FSX French Army Vertol V-42B

French Army Vertol V-42B (ALAT) 1956. A repaint of Mick Posch's H-21C (PIASH21C.ZIP) with specially modified .MDL files thanks to the author. It depicts one of the two Vertol Model V-42B the French Army received in 1956 (C/N 329, French Serial FR31). This repaint can be regarded as fictitious since the civilian V-42B differed in some significant respects from the military H-21C (size and number of the windows, cabin door arrangement, etc.). Repaint by Michel Gerard.

Mick Posch has been kind enough to supply especially modified *.mdl files so that this repaint adheres more closely to the landing gear configuration observed on French machines. Many thanks to him.

Installation is very straightforward. Extract all files in this archive except for the screenshots and the *.txt and *.DIZ files (make sure that "using folder names" is ticked) to your FSX\SimObjects\Rotorcraft\H-21C Shawnee folder, overwriting if prompted, and everything should go to the right place.

Next, the sim.cfg file has to be modified by pasting the following text. Make sure to change [fltsim.XX] to the next number in series in your sim.cfg file (i.e.: if you have no other repaint of this aircraft installed the last entry should be [fltsim.6] and thus you should change [fltsim.xx] to [fltsim.7], and so on).

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[fltsim.xx]
title=Vertol_V-42B_ALAT_FR31
sim=Piasecki_H21C
model=French Army V-44
panel=
sound=
texture=ALAT-FR31

atc_id=
atc_id_color=0xffffffff

checklists=
ui_manufacturer="Vertol"
ui_type="V-42B"
ui_variation=France ALAT FR31

kb_checklists=Piasecki_H21C_check
kb_reference=Piasecki_H21C_ref

ui_typerole="Rotorcraft"
ui_createdby="Mick Posch"
description=This is one of the two Vertol Model V-42B the French Army received in 1956 (C/N 329, French Serial FR31). This repaint can be regarded as fictitious since the civilian V-42B differed in some significant respects from the military H-21C (size and number of the windows, cabin door arrangement, etc...). Nevertheless I found the paint scheme original enough, and I hope you will enjoy it. Repaint by Michel Gérard.

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The French Armed Forces received a total of 108 H-21Cs as from 1956, making them by far the largest foreign user of the Workhorse. Most of them served with the Army Aviation (ALAT), initially belonging to GH2 (Groupement d'Hélicopères N°2) based in Sétif – Aïn Arnat in Algeria but a handful saw brief service with the Navy until 1960 when they were handed over to the Army. French H-21Cs provided sterling service, both at war and at peace, and the last fifteen machines were withdrawn as late as 1971.

As usual, if ever your computer takes fire after installing this repaint, if your hard drive gets flooded by Coke or if your dog eats the mouse I can accept no liability whatsoever!

Comments and feedback will be most welcome.