There are some funnies such as the way that if you use the rudder on takeoff to try and straighten up, you end up skidding at an angle to your line of travel, accompanied by loud tyre screeching noises but by and large, the F51 flight model is more than acceptable. Though perhaps not quite up to the standards of the very best flight models available (I tend to use Warbirds as my yardstick here though I know others would disagree), it is more than sufficient to prove a challenge to the player and trying to hold the Mustang straight on takeoff to avoid veering into your wingman is no easy task. The Mig Alley F51 flight model is much better. Torque effects were also noticeable by their absence. One of the things that really annoyed me about the aforementioned Sabre Ace was that that the tail draggers modelled in that sim all seemed to have an invisible nose wheel which prevented the aircraft from nosing over, no matter what the provocation. The flight model of a piston engine tail dragger is a very different creature from that of a jet and there is always the danger that any sim which tries to model both runs the risk of ending up with a curate's egg of a model which in trying to satisfy both criteria ends up adequately modelling neither. It might have been simpler for Rowan if they had missed out the F51 and concentrated on the jets. The Mustang represents just about the pinnacle of piston engine design, the F80 and F84 represent an intermediate stage with the new jet engines installed in straight winged airframes which didn't show many advances over those which had fought in World War II and finally the Mig and the F86 representing the designer's first efforts to get to grips with the possibilities afforded by swept wings and more powerful engines. This selection forms an interesting record of the development of fighter aircraft. In addition, three different marks of the F86 and two of the Mig 15 are modelled. Fortunately, Mig Alley wasted no time in redeeming itself.įor the record, Mig Alley gives you the chance to fly 5 aircraft, the F51 Mustang, the F80 Shooting Star, the F84 Thunderjet, the F86 Sabre and the Mig15. For some reason, I had dreams in my head of flying Fairey Fireflies off RN carriers and prowling the skies in Gloster Meteors and the reality of the sim, which concentrates on US air activity with a Mig 15 thrown in to give players a chance to settle once and for all the argument over which was better, the Mig or the Sabre, seemed mainstream in comparison. My first impressions of Mig Alley were slightly disappointing. Have Rowan finally managed to do it justice? Wot? No Corsair? Virgin had a crack at the same subject almost two years ago with Sabre Ace - Conflict Over Korea and while that title had one or two problems, it certainly showed just how much potential the subject had. This isn't the first Korean War sim we've seen of course. Now it seems, they are showing signs of turning mainstream for their new sim, Mig Alley is set in what is becoming one of the more popular pages in the sim publisher's atlas, Korea. From the skies of Vietnam ( Flight of the Intruder) to the beachheads of WWII Europe( Overlord) via the fields of Flanders ( DawnPatrol and the various incarnations of Flying Corps), not forgetting an exceedingly weird excursion into the realms of fantasy ( Airpower), they have never tended to model the obvious or common. Rowan have never been a company to shrink from simulating unusual subjects.
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