Wings of Power for FS 2004

Wings of Power Heavy Bombers and Jets for FS 2004

Microsoft flight sim 2004 is a very powerful program which allows for a wide variety of entertainment, and even serious flight simulation for aspiring pilots. It has a decided bias towards commercial and civil aviation as purchased. Not everyone wants to fly airliners carrying 200 passengers on long flights, nor do some enjoy flying sailplanes, or single engine light aircraft.
Enter Wings of Power Heavy bombers and jets add on pack for FS 2004 and adaptable to FSX. For those interested in flying World War II aircraft with unmatched realism, I highly recommend this addition to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Wings of power is the product of Shockwave Productions.

Features

Unsurpassed attention to detail
153-page manual including rare data and the real operation of these amazing aircraft.
Gorgeously constructed aircraft, inside and out, down to the last rivet.
Fully clickable cockpits with authentic working gauges.
3D cockpits so real, they look just like their 2D rendered counterparts.
The latest wind-tunnel technology helps to create for the most authentic,fluid flying qualities, including complex spins and stalls.
Enhanced visual effects and lighting.

Aircraft
B17F and B17G "Flying Fortress"
B29a "Super Fortress"
B24D and B24J "Liberator"
PB4Y-2 "Privateer"
Lancaster BIII and "Grand Slam"
Ar234 "Blitz Bomber"
Ta183 "Huckebein"
He162 "Salamander"

The aircraft are meticulously modeled with attention to artistic historical detail, and more importantly, dynamic flight performance exactly matching the original aircraft. Extreme pains were taken to make these aircraft perform exactly like the prototypical real examples. This means that at 20,000 feet at 46 in manifold pressure, with the throttle at 85%, the B-17G will fly and behave like the real one. You can over drive the engines over boost the supercharges, and see the effects on performance. The staff actually flew real surviving examples of the aircraft to get it right. In theory you can take the original flight manual and fly the aircraft using these as guides.

This add on is for flight sim enthusiasts who enjoy realism and historical accuracy. Set to the proper degree of difficulty as recommended, the aircraft are not easy to fly. Do something wrong and it will come to haunt you.

For those wishing to experience the world of historical war planes, this add on is a must.

Bob Hoover Flys Philippine F86F

Rare footage here of the Legendary Bob Hoover flying a Philippine Airforce F86-F at Clark Airbase in 1961. Awsome gentle aerobatics.

Philippines: Kamikaze attack

Found this video the other day, not much info on it, but apparently dated October 25 1944, it shows a Japanese Zero diving on the Carrier USS Franklin off Leyte. The ship surrvived the war after many attacks and campaigns.

Grumman JF-2 Duck

Grumman Aircraft Co. produced Ducks for the Navy and Coast Guard from 1933 to 1946. The Grumman Duck was used widely in the Pacific durring World War two. The Grumman JF-2 Duck was used in the Philippines as an inter coastal aircraft and excelled because of it's ability to handle rough water.

The Duck originated with designs made by Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation. When Loening was taken over by Curtiss-Wright in 1929, several key employees of the former Loening Aeronautical, including Leroy Grumman, formed the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation which was financed by Grover Loening.

Grumman accepted the aircraft as "Design 7". After modifications to facilitate manufacturing, Grumman submitted the specifications to the Navy in 1932 and the Navy accepted it as the XJF-1.

On Tuesday, April 25, 1933, the XJF-1 flew for the first time. Pilot Paul Hovgaard, took off from a grass strip in front of the Grumman factory at Farmingdale, NY. Power for the XJF-1 and the JF-1 came from a 14 cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830-62 Twin Wasp engine of 700 hp (522.4 kW) and a Hamilton Standard three blade prop.

A large single large float was mounted under the centerline of the craft. Faired into the sides of the main float was the main landing gear which could be raised and lowered by a system of motors, sprockets, chains and gears. A small float was mounted near the tip of each wing. The crew consisted of a pilot and rear gunner under the telescoping canopy. There were also provisions for two passengers located just aft of the lower wing in the main float.

A total of 632 JF/J2F Ducks were built in all. By 1945 they were scattered all over the world, including the Philippines, performing duties nothing short of amazing.

This is selected footage from the film Murphy's War starring Peter O'toole. I am not sure which I feel more sorry for, the pilot or the aircraft. Obviously a versitile aircraft it takes a beating in this video clip. Check it out.



This clip is featuring a Duck painted like "Candy Clipper", a Grumman Duck that saw duty in the Philippines during WW II. The Clipper flew medical supplies, and candy to the troops during the seige of the Philippines in 1942. It was the last aircraft to leave the Philippines before the Japanese took possession of the Islands.

Kamikaze Field

The first Kamikaze attack force was formed in the Philippines by Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi. In a meeting at Mabalacat Airfield (Clark Air Base) on October 19, 1944, Admiral Onishi met with officers of the 201st Flying Group. The Marcos Santos residence served as the headquarters of these Japanese Kamikaze pilots during this time.

(Above) Japanese Zero hit and diving at U.S. ship

Onishi told them that he believed the only way to maintain control of the Philippines was to put a 500 pound bomb on a Zero fighter and crash them into U.S. aircraft carriers. He believed this would wreak havoc on the U.S. Fleet and disable them for weeks if not months. When the pilots and their officers requested to hear approval for the suicide program from their own commander, Captain Sakai Yamamoto, Onishi lied, saying that Yamamoto had already been advised. In reality Captain Yamamoto was hospitalized near Manila from injuries sustained in an automobile accident, totally unaware of what Onishi was telling his men. All 23 pilots volunteered.

Commanded by Onishi, on Clark Air Base, the first Kamikaze missions were launched. The pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy's 201st Kokutai, 1st Air Fleet would go down, literally, in history. These pilots were divided into four separate groups: Shikishima, Yamato, Asahi, and the Yama Yukio Seki units.


At 07:25 October 25, 1944, the Shikishima unit departed Clark lead by Lieutenant Yokjo Seki. At 10:45am they attacked U.S. ships stationed at Leyte Island, Philippines. Credited with the first planned Kamikaze attack, Lieutenant Yokjo Seki actually succeeded in striking and sinking the United States carrier USS St. Louis in the first official sinking of a ship by Kamikaze attacks.
According to Captain Rikihei Inoguchi, I.J.N., Approximately one-sixth of all Kamikaze planes used in the Philippines hit their target. The plan was to use them primarily at dusk or on bright moonlit nights using Shiragiku, Zero and Willow fighters. Most of the men in the Philippine Campaign had about 300 hours of flight training. Almost all of the Japanese pilots hoped to get into the Kamikaze Corps, and tried to volunteer. However a few of them with the most flight time were prevented by order of the commanding officer. Torpedo bombing took a greater amount of accuracy, so these few experienced pilots were put aside for those missions.
Inoguchi was an officer of 23 years service, and although not himself an aviator, he spent the last year and a half of the war in aviation activities. In August 1944 he became Chief of Staff of the First Air Fleet in the Philippines, the unit which first employed organized suicide tactics.
According to Inoguchi, the causes of the Japanese failure to defend the Philippines were lack of planes, lack of experienced pilots, and the superiority of the U. S. GRUMMAN fighter over the ZERO and the fact that the P-38 could get such good altitude.


Launching sorties from bases in the occupied Philippines presented special problems, chiefly because the Filipinos were hostile to the occupying Japanese forces. This had its small benefits. It helped instill and sustain a stronger fighting spirit and the sense of antagonism essential for those on kamikaze missions. In addition, in the Philippines the Japanese still had a belief that they would prevail. Better aircraft were used than in the Okinawa Kamikaze attacks, more seasoned pilots were generally at the controls, and more often than not they were protected by fighter escorts. These differences had a considerable impact on the emotional state of the Kamikaze pilots, and ultimately, on their view of life and death.

Zero photo courtesy of C. Peter Chen, World War II Database
Color photos courtesy of Gino T. Manalastas http://www.pbase.com/japayukid/kamikaze

US Navy planes raid Philippines

Here is a very interesting short video clip of U.S. Navy planes raiding Philippine targets during WW II. Notice the way the ship in one strafing run blows up with an incredible force. There must have been ordinance aboard.



If video is not visible as imbeded try this hyperlink: Navy planes raid Philippines