NZFF

Hi Everyone,

A 90 year old gentleman got in touch with me recently regarding getting a flight simulator such as FSX. I replied with some options and pricing and eventually he told me he is an ex RAF B-24 Liberator pilot who last flew or set eyes on a B-24 in 1945.

He's currently got a laptop that's totally incapable of running any decent flight sim, too old and slow. So I've been trying to find the bits he needs to get going with FSX and relive the B24 once again.

Its clear he doesn't have much cash available, so I'm trying to get him something setup for as little money as possible. I might already have a suitable 5 year old PC that with some tweaking will hopefully run FSX. It doesn't have to have flash HD graphics, REX etc just enough to look half decent

But I don't have a screen, yoke, throttles, pedals, speakers yet, so I'm wondering if anyone had any old hardware they could donate to this cause and help get this guy in the virtual skies.

Also, I live in Wellington, and he's in Auckland. So my plan was to get everything setup and configured here, then box it up and ship it to him. So I'm also wondering would anyone that lives in Auckland possibly be kind enough to
donate their time/petrol to visit his house, unbox everything and get him going. I'm happy to help over the phone and hopefully teamviewer if we can get the PC online. He promises tea, biscuits and all the war stories you can possibly digest. There will be a steep learning
curve involved for sure, but with some help and guidance I think the experience will be very rewarding for him. Imagine from his perspective how cool this could be to go back all those years and hear the sounds of those engines.

So if anyone is keen to help me with this project in any way, please reply or drop me a PM. I'll be sure to post pictures and update this thread.

Cheers folks.

The only hardware I can offer is an old Geforce GT230 card, but I'm more tahn happy to post it anywhere (I'm in Wellington too).

Also, I'd consider using FS2004 instead, for a smoother experience and the fact that it doesn't need that much tweaking.

Dan

I've got a CH Products yoke and a set of speakers if you want them.

Good on ya Rich , I gave my CH yoke away years back .. you

gojozoom wrote:

QUOTE (gojozoom @ Jan 22 2015,8:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also, I'd consider using FS2004 instead, for a smoother experience and the fact that it doesn't need that much tweaking.

Agree .. FS9 would be the better choice for the older system.

Don't know how far you have gone with this yet, but.
I went through a similar thing with my father inlaw.
He flew Beufighters in Europe.
When we got right down to it, he just wanted to be there while I flew one.
He didn't want to take over, I recon it would have upset him if he'd crashed it.
So what Im sugesting is tee him up with someone in Auckland with a good setup.
As you said it would be a steep learning curve for him.
Then if he wants to get into it, take it from there.

rocky289 wrote:

QUOTE (rocky289 @ Jan 23 2015,10:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't know how far you have gone with this yet, but.
I went through a similar thing with my father inlaw.
He flew Beufighters in Europe.
When we got right down to it, he just wanted to be there while I flew one.
He didn't want to take over, I recon it would have upset him if he'd crashed it.
So what Im sugesting is tee him up with someone in Auckland with a good setup.
As you said it would be a steep learning curve for him.
Then if he wants to get into it, take it from there.

You raise a good point. Things that are second nature to me like panning around the cockpit or clicking on switches to do stuff are things that he's never contemplated before. In the time I've been selling flight sims I've certainly had a few elderly guys return stuff back to me saying they just can't get their heads around certain things (especially in X-Plane) and even with some support it simply hasnt been enough to quell their frustration.

Well there's no need to rush this so as you say maybe its a good idea to try get him to visit someone elses house who has one so he can see what he's up against.

Thanks for the offer of the yoke and graphics card guys, will keep you up to date with what pans out.

Shamrock55 wrote:

QUOTE (Shamrock55 @ Jan 23 2015,2:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You raise a good point. Things that are second nature to me like panning around the cockpit or clicking on switches to do stuff are things that he's never contemplated before. In the time I've been selling flight sims I've certainly had a few elderly guys return stuff back to me saying they just can't get their heads around certain things (especially in X-Plane) and even with some support it simply hasnt been enough to quell their frustration.

Well there's no need to rush this so as you say maybe its a good idea to try get him to visit someone elses house who has one so he can see what he's up against.

Thanks for the offer of the yoke and graphics card guys, will keep you up to date with what pans out.

Sir,
What a wonderful thing to do, you and the team are to be commended. Sadly as a newby I have little to offer but as a 68 year old lots of encouragement.
I too am in wellington but hopefully moving to Auckland at the end of the year. If this continues I would be happy to visit and offer any assistance.

harold wrote:

QUOTE (harold @ Jan 25 2015,9:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sir,
What a wonderful thing to do, you and the team are to be commended. Sadly as a newby I have little to offer but as a 68 year old lots of encouragement.
I too am in wellington but hopefully moving to Auckland at the end of the year. If this continues I would be happy to visit and offer any assistance.

Thanks Harold!

So I've got together a price for a basic PBTech i5 PC with 22" display for around $1000. He has help at hand to do the initial hardware setup, and then I'll help him remotely with FSX using TeamViewer for the time being.

If there is anyone in Auckland with a current sim that would be kind enough to let him see how it flies I could put you in touch.

I'm also now on the lookout for "getting started with FSX" books, and trying to get together a list of links of useful sites.

Richbarry I might take you up on the offer of the yoke!

I'm sure there must be someone with old FSpilot magazines, they did have tips and tricks, the few I have here go's ways back, surely must one in Auckland who has a stack of them, an idea.

If / when the commitment is made to get the hardware underway, then let me know a name and address and I'll get the yoke on the way.

Cheers

Rich

There is a PC which used to run FS X just sitting in my garage now, which you are welcome to.

Of course you would have to get it to Auckland, but that must cost less than buying a new one!

Bob.

Wow thanks Bob, where are you located and what are the specs?

The basic PC is a tower with an ASUS P5 KPL-AM/PS motherboard, 4GB of RAM, a Pentium Dual Core E6300 @ 2.8 GHz, and with a 420W power supply.

With a handful of video cards to choose from, I had a Viewsonic P90f Professional Series screen. This is a high quality CRT which I got from a design shop, and although it is huge it is very good. There is a choice of a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick, or a Top Gun Afterburner II (where did that come from?). Or both.

The OS was Win XP Pro, and the setup ran FS9 very well, FSX not as well, and X-Plane 9 quite well, certainly well enough for me to enjoy and understand that the next step up was too costly for me!

And there are also a few years worth of PC Pilot magazines, with the Teach Yourself To Fly FS series that they ran. Plus the various scenery and aircraft CDs that seem to accumulate.

This kind of setup is an easy introduction to FS without a large investment in time and money, and suited me until my eyes went all funny and my brain turned to mush.
How about PMing me, and we can decide what to do? I did try sending you a PM but it seems to have got lost somewhere.

I am in Upper Hutt and available most of the time.

Regards,

Bob.

Update on this, thanks to the kind donations of a flight yoke and PC\software\magazines from richbarry and bobmcc, I've got together a nice flight sim package with the B24 (and lots of other bombers) running very nicely in FS2004. I'm going to ship the lot off to Auckland next week and am looking forward to hearing back from the gentleman in question about what its like to be back in the cockpit of a B24 after over 50 years!

Shamrock55 wrote:I'm going to ship the lot off to Auckland next week and am looking forward to hearing back from the gentleman in question about what its like to be back in the cockpit of a B24 after over 50 years!

This would be the Alphasim B-24 he will be running ?

It was part of the "wings of power" pack that was already installed, many thanks to Bob for this and FS2004.

I may have a look at that , but then also see what I can do for an update, I do have a few contacts and and believe it should not be a problem to get another later model .

Hi all,

An update on this, Harry is finally flying! Thanks to kind donations of a CH Yoke, Pedals, a PC, FS2004 and a B24 Libertor model, the ex-RAF pilot is back flying after 70 odd years! I really want to thank the members who donated hardware and time, and he also wants me to pass on his absolute thanks. Bringing back a lot of memories for him now and he is really enjoying flying worry-free, no mitsubishi zeros up his tail and no need to worry about fuel or bad weather.

So thanks again for all your donations guys, and lets wish Harry many more years of virtual flying!

HEY SHAMMY , give ole Harry a nudge from me, and hey, get some information/photos or details off his specific Libby or even Squadron markings and I'll be more than happy to return him back to the his aircraft with an authentic paint!

Roger that!