Just foundt this pic that shows how aluminum looks like on a real P-38:
I'm wondering why IPACS changed the way some metals looks like in Aerofly 2. In Aerofly 1 you could see environment reflections on some aircrafts surfaces, giving them a chrome look. They were fake reflections, but quite effective. In Aerofly 2 there are no chrome metals at all.
Maybe IPACS could explain the reason for this changes.
I am very impressed with the new handling of the Corsair, the Baron and the 737. The impression of realism is quite strong and I have to praise the developers for making these changes which puts Aerofly 2 in my opinion at the very top of all the computer sims. They have done a very good job.
Regarding the P 38's aluminium finish, the oxidised duralumin alloy should be quite dull but it still should have a minimal sheen and polish. The airshow P 38 photo looks like a highly polished or al-clad finish. Sorry to put a downer in but;
P 38 flaws.
1
The sluggish and lively behaviour of the directional gyro (old type, resembles a modern compass) would be admirable IF applied to the actual magnetic compass, NOT to this gyro driven direction indicator which is there to be actually usable and reliable when the aircraft is turning through magnetic north (compass indicates late) or south (compass indicates early). As the large magnetic compass is of the now out of favour vertical display type (resembles a modern direction indicator) an extra degree of reluctance to take up the true magnetic bearing would simulate the resistance from the vertical needle's linkage.
Edit, the big compass unit is an Autoflight B 20 magnetic compass, the smaller unit is a Bendix AN5730-2A remote indicator compass. The Bendix is slaved to a gyro and a remote magnetic detector and would not be subject to noticable sluggish and lively behaviour when the aircraft is turning.
2
The turn and slip indicator's turn needle unfortunately works in reverse, the needle is supposed to point to the direction of turn, it does not point towards the sky like a sort of attitude indicator. The ball rolls in the correct sense. The HSI in the Aerofly FS Baron also works in reverse.
3
The turn and slip indicator responds to roll and turn, just like a modern turn coordinator. It is highly unlikely that the P 38 instrument would not be a pure turn sensing only, turn and slip indicator.
I wondered why I was having to put in some opposite yaw to keep the turns balanced in the P38!
Old aircraft have poor self co-ordination in the turn. The normal push of rudder in the direction of the ball displacement will sort out slip and skid.
The Corsair directional gyro behaves like a compass and the vertical compass like a gyro, it does not look like a slaved radio-compass. The turn and slip indicator responds to roll and turn, just like a modern turn coordinator. It is highly unlikely that the Corsair instrument would not be a pure turn sensing only, turn and slip indicator. The Corsair flies so well now that I have only just noticed the instrument panel errors. It lands beautifully.
Edited.... The Corsair compass looks similar to a Kollsman Mk X U.S. Navy vertical aircraft compass. The adjustment knob looks to be for the large heading bug. Anyway the small window instrument is a gyro direction indicator.
Based on the lower fin's device size I'd say it's a UHF antennae, perhaps for a glideslope receiver. It looks like a dipole inside a director and a reflector, so some directional requirement, it looks too small to be ADF but why put a glideslope antenna where the landing gear leg would blank it ? In WW2 some bomber planes had Monica tail warning radar but it was a larger fir tree shaped Yagi antenna facing backwards. It is hard to place modern equipment on vintage aeroplanes without spoiling their looks.
The original navigation radio in a P 38 was a Detrola radio range receiver which received the A .- or N -. signals telling which side of the beam the plane was. The radio range was broadcast on long wave so the plain wire radio antenna fed the Detrola which can be seen on the right of the seat's front edge.
"Dive Flaps" (Lockeed spin for air brakes) are fitted, if Yippee was a special unit they could well have made it one of the lucky ones to have them early in the production run. Very few P 38s carrying invasion stripes would have had them fitted. The Aerofly P 38 will dive through Mach one (!) and pull out at a reasonable (positive) altitude.
Thanks for the feedback regarding the P38 And Corsair. We will see if we can incorporate some of the recommended points regarding the P38 in one of the next updates.
We just hope the Corsair is flyable for normal users as we did add quite some more deflection to all controls, so its quite easy to get into a stall when trying to land. If not we will blame the fault on you for requesting to make this aircraft fly more like realistic 
The Corsair will indeed stall if three pointed 40 feet above the runway. That is just what should happen. It is proof of how good it now is and of how more rewarding getting it right will be, for everyone who wants the impression of what getting a 5 ton, 2,000 horsepower, tail-wheel carrier fighter landed, is really like. Thanks for the stall with brisk wing drop if not checked, very nice.
The Baron rolls nicely through wings level which now makes fine tuning the heading straightforward. Thanks again.:cool:
Hello developers,
Thank-you for this update. Aircrafts and virtual cockpits are really successful in aerofly. I now use aerofly 1 for small planes, because the Swiss scenery is beautiful, and aerofly 2 for liners, many adapted airports on my iphone 5s.
Could we have an update for the latter (airliners) ?
4 options seem necessary to improve A320,737 etc :
- Pushback is missing and necessary in airports.
- The voice of the autopilot announcing altitude during the final approach.
- signs of the tracks and runways in major airports.
- an indicator of the ILS in the top bar (especially for iphone)
It would be great
Hi IPACS Support,
The smaller 'compass' in the P 38 is gyro driven with automatic corrections from a remote magnetic detector unit. It behaves correctly. It would be nice if the behaviour of the current direction indicator and magnetic compass could be swapped in the manner that you have already considered.
Anyone tried the 38 at night? The panel lights are nice, the instruments are a little dark. There is a strong reflection of clouds off the reflector sight glass which I thought should be angled at about 45 degrees with the top nearer the pilot. The reflections would then be coming from the interior of the sight mechanism, the sight being an early HUD device. The clouds reflections are not in harmony with the outside view and seem to come from a glass perhaps angled at 45 degrees away from the pilot, that is with the top further away. Could that be possible? The cloud reflections are disorientating with this arrangement. I tried to catch the Moon in the reflection but that would need the plane to be orientated in a steep turn with the Moon directly above the cockpit which is not easy in the 38.
The reflections do not move in harmony with the forwads view, they roll in the opposite direction to the background, could they be based on the view below the aircraft, that is not clouds but surface texture?, are they false cloud images like images in the rear view mirrors of the military jets? Are they in any way a realistic feature?
Could we have an update for the latter (airliners) ?
4 options seem necessary to improve A320,737 etc :
- Pushback is missing and necessary in airports.
- The voice of the autopilot announcing altitude during the final approach.
- signs of the tracks and runways in major airports.
- an indicator of the ILS in the top bar (especially for iphone)It would be great
+1 for the autopilot announcing altitude on final approach.
Although this may be a bit naff it was kind of nice the way in infinite flight you could turn on the seatbelt and no smoking lights and also control the nav lights and those kind of things. Maybe this would be good in aerofly?
A very nice site by Mr David C. Copley
http://www.kazoku.org/xp-38n/articles/p38s.htm
has a lot of historical and technical information on the P 38. From this site it seems that the Aerofly 2 core model is a L model even though Yippee was a J. This very late production P 38L had a leading edge landing light and a tail warning radar so the Yagi antennae on the base of the vertical stabiliser was a rear facing radar antennae smaller than the Monica type.
