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Flight Simulator For The Avro Lancaster Heavy Bomber Sitting Behind Your Own Computer
The day I write this I am 64 years old and so is the peace that followed World War II. This means that I'm "post war", which is the way I want to keep it! It also means that I only saw the Avro Lancaster beautiful in peaceful fly-by's which is a scarce enough happening, considering that there are only two (!) flyable Lancs left in the whole wide world. There's very little airtime to be shared among the eager crowd, so there are probably not even a dozen people who get to fly a real Lancaster from the left seat every once in a while.
The closest us lowly earth dwellers can come to flying Lancasters, is via flight simulation. I am dedicated to Microsofts Flight Simulator X, in which I fly "my own" version of the Lancaster B1, a hybrid based on the "Wings of Power" version for exterior and flight dynamics, and for the instrument panel on just about everything including the kitchen sink. From lots of available panels and gauges that I collected in years of flight simming, I conceived a strictly personal panel version.
Panel rearranging required!
There are two reasons to design my own simulator panels. Firstly because there's no existing Lancaster panel available that looks to my liking. Secondly because existing panels put the simulated captains eyepoint somewhere in the center point of the cockpit, like straight behind the throttles. That's truly bad because it takes away much of the illusion or immersion. Although my real world flying experiences are sadly confined to single engined pipsqueeks like Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee, I know that Lancaster pilots did not sit with their family jewels shoved painfully into the throttle/propeller quadrants of their Avro Lancaster bomber!
My panel redesigns produce a much more natural pilots position, and considerably enlarged instruments and gauges. Simulation, including flight simulation, is make-believe - and I don't really care about the panel lay-out being realistic: I want it to look and feel realistic within the confines of a computer screen!!
The physical controls
To create a decent level of realism, flying your digital Avro bomber with the keyboard or mouse won't do. If you can even remotely afford it, a steering yoke is an absolute must, with a set of pedals coming in a close second. Fortunately such hardware add-ons are available in a wide price range, from pleasantly indestructible but equally expensive, to somewhat wobbly but easily affordable for most of us.
Concerning this subject I have a confession to make. Some six years ago I got the cheapest yoke and pedals that I could find, and I'm still using them without a problem and to my great satisfaction! In those years I must have acquired a couple of thousand dollars worth of other flight sim equipment, but I never saw any reason for discarding my old and faithful pedals/yoke set! Sure, eventually I'll replace them, even if it is only on account of normal wear and tear from almost daily use, but it's not necessary yet.
A red and flustered face!
I won't say that a relatively simple computer simulation like MicroSoft Flight Simulator can ever give you the joy of flying the real thing, but sometimes it comes surprisingly close. I've made many a simulated landing under conditions that turned my face red with concentration, and sweaty with almost physical fear! Nor am I the only one with such experiences. I think it was around 2004 that an RAF flight crew trained for, and eventually flew, an MS-simulated historic Dam Busters raid. Those fighter pilots and "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime" types left their specifically constructed after their tiring flight with a healthy respect for Microsofts simulation software, and for the good old Lancaster. You won't see them looking down on "that game" or "that old bomber" anymore!
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