This course is a tribute to my late father Squadron Leader Harold Hesketh who was an RAF Officer and Navigator on the Canberra bomber. He first flew the Canberra on 14th June 1954 from RAF Wittering with pilot Flying officer Gordon. So starting in Wittering I decided to take this long serving classic aircraft around the world on tour in VR.

If I crash and die I will end the tour there I won't cheat and pretend it did not happen. I actually completed the lap in an easterly direction in just over 40 hours.

The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation jet powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid-to-late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilland Mosquito. Among the performance requirements for the type was the demand for an outstanding high-altitude bombing capability and high speed. These were partly accomplished by making use of newly developed jet propulsion technology. When the Canberra was introduced to service with the Royal Air Force in May 1951, it became the service's first jet-powered bomber.

Throughout most of the 1950s, the Canberra could fly at a higher altitude than any other aircraft in the world. In 1957, a Canberra established a world altitude record of 70,310 feet (21,430 m). In February 1951 it became the first jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight.

Due to its ability to evade the early jet interceptor aircraft and its significant performance advancement over contemporary piston engine bombers, the Canberra became a popular aircraft on the export market, being procured for service in the air forces of many nations both inside and outside of the Commonwealth. It was also licence-produced in Australia by the Government Aircraft Factories and in the US by Martin as the B-57 Canberra.

In addition to being a tactical nuclear strike aircraft, the Canberra proved to be highly adaptable, serving in varied roles such as tactical bombing and photographic and electronic reconnaissance. The Canberra served in the Suez Crisis, Vietnam War, Falklands Conflict, Indo-Pakistani wars and numerous African conflicts.

The Canberra had a lengthy service life, serving for more than 50 years with some operators. In June 2006, the RAF retired the last of its Canberras some 57 years after its first flight. Three of the Martin B-57 variant remain in service, performing meteorological and re-entry tracking work for NASA.

Over 1,300 were built in UK and under licence in various countries overseas. It was built in 27 versions that equipped a total of 35 RAF squadrons and was exported to more than 15 countries.

XPlane:

The aircraft has a completely new 3d exterior model, has a reasonably representative 3d cockpit, FMOD sounds and lots of animations.

The weapons pack a punch – with 4 * 20mm Hispano cannons in a belly Gun Pack, 3 * 500lb bombs in the bomb bay and 2 * 1000lb bombs under wing. As a quirky alternative there are also 2 underwing Matra SNEB systems each with 18 rockets. By default the aircraft shows underwing 1000lb bombs – if the rockets are armed then the bombs are hidden showing the Matra Pods (in real life the Gun Pack + Matra SNEB was a rare combination – but its fun to have in XP).

With all this ordinance and the wing tip tanks the aircraft is quite heavy at takeoff – so if you want a more nimble flight I suggest drop the tanks and the bombs early on……

The B(I)8 had a fixed canopy – so no open switch – but if you use the keyboard canopy command it will open – as will the crew hatch. Nice for sitting around at your favourite airfield.

Start up is easy – flip on the fuel switches on the right side under the starter buttons then press the starter…. Off the switches to shut down. The B(I)8 was started by charge cartridges (3) in the nose of each engine – press the starter – the cartridges fire with a bang and smoke comes from the 3 cartridge vents…

Take off will a little flap. Landing needs a bit of flap and say 170knots – and use the speed-brakes if you feel the need.

The scope to the mid right in the cockpit is an Orange Putter (no not a mistake) – it was a rear view anti-attack radar system, this as the visual rear view was so poor. As we don’t have that in XP I just added a normal radar system.

The aircraft runs well in AI - so with FMOD you can fill your local airport with noisy Canberras.

There are 9 liveries included for 3, 16, 59 and 88 Squadrons + a shark mouth 16 Squadron, a RNZAF aircraft, a SAAF aircraft and WT333 in Anti-Flash White used by the AWRE in Woomera, Australia.

PM me for a Paint Kit.

Enjoy

(And - thank you Sean McLeod / Jacques Brault for the initial running start at the flight model and the XPFR Team for the pilot.)

The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation jet powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid-to-late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilland Mosquito fast bomber. Among the performance requirements for the type was the demand for an outstanding high-altitude bombing capability and high speed. These were partly accomplished by making use of newly developed jet propulsion technology. When the Canberra was introduced to service with the Royal Air Force (RAF), the type's first operator, in May 1951, it became the service's first jet-powered bomber.

Throughout most of the 1950s, the Canberra could fly at a higher altitude than any other aircraft in the world. In 1957, a Canberra established a world altitude record of 70,310 feet (21,430 m). In February 1951, another Canberra set another world record when it became the first jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight. Due to its ability to evade the early jet interceptor aircraft and its significant performance advancement over contemporary piston-engined bombers, the Canberra became a popular aircraft on the export market, being procured for service in the air forces of many nations both inside and outside of the Commonwealth of Nations. The type was also licence-produced in Australia by the Government Aircraft Factories and in the US by Martin as the B-57 Canberra. The latter produced both the slightly modified B-57A Canberra and the significantly updated B-57B.

In addition to being a tactical nuclear strike aircraft, the Canberra proved to be highly adaptable, serving in varied roles such as tactical bombing and photographic and electronic reconnaissance. Canberras served in the Suez Crisis, Vietnam War, Falklands War, Indo-Pakistani wars and numerous African conflicts. In several wars, each of the opposing sides had Canberras in their air forces.

The Canberra had a lengthy service life, serving for more than 50 years with some operators. In June 2006, the RAF retired the last of its Canberras, 57 years after its first flight. Three of the Martin B-57 variant remain in service, performing meteorological and reentry tracking work for NASA, as well as providing electronic communication (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node or BACN) testing for deployment to Afghanistan.