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 FS2004  DOUGLAS DC-7C

 DC-7C Base Pack with Pan American Livery

 Version 6  6/2019
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Support available at the CalClassic Forum:
http://calclassic.proboards.com/

The latest and many other aircraft are available from the CalClassic Propliner Page:
http://www.calclassic.com

Painted by Dave McQueen (from his DC-6B) and Tom Gibson
Aircraft by Greg Pepper and Tom Gibson
Metal textures by Greg Pepper

Flight dynamics by FSAviator - see Reference file (F10).  This FDE is not designed for AI use - it will not work.  Download AI propliners at http://www.calclassic.com/.

This is the DC-7C Seven Seas Base Pack.  This is a long range aircraft, with navigator and nacelle saddle tanks.  You will add all other DC-7C liveries to this Base Pack installation.  This Base Pack already includes the original Pan American livery.

VERSION 5 FEATURES:

1.  The slow engine start is now the default in FS2004.  If this version crashes your computer, refer to the FS2004 Realistic Engine Start.txt file in the FS2004/Aircraft/DC-7C folder.

2.  The two speed supercharger system is now set up by default.

VERSION 4C FEATURES:

1.  There is now a checklist file available from the kneeboard (F10).

VERSION 4B FEATURES:

1.  The VC now has accurate supercharger levers for the R3350 engines.  These are the levers directly behind the prop pitch box.  Click to go to HIGH, click again to go back to LOW.  The electric supercharger switches have been removed from the VC, since they are correct only for the R2800 engine.  They are still used in the 2D panel, however.

2.  The fuel and crossfeed levers in the VC now work the same as the levers in the 2D panel.  Left click to bring aft, right click to bring forward.  Refer to the DC-7 panel manual for details.

VERSION 4 FEATURES:

1.  All doors in this model are now able to be opened.  It also features airstairs by John MacKay (thanks!) at the passenger door, maintenance stairs at the crew door, and chocks on the wheels.

2.  To display the airstairs, you must apply the parking brake, shut down engines 1 and 2, and open the passenger door using Shift E.

3.  To display the maintenance stairs, you must apply the parking brake, shut down engines 3 and 4, and open the crew door using Shift E 3 (hold down the Shift key and press E, then release both keys and press the number 3 key on the main keyboard).

4.  You can also open the underfloor baggage doors by pressing Shift E 2.  Their main lighting is controlled by the baggage compartment light switch on the overhead panel in the 2D cockpit and the VC.  They will also come on by turning on all the lights with the L key.

5.  To display the chocks, you must apply the parking brake and shut down the engines on that side of the plane.

6.  There is some mesh deformation around the opening doors; I have minimized this as much as I am able (I'm not a GMAX expert).  Thanks to Milton Shupe, Bill Leaming, and others at the FreeFlight Design Shop for help in reducing this.

7.  The colors of the airstairs are controlled by the stairs_t.bmp texture.  It can be night lit using a proper stairs_L.bmp texture, but this has not yet been done.  The stairs_t.bmp file of the PSA livery is plain bare metal, and can be used for any repaints that do not come with a specific stairs texture.

8.  The color of the maintenance stairs and interior cabin is controlled by the Interior.bmp file.  These can be copied to other liveries to get the color of the stairs/interior you want.  The current DC-7/DC-7B stairs colors are:  United yellow, American orange, National gray, Pan American blue.  Interior textures by Manfred Jahn, modified by Frank Gonzalez and Tom Gibson.

FS2004 FEATURE:

1.  Wing Views:  Press Ctrl-Shift-1 and Ctrl-Shift-3 to view the wings from the cockpit, and Ctrl-Shift-7 and Ctrl-Shift-9 to view from the passenger cabin.

OTHER FEATURES:

1.  Real prop reverse (throttle to idle, click reverse lever, power to 30" MAP, allow plane to slow down, throttle to idle to go back to forward thrust)

2.  Contrails whenever you want them (press the I key).

PANEL:

Please download and install the FS2004 United DC-7 Base Pack from www.calclassic.com. which will install the panel automatically.

SOUND:

Please download the FS2004 United DC-7 Base Pack which will install the sounds automatically.


FLIGHT DYNAMICS, FUEL PLANNING, ETC.

Press F10 to bring up FSAviator's Reference file.

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After Lockheed introduced the L1049G "Super G" Constellation for TWA, Pan American needed an aircraft that was able to fly non-stop transatlantic services, even westbound with average winds (their current DC-7B service usually required a stop).  Douglas responded by stretching the fuselage by 40 inches and, more importantly, lengthening the wings by inserting a 5 foot extension at each wing root.  This gave the new DC-7C Seven Seas (in a 
clever pun on "7C") not only more room for fuel, but placed the engines further out on the wing, lessening the noise and vibration of the rather loud Wright R-3350 radials.  More powerful engines of 3400 hp each were fitted to the DC-7C, and all these improvments stretched the range to 5635 miles, allowing non-stop routes never before possible with Douglas aircraft.  The first Seven Seas service was introduced by Pan American on June 1, 1956, and a total of 121 DC-7C's were eventually delivered to the airlines.

The DC-7C went on to fly new non-stop routes across the US, as well as in transatlantic, transpacific, and even Great Circle routes over the North Pole.  Lockheed was forced to play catch up to the DC-7C, and finally developed the L1649A Starliner, which was originally supposed to be a turboprop, but ended up with R-3350's and was slightly slower than the Seven Seas, although it had a slightly greater range.  It was introduced too late for substantial orders, however, and Lockheed lost a lot of money on the project.  In service, the DC-7C was not as reliable as the DC-6 series, and was the last piston-engined Douglas 
airliner model introduced.  In fact, when the last KLM DC-7C was delivered in December 1958, the Boeing 707 was already in service, marking the end of an era.  As soon as the jets were in place the airlines either converted the DC-7C's to freighters, or sold them to second tier operators.  Most DC-7C's did not have long lives, and virtually all have been scrapped.

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NOTE: This plane and many other classic airliners can be 
downloaded free from Tom Gibson's Cal Classic web site at - 
http://www.calclassic.com/ 
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Now the legal stuff:

COPYRIGHT 2019 BY TOM GIBSON, JENS KRISTENSEN, AND GREG PEPPER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

REPAINTS:  REPAINTS ARE ALLOWED WITHOUT FURTHER PERMISSION, BUT WE PREFER THAT THEY ONLY BE UPLOADED TO TOTALLY FREE SITES - I.E. NO CHARGES OR SUBSCRIPTION FEES FOR INCREASED ACCESS.  HOWEVER, IF YOU REPAINT THE PLANE YOU MUST CREDIT ALL OF THE ORIGINAL AUTHORS IN YOUR TEXT FILE AND INCLUDE THIS TEXT FILE.  YOU MUST ALSO REMOVE ANY EMAIL ADDRESSES FOUND IN THIS FILE, AND NOT INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR FILE.  WE DO NOT SUPPORT REPAINTS.  PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR TEXT FILE.

THIS AIRPLANE IS THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR, AND CANNOT BE RE-SOLD OR PACKAGED WITH ANY PRODUCT FOR SALE, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORS.  THIS INCLUDES "FREE" CD COMPILATIONS WITH A CHARGE OF ANY KIND.  THIS IS FREEWARE!!

YOU MAY NOT UPLOAD THIS PLANE TO ANY OTHER SERVER, IT MUST REMAIN ON THE ORIGINAL SERVER.

THIS FILE ARCHIVE OR ANY REPAINTS MUST NOT BE UPLOADED TO A SITE OR LOCATION THAT CLAIMS ANY SORT OF COPYRIGHT ON THE FILE; COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR.  UPLOADING OF THIS FILE TO SUCH A SITE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORS TO VIOLATE THESE TERMS BY THAT SITE. 

THIS FILE ARCHIVE MUST REMAIN INTACT; YOU MAY NOT REMOVE OR UPLOAD PARTS OF THIS ARCHIVE.  THIS ENTIRE TEXT FILE MUST BE INCLUDED IN ANY DISTRIBUTION.  

THE AUTHORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR AS A RESULT OF USING THESE PRODUCTS.  YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF USE.

