posted 09-21- 02:14 PM               

New Pea Shooter Beta high rez 1024 in the colors of the Thunderbirds 34th Attack Squadron.

This new version has updated FM by Da Jug Head and 1024 skin. The plane now flies great and can be taken off and landed by the A-I. Flaps also now work correctly.

Download to test here: http://home.earthlink.net/%7Epgrubich/index2.htm

This is a beta and not complete so please let me know of any problems and, if possible, their cure.

Thanks
Paul

posted 09-22- 02:34 AM               

Did you use hi-res for the wires too? They look really crisp and thin!

Love the detail around the engine cowl too

posted 09-22- 08:16 AM               

Steve I do not have a template yet, sorry.
You can try to use what is already there, should be easy to do. The Wheeler field one would be great, we could make a Pearl defense mission even though I am not sure if any got off the ground that day.

Wakeup I only used 1024 for the fuse, wings, gear, and tail group. Not sure why the wires look better.

Road Toad I hope someone does come up with a Japanese bomber I can mission this plane with. I tried some Zero missions and they work well. You can down one if you get lucky.

Anyone that wants to help make a cockpit and decent instrument panel for this please don't be shy. I do have cockpit photos.

Paul

posted 09-22- 10:29 AM               

I have a write-up complete if you'd like, it combines some more details on the plane with your details on the action...

Maury

================

History:

New construction techniques in the late 1920's were delivering clean all-metal planes with very low drag and high speed. These techniques tended to be heavy however, and with the low powered engines of the day you found that almost all of the designs using them were multi-engine. This was true in the military world as well, and the Army found itself with bombers that could easily run away from their existing biplane fighters. Boeing had supplied the vast majority of fighters for both the Army and Navy from about 1920 on, so the Army turned to them to supply a monoplane replacement. The Army mentioned the problem in September 1931, and Boeing started work on Model 248 that month with their own funds.

The 248 was based on one of the advanced planes of its day, the Boeing Monomail. This was one of the first all-metal planes, it used a strut-free cantilever wing with flaps, retractable gear, and a Townsend ring on its Hornet engine. It was a thoughly modern looking plane with the exception of the open cockpit, but doomed by the propellers of the day which were fixed pitch. The 248 tried to keep as many features from the Monomail as possible, but the weight considerations were forcing the designer's hand.

First to go was the Monomail's low drag cantilever wing, the engineers simply couldn't build one strong enough for a fighter without it being too heavy and the plane ended up with wire braces. Next to go were the retractable gear, for exactly the same reasons. Nevertheless the plane was otherwise state of the art; the tail was cantilever, it included a tailwheel instead of a skid, the wheels had breaks, and the entire plane was built of duralumin. So while it looks quaint by 1940's standards, the 248 was still very advanced for its day.

Armament was normally two 30cal M1 machine guns, although one could optionally be replaced with a 50cal M2. They were mounted on the sides of cockpit floor, firing through the engine cylinder banks. Under-fuselage A-3 bomb racks could be fitted which could carry five 30lb bombs, two 122lb bombs, or two parachute flares. A C-3 tubular gunsight was mounted ahead of the windshield, and a G-4 camera gun could be mounted externally above the right-side wing root.

Plans were completed in January 1932 and the first prototype flew on March 20, 1932, in only nine weeks from completing the design. Testing showed it outperformed the P-12 biplane by 27mph and over 475ft/min in climb, yet it was still slightly slowly than the B-10 bombers about to roll off the lines. In comparison with the Curtiss XP-31 Swift the 248 was the better plane, so the Army ordered the newly named P-26 (Model 266) into production after asking for a number of minor changes. The high (for its day) landing speed of 82mph was considered to be dangerous, so flaps were retrofitted to all of the planes and brought the speed down to 73mph.

Deliveries began in 1933 and the P-26 equipped three units - 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field, LA, 1st PG at Selfridge Field, MI, and 17th PG at March Field, CA. By 1937 the aircraft were relegated to the Philippines, the Panama Canal Zone, and Hawaii. At least 13 aircraft were at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

In the Philippines, Captain Jesus A. Villamor led the P-26As of the 6th Pursuit Squadron, the only ones of their type to see action in World War II. On December 12, 1941, Villamor brought down a Mitsubishi G3M2 of the 1st Kokutai over Batangas. Lieutenant Jose Kare even managed to shoot down a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero on December 23. But in general the Peashooters proved as ineffectual as their name implied.

The last surviving Filipino P-26s were burned on Christmas Eve to prevent their falling into enemy hands. . A number of aircraft stationed in the Canal Zone were sold to Panama and Guatemala, and two P-26s were in use as trainers in Guatemala as late as 1957.

posted 09-22- 12:20 PM               

I have some great doc on this bird; even have a rare Aircraft in Profile vol.1 that has some great details and photos.

I have read about the Captain Jesus A. Villamor mission and would like to make it only we would need the correct Japanese planes.

The amazing thing about this plane is that there were 13 of theme at Wheeler field the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I have not found anything to tell me if any made it off the ground but I am working on a mission to that effect.

Paul

posted 09-23- 06:28 PM               

Cheers

posted 09-26- 09:54 AM               

If anyone has flown this please let me know of any problems.

Also could someone upload this beta to SimFiles. I cannot seem to get registared there to upload.

posted 09-26- 11:15 AM               

Any ideas?

Btw,using non beta patched installation of the game.

Cheers

Paul
P.S also crashes OPS vers 1.00 on loading

posted 09-26- 01:59 PM               

Bradburger:
I emailed you those two files a day ago. Must have went to Emila Earhart instead :-)

Also,
Works fine in OPS for me and others but I will look into it. Thanks for your input.

Save our Warbirds!

posted 09-26- 02:22 PM               

Guess e-mail isn't always that quick!

Meant too say it works fine in OPS 1.3

Cheers

posted 09-26- 04:28 PM               

Still looking for someone to upload this to simfiles.

posted 09-26- 04:32 PM               

Cheers

posted 09-26- 04:37 PM               

Just realised that my e-mail address in my profile is my other account.

So no need to send again Hawk

Cheers