The T-37 Tweet is a twin-engine, two-seat, side-by-side, primary military training jet designed by Cessna. It was developed in the 1950s, and was put into service in June 1956. Three versions existed. The T-37B succeeded the T-37A, with 10% more powerful engines and improved avionics. The T-37As were then modified into T-37Bs. Version C could carry a light armament intended for training and additional wingtips tanks, and saw its increased mass.
The T-37 has a wingspan of 33 ft 99 in. Its landing gear is retractable, and the front wheel is steered by hydraulics connected to the rudder. It is powered by two CONTINENTAL-Teledyne J69T25 engines, built under TURBOMECA license, from the Marboré II which fitted French training aircraft Fouga Magister.
The maximum thrust per engine is 4560N.
The maximum level speed is 369 KTAS.
The VNE is 415 kts or Mach 0.7 and the cruising speed just over 300 KTAS.
The Cessna T-37 was used in about twenty countries, and only Pakistan seems to still use it.
A four seater prototype derived from the T-37 was developped for civilian market, but never saw production, and a ground attack aicraft, the A-37 Dragonfly, was developped and built during Vietnam war.
This mod features
- 4 liveries
- a painting kit (tell me if you need something more)
- a small documentation
some failure systems (engine, canopy, landing lights) and visual effects (smoke and engine fire)
Thanks :
- Jonx Simulations : if you want to start a project, check his youtube channel
- Touching Clouds : if you want to create special effects, check his tutorials on youtube
- All those who share their long acquired experience on making aircrafts, in forums like FSDeveloper.com or Pilote-Virtuel.com (in french), there are many names but they will recognize themselves as they know what they bring to the community
- Nokeel and Mac, who tested beta version and gave me some very useful feedback
-
Avallillo, former T-37 pilot, for providing POH data and advice.
-
Screwloose, JayLSmith, former T-37 pilots.
- Everyone who will now give me some constructive feedback
- Everyone who will now draw some new liveries
Credits :
- PBR materials (most edited to fit aircraft needs) : ambientcg.com and cgbookcase.com under Creative Commons licence CC0
- VR Camera by Scorpionbc
Version 1.1.1 :
- New whistling sound ; very audible at low revs.
- Although this is more sounding like real aircraft, some people may prefer something of lower volume. So, dive into folders : ...\vrilleaplat-cessna-t-37\SimObjects\Airplanes\vrilleaplat-cessna-t37\sound
- There, you will find two subfolders named DefaultSound and LowSound. Copy the sound.xml file in LowSound folder and paste it into sound folder, instead of the existing sound.xml file.
- These turbine sound settings in LowSound allow to lower turbine volume without tuning other sounds. However, do not expect something as quiet as a CJ4.
- Landing gear doors are now slower, though still being quick. They are quick on real aircraft.
- Altimeter needle is now scaled every 100 feet.
- Fuel gauge needle is now much slower.
- The so called "toilet bowl" in CDI instrument is now a bit bigger, and - I hope - points to the good direction
- Marker light is operational, although there are very few marker beacons.
- The engine spool-up is much slower, especially at low RPM.
- Those who land without air brake and with low RPM should change their method if they don't want to crash in case of go-around.
- The way this has been achieved (engine files modifications and additionnal aircraft behaviour coding) leads to a minor flaw : when pushing throttle from idle to partial setting, like 50%, the engines RPM climb to a higher value than expected for a short moment before coming down to the desired value.
- The plane will certainly be a little more demanding on computing ressources because this part of the code requires to be updated 50 times per second, compared to other custom systems which are updated 5 times per second.
- Scratches on the canopy are the same but attenuated.
- VR Camera fix by scorpionbc has been integrated to the addon. Thanks to him !
- Quick cockpit cameras Left/Right/Up/Rear should be now fixed
- Various minor things
Version 1.2. :
- Aircraft has been slowed down by changing some engine characteristics and increasing parasite drag. Though not exact, the speed is now rather consistent with POH data.
- Airbrake button animation has been fixed. (was inverted)
- Cutoff valves are open by default, so starter would no more stick to 20% without combustion igniting.
- Clickable lights : Canopy lock, Fuel boost pump, Take off trim, Landing gear state lights
- Added glide slope to CDI instrument (ILS frequency only).
- Sounds are now different between exterior / interior with canopy opened, and interior with canopy closed. The intention is to simulate ear protection helmet when flying the aircraft from cockpit view.
The "lowsound" version sound.xml only lowers interior sounds, the exterior sounds are the same as default. Be warned. - Ripping off canopy leads to turbulence, disturbing pitch and yaw. There is also a speed loss.
- Left rudder setting crank can be clicked to invert rudder pedal animation
- Minor improvements.
Version 1.2.1. :
- Fixed mirrors animation (not following the canopy)
- Fixed jetwhine exterior sound interrupting
- Added passing light blinking when gear down and locked
- Fixed CDI "Toilet bowl" pointing to 0 when using TACAN navigation
- Landing gear handle opacity raised to 95%
Version 1.3. :
- Shadows are no more flickering under bright sun
- Magnetic compass animated by Asobo template, should behave the same way as standard aircrafts' compass.
- Updated DME digital display.
- Canopy system directly connected to battery, and not to battery bus.
- Hyd & oil pressure gauges plugged to AC.
- Thrust deflector retracted when engine throttle in cutoff position.
- Thrust deflector efficiency increased : I had read a 10% loss, believing it was a 10% thrust loss, but in fact it's equivalent to a 10% RPM loss. So it's rather a 30% thrust loss.
Unprocessed requests :
- Checklist : there is a starting procedure in the documentation. To me, having a checklist in game is not urgent, once you have flown the aircraft some times you know it better and don't use those checklists any more. That said, not urgent doesn't mean rejected.
- Inverted pitch trim when using an axis. I don't know how to fix it ; same issue with some other aircrafts, including some ASOBO / Microsoft products
This mod is exclusively distributed for free.
You don't have right to redistribute this mod.
User Reviews
Review data
Partagez vos réflexions
Si vous avez utilisé cet add-on, partagez vos réflexions avec les autres pilotes.
Écrire un commentaireVrilleAPlat
I can pin the first comment of discussion, but not other comment or the whole discussion.
From N38TM, who did'nt receive the VOR signal :
simtech209
VrilleAPlat: A thousand thanks for a great airplane. I have all of the big name planes that I occasionally fly, but my daily flying bug is scratched by this little jewel. It has most everything a casual flyer would want: Good flight manners, respectable speed and excellent visibility and reasonable ground and flight handling. (P.S. I also slipped in a little AP mod that works most of the time. Except it gets squirrely about 250 kts.) Excellent job and I also must commend that, to my knowledge, you're the only one that has incorporated the coveted : " click on seat, avatar appears". Such a joy..!! I wish all developers would do that. Anyway, super job.. really appreciate it. Thank you.
muddyoioi
This is quite brilliant. Thanks for the plane.
sprpmp1069
first off i think you made a beautiful addon and a plane i have wanterd for years i know you wanted to keep it super original but could you tell me how to program one into it ive tried autopilot 1 in the systems .cfg i have a toddler and by time i get up to get her and get back ive already crashed would be much appreciated thanks
VrilleAPlat 8 day(s) ago
I've never set up an autopilot, so it's not something I know well. Autopilot is not a simple thing you can explain shortly, like everything in MSFS aircraft creation.
You can read the SDK page here, [Autopilot] section : https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Content_Configuration/SimObjects/Aircraft_SimO/systems_cfg.htm
The main difficulty is probably the P.I.D settings.
Goog luck !
sprpmp1069 19 hour(s) ago
thank you very much once agaiun beautiful addon you made
LCMoore
This is an excellent freeware plane that is an absolute joy to fly. I remember seeing these planes and the A-37 Super tweet at Pt. Magu airbase as a kid. Although the turbine shrill that gives the plane its name is a bit ear-piercing there is the optional Cessna T-37B Tweet (Noise Suppression Kit) for Microsoft Flight Simulator @ Flightsim.to add-ons that can be installed after the latest update. Thank you for this fantastic little jet.
simuk123
Firstly thank you very much for this aircraft. I have a question, which would be best cruising RPM and Alt. for this plane? I read somewhere 20K feet @70% throttle but seems to get a little unstable at that for me (starts to rock).
VrilleAPlat 8 day(s) ago
The engines are too weak to maintain enough speed at 70% RPM and 20k feet. Try to increase RPM or reduce altitude. The lowest RPM is not always the best way to fly the longest distance, as the fluel flow to thrust ratio is better at 90% RPM than 60% RPM as an example. The highest RPM (and speed) is not the best because of friction, of course. The best speed is not that easy to find.
The pilot's flight manual contains a diagram, which links aircraft mass (including remaining fuel), altitude, fuel flow, nautical miles per pound, true air speed, flight time and fuel required quantity. It's very complex and should be re-evaluated as fuel is burned and aircraft mass decreases.
More : you should consider wind. Sometimes it's better to fly at low altitude with low speed wind than high altitude with high speed wind, when wind comes in front of you.
Of course, my flight model and engine configuration can't be exact, and will never match the real T-37B. It's a hard thing to do when you have real performances and the manual's graph, it's a harder thing when the simulated aircraft is not exact, and you can't rely on the graph.
simuk123 8 day(s) ago
Thank you for the explanation.
Captthud
Positively stunning aircraft I have been flight simming for close to 40 years now maybe 41 lol no matter, and it's rare to find a flight model as well done as this one is, and have it be freeware as well Thank you for your efforts.
ps. you could add a key stroke only auto pilot just because it's almost imposable to trim any plane in flight sim for hands off flight, there are some exceptions to that but they are few. Thank You again
VrilleAPlat 8 day(s) ago
Adding an autopilot is not a 1 hour work. It's complicated and must be tuned for each aircraft unless you are very very lucky and find an Asobo aircraft's autopilot you can just copy and paste. For now I prefer spending time on the A-37.
bluegolf24
Fantastic! But I found no way to get the fuel cutoff working...
VrilleAPlat 13 day(s) ago
Maybe you have the same issue :
https://flightsim.to/file/52043/cessna-t-37b-tweet/405076
I have no other solution now.
If you're not using the legacy mode, right clicking on the instructor's throttles should cut the engines off.
AccAkut
Just noticed something, when you pull full elevator, ailerons or rudder, the animation resets to zero deflection when I hold the stick at 100% Is this just an error on my end?
edit: okay its not just visuals, its how the control inputs are taken too, twitchy without end
Bomb787 23 day(s) ago
Make sure you've removed the control lock
AccAkut 23 day(s) ago
Ah, yeah that was it, found the manual explaining why/how I could still move the stick with that thing on. Thanks!
mjoliver
Superb! Thank you. Just one thing: at loading the 2D view is down, left and not centered on the panel/stick. This is not a problem in VR as the view centres properly.
VrilleAPlat 24 day(s) ago
Can you send me a screenshot showing the problem ?
mjoliver 24 day(s) ago
Hi VrilleAPlat: Screenshot PM'd to you.
Paul_K
Congratulations on fixing the flickering inside the VC. Very nice indeed - well done! 😊
flusiflo
great aircraft thanks. one question. why is the trim axis reversed?
VrilleAPlat 27 day(s) ago
It's reversed if you are using an axis to set your trim. Some planes have this problem, some don't have it.
https://community.justflight.com/topic/2678/elevator-trim-axis-reversed
There is a solution somewhere, but I don't have found it yet.
Danko05
Great great amazing work, thank you very much for sharing this amazing plane with all of us, really, you given us a superior plane to many paywares.
It is now among the best freeware available to MSFS.
REDMAN0318
This may have been addressed already but I can't get the fuel gauge to work. I've been keeping up with all the updates but still no good.
VrilleAPlat 28 day(s) ago
Have you set the inverter switch to "main" ? This instrument requires AC power.
REDMAN0318 27 day(s) ago
Yep that was it. Thanks
Greazer
Champion!
Mantis26
Thank you for this excellent addition to the sim.
LooseCabouse
Hey love the aircraft are you going to do any other Versions of this jet we got 1 here in Aus with Wing Tanks and tanks under wings just seeing what you are going to do with it
OperatorVulpes
The best freeware mod I have ever seen. Not only is this flight model pretty good, it's immersive and easy to get into. I cannot wait to see teh A-37 be made, or more future projects from the creator!
vsi
Wirklich genial. Wem sein Geld für die überteuerte Hawk T1/A von Justflight zu schade ist, bekommt hier eine exzellente Top Freeware. Über 6 Jahre Flugsimulator Erfahrung mit vielen teuren Fehlkäufen, da Addon Hersteller bewußt Schwächen und mangelnde Systemtiefe verschweigen. Vorsicht auch vor Bewertungen im Simmarket, die kritische Bewertungen nicht veröffentlichen. Was Flugzeuge betrifft ist im MSFS 2020 momentan ausschließlich PMDG der einzig korrekte Anbieter.
Alles andere ist Geld Verschwendung. Gilt auch für den Overhaul Analog Anbieter,
da der Autopilot nicht mit überarbeitet wird und mit desem dann keine Radiale abgeflogen werden können, von einer ILS Landung ganz zu schweigen. Und auf A2A müssen wir noch etwas warten.
Danke nochmals für diese tolle Freeware
timoteo
I don't really fly jets, but I love this aircraft already. It's sporty, slows down quickly on approach, and has decent visibility. It's also fast enough to be exciting, but slow enough to still be kind on the framerate during take off and landing, and at low altitudes. Well done! I would have gladly paid for this and will donate if possible. Amazing freeware. Thank you for gifting us this fantastic cruiser.
StratoArt
VrilleAPlat 1 month(s) ago
The pilots aren't provided with the T-37, they are MSFS standard pilots.
Unfortunately, the T-37 almost reaches the texture limit permitted by MSFS. At one point I was forced to lower some texture definitions and materials number, because new materials became pink checkers. Maybe your video card has too limited VRAM ?
As a comparison, my card has 6GB VRAM and it's enough to get correct textures.
StratoArt 1 month(s) ago
Thanks for the reply. VRAM isn't the issue, I have 8GB VRAM, but I'll keep looking into what the issue could be.