Spitfire Mk.XIV

[_AH_DarkWolf]

http://allaircraftarcade.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14360

This a/c was recently released over at AAA and I think it's something we should look into. If you're not familiar with it, the Mk.XIV was pretty much the last major variant of the spitfire to see widespread use during the war. It was the second variant equipped with the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, the Mk.XIV having a two-stage supercharged version capable of 2035hp. These a/c began to reach squadrons in early 1944 and played a large part in chasing down V-1s. Once that threat diminished the squadrons deployed to the continent and saw extensive use through to VE-day. In the same way that the Spitfire Mk.I and Bf-109E-1 fill come early war gaps, the Mk.XIV fills a notable late war gap in the Spitfire lineage.

DW

[_AH_Boosher]

Most of these new A/C will not work properly unless you have UI 1.1 installed with the patch.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

It appears some of the guys who had problems with it not working in UI 1.0 did not follow the instructions and install the latest AC Installer. Once they did that it worked.

DW

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

Have you seen the MK XII over there?

S!

[_AH_Johnny]

the XIV works fine ..have not seen the XII yet

[_AH_Boosher]

The new spits are quite beautiful, of course! I've been involved with a few new things though... not at liberty to say at the moment.

[_AH_Duff4r]

Mk.XII Here:

Spitfire Mk XII

[_AH_DarkWolf]

The Mk.XII was designed to a specification for a low-altitude interceptor to counter german hit and run raids but did'nt see alot of success otherwise. All production had clipped wings and their engines only had a single stage supercharger. It's performance vs the Mk.IX dropped off the higher it went. With the Mk.XIV add-on you get the Mk.XIVc and L.F. Mk.XIVe, the latter being a clipped wing low altitude version. So you get both that and a more standard air superiority variant.

Remember that the likelyhood of us as a squad installing both is low, my two cents would be to go for the Mk.XIV over the Mk.XII.

DW

[_AH_Johnny]

oh boosh you are such a tease...why mention it if you can't tell us .? 

S~

[_AH_Boosher]

Well, here then. This link should give you a good idea of what kind of project I'm assisting with.

[_AH_Johnny]

very nice and way cool...
S~

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Couple things about the Mk.XIV pack :

One, the engine sound is kinda loud. Reminds me of the Me-410 in that regard, I had to adjust the volume down a bit on the sound files to bring them more into line with most of the sounds. Guess whether you like it would depend on your sound setup.

Second, it adds a little mod that gives the .303 rounds a smoke trail like the cannon rounds. Personally I did'nt like this, it made just a little too much smoke when firing the guns. But this change is in it's own folder in the mods directory, you can disable it if you don't fancy it.

Other than that, it's quite the hot rod. We were talking about installation last night and about the issues with the Bf-109E-1. With the 109 you had to manually add text which caused some issues. With this, it's all self-installing .exes that just require you to point them to your "IL-2 Sturmovik 1946" directory. I followed the instructions and put in the wrapper, AC installer, the Spitfire_XIV_C_and_E_IL2-MOD_v1_2.exe  and the Spitfire_XIV_C_and_E_PATCH_v1_3.exe in that order. Did'nt have any issues. It also lists the BombBayDoors_Plus mod, but it is'nt required. If you have that installed, you can set a key up to open the pilots door on the left side of the cockpit. This is akin to being able to open the car door on a P-39, just some eye candy for when you're parked really.

Another thought is that the low altitude Mk.XIVe that's included might make for a good racer for the AH Racing League.

DW