Just Flight P-38 Lightning Review

If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you’ll know that I’ve become quite a fan of warbirds in flight simulator, so I was really looking forward to reviewing Just Flight’s fabulous looking P-38 Lightning.

Introduction

Some aircraft just look the part they were designed for. You could have no doubt when first looking at a P-38 Lightning that this bird is a flying weapons platform. The two variants supplied in this package - the P-38F and P-38J - basically comprise of 2 dirty great engines, the necessary flying surfaces to enable it to keep in the air and the bare minimum requirements for a pilot! This aircraft was not built for comfort.

The distinctive twin-boom tail makes this an aircraft easily recognised the world over, even by non-aviation enthusiasts. This, in part, contributes towards the immense popularity of the aircraft, with an increasing number being returned to the air by enthusiasts, including the famous "Glacier Girl", resurrected from the ice of the Arctic in which it crashed in 1942 and returned to the air some 65 years later. This is one of the many variants supplied in this extensive package.

The package

As I mentioned in the introduction, you get 2 main variants of the P-38 - the F and J models. This might not sound like a lot, but you need to bear in mind that you get a tremendous number of variants of those 2 basic models. In fact, you get no less that 17 individual models to choose from, all painstakingly recreated for the virtual world by the team at Aeroplane Heaven. I’m sure that by just hearing that name, you’ll know you’re in for a treat with this one.

I’m reviewing the downloadable Flight Simulator X version of the add-on here, but you also get a Flight Simulator 2004 version thrown in for good measure.

The package includes a 32 page PDF manual, which is up to Just Flight’s usual high standards, providing a little history of the aircraft, along with details about the individual variants supplied, a list of key commands (there are subtle differences in the key functions for the various types of aircraft), a useful "Walk around", providing you with a virtual tour of your new aircraft, pointing out the important stuff you’ll need to know and finally a detailed set of check-lists to help you fly the aircraft. It’s always a pleasure to look through a Just Flight produced manual. They always seem to have the right balance of information without bogging you down in details that most people won’t be interested in. There’s always Google if you want to find out more

A quick virtual tour

Before getting into the air, I’ll quickly present a few shots of the aircraft, inside and out, so you can get a feel for the impressive level of detail the designers have gone into for this representation.

Time to get airborne

Okay, so we’ve established that the P-38 is a functional looking (and some would say, including myself, beautiful) aircraft, faithfully modelled both inside and out, but what’s it like to fly?

I was actually expecting a more sprightly jump off the block when I let loose with the tremendous power available from those massive twin props. This is not a criticism of the model, but an accurate representation of getting the aircraft moving. It’s really only once you’re in the air that you get to appreciate the tremendous power available to you.

The aircraft has a heavy feel to it. As the manual states, this is actually a large aircraft for a single-seater fighter/bomber, so it does have a significant feeling of momentum to it. It’s a little slow to turn (again, not a criticism but an accurate representation) which also adds to the feeling that you’ve got a large mass moving around the air here.

It’s an absolute joy to fly. In some respects, the slow feel of the aircraft both makes it easier for you, in as much as you have time to think, but it can also mislead you. You can suddenly realise that you’re in a spot of bother and doing 250 knots leaving yourself with little time to recover. It’s a paradox of this aircraft and it all adds to the feeling of realism. The overall impression is that this is a very solid aircraft - it makes you feel confident that it won’t let you down.

Talking of realism, the sound thrown out by those awesome engines is simply superb. I think that’s one of the reasons I love warbirds - they just sound so good!

The virtual cockpit is certainly up to the standards previously set by Aeroplane Heaven and include what must be the smoothest gauges I’ve seen in pretty much any add-on. This is all down to Aeroplane Heaven’s "Unique Liqui-Drive  smooth gauges" and they work superbly. It might seem like a small thing, but seeing the gauges moving so smoothly really does add to the realism. As with most things in life, it’s the small details that count.

System requirements

The Just Flight web site quotes the following as the system requirements for the P-38:

• Flight Simulator X or FS2004
• 2GHz (3GHz for FSX)
• 512Mb RAM (1Gb for FSX)
• 128Mb 3D graphics card
• Windows XP/Vista
• 850Mb hard drive space

Performance

I tested the P-38 on a 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo machine with 2Gb RAM and an nVidia 8600 graphics card with 256Mb of video RAM running under Vista. Frame rates were in the region of 20% lower than for one of the default aircraft, but it didn’t really "feel" like that was the case. The fluidity of the simulation did not suffer any with the loss of frame rates.

I briefly tried out the Flight Simulator 2004 version and the performance impact was hardly noticeable. This will be down to the additional burden put on your machine by FSX itself and not a reflection of the add-on.

Conclusion

Fun, fun and more fun This is one of those add-ons that just leaves you smiling. You smile at the authenticity, the detail that’s gone into it and the supremely evocative sound set, not to mention those terrific gauges.

The animations are superb. I could spend ages just watching the highly detailed undercarriage retraction/extension animation!

If you’re a warbird fan, go get it now. If you’re not, this might convert you!

You can order the P-38 from the Just Flight web site as either a downloadable file, or a boxed version.

My thanks go to Just Flight for supply the review copy.

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