FSX Douglas O-43 Observation Plane

The O43 was one of many observation planes designed by Douglas for the USAAC. It entered service in 1934 and carried on until WW2. It had a parasol wing rather than the gull wing of earlier Douglas designs. This is a native FSX Acceleration project. It has the usual animations and .dds textures. Includes a sound file for a V-12 in-line engine by "Lawdog" which is as close could be found for a Curtiss Conqueror engine. The VC is based on a actual photo and includes working gauges and animated flight controls. The gauges feature emissive back lights for night flying. There is no 2D panel. By Paul Clawson.

Douglas designed several observation planes for the USAAC between the wars. The O-43 entered service around 1934 and soldered on until WW2. It differed from earlier Douglas designs by having a parasol wing rather than a gull wing. I had recently modeled the Douglas O-46 which was the last and IMHO the best looking of the bunch. I had no interest in the O-43 until I found some great 3 views by Peter Westburg and a photo of the instrument panel recently showed up on the US Cockpits web site. I am a sucker for anything in the bright pre- war colors,especially if it has lots of guy wires, wire spreaders, struts, etc., so, here we are. This is a native FSX Acceleration project. It has .dds textures, the usual animations including sliding canopy covers and gear compression. The VC is based on a real photo and has working gauges and animated flight controls. The gauges have emissive back lights for night flights. There is no 2D panel.

I have never found a sound file for a Curtiss Conqueror engine used on the O-43 so I included Lawdog's Hispano-Suiza V-12 engine sound which should be very similar.

INSTALLATION: Unzip O43vx.zip into a temporary folder. Copy the folder Douglas O-43 into the Airplanes folder of FSX. Open the gauges folder and copy Lockheed_Vega.cab into the Gauges folder of FSX. Copy the .cab files from the panel folders of the Grumman Goose and the Dehaviland Beaver into the Gauges folder of FSX. That's it.

Enjoy! Paul Clawson

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