FSX Northrop BT-1 Dive Bomber

The Northrop BT1 first flew in 1936 and was assigned to both the USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise. It was not very successful but led to the development of the SBD "Dauntless" which was successful. This is a FSX Acceleration native model. It has the usual animations including cowl flaps, sliding canopies, and dive brakes. The VC has animated flight controls and working gauges. The gauges feature dark red back lighting which was common for night vision at that time. There is no 2D panel. This model is painted for the Executive Officer of Squadron VB-6 assigned to the USS Enterprise. By Paul Clawson.

The BT-1 was developed in 1936. It's principal designer was Ed Heinemann. He chose to stay with Douglas when Jack Northrop split away to form his own company. Ed Heinemann was involved in the A-20, SBD, among others, and most famous, the Douglas A4D, affectionately known as "Heineman's Hot Rod". The BT-1 was not very successful as it had poor low speed handling; a no-no for carrier ops. It was assigned to both the USS Yorktown and the USS Enterprise.

This is a native FSX Acceleration project designed with FSDSv3.51 and FSDSTweak v2.81. It has the usual animations including cowl flaps, dive brakes, sliding canopies, and a operating tail hook. I had excellent drawings for this project but nary a word or photo for the cockpit. I chose to make the VC similar to my recent Northrop A-17 which was from the same time frame. The VC has animated flight controls and working instruments. There is no 2D panel. I gave the instruments a dark red backlight for night ops. I don't know if this is accurate, but I have seen reference to dark red cockpit lights to improve night vision during the late '30's and early '40's. It is painted for the Executive Officer of Squadron VB-6 assigned to the USS Enterprise. It has a very subdued specular shine.

INSTALLATION: Unzip BT-1VX.zip into a temporary folder. Copy the folder Northrop BT-1 into the Airplanes folder of FSX. Open the gauges folder and copy the contents (one file) into the Gauges folder of FSX. Copy it as is, don't open it. This plane will show in the selection list as: Northrop BT-1 Enterprise.

This airplane should not hurt your computer but I am not responsible if you think it causes problems.

Enjoy! P. Clawson

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