A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FS 2004 Military - Props
Description: This package includes models of four versions of the Northrop "Flying Wing" bombers of the Classic Era: XB-35, EB-35B, YB-49, and YRB-49A for FS9. By David Wooster with skins by Mick.
To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Northrop "Flying Wing" Package for FS9
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.
Another pleasant surprise from the DW-M Skunkworks! The Nifty Fifties AF still lives!
I never saw a real "wing " but I did hear and see a B-36 fly over my house in NH. Never forgot that.
Thanks for sharing.
normb
The Nifty Fifties will continue through at least our next couple of projects.Originally Posted by normb
I grew up just a few miles from Westover AFB in Massachusetts, directly under the approach/departure path from the main runway. Westover was a SAC base then, and while it never based B-36s, they would sometimes appear as transient traffic or visit for Open House days. I will always remember how the whole house shook when one passed over at low altitude!
Glad you like the big Wings!
Great Job Guys!! Having a barrel of fun with the EB-35B. It looks and flies great! Tomorrow I'll fire up the YRB-49A then keep on going with the last 2 versions.
I was also very happy to read in the above post you all have more in the works.
Thank You both Very Much
Bill
Thanks for these beauties gentlemen.I did feel slightly guilty disposing of all the Higgs/Clawson/Ito models, but hey ho.
Andy
Aw geez, I'm right in the middle of tweaking on the Virtavia F-22 Raptor and MV-22 Osprey and then this drops.
You know what this means, its time to drop a super H bomb on the aliens near Los Angles.
(The classic Geo. Pal version of War Of The Worlds)
Mick, there's a texture set just begging to go on your "To do" list.
"Leper Colony", the B-52H flown by Maj. "King" Kong in Dr. Strangelove.
The MDL is already out there, its in the Alphasim B-52 package.
It just needs one of your bare metal texture jobs.
There are 4K "high def" clips from the film on YouTube.
The only thing that's tricky is that in the low level scenes in the film, the shadow looks just like a B-17 (Kubrick rented one to film the in-flight scenes and stuck a model in place of the real plane).
Heck, I even found a copy of "Red Alert!" if you need any deep background info. The book has its own twisted history. As books go, its pretty awful and was written by an RAF officer while he was on duty and was supposed to be monitoring fighter jets on the radio. "Red Alert!" caused some excess laundry bills in Washington when it was published, and the only thing I can figure is that those folks were truly gullible because as I mentioned, the book is really bad.
Still, Kubrick bought the rights to "Red Alert!" and hired the author (Peter Bryant, his pen name) to adapt it as a dramatic screen play before he understood what MAD was, then re-tooled it as the classic dark comedy.
Bryant eventually sued the production company who filmed "Fail Safe!", a blatant rip off of "Red Alert!", and Stanley Kubrick.
Sadly, he left the planet in the same way as his Generals in "R.A!" and "Dr. S" using a shotgun instead of a .45.
Still, its possible to re-create the flight of "Leper Colony" / "Alabama Angel" in FS9.
The target in the original version of the story was Kotlass, which exists in FS as a VOR.
In "Dr. S", the plane flew from "Burpleson AFB" with no real info about its location.
In "R.A.!", the plane flew from "Sonora AFB" in Texas, so at least we have a state.
Sonora is real and located at N 30 34.08, W 100 38.65.
I'm happy calling it Dyess AFB (KDYS).
The "Turn around point" is given as Bear Island in the frozen north above Roosia.
I wonder how that lawsuit turned out. Surely it was brought up during the trial that "Fail Safe" was a smash, best-selling novel by Eugene Burdick & Harvey Wheeler. It didn't have any of the black humor of the movie, which was more of a take-off than a dramatization of the book. Do you know how that litigation was resolved?
Thanks to each of you who expressed appreciation for the Flying Wings package. It warms my heart, and I'm sure David's too.
This project found more ways to bite us in the butt than anything we ever did before. Maybe more than all of them put together! So it's really nice to read some nice words about it.
I was tempted to paint a few fictional in-service skins, but the problem with the Wings for modelers is that they don't have any place to put unit markings.
This was a great surprise, i'd just like to add my appreciation to you guys for this fine aircraft
Thanks Ian!This was a great surprise, i'd just like to add my appreciation to you guys for this fine aircraft
We're just full of surprises! Wait 'til you see our next couple of projects. Classic era classics that have never been done for FS9 before.
At least not that we know of. Not for freeware anyway, and not for payware that I've heard of.
Last edited by Mick; July 19th, 2023 at 11:05.
Thats exciting news, i could guess, but wheres the fun in that
Thanks for this great project, really appreciate it.
A HUGE Thank You for still developing amazing stuff for us FS9'ers.
So much appreciated that there is still value shown for FS2004, after 20 years,
Robin
Cape Town, South Africa
"Settled out of court" but Bryant got paid.
Kubrick also sued Fail Safe over its release date and Dr. S was shown first.
It doesn't end there, the alternate ending of Dr. S featured a massive pie fight in the war room.
Depending on who you believe, George C. Scott saw the dailies of the pie fight and called his reps who talked Kubrick out of using it.
With all of the suits and similarities between Fail Safe and Dr. S, I had to track down a copy of Red Alert.
Its more like a cross between a novel and a short story. Something like only two hundred pages in large type.
Like I said, it isn't very good. The B-52 is a B-52K that features things like a large plotting table the Nav can walk around and a crew of 10.
Its also a bit of a cross between an ocean liner and a transformer. The tail gun was replaced with "long tubes that shuttled A-to-A missiles back to the launcher" and an EW "brain" that was as large as a small house.
Before I forget, you and Dave knocked it out of the park again.
The sound folders are really good as well.
My only question is who is that poor SOB in the rear blister?
I imagine he's tone deaf by now.
All I need now is a tripod alien craft from the original War of the Worlds movie to act as a target. Great job on these guys!!
Ken
[QUOTE=Sbob;1317507]"Settled out of court" but Bryant got paid. ... My only question is who is that poor SOB in the rear blister?
I imagine he's tone deaf by now./QUOTE]
That's quite a story! Thanks for sharing it.
The guy in the rear bubble was a gunner. He would've controlled some of the seven remote controlled turrets on the B-35, if any version of the B-35 had ever had its turrets installed. The B-35 would've had three gunners but I don't know where the other two sat. Three gunners to operate seven turrets - that would have been interesting in combat! The B-49 would've only had a tail turret so only one gunner.
Either that or "The Cyclops." At least I think so. I have a dim recollection from my childhood of seeing the Flying Wing going after a giant cyclops, but I'm unable to verify this in a web search. Found the movie but no reference to the Wing being in it.
interestingly, the War of the Worlds movie was made in 1953, 2 years after the YB49s final flight, If you want to defeat Aliens, you need up to date kit
That Cyclops movie was made four years later, in 1957. The YB-49 was no longer around in 1953, but even if it was, it's not likely that the Air Force would've lent out an aircraft like that for a movie. But they might have provided film that could've been incorporated into the movie. Or more likely, there might have been newsreel film available. Or they could've used models.interestingly, the War of the Worlds movie was made in 1953, 2 years after the YB49s final flight, If you want to defeat Aliens, you need up to date kit
That sounds like the same idea they used in the B-29 and B-50.
The guy in the bubble would have been the main observer who controlled the two gunners but he could also take control of the turrets.
Yes, in fact they were (or would have been) the same turrets and the same remote control system. But the Superforts had more gunners and fewer turrets. Same number of each, if I recall correctly (maybe not) plus that main observer guy. On the B-35 the guy in the bubble had no visibility at all in the lower hemisphere where three of the turrets were, and three gunners (including the bubble guy) meant that only three turrets could be aimed and fired at a time, less than half of the available turrets. At least the B-49 would've had just one gunner and one turret.
And where the other gunners' positions were located is a mystery to me. I wonder if they ever even got around to figuring that out.
Dave and Mick,
Thank you both for these outstanding Northrop flying wings. They all look and fly great.
Anyone tried these in FSX by any chance?
Just discovered this; thought I would add a short note to express my sincere appreciation for putting all of this together and sharing it with the rest of us. It is very wonderful.
Peace,
cs
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