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Category Archives: Computer Flight Sim

THE 1929 GOLDEN BEAR CABIN PLANE—SOARING PLANS, SORRY DEMISE PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, THE GOLDEN BEAR NC-1 had soaring plans of being an all-metal airplane for private flyers, one bearing resemblance to Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. Alas, a … Continue reading

June 20, 2023 · 2 Comments

THE 1929 GOLDEN BEAR CABIN PLANE—SOARING PLANS, SORRY DEMISE PART 1

AS DESCRIBED IN CLASSIC AIRPLANES of the 30’s and Aircraft of the Roaring 20’s, “The November 1939 issue of ‘Popular Aviation’ carried a photo sequence of the destruction of a … Continue reading

June 19, 2023 · Leave a comment

RENDERING A CURTISS CONDOR T-32

AS I NOTED BACK IN OCTOBER 2015, “I admired the pugnacious lines of the Curtiss-Wright T-32… an aircraft that some judged already obsolete when it was designed.”  Well, years later … Continue reading

May 13, 2023 · 3 Comments

KATIE’S AEROPLANES—AND MINE

KATIE HOUNSOME IS A TALENTED ILLUSTRATOR with an evident love of classic aeroplanes. “My parents think it’s hilarious that I’m so retro,” she told Mick Walsh in Classic & Sports … Continue reading

May 1, 2023 · 5 Comments

A HOBBY DIVERSION

FOR A LONG TIME, MY GMAX/FLTSIM HOBBY focused on pre-WWI civilian aircraft. Examples appearing here at SimanaitisSays include Cody’s 1909 BAA-1, first to fly in Great Britain; 1910’s Coandă “Jet” … Continue reading

April 2, 2023 · 6 Comments

VIKTOR BELYAEV’S FLYING WING PART 2

SOVIET AIRCRAFT DESIGNER VIKTOR BELYAEV had faith in his batwing idea, but one thing and another complicated matters. We’ve already discussed its rear gunner locations being too cramped to operate … Continue reading

March 3, 2023 · 3 Comments

VIKTOR BELYAEV’S FLYING WING PART 1

I ENJOY BUILDING SCREWBALL AIRCRAFT with GMax for importation into Microsoft Flight Simulator. These include the Stipa-Caproni, which Daughter Suz calls the flying toilet-paper roll; the Pemberton-Billing Nighthawk, which I … Continue reading

March 2, 2023 · 2 Comments

GMAX/FLTSIM IMITATES LIFE

SO THERE I WAS, just like SAAB engineers with their 21A fighter: They wanted to convert it to jet power. For details, see “Saab 21—Where’s My Prop?” here at SimanaitisSays. … Continue reading

December 8, 2022 · 6 Comments

DUCTED FAN AD EXTREMUS PART 2

LUIGI STIPA’S INTUBED PROPELLER concept may have been derided as the “flying barrel,” but Stipa had done his homework. Here in Part 2, we’ll see whether theory translated into practice. … Continue reading

October 14, 2022 · 2 Comments

A HANDSOME CZECH MONOPLANE—THE AERO 45, PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, details were shared about the Aero 45, a handsome Czech monoplane built between 1947 and 1961. A goodly number of these craft continue to be airworthy, … Continue reading

September 11, 2022 · 1 Comment