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Reviews
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Date product posted
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0
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Sun, July 25, 2004
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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No recommendations
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None indicated
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None indicated
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Description:
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The Vickers Valiant B1 was the first of the V-Bomber (Valiant, Vulcan and Victor) strategic nuclear bomber force of the Royal Air Force.
In 1956 the RAF carried out its first live air-drop of a 3 kiloton Blue Danube atom bomb from Valiant B1 WZ366 at the Maralinga test range in Australia. In the same year Valiant bombers based RAF Luqa in Malta were in action against the Egyptians during the Suez crisis.
In 1957 a Valiant of No 49 Squadron RAF Bomber Command had the distinction of being the first British bomber to drop a megaton H-bomb at Malden Island during tests in the South Pacific. Advances in Soviet SAM technology meant that the V-Bomber force had to switch to a low-level role, for which the Valiant was not suited. All Valiants bar one were scrapped in 1964.
I’ve always had an interest in these early jet bombers, and I was pleased to learn that Alpha Simulations were offering this unusual and little known aircraft. I downloaded the Valiant from alphasim.co.uk for just $US 9.00. Three is no auto-installer, but there is a very comprehensive guide to installing the Zip files to make sure that you put the files in the correct place.
The model features the usual animations (bomb bay doors, crew hatch, etc). The external views are fine and are a good representation of the RAF’s all-over white anti-flash colour scheme.
I spent all my flying time in the perfectly adequate 2D cockpit. Flying the Valiant sim was straight forward. If you can manage the default Learjet then this isn’t going to cause you any problems. No computers to worry about in this machine, you just have to fly it. If you have got photographic scenery I would recommend that you get yourself an old fashioned navigation computer/circular slide rule and find your way to your primary and secondary targets.
There is also a CFS-2 version capable of dropping a ‘Blue Danube’, but this is only a dummy. However, nuclear weapon burst effects for FS2004 are available from popular freeware download sites for those who feel the urge to make the Cold War hot.
So, if you are tired of flying shiny modern computer ridden jet liners why not have a go at this offering from the early says of jet aviation.
Acknowledgements: Kuoster for the screenshots and www.geocities.com for the H-bomb effects.
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Product Link:
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alphasim.co.uk
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