Simviation - review P-40N-WH

Credits: Uploaded by Steve Gandy, Original MDL by Harald "Humming" Reuter, Rebuild by Reg Allen, Sound by Steve Gandy, Textures by Joe Amodea, Reworked by Steve Gandy, DP Files By Steve Gandy, Panel for P-40 from an original bmp by Casey, P

Date Tested: August 31, 2002

Computer Specs: Packard Bell ixtreme, Intel Pentium III 1 GHz Ram, 128MB SDRAM Graphics Card: 32MB Geoforce 3

Test Pilot: Steven Hadlow

External View: The P40 Warhawk is a very good-looking aircraft model created for FS2000 and includes the standard static fuel tank on the bottom centre of the fuselage and also has a lovely prop effect along with perfect landing gear and flap effects. This is my favourite WW2 aircraft model due to the nice textures and this final aircraft certainly reflects that a lot of work has gone into this. This aircraft certainly has the look and feel of a Second World War aircraft used at pearl harbour.

Sounds: Due to the size of the file a proper sound file comes with the aircraft and is automatically inserted in the aircraft file when installed. The included sound sounds pretty realistic and makes a change from the boring default sounds.

Panel: The panel itself looks very good even though the view is restricted because that adds to the authenticity of the model due to Real WW2 fighter pilot's encountering the same problem. There is also a great hand on the joystick, which moves as you move your joystick. However the Virtual cockpit is not as good and is a bit more basic looking layout but still all right.

Ground Handling: The aircraft turns tightly on it's rudder which makes it easy to negotiate tight turns however one word of warning would be not to turn on the ground with rudder at high speed because your wing will swing down into the ground

Where Tested: Henderson Field, Hawaii in FS2000

Landing Characteristics & Speed on final approach: P40's are difficult to land a medium length approach is what I generally need flaps make the aircraft have a tendency to climb so slight down force is required on approach and the aircraft needs to be stalled almost just as you are about to touchdown at around 100-150 kts.

Takeoff Characteristics & approx Speed: This is a very easy aircraft to take off with only a fairly small runway required. Without Flaps down you can easily lift off as steep as you like at around 118 kts about halfway down Henderson airfield runway 6. Another realistic feature is the aircraft swings n takeoff.

Other Remarks: There is also a cfs1use for this aircraft and the DP file is exclusively for cfs1 NOT FS2000.

Notes: The pilot's head turns in tandem with rudder and cockpit opens in tandem with gear. (Up=Closed, Down=Open)

Rating =95% An altogether superb piece of work all round!