Spitfire

Flight Simulator Program

Your skill, never and concentration will be tested to the full as you pilot your plane through the series of manoeuvres demanded by this realistic and exciting flight simulation program.

Take-off, roll, loop-the-loop and landing must be performed with complete accuracy or your flight will end in disaster. Engine revs, thrust, speed, angle of ascent/descent and position all have to be precisely correct. And don't forget to lower your undercarriage before landing! Spitfire will keep you glued to the screen for hours as you try to pilot your plane successfully through a complete mission.

Instrument Panel

The layout of the instrument panel closely resembles the mark XIV Spitfire. Any small difference in appearance is in order to aid clarity or make best use of the screen.

Artificial Horizon

This instrument will show the angle of banking and give an indication of nose position in relation to the horizon. Please note that at extremes of bank or when the plane is inverted this instrument topples', that is to say it gets stuck and no longer gives a true reading.

Airspeed Indicator

This shows the airspeed measured in miles per hour. Maximum airspeed changes with height. At sea level it is 350 mph, whereas at 23,000 ft it is 430 mph. The airspeed then begins to reduce up to the ceiling of 42,000 ft. The calibration of the simulator has been altered for clarity. On the real aircraft, the airspeed indicator pointer makes two revolutions of the dial, not one revolution.

Rate Of Climb Meter

This shows the rate of climb in thousands of feet per min. Note that the higher the rate of climb the easier it becomes to stall the aircraft. Continued pressure on the joystick will pull the aircraft into a loop, if the speed is right, or a stall turn otherwise.

Altimeter

The Spitfire used three pointers to indicate 100s, 1,000s and 10,000s of feet. On this simulator there are pointers to show 100s of feet, and 1,000s, but the 10.000s are shown digitally for clarity. The digital figure must be multiplied by ten, ie 2,300 means 23,000 ft plus the height shown by the pointers. There is no need to worry about setting the altimeter to the QFE or QNH which would need to be done on the full size plane.

Turn And Slip Meter

The top pointer shows the balance of the aircraft. It will show the degrees of sideslip, if for example the rudder or ailerons are not co-ordinated during a turn. The lower pointer shows the rate of turn. Using a combination of rudder and aileron can produce various effects, including the ability to maintain a constant heading with one wing low, for example.

Direction Indicator

Due to memory limitations on the part of the writer, not the computer), the navigational problems have been ignored. The direction indicator will show a change of heading wherever the rate of turn meter shows a turn taking place. Turning right will lower the figure and turning left will raise it. Note that the reading is in degrees/10, ie 24 means 240 degrees. The program does not keep track of your position in relation to the airfield. When R is pressed for radio, a heading is given which will guide you home. Therefore, you have no maths problems to solve in order to find your way around.

Revolution Counter

The Spitfire is fitted with variable pitch blades and the Merlin RPM is governed by the setting of these pitch angles on the blades. This particular model will rev to 3,000 rpm but 2,750 rpm is the recommended maximum for long engine life. 1,800 rpm is the minimum setting during flight.

Boost Gauge

A two-speed, two-stage supercharger is fitted to this Mark XIV aircraft, the boost depending on throttle setting and altitude. Normally it is set to 'Auto' which allows high gear to engage at 13,000 ft and then to return to low gear below 12,000 ft. When set to 'M/S', low gear is locked in at all altitudes. The boost is, of course, greater when high gear is engaged, and a reminder of supercharger state is shown by the warning light on the panel, as well as the word 'Auto' or 'M/S' appearing top right of screen.

Fuel Gauge

A single gauge replaces the two gauges normally fitted to the Spitfire. This is because there is no provision here for switching between different tanks. At full throttle the duration is 45 mins. Consumption decreases with smaller throttle settings. Shortly before the tanks run dry, the warning light will come on.

Flap Lever

The flaps are two-position only, as on the full size plane. Take-off is carried out with flaps set up, and landing with flaps down. Note the effect of using flaps on the rate of climb Undercarriage indicator This shows whether the undercarriage is up or down. Note that there is a delay caused by the time it takes for the mechanism to work. The undercarriage cannot be retracted while the aircraft is on the ground!

Elevator Trim Meter

This shows the amount of up or down trim. Of course it also affects the rate of climb. Note that it is not strictly necessary to use the trim tab on this simulator, as the joystick does not return to centre after being used. This does make it easier to control the aircraft, using the cursor keys.

Ignition Switch

This shows whether the ignition is on or off. When you first switch on, the starter is also operated at the same time.

Throttle, Pitch And Friction Adjuster

As an aid to the user, the position of the throttle and pitch levers is shown on the panel. A friction adjuster, when loose, allows rapid movement of these levers and, when tight, provides for smaller amounts of movement. Neither of these levers is provided with 'gates' to hold them.

Guide To Flying The Aircraft

Taking Off

To turn on the ignition and fire the starter cartridge, press the W key. The toggle switch will move to the down position and the beat of the Merlin will indicate that the engine is turning over.

Select the desired rpm by pressing A. For take-off, maximum rpm of 2,750 should be used. You will see the different settings of the pitch lever alter the position of the rev counter pointer.

While holding the brakes on by pressing the space bar, open the throttle by pressing key 1. This will also affect the boost gauge. At least 10lb of boost will be needed for the take-off. On the full size aircraft too much throttle tended to pull the plane to the right.

When ready to take off, release the space bar and the aircraft will gather speed down the grass runway. Once the speed reaches 100 mph, using the up cursor key will cause the plane to lift off. Do not climb too rapidly at first.

The undercarriage should be retracted by pressing key 'before reaching 160 mph. As the speed increases beyond 200 mph the rate of climb may be increased to a maximum of '3' on the meter. Note that the wings may sometimes deflect and then level off again due to the effect of wind gusts. Normally the aircraft does right itself after being deflected.

Once the desired altitude is reached, you may level off by pressing the down cursor key.

Turning And Banking

To carry out a balanced turn, the rudder must be used in Co-ordination with the ailerons. To do this for a right turn, press the right cursor key and the N key together. For a left turn press the left cursor key and the B key together.

As the natural horizon and artificial horizon start to rotate, the rate of turn meter will also alter. The rate of climb meter will show a decrease. If you were in level flight before, you will now be descending and the altimeter will be showing the loss of height. The speed will also decrease while the aircraft is banked. The elevator should be set higher to compensate, as should the throttle. When the rudder and aileron controls are released, the angle of bank will remain set at the current position. To level off again, the opposite keys should be pressed.

Using the ailerons without rudder will produce a rough barrel roll, but there will be a change of direction unless opposite rudder is used to maintain heading.

You might like to try setting one wing low; then using opposite rudder to eliminate the turn factor and steer to a constant heading. To do this, first choose the angle of (say) right bank. Once bank is set, press the right cursor key and the B or left rudder key until rate of turn meter shows no rate of turn, ie zero. Now look at the direction indicator, which should show an unchanging heading.

Now press the left cursor key and the right or N key, until the slip meter shows zero slip. The angle of bank should not change but now the rate of turn meter shows a different setting and the direction indicator will be revolving. Try doing this with right and left bank selected.

Stalling And Spinning

The lowest flying speed will depend on the angle of bank and angle of attack. When flying straight and level the stall speed is about 75 mph. At high rates of climb, at least 200 mph must be maintained to avoid the stall.

Rapid height loss occurs when a stall happens. Before inducing a stall, be sure you have enough height in hand, in order to avoid spinning into the ground. 10,000 ft should be sufficient for practice purposes. To produce a stall, you may close the throttle and wait until speed drops below 75 mph or increase the angle of attack, while throttle is set to about half way.

At the stall, tail buffeting will be heard as the nose and right wing drop at the same time. Speed will stay low, but height will decrease rapidly with the horizon revolving and perhaps causing the aircraft to invert.

To recover, full throttle must be used. It helps if the friction adjuster is set loose, ie key 3. Once full throttle is set, wait until the nose is down and then ease forward on the stick using the down cursor key. This should stop the spin. All that needs to be done now is to level the wings, and provided that speed has increased the stick may be eased back in order to level off.

Looping

To loop the aircraft, the speed must be at 350 mph as the loop is carried out. Since a high rate of climb has the effect of reducing the speed, it is necessary to dive to about 380 mph, then hold your finger down on the up cursor key until the rate of climb is greater than 3 on the meter. You may now release the key because the setting of the elevator will now remain as it is. Watching the rate of climb meter will show an increase until the '4' is reached and then a decrease until the other end of the dial is reached. At the same time the natural horizon will disappear below the screen and reappear inverted at the top. The shading will help you to remember which way up you are. To pull out of the loop at any time, just press the down cursor key. It is advisable to reduce the throttle to less than half during the descent part of the loop in order to prevent too much height loss and make the loop rounder. Try to keep the speed about 350 mph throughout the loop. If the down key is not used at the end of a loop, then the aircraft will commence a second loop, perhaps stalling if the speed is insufficient for the climb. Looping will not take place if the wings are not level.

Landing The Aircraft

To land, first descend to just below 1,000 ft, then press the R key to call for a heading on the radio. The bearing to steer will be shown on the top left of the panel. This is where the radio would be on the full size plane. Next, use the cursor and rudder keys to set a balanced turn in the right direction. Remember that turning right lowers the figure while turning left will raise it. Once you are on the same bearing as the radio suggests, level off, using rudder in order to kill the turn.

Use the cursor keys to adjust height to be just below 1,000 ft, then set friction adjuster to be tight in order to enable finer adjustment of speed. The speed may now be reduced to about 100 mph. Do not allow speed to be less than that figure at this stage. If any change of bearing is to be made or increase of height, the speed will need to be raised above this figure to avoid the stall. Having set the bearing, height and speed, all that needs to be done is to wait until the runway appears. At the same time as the runway appears there will be a range given on the 'radio'. When the range equals 800, start the descent using the down key.

If this is timed correctly, the plane will arrive over the runway at just above zero height and then sink down to a front undercarriage landing. As soon as the plane is down, the throttle should be returned to zero and then the brake may be applied.

It is possible to fly over the runway without landing just by repeating the instructions as above but without using the down key. Also note that if heading is slightly different from the radio bearing, the runway will not bein the centre of the screen. It is possible to bank the plane in order to get back on the centre line, but there is not much time to do this. It is better to set the correct heading before the runway appears! The amount of bank is limited when the runway is actually on the screen. If the heading is too far removed from the radio bearing then the runway will not appear at all. If the runway is missed or overflown and the information is cleared from the panel, you may press R again for a new bearing.

End Of Flight

The flight ends when you are safely down on terra firma again or, of course, when you write off your beautiful plane! There are many ways of crashing. Failing to take off before reaching the end of the runway is the first mistake that could be made. Taking off with too little power or giving too rapid a rate of climb on take-off will stall the plane, with insufficient height to prevent crashing.

At higher levels speedy correction of a stall or spin is needed before the ground is reached. Or you might run the fuel tank dry and fail to find the field in time to prevent a crash landing. On the landing run you must remember to select down undercarriage as well as achieving the feat of arriving over the strip at the right speed and height. The flap setting is less important. Then, finally, the plane must be stopped from forward movement before you reach the far end of the runway.

You will see the words 'DOWN SAFE' if all this has been achieved. The new runway will then appear and the pointers will be reset ready for another try. If you do crash, the screen will shatter, but no message appears to tell you of your error.

Then the new runway appears and the pointers are reset, giving you another chance to improve your flying skills.

Control Key Details

The cursor keys are used to represent the "joystick.”

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Tape: CHAIN"" (RETURN)
Disc: SHIFT-BREAK