There are very few aircraft that non-enthusiasts could actually put a name too, but I’m sure the Tiger Moth would be amongst those few. Anyone who’s seen an old war movie or who’s been to an airshow would probably at least recognise one. I have a particular memory of seeing a 7-ship formation of Tiger Moths at an airshow once. There had been the usual show of high speed passes from ridiculously fast jets, then these 7 Tiger Moths took about half an hour to group together properly for their slow pass. It was a lovely reminder of how things have changed since the Tiger Moth came into service in 1931.
I was therefore looking forward to see what Aeroplane Heaven and JustFlight had managed to achieve with their rendition of the famous Tiger Moth for Flight Simulator X and Flight Simulator 2004. I wasn’t disappointed.
After installation, the first thing that will probably dazzle you is the number of variants supplied. You get 4 variations of the 82A Trainer, 3 of the 82A Civilian variant and an interesting covered cockpit 82C variant. For each of these variants, you have the option of being seated in the front or rear and also have the option of flying with the spare seat either occupied or left empty. Once flying, the pilots are visible in the virtual cockpit and in external views, scanning the sky as you fly along (and even blinking!).
As you can see, there are actually more variations available than can fit in a single aircraft selection screen!
Talking of external views, you’ll spend a lot of time looking at this aircraft from that vantage point, as the visual model is superb. It also comes in handy when landing, especially when in the rear seat, as it’s very difficult to see the runway with the front pilot in place! All part of the fun of flying this excellent add-on.
The attention to detail on the airframe is stunning. Underneath the aircraft, you can see the control wires moving as you bank the aircraft. Look out to the struts on the left wing and you’ll see a working example of the “windy” air speed gauge. Press Shift-E and a panel will open on the engine cowling to reveal a very detailed DH Gypsy Major engine. In the military trainer variants, pressing the key corresponding to the simulators tail hook function will fold or unfold a blind over the rear canopy, to allow you to test your skills at instrument flying. You can open a storage area behind the rear cockpit. With the military trainer, the blind cleverly folds forward to provide access. Pressing “/” (usually the speed brake key, but no sign of one those here 
) operates the access doors on either side of the aircraft. There are lots of little touches like this that will keep you occupied whilst exploring the external visual model.
An additional benefit of viewing the aircraft in the external view when flying is that you get to hear the absolutely wonderful sound of that Gypsy Major engine. Any petrol-heads out there will fully appreciate the most beautiful noise that emanates from that powerplant, especially when you open the throttle wide. It’s almost worth purchasing this package purely for the sound set!
Moving inside, the Tiger Moth has a beautifully detailed virtual cockpit. All of the controls and gauges are clearly rendered and operate very smoothly. The Tiger Moth offers terrific views from its cockpit, making this the ideal tool for exploring the scenery of Flight Simulator.
Moving inside, the Tiger Moth has a beautifully detailed virtual cockpit. All of the controls and gauges are clearly rendered and operate very smoothly. The Tiger Moth offers terrific views from its cockpit, making this the ideal tool for exploring the scenery of Flight Simulator.
This attention to detail also extends to the manual, which provides some interesting historical background to the aircraft, as well as a detailed look at the cockpit layouts of all the variants. Additionally, there’s a really useful section relating to flying the Tiger Moth itself, covering such areas as aerobatics, stall turns, immelman turns as well as general flying tips.
Installation
I installed the downloadable version of the Tiger Moth from the JustFlight web site. Installation was very straightforward. During the installation process, you are required to enter the proof of purchase code and a response code you receive when you purchase the product. This is then verified and installation continues.
System Requirements
JustFlight quote the following as the system requirements for the Tiger Moth:
- Flight Simulator X/Flight Simulator 2004
- Pentium IV 1.7 GHz
- 512Mb RAM
- 64Mb 3D graphics card
- Windows XP
- 100Mb hard drive space (TBC)
I tested the application using Flight Simulator X on a machine with a 2Ghz Centrino processor with 1Gb RAM, a 256Mb nVidia 7800 graphics card and around 200Gb free space on my FSX install directory. Frame rates were very respectable - on a par with the default aircraft supplied with FSX.
Conclusion
Initially, I felt the price was a little high for this add-on at £24.99 for the download version for what appears to be a single aircraft. However, having now spent some time with the Tiger Moth, I’ve been forced to re-think. Taking into account the number of variants - and bear in mind they are actually different models, not just repaints - and the stunning amount of detail, not to mention the tremendous fun of flying it, I can strongly recommend it to any flight simulator fan, even those who perhaps wouldn’t normally try this type of aircraft. As well as being thoroughly enjoyable, it’s also an excellent way of reminding ourselves what flight was like before FMC’s, GPS’s etc were invented.
Technorati Tags: flight simulator x, flight simulator 2004, justflight, tiger moth, tiger moth review
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