Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Category Archives: Computer Flight Sim

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT! (NO KIDDING….)

THE DISCOVERER BLOG has carved itself an online niche of travel information: fascinating destinations, critical things to bring with you, how to behave once you’re there. With many of us … Continue reading

November 10, 2020 · 1 Comment

CELEBRATING A STEAM PUNK ZEPPELIN BUSTER PART 2

NOEL PEMBERTON BILLING had a fertile imagination, exemplified by his four-winged P.B. 31E Zeppelin buster. We continue the tale of this quadruplane in Part 2 today and view one in … Continue reading

June 15, 2020 · Leave a comment

AN ENGLISH ECCENTRIC PART 2

NOEL PEMBERTON-BILLING, pioneer aviator, aeroplane manufacturer, outspoken adventurer, succeeded and failed a goodly number of times in his early years. Founder of Supermarine, Pemberton-Billing built no aeroplanes as renowned as … Continue reading

February 27, 2020 · 2 Comments

1911 VALKYRIE MONOPLANE PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE HAD Horatio Barber’s Valkyrie demonstrating its short take-off capability by charging directly at admiring crowds. Today in Part 2, the Valkyrie continues to entertain, becomes the world’s first … Continue reading

November 28, 2019 · 2 Comments

1911 VALKYRIE MONOPLANE PART 1

WELL, HERE’S a pleasant surprise: the combination of an old aeroplane and Wagner’s Ring Cycle. What’s more surprising is finding a detailed article on that aeroplane from 1910. The tale … Continue reading

November 27, 2019 · 4 Comments

GMAX TUPOLEV ANT-25 PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, my GMax mania returned, this time in building a Microsoft Flight Simulator model of the Tupolev ANT-25 long-distance record setter. Or were its Moscow/U.S. West Coast … Continue reading

October 10, 2019 · 4 Comments

GMAX TUPOLEV ANT-25 PART 1

MY GMAX MANIA continues. After having incorporated just about every documentable detail into my GMax Westland Lysander, I looked around for another project using this entertaining computer software. Years ago, … Continue reading

October 9, 2019 · Leave a comment

EASTER EGGS—INCLUDING DAVIS, OKLAHOMA

THE EASTER EGGS I have in mind are computerized treats, proofs that programmers have a sense of humor. David Pogue described several examples in “The Secret History of ‘Easter Eggs,’ … Continue reading

August 15, 2019 · Leave a comment

CODY’S BAA 1—GREAT BRITAIN’S FIRST TO FLY PART 2

SAMUEL F. CODY ENJOYED development work on his British Army Aeroplane No. 1. And I’ve enjoyed GMax/Microsoft Flight Simulator renderings of his developments. Here in Part 2, my sources expand … Continue reading

May 20, 2019 · Leave a comment

CODY’S BAA 1—GREAT BRITAIN’S FIRST TO FLY PART 1

THE FIRST RECOGNIZED POWERED, heavier-than-air, controlled, sustained flight in the United Kingdom was accomplished by Samuel F. Cody’s British Army Aeroplane No. 1 on October 16, 1908. As with many … Continue reading

May 19, 2019 · 2 Comments