controllable side slipping feature, you can bleed off speed and height with more finesse compared to the FS2004 version. The spinning routine has been refined and you can now continue a spin, once established, with full rudder and neutral elevator, or with a little up-trim keep the spin going with neutral rudder and full back eleva-tor.

You will find the elevator control more finely graduated and the pitch control is now easier and more refined for landing. Please note that trim is calibrated for the trim slider set at the midway point in your control settings in FSX.

The new flight model is capable of a high speed, or high G, stall which means you now have to be more cautious with high fuel loads when using large elevator deflection in high or low speed turns. In normal operation you should not exceed 6 positive G and beware of stall on-set (indicated by buffeting) with high G turns at speeds less than 200 knots.


Features

New Exterior Models

The exterior models in this release have been completely rebuilt for FSX. Now included is very-detailed bump-mapping on all models recreating the less-than-smooth, wrinkled, thin aluminium skin of the Spitfire. This can be seen at all times of the day but is especially noti-cable early or late in the day when the sunlight is reflecting off the aircraft surfaces at an angle.

New Virtual Cockpits

The virtual cockpits in this version of the RealAir Spitfire are completely new. Improvements have been made to the shape of the 3D objects, making them smoother and more realistic in appearance. This improvement extends to most areas of the cockpit, but one area where it is particularly noticable is the windscreen-frame, the frames have smooth, rounded curves and each bolt is individually modeled in 3D. Also have a look at the door-latch mechanism, it is smoothly modeled in 3D right down to the latch spring. The textures are also much improved with the inclusion of specular mapping and bump mapping. Thanks to this the VC surfaces come alive as the aircraft moves around and the ambient lighting changes.

3D Gauges

Like all our FSX aircraft, the Spitfire VC now includes true three-dimensional gauges with silky smooth movement. These gauges remain true to life no matter the viewing angle or lighting conditions.

New Sound Features

FSX affords the opportunity to provide extremely realistic sounds compared with FS2004. We have completely redesigned the sounds for both the Merlin and Griffon Engines. As you move around the aircraft in spot view you will hear appropriate stereo and Doppler effects. In fly-by and tower views you will hear spectacular Doppler effects as the aircraft approach-es then flies past your view point.

Optional High-Quality 32bit Textures

By default the Spitfire 2008 package comes with compressed 16bit DXT5 textures. These provide a good balance between quality and performance on a wide range of PC systems. In this package you also have the option of using uncompressed 32bit textures instead of the default 16bit textures, but this is recommended only if you have sufficient system and video card RAM - 2GB system RAM and 512MB video RAM would be a good starting point.

To reduce the initial download size the 32bit textures are not included in the main Spitfire 2008 package, and therefore must be downloaded separately. To do this, open the Spitfire 2008 Config Panel and go to the Downloads page.

Included in this package is the legendary Rolls Royce Merlin engined Mark IX Spitfire in addi-tion to our established Mark XIV powered by the Griffon Engine.

The Mark IX Spitfire came about chiefly as a result of the need to compete with the Focke Wulf Fw 190 which in some regards could out-perform and out-climb previous Spitfire ver-sions. The Mark IX was based on the Mark V airframe with the addition of the new genera-tion of Merlin engines which had a two stage automatic supercharger, auto-mixture control and, at full power, the Merlin 66 was capable of 1,720 hp and gave the Mark IX elliptical winged aircraft a ceiling of 43,000 feet in its standard form. This was known as the LF. Mark IX and in standard specification had just two quite small centrally placed fuel tanks forward of the cockpit bulkhead.

The total number of Mark IX (and variants) produced was 5,665, more than any other Mark. The basic LF Mark IX represented by RealAir’s simulation had a fixed tail wheel, unlike the later Mark XIV which had a retractable tail wheel. We have also recreated the clipped winged version of the Mark IX which had a slightly greater roll rate and better low altitude perform-ance, but could not match the high altitude performance of the elliptical winged Spitfire.

We have included one Mk XVI (16) livery in this package. The Mk XVI was essentially the same aircraft as the Mk IX except it was powered by a Merlin licence-built by Packard in the USA. Both the Rolls Royce Merlin in the IX and the Packard Merlin in the XVI had essentially the same power output and identical handling characteritics.

The liveries represented in our Mark IX were first flown after 1943 and although some of these variants might have at some time had features and additions beyond the standard Mark IX specifications, all of our aircraft use the Merlin 66 and standard fuel tanks.


Spitfire Mk IX

We have included liveries that represent WW2 era aircraft as well as liveries that represent modern day restored aircraft. The WW2 era aircraft feature worn exterior paint and cockpits while the restored aircraft are in pristine condition inside and out. If the cockpits in the re-stored aircraft are too clean for your liking then you’ll be pleased to know the cockpits in the WW2 era aircraft are all scratched and worn, but they are still well-maintained!

In the interest of variety we have included several liveries that were in actuality applied to the Spitfire Mk VIII. The liveries ‘Fargo Express’ and ‘Grey Nurse’ were both applied to Mk VIIIs in WW2 but because of the visual and historical interest we included them in this pack-age applied to the Mk IX.


Mk IX Liveries

A58-602

HF Mk. VIII A58-602 (MV113) RG-V. Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this was the ‘personal’ aircraft of Wing Commander Robert ‘Bobby’ Gibbs the Wing Leader (Flying) of 80 Fighter Wing 1st Tactical Air Force, RAAF at Morotai, in 1945. As was the privilege of a Wing Commander, the aircraft bears his initials (RG) as the aircraft code. The ‘V’ of the code was his personal choice and stems from the P-40 he flew in the Western Desert earlier in the war. Camouflage is the standard RAF temperate scheme of dark green and ocean grey and upper surfaces over medium sea grey lower surfaces (these are darker shades than applied to the RAF aircraft). The wing leading edges and cannon barrels wear the white theatre identifica-tion markings as well as a thin band around the rear fuselage, and a red spinner.

TB863

Depicted in restored, airshow worthy condition, this aircraft was originally delivered to No. 19 Maintenance Unit at RAF St Athan on 27 February 1945. It was issued to No. 453 Squad-ron Royal Australian Air Force based at Matlask, Norfolk on 22 March 1945. After being struck-off as scrap in 1951 following a take-off inicident, it was purchased by Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer as a stage prop for their 1955 film on wartime pilot Douglas Bader titled “Reach for the Sky”. In 1967 it was involved in the making of the movie “The Battle of Britain”, being used as a spares supplier for those aircraft actually flying in the film. Restoration to flying condition began at Booker, UK in 1982. The project being sold to Stephen Grey of The Fight-er Collection and restoration was begun in earnest on 19 February 1986. In 1987 ownership passed to Sir Tim Wallis and the aircraft was moved to New Zealand, where restoration was completed and the aircraft test flown at Wanaka in January 1989. Finally, this aircraft was sold and shipped to Australia after the 2006 Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow, where it con-tinues to fly as part of the Temora Aviation Museum collection. The livery depicted shows the aircraft as it appeared briefly in April 2001, being specially painted for the Classic Fighters airshow.

EN398

Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was flown by Wing Commander ‘John-nie’ Johnson, the highest scoring British fighter ace of WW2, credited with 38 victories. This particular aircraft was Johnnie Johnson’s first Mk IX, in which he shot down at least 12 en-emy fighters, making this particular spitfire the most successful in terms of kills.

ML417

HF Mk IX ML-417. Depicted in its current, restored condition, this aircraft was orginally flying with 443 RCAF sqn in Spring 1944, being modified by Vickers after the war to a two-seat configuration and shipped to India. In the early 1980s it was aquired by the Fighter Collec-tion and restored as a clipped wing single seat Mk IX with the markings 21-T. It stayed with the Fighter collection until 2001 when it was bought by Tom Freidkin and shipped to the US

Fargo Express

Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was flown by Lt Leland Molland, 308th FS, 31st FG, US 12 Air Force, January 1944.

Lady Ellen III

Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was flown by Lt. John Fawcett, of the 309th FS, 31st FG, US 15th Air Force, flying out of Castel Volturno, Italy in February 1944.

SL658

LF Mk.IX SL658. Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was operated by Groupe de Chasse I/4 Dauphine at Tan Son Nhut, Indochina, during 1947. The French ac-quired 12 Spitfires from 273 Squadron RAF.

MK732

LF Mk IXc MK732. Depicted in its current, restored condition, this aircraft was originally operated by RCAF in March 1944. Delivered to RNAF as H-25 (later 3W-17) in 1947. Resto-ration to flying condition started in 1985. Aquired by the RNLAF Historical Flight, Gilze-Rijen AB, who fitted it with clipped wings and painted it in the silver Dutch livery seen here.

CCCP

LF IXe. Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was operated by 26th GIAP PVO (Air Defence) in Leningrad, April 1945.

EN315

LF Mk.IX EN315. Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was piloted by Squad-ron Leader Stanislaw Skalski. The Polish Fighting Team, known as “Skalski’s Circus”, com-prised fifteen of the best Polish fighter pilots under the command of Skalski. They oper-ated in the Western Desert between March and May 1943 as the extra “C” flight of No. 145 Squadron RAF. The unit received the individual code numbers 1 to 9 instead of the regula-tory letters and operated the Spitfires Mk. IX, at the time newly arrived in Africa. During the two months of their tour, the Polish pilots had claimed a total of 26 German and Italian planes destroyed. Skalski scored four of this number.

BF273

F Mk IXc BF273. Depicted in original WW2-era condition, this aircraft was flown by Fly-ing Officer Emanuel Galitzine. Towards the end of 1942, the RAF set up the “High Altitude Flight” to counter the Luftwaffe’s high altitude bombing raids against England. Based at RAF Northolt, the unit comprised a pair of specially modified Spitfire Mk IXs. This aircraft, BF273, piloted by Flying Officer Emanuel Galitzine, intercepted a Junkers JU86R above Southamp-ton at 41,000ft - the subsequent battle climbed to 43,000ft but Galitzine’s cannon suffered a jam so the Junkers escaped with just one hit. This was sufficient for the Luftwaffe to cease high altitude attacks against England. This incident proved to be the highest air battle of WW2.

The Mk XIV was powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon rather than the Rolls-Royce Merlin of the preceding marks. The Griffon had a much larger capacity than the Merlin - 36 litres versus 27 litres - this gave it significantly more power than the Merlin. One aspect of the Griffon that caught-out many inexperienced pilots was the fact that the propeller rotated in the op-posite direction to the Merlin’s propeller, and as such the effects of torque and P-factor were reversed. On takeoff, instead of swinging to the left the Mk XIV would swing to the right, and the massive torque from the larger capacity and 5-blade prop meant rudder was insufficient to counter the swing if full power was applied.

In this package there are four variations of the Mk XIV to choose from:

Elliptical Wing

This is the classic WW2 variant of the Mk XIV, featuring the Spitfire’s famous elliptical wings and standard five-blade propeller.

Clipped Wing

This version is representative of the operational Mark XIV shorter wing-span variant that was intended to operate at lower altitudes. It has a quicker roll rate, higher dive speed and lower service ceiling, but in other respects it is similar to the elliptical wing variant.


Spitfire Mk XIV

Contra-Prop Prototype

From the outset the Griffon-engined Spitfires (including the Mk XIV) had handling problems brought about by the massive torque of the 36L Rolls-Royce Griffon and its associated five-blade propeller. This was partly offset by the broader-chord fin and rudder introduced on the Mk XIV, but stability problems persisted. The contra-rotating propeller featured two propel-lers rotating in opposite directions thereby providing neutral prop torque. However, the con-tra-prop never made it onto an operational Mk XIV due to consistent, catastrophic gearbox failures on test aircraft. You may find it much easier at first to fly this version since you will not need rudder to correct the drift on take off.

Racer

This is a fictional version with phenomenal power (3000hp) and higher max. boost. While this is not based on a real aircraft, it is representative of the type flown in the world famous Reno pylon races, and ‘real world’ Rolls-Royce Griffons have been tuned to produce upwards of 3000hp in racing aircraft of the past, such as the famous ‘Red Baron’ RB-51 Mustang. Be-ing fitted with a contra-prop there is no swing /torque effect to deal with and you can throw this version around pylons, or you can fly it around the normal FSX scenery for very quick sightseeing trips.

RN135

Flown by Sqn Ldr James ‘Ginger’ Lacey, 17 Sqn Selatar 1944. James Harry ‘Ginger’ Lacey was born on February 1st 1917 at Wetherby, Yorkshire, and left King James’ Grammar School, Knaresborough in 1933. He joined the RAFVR (Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve) in January 1937 as a trainee pilot at Perth, Scotland. Two years later, he joined 1 Squadron at Tangmere. One of the most successful allied pilots of World War 2, Lacey was credited with 28 kills, 4 probables and 9 damaged; he shot down 18 aircraft during the Battle of Britain including the HE-111 that bombed Buckingham Palace on 13th September 1040.

17 Squadron received Spitfires XIV’s in March 1944 while in Ceylon and were then posted to Burma and India to fly escort and ground attack missions until April 1946 when they were posted to Japan. Lacey was posted to 17 Sqn in November 1944. Whilst in India Lacey’s only victory was on February 19th 1945 shooting down a Japanese Nakajima ‘Oscar’.

RN201

Depicted in its current, restored airshow-worthy condition, this aircraft was originally de-livered to the Royal Belgian Air Force as SG-31 on February 19, 1948. It was displayed on a pole at Beauvechain AB, Belgium, from 1953-1990. Restoration was staretd by the His-toric Aircraft Collection Ltd, Jersey UK in the 1990s, and completed by the aircraft’s current owner, Historic Flying Limited of Audley End, Essex, UK. The aircraft wears the silver and red livery of a Mk 21 Spitfire of No. 41 Squadron RAF, when specially painted for the 1947 Black-pool Air Race.


Mk XIV Liveries

RM619

91 (Nigeria) Squadron 1943. 91 Sqn received the Spitfire XIV in March 1944. The Squadron joined Second TAF and flew armed reconnaissance sweeps over the approaches to the inva-sion area in Normandy. Soon after D-Day, flying-bomb attacks began and No.91 was en-gaged in destroying these until August 1944.

RM787

322 wing Lentini East, Sicily 1943, in the colours of Wg Cdr Colin Gray New Zealand’s top scoring fighter pilot. In May 1943, promoted to Wing Commander, Gray was appointed to lead 322 Wing moving to Malta to prepare for the invasion of Sicily and he left 322 Wing in early September to return to Britain. He was awarded a second Bar to the DFC and was credited with twenty-seven enemy aircraft destroyed, one shared and a further twenty-two probably destroyed or damaged.

SM832

17 Squadron, Burma, 1944. This squadron was in Burma between November 1944 and June 1945. Between February 1943 and March 1944 they were in Ceylon flying Hurricanes. We have included two variations of this livery - WW2 era, with worn paint and cockpit, and a pristine, restored variant.

RM784

Contra-prop prototype aircraft. Used to test the early Rotol contra-rotating propeller. This propeller didn’t make it onto operation Spitfires until after the war, on much later variants than the Mk XIV.

RB159

610 (County of Chester) Squadron. In July 1944, No. 610 squadron took its Spitfire XIVs to south-east England to intercept flying bombs for two months. In December the squadron moved to the Continent to join No. 127 Wing for sweeps over Germany. It returned to the UK in February 1945 and was finally disbanded in March 1957.

RM653

41 Sqn, Second Tactical Air Force Germany 1945. By the end of hostilities, 41 Squadron had been credited with destroying some 200 enemy aircraft, probably destroying 61, and damag-ing a further 109. Her pilots also brought down a respectable 53 German V1 flying bombs. 41 Squadron was disbanded on 1 April 1946, when it was re-numbered to 26 Squadron at Wunstorf, Germany.

RM908

152 (Hyderabad) Squadron) SEAC, Burma 1945. This squadron moved to Burma on 19 De-cember 1943. During the Battle of Imphal, No.152 operated from front-line strips supporting the 14th Army during its final conquest of Burma. In September 1945, the squadron moved to Singapore after the Japanese surrender and was disbanded on 10 March 1946.

Red Racer

This is a purely fictional aircraft inspired by the WW2 racing types flown in the Reno Air Races (Nevada USA). This one’s just for fun...

Polished-Metal Racer

As with the livery above, this is a purely fictional aircraft inspired by the WW2 racing types flown in the Reno Air Races.

These are recommended settings. You might prefer different settings. We have designated which in our opinion are optional, realistic or essential, for example for spin capability or other realistic features to be enabled.

FSX Aircraft/ Realism Settings

General Realism Slider: MAXIMUM (fully right) – Essential P-factor Slider: MAXIMUM (fully right) – Realistic Torque Slider: MAXIMUM (fully right) – Realistic Gyro Slider: LOW – Realistic Crash Tolerance Slider: MINIMUM – Essential (for belly landings) Pilot Controls Aircraft Lights: TICKED - Optional Enable Gyro Drift: TICKED – Realistic Display Indicated Airspeed: CHECKED - Realistic Ignore Crashes and Damage: CHECKED - Essential (for belly landings) Enable Automixture: OFF (This is simulated automatically by RealAir) Unlimited Fuel: OFF – Optional Engine Stress Damages Engine: OFF - (This is simulated by RealAir) G effects: ON – Realistic Autorudder: OFF – Optional, but recommended, essential for spinning

Note: Setting the general realism slider even one tiny notch less than maximum will disable spins and side slipping and defeat the intentions of our flight dynamics.


Setting Up the Spitfire in FSX

FSX Options/ Control Assignments and Sensitivity

Please refer to the FSX documents for control assignments. You can assign almost any con-trol to a hot key using FSX’s control assignment menu. It is beyond the scope of this docu-ment to advise you on this, since there is already a wealth of information on this subject provided by the FSX Tutorials. Almost every non-automated control in the RealAir Spitfires is accessible with the mouse, including radios, prop and mixture controls, throttle, switches, starter button, pilot exit and almost everything that moves!

Elevator Sensitivity Slider: One-third or less than half - Realistic Aileron Sensitivity Slider: OneThird or less than Half – Realistic Throttle Sensitivity Slider: Zero – Optional Null Zones: Low – (recommended but depending on your joystick)

Note: With most standard joysticks you will obtain much better control with the sensitivity sliders in the lower half and preferably only a third. However this setting slows down the rate of slewing in slew mode (Key “Y”). Sensitivities of more than One Half will in some cases make the Spitfire too sensitive in pitch and roll depending on your type of joystick.

FSX Options/ Sounds

Engine Sounds: High – Optional Cockpit Sounds: High – Optional Environment Sounds: Medium to High – Optional

The wind, stall buffet and stress sounds are controlled via the Environment Sound slider. You might need to experiment to get your preferred balance of engine and other sound effects. Please also note that two standard keys, the smoke key “I” and Autopilot ON/OFF toggle key “Z” have been assigned to engine failure effects and overstress sounds and should not be used!

FSX Display Settings

Make sure anti-aliasing is enabled either via FSX or via your via your display drivers. This setting makes a very big difference to the graphic quality of FSX.

Light Bloom can be on or off depending on preference. The light bloom effect looks good in the VC and on most of the Spitfire liveries especially in DX10 mode, however the silver liveries (MK732 and RN201) look better with light bloom disabled as the light bloom tends to over-saturate the silver. Framerates will be better with light bloom disabled though this is less of an issue in DX10 mode.

Under Display/Aircraft we recommend setting Default Cockpit View to ‘3-D Virtual Cock-pit’. By doing this the Spitfire will display the full cockpit on startup, rather than the 2D mini-panel. Also, make sure that ‘High-resolution 3-D virtual cockpit’ is ticked - this will not have a major effect in these aircraft, but the digital display on the radios in the ‘restored’ variants will be clearer with this setting ticked.

With these aircraft, it is very important that reflection mapping is enabled in your display driver settings. By default reflection mapping is enabled, but many flight simula-tion forum users recommend turning it off via the display drivers to increase framerates in FSX. While this may help framerates, the sacrifice is large — you may be missing a lot more than you realise.


Sounds

FSX affords the opportunity to provide extremely realistic sounds compared with FS2004. We have completely redesigned the sounds for both the Merlin and Griffon Engines. As you move around the aircraft in spot view you will hear appropriate stereo and Doppler effects. In fly-by and tower views you will hear spectacular Doppler effects as the aircraft approach-es then flies past your view point.

Sound Card

The sounds within this package are complex. We highly recommend a quality sound card to run the FSX Spitfire. In tests with a variety of dedicated sound cards made within the last few years we encountered no problems at all. If your computer has a basic onboard sound chip supplied with your system you may experience occasional sound stutters or other is-sues, not only with our Spitfire but with default FSX aircraft too.

Using the “FlyBy” view with the Spitfire

The RealAir Spitfire has a innovative suite of sound files to enhance the immersion and at-mosphere of flying the Spit in FSX. One of the most entertaining ways to enjoy the dynamic manoeuvrability of the Spitfire is to choose the flyby view and fly various “passes” by the flyby camera. FSX tends to exaggerate the doppler effect of flyby sounds. The doppler effect in simple terms means that an approaching aircraft will tend to raise its note, or pitch, as it approaches the camera. As it passes the camera the note or pitch tends to go lower. This natural phenomenon is taken to a somewhat extreme level in FSX, and especially approach-ing the camera the pitch rises excessively. You can control this tendency by slightly reducing power as the Spitfire approaches, then increasing the power as the Spitfire passes.


Panels

VC Views

When you load the Spitfire in FSX for the first time, you will either see the virtual cockpit or the small 2D minipanel. If you see the minipanel press A once to change to VC view. This is the main VC view that you are now looking at. This view is suitable for general flying (such as takeoff and landing) and aerobatics. The camera in this view moves in response to pitch, roll and yaw forces. To cycle though the other VC views, press ‘A’.

The VC views are as follows:

1 Main VC View. This is the first VC view you’ll see when you load these aircraft. This view is zoomed out a fair bit to allow you to see a fairly wide picture. Suitable for general flying and aerobatics. The default FSX head movement feature is turned on in this view.

2. Straight-Ahead. This view looks straight ahead through the windscreen at a high zoom level. The default FSX head movement feature is turned off in this view.

3. ‘2D’ style view. This view mimics a traditional MS Flight Simulator 2D panel view, al-though it is actually the VC panel you’re looking at. This view is fixed, you cannot pan the view like in a normal VC view, the view ‘snaps’ left right and back like it would in 2D panel view, and allows a complete overview of the main panel without having to pan. This view is suitable for general flying. Aerobatics are better flown from the traditional VC view (1 above). The default FSX head movement feature is turned off in this view, which makes gauge mouse clicks much easier to achieve.

4. Throttle Quadrant. This view zooms right in on the throttle quadrant. The default FSX head movement feature is turned off in this view, which makes gauge mouse clicks much easier to achieve.

5. Trim and Switches. This views zooms right in on the trim wheels and electrical switch-es. The default FSX head movement feature is turned off in this view, which makes gauge mouse clicks much easier to achieve.

6. Gear Lever. This view zooms in on the gear lever. The default FSX head movement fea-ture is turned off in this view, which makes gauge mouse clicks much easier to achieve.

7. Magnetic Compass. This view zooms in on the magnetic compass, which is very hard to see in the default VC view. The default FSX head movement feature is turned off in this view, making gauge mouse clicks much easier to achieve.

Adjusting VC Instruments with the Mouse

All of the instruments in the Spitfire 2008 VCs feature a new mouse interaction technique.

For on/off switches: Simply click on the switch as usual.

For rotary adjustment knobs: For example, the VOR course knob, plus many more:

• To INCREASE the value, left click and drag UP. • To DECREASE the value, left click and drag DOWN.

For rotary knobs with an inner and an outer knob: E.g. the tuning knobs on the nav/com radios.

• To INCREASE the INNER KNOB value, LEFT click and drag UP. • To DECREASE the INNER KNOB value, LEFT click and drag DOWN.

• To INCREASE the OUTER KNOB value, RIGHT click and drag UP. • To DECREASE the OUTER KNOB value, RIGHT click and drag DOWN.

In practice this works as follows: To tune the nav or com WHOLE digits, LEFT click and drag on the knob. To tune the nav or com FRACTION digits, RIGHT click and drag on the same knob.

This all sounds rather complicated to explain, but to actually use you’ll find it quite simple, intuitive, fast and precise. It allows the radios in particular to be adjusted in a realistic way. No more searching for invisible mouse click areas, waiting for the mouse cursor to change. No more clicking on the radio numbers when in real life you turn a knob to tune the radio. No more waiting for values to slowly increase — the faster you drag the faster the values change.

However you may experience difficulty adjusting instruments in the VC when the camera view is moving around due to turbulence or g effects. To over come this, switch to a differ-ent VC view using the ‘A’ key. All of the zoomed in views have the camera movement effect turned off to facilitate easy instrument mouse clicks.

2D Pop-Up Panels

Even though the Spitfire is designed to be flown solely from the VC, there are a few pop-up 2D panels that provide extra functionality, accessed via the following key-presses:

Shift 2: Opens the standard FSX GPS.

Shift 3: Opens the 2D radio stack panel.

Radios

All of the modern ‘restored’ variants of the Spitfire in this package are fitted with a modern Bendix-King back-lit nav/com radio and transponder, mounted directly above the main flight instruments on the VC panel.

However, all of the ‘WW2 era’ variants of the Spitfire in this package do not have any radios fitted in the VC. Instead there is a gunsight mounted above the main flight instruments. This is 100% accurate for the WW2 era Spitfires - the communication radio fitted in WW2 oper-ated in a very different way to modern civilian aircraft radios and on a different bandwidth, and was mounted on the side of the cockpit rather than the forward panel. If you are flying one of the WW2 era Spitfires in this package and need to operate the radio, press Shift-3 to open up the 2D radio-stack panel. Otherwise, if you wish to make extensive use of the nav/com radio or transponder, select one of the modern ‘restored’ Spitfires for your flight.

Gunsight

All WW2-era aircraft in this package are fitted with the older, Mark II reflector gunsight. This was fitted to the Mk IX and early versions of the Mk XIV. It is true that most Mk XIVs were fitted with the gyro-gunsight but the Mark II reflector site was used in early Mk XIVs.

New for FSX is a functioning gunsight reticle. To switch this on press the switch immediately below and to the left of the gunsight.

All aircraft in this package that represent modern-day, restored aircraft are fiited with mod-ern Nav/Com radios in place of the gunsight.

Virtual Cockpit Lighting

Unfortunately the lighting in FSX is such that when you’re flying towards the sun, even at midday, the VC forward panel becomes far too dark, making the gauges quite difficult to read. The only cure for this is to switch the VC cabin lights on.

The real Spitfire did not have back-lit gauges. Our FSX version is realistic in this regard - the only gauges that are back lit are the indicator lights - for example the gear indicator lights and various warning lights. In the civilian panel, the modern Bendix-King radios have back-lit LCD displays. The back-lighting on these gauges operates at all times of the day and can only be switched off via the master switch.

Note: You will need either FSX SP1, SP2 or the Acceleration expansion pack installed to see back-lighting in the day.

VC Gauge Shimmering

You may notice a slight ‘shimmering’ on the VC gauges. This is an unwanted by-product of their high resolution graphics. This can be reduced by increasing anti-aliasing and anisotrop-ic filtering in your graphics driver control panel. Increasing these values has a very positive effect on FSX graphics in general, including the scenery, but it will reduce your framerates. Thankfully modern graphics cards are made to run high anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering values so with newer cards the framerate hit should be acceptable.

Virtual Cockpit Construction Details

These VCs are made similarly to how movie sets are made — they are meant to be viewed from one position only — the pilot’s seat. If you move the eyepoint dramatically things will look odd or appear to be missing. These ‘missing’ parts have been left out to improve per-formance and to allow the major design focus to be placed on the VC parts that really mat-ter.

The FSX VC panel is superior in every way to the old FS2004-style 2D panels, so we have not included 2D panels in this FSX version. Our reasons for this are as follows:

1. The visual quality of the VC panel is much higher than that of the old-style 2D panels. Gauge faces, needles and the entire panel in general are clearer, easier to read and display no pixelation or undesirable colour-banding, unlike old-style 2D panels in FSX.

2. Unlike most FSX VCs, the movement of the gauges in the VC is smoother than in the old-style 2D panels. Minuscule needle movement can be seen, as opposed to the small ‘steps’ that 2D gauges move in.

3. The VC panels do not distort when using a widescreen display or other non 4:3 display resolution.

4. The VC now includes a number of preset views, which can be cycled through by press-ing the ‘A’ key while in the cockpit view. These make the old ‘shift 1-9’ panels obsolete. For example, to get a zoomed in view of the radio stack, press ‘A’ while in the cockpit view until you see the zoomed in radio stack view.

5. Only the main VC view has the head-latency effect turned on. This allows precise gauge clicks easier to achieve while in the secondary VC views during turbulence or other high g manoeuvres.

6. The VC is a much more realistic environment than the 2D panels. We believe that the sense of ‘being there’, that is the sense of immersion, is greater in the VC than in the 2D panels, thus greatly enhancing the enjoyment of flight.

The


2D Panels

The ‘simulated’ 2D panel

This package includes the Config Panel, a program that allows you to set various configura-tion options for your Spitfire, and access all of the documentation for these aircraft.

Please Note: Before using the Config Panel, it is essential that you make sure that FSX is not running. If FSX is running you will get a warning message and the Config Panel will quit.

To start the Config Panel, go to: ‘Start/ All Programs/ RealAir Simulations/ Spitfire 2008/ Config Panel’.

Or click on the ‘Spitfire 2008 Config’ shortcut on your desktop.

Options Page

If you want to change one of the options below - close FSX, open the Spitfire 2008 Config Panel, select your new settings on the Options page, press Save and then exit the Config Panel. Now restart FSX and your new settings will be visible when you load the RealAir Spit-fire. The options that can be set are as follows:

VC Glass Reflections

By default the aircraft in this package have realistically rendered reflections on the VC glass. If you select ‘Hide VC glass reflections’ then the glass will have no reflections and therefore appear completely transparent.

Engine Failure

By default the engine will fail catastrophically if you allow the oil temperature to get too high for too long (see the ‘Engine Failure Simulation’ section of this guide for more info). If you select ‘Disable engine failure’ then the engine will never fail, no matter how high the oil tem-perature gets.

Texture Quality

By default the aircraft in this package use 16bit DXT5 compressed textures. Instead you can choose to use 32bit uncompressed textures. The 32bit textures are slightly clearer and ‘cleaner’ in appearance up close, but have the downside of using more system resources. Before you can enable the 32bit textures, you must download and install the separate 32bit textures installer - until you do this the 32bit option will appear greyed-out. To download the 32bit textures, go to the ‘Downloads’ page of the Config Panel.

RealView Stall Buffet

Adjust this slider to set your preferred stall buffet strength. All the way to the left will give no buffet effect at all, all the way to the right will give a very strong effect, or you can choose any setting in between these extremes.


Config Panel

RealView is a system developed by RealAir that simulates the forces experienced by a pilot in-flight. This latest version has been simplified for use in FSX. Our FS2004 products include a version of RealView that gives the impression of the pilot’s head (that is, your head!) be-ing pushed around by the movement of the aircraft in response to pitch and yaw. We have deleted this feature from the FSX version of RealView because FSX ships with a camera sys-tem that achieves very much the same thing and works just as well as our FS2004 RealView system, except in the following area...

Stall Buffet

The RealView Stall buffet effect exclusive to our FS2004 aircraft remains in FSX. A similar ef-fect is not included in FSX by default. The RealView stall buffet feature is linked to the flight model stall buffet function. When these aircraft reach very high angles of attack or are close to the stall you will see the whole aircraft Virtual Cockpit violently shake, accompanied by stall buffeting sounds.

You can alter the strength of the RealView Stall Buffet effect (from off to very strong) using the Config Panel. See the Config Panel section of this guide for info on how to do this.


RealView

You can adjust the stall buffet strength via the Config Panel.


Flying the Mk XIV

The door is opened by dragging the mouse on the lever above the ‘pull to open’ sign.

To start with a little background on the Mk XIV Spitfire, its engine and its flying character-istics: The Mk XIV has the Rolls-Royce Griffon 2035hp engine fitted. This is more power-ful than previous Merlin engines and with its 5-blade Rotol prop it has very high levels of torque. This translates to a tendency to pull and roll the aircraft to the right since the Grif-fon engine turns in the opposite direction to most modern engines.

During slow flight and at high angles of attack the engine torque also greatly influences the roll and yaw stability of the Spitfire. The Air Ministry in the 1940s trained their pilots to use only moderate power on take off. If full power is used on take off it is very difficult to keep the Mk XIV on the runway, rather it will swing wildly to the right and probably into the near-est hangar! Canopy and Door

The RealAir Spitfire has two pilot exit and entry modes: The sliding canopy and the door. The canopy can slide open and shut at any time in-flight by pressing ‘Shift E’. You will see the canopy catches unlock and the canopy will slide open with an accompanying sound effect. The official Pilot’s Notes advise opening the canopy before landing.

The door is opened by dragging down on its lever (located just below the left side canopy glass, behind the throttle control lever). The door cannot be opened when the canopy is closed. Please note the door does not have a sound effect because FSX only has one chan-nel assigned to entry/exit functions and we chose to apply this limited channel to the canopy slide.

Start-up Procedure

In our FSX Spitfire it is possible to follow the actual Spitfire Mk XIV startup procedure with very few alterations. To do this, please refer to the PDF document entitled ‘FSX Spitfire XIV Pilots Notes’. In practice you can start the FSX Spitfire engine by pressing ‘Ctrl E’, or follow-ing this abbreviated startup procedure:

Set the parking brake to on Turning on the master switch and magnetos Ensure the fuel cock is open and that you have sufficient fuel. Check that the mixture control (otherwise known as the ‘Idle cutoff control’) is fully forward Press the start button. Fuel Management

The Spitfire Mk XIV has four fuel tanks. Some Mk XIVs were fitted with an extra fifth tank behind the cockpit but in fact this was banned from use except under special circumstances due to it causing stability problems when full. So in this version we have two central tanks and two wing tanks (one in each wing).

You can switch the fuel tank assignment with the red lever on the lower left side of the cock-pit. The forward position assigns fuel feeds from the two central tanks so that fuel balance is maintained between them. If you choose one of the wing tanks you will have to swap to the opposite tank at intervals in order for the balance of the Spitfire to be maintained. You can optionally choose to feed a balanced fuel flow automatically from all tanks in the aircraft /fuel and payload menu in FSX.

If the Spitfire begins to roll one way or the other without your control inputs it is highly likely your fuel weight is out of balance.

If you fly with large amounts of power the fuel consumption rises considerably. The Spitfire was not known as an aircraft of great range, so if you are flying cross country it would be sensible to conserve fuel by keeping the power well back. Mixture and Prop Controls

On later models of the Mk XIV, fuel mixture was fully automated. In the RealAir Spitfire mix-ture is also automated whether or not you tick the auto-mixture box in the FSX Aircraft/ Re-alism menu. The mixture control, adjacent to the prop and throttle levers on the left of the cockpit, should be fully forward for all stages of flight and is used only as an engine stop/fuel cut off at the end of your flight. Pull back the mixture control fully to stop the engine.

The late model Mk XIVs also had an optional automatic prop rpm control which was linked to the throttle via a friction/gate device. In the RealAir Spitfire we have emulated auto prop control but there is also a manual over-ride mode. RealAir’s emulation of auto rpm settings with the prop lever placed fully forward broadly work well. However due to limitations within FSX we were unable to precisely adjust the lower prop rpm to the speeds described in the Pilot’s Notes for higher cruise speeds. You can over-ride the auto rpm by manually adjusting the prop lever.

Superchargers and Cooling

All Mk XIV Spitfires are fitted with a two stage supercharger, the two stages being known as MS and FS gear (these abbreviations stand for ‘Moderate Speed’ and ‘Full Speed’) The su-percharger gear change is fully automatic and kicks in at a pre-determined pressure altitude, designed to always provide optimal power at full combat-power settings. The RealAir Spitfire also has automatic Superchargers. On the panel you will see supercharger switches that can be clicked on, but do not actually effect the supercharger. However, you will see the FS gear light illuminate (indicating the supercharger has switched to FS gear) at around 13,000 feet.

The cooling system is also fully automatic in the Mk XIV, but despite this you need to keep an eye on oil temperature since excessive temperatures (brought about by pushing the en-gine at too a high power setting for too long) will cause a catastrophic engine failure! Once the engine has failed you will have to perform a dead-stick landing as the engine will not restart. To ‘service’ the engine simply reload the Spitfire in the normal way. Please see below for more information on the RealAir Spitfire engine failure simulation.

Keep an eye on the oil temperature to avoid engine failure.

The light switches in the Mk XIV.

Lights

The RealAir Spitfire is equipped with nav and panel lights which can be seen from inside the virtual cockpit or in spot view. The lighting control panel is situated to the left of, and be-hind, the throttle and prop controls. The switches can be operated here or more conveniently you can use the following key presses:

‘L’: Toggles all lights on/off.

‘Shift L’: Toggles the Panel lights on/off independently of the other lights.

Note: The real Spitfire does not have strobes or a landing light, nor does ours.


After Start and Taxiing

If you have set the torque and p-factor sliders to maximum in the aircraft /realism menu the Spitfire will have the potential to be extremely dangerous! However we do not feel we have over-exaggerated this feature. Nevertheless some control hardware such as rudders and twist-grip sticks vary greatly in their effectiveness and we advise that you set the torque and p-factor sliders to the value where a reasonable amount of left rudder is required at take off power (which is between +6 and +8 lbs boost).

By the way, the word “boost” is the English WW2 era way of describing engine power out-put. At maximum +18 lbs the Spitfire is producing the equivalent of roughly 66-67 inches of manifold pressure. Zero boost is not in fact “zero” power but is still quite considerable power. The lowest boost setting (idle) is around -6 to -8 lbs boost.

To taxi the Spitfire you only need a tiny amount of forward throttle to get moving. The rud-der is sensitive at low speeds and we did agonise over the possibility of having brake dif-ferential steering rather than direct tail wheel /rudder steering. Due to the vastly different types of sticks and pedal devices on the market we came to conclusion that it was not prac-tical to implement brake differential-only steering, but of course you can assist a tight taxi turn by additionally pressing the differential brake keys.

Please note that the Spitfire has a narrow undercarriage track! This means that excessive turns at speeds above 10 MPH can easily result in tipping the aircraft on to one wing, or inciting a ground loop. Taxi slowly and with care. As with all tail-wheel aircraft, but especially with the Spitfire due to the long engine cowl, you will need to weave left and right (‘s-turn’) in order to see where you are going.

S-turn to see forward while taxiing.

Trim

Before take off the Spitfire does not need any trim adjustments. However you may need slight up trim once you have taken off. The pitch and rudder trim wheel are behind and be-low the main throttle and prop controls. We kept the positions exactly as they are in the real aircraft but this means they can be awkward to operate with the mouse. You can use FSX key presses as an alternative way to alter rudder trim, and most people tend to assign pitch trim to a button on their joysticks. Please note if you have a dedicated trim slider or function on an advanced joystick it may need adjusting for sensitivity. Like all of the RealAir Spitfire functions we designed everything to work with a standard FSX installation and standard set-tings. It is not possible to adjust our trim controls for the huge variety of different joystick types, so we optimised trim for a typical ‘repeat’ button joystick assignment.

Elevator and Rudder Trim Wheels.


Take-off

Normally you would not use flaps for take off, unless you were on an aircraft carrier or extremely short runway. The Spitfire’s flaps create enormous drag, having around 80 de-grees of deflection! Point the Spitfire down the runway centre-line without flaps and slowly open the throttle. If you whack the throttle to full power you will undoubtedly crash! All the Spitfire experts we consulted said that the key to a good take off in the Spitfire is sensible engine management. The power is so enormous that even fully loaded you will hardly ever need more than +7 lbs boost to get airborne and this setting is in fact the officially recom-mended limit. The tail will rise by itself at the appropriate speed. Normally you’ll rotate at around 95-100 MPH. Important — torque and p-factor

We have already highlighted the fact that with the Griffon engine, the Spitfire will swing to the right, not the left. We also wanted to emulate engine torque which tends to roll the wings to the right.

OK, so you are trundling (roaring!) down the runway. With boost at +7 lbs there will be sig-nificant right drift and you will need quite a lot of left rudder to contain it. At higher power settings you will progressively need more and more rudder. At settings above +12 lbs boost the right wing will dip and you’ll need almost full left aileron to counteract this.

At full +18 lbs boost not even full left rudder can be relied upon to contain the drift and without left aileron your right wing will strike the ground and damage the aircraft. So unless you want a bizarre take off, never set full power before you are airborne.

You can see how powerful the torque is by ‘blipping’ the throttle at rest with parking brakes set and panning to the right. You’ll see the wing dip and the whole aircraft roll slightly to the right as you increase the power.

Please note that in FSX the initial effect of high torque is to slightly turn the aircraft away from the expected p-factor direction. This is caused by the torque applying weight to one side of the undercarriage. Once the Spitfire gets moving the p-factor drift will be established in the correct direction.

If you find either the torque or p-factor effects too strong to handle, especially during take off, you have the option of turning both down in your aircraft/realism menu within FSX.

Despite the challenging handling on the ground, once in the air the Spitfire is a delight to fly and really quite easy to pilot. You’ll find the stick sensitive but very smooth and the controls well harmonised. To balance turns please refer to the Spitfire turn and slip indicator which is very smooth and very accurate. You can get a finely balanced turn with rudder, elevator and aileron co-ordination, although it is interesting to note that in practice WW2 pilots of the Griffon-engined Spitfire were advised to be sparing with the rudder in-flight.

You can turn with ease up to 6 positive g. Above this value the RealAir Spitfire will let you know you are approaching airframe limits by triggering “overstress” sounds.

You can spin with ease using standard spinning procedures: reduce throttle to idle and raise the nose. At the stall kick in full left or right rudder. You do not need aileron at all to evoke a spin. Once the spin is established the stick can be neutral and the airspeed will be constant. To recover, ease the stick forward and apply opposite rudder. Recovery is almost instant.


General Handling

Stalls: If you yank the stick hard back you can easily stall the Spitfire. Always “ease” the stick back and do not attempt to pull out of a dive with heavy amounts of elevator. If you do so you can stall, even at high speed.

Later models of the Spitfire, including the Mk XIV, overcame the problem of the engine cut-ting in inverted flight. Our Spitfire is able to sustain inverted flight without the engine cutting out.

Entering a spin - note rudder and stick position as well as airspeed indicator.

The RealAir Spitfire simulates the characteristic Aileron Compression of the Mk XIV and other versions of the Spitfire. Aileron compression is at its worst when exceeding around 300 MPH and in the real aircraft a progressive resistance to aileron input occurs. If you have a force feedback stick you will “feel” this compression. Within FSX limitations we have interpreted this compression as a progressive reluctance to roll when at high speed.

Exceeding 300 MPH will cause the roll rate to progressively be more and more sluggish. The Spitfire was not a quick rolling aircraft and one of the reasons for the less aesthetically ap-pealing “clipped wing” version was to improve roll rate and reduce compression. We have emulated this difference in the Flight Model for the Clipped and Reno Racing versions.

Navigation

The RealAir Spitfire was designed to be hand flown at all times. Trimming for level flight is very easily done and you’ll find the Spitfire will settle into a stable attitude, but please note any changes to engine power will have a marked effect on pitch attitude.

The Spitfire is not intended to have an autopilot. However we have used FSX’s autopilot sound channel for our overstress sound effect, since all other sound channels are used up with our other custom effects. This means that if you press “Z” while flying you will hear this effect at the wrong time. Because we technically had to enable the autopilot switch to obtain our overstress effect you will, if you insist(!) get some basic autopilot functions by pressing “Z”. This is not intended and the solution is to stay away from the “Z” key and not to switch on the autopilot by other means. This will ensure you have an authentic flight.

We have provided in the Civilian versions of the Spitfire a VOR gauge so you can navigate (manually) to any VOR station. You can also use the included GPS by pressing Shift-2 but we advise not to attempt to enable the autopilot functions of this gauge and you’ll have a more rewarding and challenging flight.

Radios and VOR indicator. Note there is no autopilot in any of the aircraft in this package.

Compass

The standard WW2-era P8 /P11 type compass is fitted to the RealAir Spitfire. In an effort to be completely authentic we have placed it in a very authentic but unreadable position! Goodness knows how pilots in WW2 managed to see where they were going. For this reason we’ve included a zoomed in view of the compass. When in VC view, keep pressing the A key to cycle through the various VC views until you see the Compass view.

This type of compass has the following arrangement: to find out where you’re heading you rotate the ring until the arrow aligns with the North marking, then read off your heading from 12 o’clock. To set a heading you turn the ring until the desired heading is 12 o’clock then turn the spit until the arrow is point at the North mark again.

There is also a direction indicator just to the right of centre in the lower half of the panel. This moves extremely smoothly and is easier to use than the compass.

Magentic compass view.

Climb and Cruise

The Mk XIV’s climb performance on full power is phenomenal. You should see in excess of 5,000 feet per minute initial climb rate. But in practice, and to conserve engine and fuel, you should normally climb more sedately. Please see the Pilot’s Notes included in this pack-age to read about standard procedures. Ceiling and General Performance

Due to its highly efficient two stage supercharger, the Spitfire can climb as high as 44,500 feet and will get to 40,000 feet very quickly. It will achieve 356 MPH top speed at sea level to around 5,000 feet and will achieve around 450 MPH TAS at between 23,000 and 28,000 feet depending on conditions.

You can dive at speeds up to 480 MPH IAS safely and she’ll comfortably exceed 500 MPH (IAS) in a dive. Approach and Landing

The Spitfire is quite easy to set up for an approach. When near an airfield reduce speed to 160 MPH and drop the undercarriage. This creates enough drag to contain airspeed as you descend. On base drop the one-stage flaps which create much more drag. Turn into the airfield so your final approach is on a curve. This way you will see the runway more clearly. Reduce speed to 125 MPH or less (with lighter loads). The Spitfire tends to get a little nose-up on short final approach so keep speed higher than 110 MPH for a good view.

Over the fence just keep a trickle of throttle open. This will aid your flare. Over the threshold at around 90-95 MPH cut the throttle when landing is assured. A three point greaser is quite hard to achieve and the Spitfire can bounce if you foul things up! The stick should be almost in your lap as you touch down. However once you have landed do not keep the stick fully back as this can result in the tail wheel continually crashing on the tarmac and the Spitfire could also take off again, with dire results! Once you have landed just ease the stick forward a little, but sufficiently back from centre so as to stop the nose tipping forward if you apply the brakes.

We have set the wheel brakes so that you need to keep a moderate amount of back pres-sure on the stick to prevent the nose and prop dipping into the runway while braking. You do not need to keep the stick fully back, but just enough to stop the tail from lifting too much, therefore reducing the risk of nosing into the runway!

Approach with extreme side-slip angle.

The RealAir Spitfire has a custom built engine failure simulation which is independent of any standard FSX failure routines and is based on realistic algorithms designed to respond to actual stress on the engine. Although the Griffon engine proved to be reasonably reliable it really did not like being pushed for sustained periods.

This is how it works:

The simulation monitors a combination of oil temperature and boost settings at all times. If you keep power above +12 lbs boost the failure mode begins to apply stress and engine wear. The oil temperature will rise. If you sustain much above +14 lbs boost for a long time it is likely a failure might occur, eventually. If you push the power above this point for around ten to twelve minutes the likelihood of failure is increased.

If you slam the throttle to the full +18 lbs boost and keep it there for more than five minutes engine failure will inevitably occur. If however before this amount of time has passed you reduce power to below +12 lbs boost the engine will gradually recover....if you’re lucky.

The key is to keep an eye on oil temperature — keep the oil temperature below 105 degrees C at all times and the engine will never fail. The acceptable power/time limits (as published in the real 1940s vintage Mk XIV Pilot’s notes) are as follows:

+18lbs boost for 5 minutes +12lbs boost during takeoff +9lbs boost for 1 hour +7lbs boost — max. continuous power


Engine Failure Simulation

Engine failure in the racer.

Sticking to these limits will ensure you never cause an engine failure (although we suspect you’ll be trying to fail the engine the first few times you fly the Spit...).

In the FS2004 version this was portrayed within the VC as smoke followed by flames. In FSX special effects can only be seen in all views (‘globally’), we have therefore had to remove some of the failure effects from inside the cockpit. However you will hear an engine explo-sion and see the result of the failure from within the VC - oil will splatter on to the forward canopy and engine cowling and your view forward will be obscured. The damage at this point is terminal and the engine will not recover until you have landed and reloaded the Spitfire (thus repairing the damage you caused!).

When the engine stops you can still of course glide and the gear and flaps will function. The procedure is to find a field or nearby airfield and practice a dead stick landing. If by the way you forget to lower the undercarriage, the Spitfire will successfully land on its belly, though you will hear terrible noises and see a lot of sparks flying if you’re on tarmac! To belly land without the Spitfire going tail over nose, keep the stick fully back once you have “landed”. You must have crash detect turned OFF in the FSX aircraft /realism menu to be able to land without the undercarriage.

Please note: belly landing with the prop turning will not seize the engine in normal flying conditions even if the propeller collides with the ground. This is an unavoidable limitation of FSX.

Time for an involuntary landing!


Flying the Mk IX

The Mk IX has a lighter feel in the air than the Mk XIV.

Unlike the Griffon-engined Mk XIV, The Mk IX has a conventional four bladed prop which will produce a left turning tendency on take off, and needs to be counteracted with a substantial amount of right rudder. You will also see a tendency for the wings to dip to the left due to the high torque of the Merlin engine. This means that a safe take off should be done with a limit of between +8lbs and +12 lbs of boost, and a high power setting combined with a cross wind from the left in FSX can result in not enough rudder authority to match the left drift tendency. Taking off in strong cross winds should therefore be performed with low power in order to limit the p-factor.

In most respects the Mk IX flies in a similar manner to the Mk XIV except for the prop rota-tion direction, though the Mk IX has a lighter feel because of its lower all up weight.

The clipped wing version has a quicker roll rate but will stall at a slightly higher speed as well as having a greater tendency to stall at high G during tight turns. You will hear and feel a distinct buffeting prior to the stall. The clipped wing version also has an inferior ceiling and will not match the 43,000 foot ceiling of the elliptical winged version.

The Mk IX Spitfire is capable of flying for up to five minutes on full supercharged power (us-ing the max boost setting of +18 lbs), but as with our Mk XIV if you exceed this limit, de-pending on conditions, it is possible to provoke an engine failure.


Differences between the Mk IX and Mk XIV Aircraft Power Tailwheel Takeoff Ceiling Climb Speed StallMk IX Elliptical Wings

1,720hpFS Gear

Fixed Left swing on takeoff

43,000ft 4,000+ft/min

407mph20,000ft

Lowerspeed

Mk IX Clipped Wings

1,720hpFS Gear

Fixed Left swing on takeoff

38,000ft 4,000+ft/min

407mph20,000ft

Higherspeed

Mk XIV Elliptical Wings

2,050hpFS Gear

Retractable Right swing on takeoff

45,000ft 4,500+ft/min

448mph26,000ft

Lowerspeed

Mk XIV Clipped Wings

2,050hpFS Gear

Retractable Right swing on takeoff

41,000ft 4,500+ft/min

448mph26,000ft

Higherspeed

Both versions, but particularly the Mk IX, will use up fuel very quickly at higher power set-tings. The Mk XIV has a maximum range of just 700 miles, far less at boost levels above +12 lbs and the Mk IX with its much smaller fuel capacity has less still, some 450 miles un-less flying with low boost settings.

Please note: The mixture control lever is used manually to cut the engine. In all other condi-tions the Spitfire has fully automatic mixture and supercharger systems which do not require adjustment. Both versions have a manual prop control which adjusts the prop rpm range between 1700 rpm and 3000 rpm on the Merlin-engined Mk IX and 1700 rpm and 2,800 rpm on the Griffon-engined Mk XIV.

We include separate reference and checklists in this package for the Mk IX and Mk XIV. However there is only one version of the real pilot’s notes included, and this is based on the Mk XIV. These pilot’s notes can be applied to the Mk IX almost throughout, except in only one aspect: The maximum prop rpm is greater in the Mk IX (3000 rpm). In all other relevant aspects the Mk XIV notes can be safely applied to the operation of the Mk IX.

Mk XIV on left, Mk IX on right.

Within this Spitfire Package is some specially made scenery depicting West Malling, a real RAF Wartime Station located in Kent, South Eastern England, about 25 miles from the centre of London.

West Malling was one of the most important fighter aircraft stations in Southern England be-tween 1940 and 1945. For most of WW2 West Malling housed various squadrons of Spitfires and was most notable as a base from which Mk XIV Spitfires attempted to sabotage German V bombs by tipping their winglets before they reached their target... generally London. West Malling also had active conventional fighter squadrons.

The scenery, created by Bill Womack, depicts the airfield as it was circa 1943, with several hangers, workshops, a tower, shelters, officers quarters, stores, and the ad hoc “blister hangers” in which the Spitfires would be temporarily housed before they were scrambled. West Malling has a 4000 ft runway (06/24) and an unused grass strip traversing it.


RAF West Malling

Our installer places the scenery files all under one main folder in FSX: the Addon Scenery folder. This is to simplify installation and usage, and means that you do not have to manually install the scenery, provided you have not renamed, deleted or otherwise altered the Addon Scenery folder in FSX. If you have disabled it then you need to activate it in your FSX scen-ery library (please refer to the FSX tutorials).

The FSX scenery database will update itself the first time you run FSX after installing the Spitfire. Once FSX starts you can find the West Malling scenery in two ways:

Firstly, you can simply load a pre-made flight. After FSX starts, go to the ‘Free Flight’ page. Press the ‘Load’ button (second from the left directly above the rotating aircraft image). Now select ‘RealAir Spitfire Mk IX - Blister Hangar 3’ and press ‘Fly Now’.

This flight starts you off in blister hangar number 3 at West Malling. The runway in use will be 06 which is to the right as you fire up and exit the hanger. Watch out for other AI Spit-fires, which are very active at most times of the day, doing training circuits and returning from missions.

Wide-angle shot of RAF West Malling.

The second way to load the scenery is to start the ‘Go to Airport’ menu in FSX, clear the filter then enter the code for West Malling which is: EG58. Once you enter this code West Malling will appear in the list. Click on it to go straight to the runway.

AI Spitfires

The AI Spitfires will be taxiing and taking off/landing most times of the day. In order to see them you must enable General Aviation traffic in your FSX display/traffic menu. We recom-mend starting at 100% density but turn off airliner traffic to keep your frame rates reason-able. The lower your traffic density the fewer Spitfires you will see. The AI Spitfires and West Malling Scenery do not take a heavy toll on your system, provided you keep the sliders within reason in your graphics and scenery menu.

Please note that you will see occasional “go arounds” if there are many AI Spitfires in the circuit, especially at the start of each AI training circuit sessions, but the only other time you see a go around is if you yourself have landed but not reported to ATC that you are “clear of the runway”. Until you do so, the AI aircraft “think” that you are still occupying the runway and therefore hold their position!

We have tuned the AI Spitfires so that they are extremely convincing in their flying move-ment. They will take off at approximately 90 knots, climb at around 150 knots and cruise at between 180 and 220 knots. They will deploy flaps and on final approach will fly at a similar speed to your own on approach. You can thereby “join” them on a circuit and land or take off in formation. Sometimes they will do touch and goes, especially after their initial circuit, and other times will do a full stop landing.

Please do not attempt to edit the West Malling traffic file unless you are experienced with FS traffic files!

FSX pre SP2 Runway Issues

If you haven’t installed either the free FSX SP2 update, or the FSX Acceleration expansion pack (which includes the SP2 update) you may notice aircraft shadow display problems while taxiing over the custom biege runway at West Malling. You may also notice that the aircraft wheels sink into the ground just a touch too far on this runway. If this is the case you can set West Malling to use a standard FSX grey concrete runway, and these problems will be cured. To do this, go to the ‘Options’ page of the Spitfire 2008 Config Panel.

Please note: this bug is related to scenery display problems with the versions of FSX that predate SP2. These display problems will not occur if you have SP2 installed. For this reason and many others we recommend all users install the free FSX SP2 update.

The Spitfire 2008 package has been exhaustively tested and if you have a computer that can run FSX reasonably well you should not see any problems at all.

If you do have any problems running the Spitfire, or experience graphic problems or long texture load times it is likely there is something in the way that your computer is set up which is causing this. We cannot guarantee that the RealAir Spitfire is compatible with any or all third party utilities or add-ons. There are so many of them it is not realistic to test the Spitfire with every third party add-on.

Because of the high resolution textures, it is normal for the textures to appear flat grey briefly when switching views while your PC loads the necessary texture files into RAM. This is the cost of having such high quality textures, and is a minor one we feel. This texture-load time will be slightly more with the optional 32bit textures enabled.

The Spitfire aircraft and West Malling scenery have been tested with FSX SP1, SP2, and the Acceleration Expansion Pack installed and performs well in all. We don’t recommend running FSX without at least installing SP1, your performance will suffer if doing so. SP1 and SP2 are free from the FSX Insider website: www.fsinsider.com

If you’re running SP2 or the Acceleration Expansion Pack, have Vista as your operating sys-tem and a DX10 capable video card installed you can choose to run FSX in ‘DX10 Preview’ mode. We have tested the Spitfire in both DX10 and DX9 modes and it performs well in both. You may see a slight improvement in framerates running in DX10 mode but there are many pitfalls in doing so, mainly to do with third-party scenery. We recommend you visit one of the many FSX user forums for more information.

For technical support please visit: http://www.realairsimulations.com/content2.php?page=support

Key Commands Assigned to Non-Standard Functions

Please also note that a number of the standard keys have been assigned to other functions in this package.

The smoke key “I” and Autopilot ON/OFF toggle key “Z” have been assigned to engine failure effects and overstress sounds, and therfore should not be used!

We have also reserved the carb heat channel (KEY H) for future effects. Please do not use this Key unless at some time in the future addons are released which take advantage of this empty channel. Please also note that though strictly speaking the Spitfire engines are normally aspirated, they also use a form of fuel injection and we have therefore designated them for the purposes of FSX as fuel injected.


Technical and Support Information

Known Issues

While FSX affords the RealAir Spitfire some significant and attractive enhancements com-pared to our FS2004 version, there are significant FSX bugs not of our making which are yet to be resolved (including Sp1, Sp2 and Acceleration). These FSX bugs are completely beyond our control. Please do not write to us pointing out these bugs...we already know they exist!

We sincerely hope that Aces/Microsoft are able to address these very basic bugs which have been present since the initial release of FSX despite two updates! Here is a list of bugs we are aware of that are FSX-specific and nothing whatever connected with our work:

1. Aircraft wheels “lock” in spot view when wheel brakes are applied. 2. All Special effects, which should be optionally confined to VC or Spot view are now only available in all views, resulting in us having to remove some of the special effects seen in FS2004. 3. Switch sounds are not evident in the VC, except for the Fuel Boost Switch. 4. Computers with basic onboard sound controllers may experience sound issues. This af-fects all FSX aircraft, not just the RealAir Spitfire. The volume of the Spitfire sounds makes the issues more noticable than in other aircraft. See ‘Sounds’ below for more info.

FSX pre SP2 West Malling Runway Known Issues

If you haven’t installed either the free FSX SP2 update, or the FSX Acceleration expansion pack (which includes the SP2 update) you may notice aircraft shadow display problems while taxiing over the custom biege runway at West Malling. You may also notice that the aircraft wheels sink into the ground just a touch too far on this runway. If this is the case you can set West Malling to use a standard FSX grey concrete runway, and these problems will be cured. To do this, go to the ‘Options’ page of the Spitfire 2008 Config Panel.

Please note: this bug is related to scenery display problems with the versions of FSX that predate SP2. These display problems will not occur if you have SP2 installed. For this reason and many others we recommend all users install the free FSX SP2 update.

Sounds

The sounds within this package are complex. We highly recommend a quality sound card to run the FSX Spitfire. In tests with a variety of dedicated sound cards made within the last few years we encountered no problems at all. If your computer has a basic onboard sound chip supplied with your system you may experience occasional sound stutters or other is-sues, not only with our Spitfire but with the default FSX aircraft as well.

When we first discussed the possibilities of designing a Spitfire for Flight Simulator we at first rejected the idea. There were many reasons, the most important of which was the mul-titude of other Spitfire simulations out there, and secondly, being aware of just how loved and admired this aeroplane was, we were reluctant to take something on board which with the restrictions of an otherwise great simulation (FSX) we thought we would might have dif-ficulty producing a simulation worthy of the RealAir reputation.

But like many problems, you solve them as you go along. Along this path to developing the finished aircraft we have so many people to thank. The first, though he is probably unaware of our gratitude, is Alex Henshaw, the test pilot who in the 1940s flight tested literally thou-sands of Spitfires at the main Supermarine Factory in the deep and dark middle England of West Bromwich in the Midlands. Henshaw’s book “Sigh for a Merlin” really inspired us and gave an amazing amount of detail about how the Spitfire flew, its weaknesses and strengths and its stunning charisma.

Bill Womack who not only designed the fabulous custom West Malling Scenery for the RealAir Spitfire but also Beta tested the aircraft and gave us valuable criticisms and encouragement. Bill began scenery design with the MAAM-Sim organisation, designing high quality custom sceneries for the legendary MAAM “Briefing Time”, is renowned for his Dillingham Airport and has also designed custom scenery for the RealAir Simulations Scout.

Tim Westnutt, whose own father was a WW2 Spitfire Ace, and who possesses almost ency-clopaedic knowledge about the many Spitfire variations, closely watched and criticised the RealAir Spitfire development, encouraged us, flew the equivalent of perhaps a hundred hours in our simulation, and thoroughly Beta tested our aeroplane, sometimes making impossible requests which somehow became possible. Tim has been a generous and kind spirit, always wanting what we wanted, a Spitfire Mark XIV which looked and flew as close to the real thing as we could manage.

Tim learned to fly at Goodwood in UK in 1979 on PA-28s. After a spell building hours and in-structing, he moved to Florida to gain his commercial license. This was followed by a period flying PA-31s, 34s, Cessna 421s and later Beech 1900s flying passengers and freight around various parts of the US and Canada. Tim returned to the UK in 1984 and began flying cargo between Southend and Brussels.

The many supporters and customers of RealAir Simulations who have since the beginning of the project encouraged us and pledged enthusiasm for the Spitfire project. One even offered a complete Griffon sound set for free!

Tony Argaud and the staff of Micro Simulateur magazine in France who have always en-thused about our aircraft and send us regular encouragement.

The staff of Avsim, Simflight, Flightsim and the many other FS sites who for a long time have supported RealAir and enthusiastically given web space and provided reviews for our aircraft.

Mungo, Dave and Matt at Flight 1 Europe for their generous support and friendship.


RealAir Spitfire — Background Info

Credits:

Sean Moloney: Aircraft 3D modelling (exteriors + interiors), aircraft textures, panels, gauges, document layout, config panel and website.

Rob Young: Flight modelling, sounds, lighting effects, AI programming, support and docu-ment writing.

Bill Womack: Scenery design (including AI programming), and beta testing.

Jan Rosenburg: Special effects.

Tim Westnutt: Beta-test lead and Spitfire special advisor.

Rob Barendregt: Special Effects adviser.

Acknowledgements

Dudley Henrique, a vastly experienced pilot of many historic and high performance air-craft, gave us valuable advice about the behaviour and management of high torque aircraft engines.

We are grateful to Crecy Publishing Ltd. for permission to include specimen pages of the original Air Ministry Spitfire Pilot notes in this package. We highly recommend Crecy as a source for publications of this kind. They can be contacted at:

www.crecy.co.uk Crécy Publishing Ltd. 1a Ringway Trading Estate Shadowmoss Rd Manchester M22 5LH tel 0161 499 0024 fax 0161 499 0298 email [email protected]

Additional Spitfire Reference Material

http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/ Duxford Imperial war museum. One of the most comprehensive and impressive collections of WW2 aircraft in the world and a fabulous educational site. Many links and pages about the Spitfire.

http://www.aviation-history.com/ Lots of shots and info on various version of the Spitfire

http://www.west-malling.co.uk/memorial%202.htm RAF West Malling memorial site. Touching and simple sculptures and memorial stones of some of the men who saved Britain in the 1940s. West Malling today is a vast housing estate and there are few reminders of its history as an operational RAF station.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/h610.html One of the many squadrons who served at RAF West Malling, 610 squadron travelled a long way from its base in Chester to be one of the first outfits to catch and topple the infamous

German V1 bombers. The Spitfires used had to be stripped and highly polished so they could just about match the speed of the V1s.

http://www.deltaweb.co.uk/spitfire/ A site with a detailed description of the Spitfire’s operational history.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/spit_spec.html The official RAF Spitfire History Site. Huge amount of reference info here.

http://www.spitfiresociety.demon.co.uk/ Everything you need to know, and more (about Spitfires).

http://www.unlimitedexcitement.com/Griffon%20Budweiser/Rolls-Royce%20Griffon%20Engine.htm Lots of info about the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine

http://www.simviation.com Has some excellent Reno Racing scenery which is most suitable for use with our Spitfire ‘Reno racer’. About RealAir Simulations

RealAir Simulations was set up in 2000 and its first release was a Citabria for Fly! II. Since then we have specialised in, but not restricted ourselves to, high performance propeller driven aircraft with aerobatic capabilities for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

All our aircraft have been awarded the highest accolades by magazines and websites. Our Marchetti SF.260 is one the all-time most successful GA aircraft ever produced for Flight Simulator, winning the coveted ‘Avsim Gold Medal For Excellence in Flight Sim Design’ (among other awards), and our freeware aircraft have won Flightsim.com’s gold award as voted by their subscribers.

Our original FS2004 Spitfire and FSX ‘Citabria, Decathlon and Scout’ package have both re-ceived the Avsim Bravo Zulu award for the category.

Our Cessna 172SP is used for official training at the Kangan/ Batman TAFE Aeronautical Academy in Melbourne and is currently a freeware release.

Our Super Decathlon won PC Pilot magazine’s ‘Classic Award’ and a 5/5 rating, as did the SF.260. All our aircraft have also won numerous awards from websites and magazines all around the world. About the RealAir Simulations Authors:

Sean Moloney is a graduate in Visual Communications, with honours. He is a student pilot who first teamed with Rob Young to design the Citabria for Fly! II while still at university. He currently lives on the Sunshine Coast near Brisbane, Australia. Sean designs all the graphics, gauges and 3d models for RealAir.

Rob Young spent 25 years as a professional musician before turning to simulation. He has designed flight aerodynamics for many of the major flight simulator developers. He designed the flight models for Fly! II on behalf of Terminal Reality and since changing to Microsoft Flight Simulator has designed the aerodynamics for a diverse group of developers including Lago, JustFlight, Eaglesoft, and MAAM-Sim, picking up awards for nearly every aircraft he has co-designed. Rob currently resides in the UK.

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