Taog’s Hangar Alouette III for MSFS in VR
I am not much for buying new aircraft for MSFS these days, but I could not resist buying the helicopter from Taog’s Hangar, the venerable Alouette III, which I had the chance to see in action, in RL, many times.
One good reason, for me, to buy the Alouette III was the fact that it is a bit like what the Huey is for the Americans. If you live in Portugal, the Aérospatiale Alouette III light utility helicopters are part of your life story. The aircraft was used in Portugal from 1963 until 2020, when it retired from service. That’s 57 years of service, during which the Portuguese AirForce (PoAF) relocated the helicopters to different airbases. Used in everything from combat in Africa to rescue missions or as part of the United Nations missions in East Timor between 2000 and 2002, the Alouette III was also used by an aerobatic team, Rotores de Portugal, created in 1976 to celebrate the Portuguese Air Force’s 24th anniversary air show at Sintra Air Base that same year.
It’s as part of Rotores de Portugal aerobatic team that I got to know the Alouette III helicopter better. As photographer and executive editor of a professional pilots magazine in the period between 2000 and 2008 I had the chance to photograph the Alouette III at a variety of aerobatic shows across Portugal, especially after the the fifty-third anniversary of the Air Force, in 2005, when the team was reactivated and flew with a new livery scheme that would be kept even after 2010, when the Rotores de Portugal stopped performing at airshows.
What is real what is from the sim?
The images published here, from my archive, show the Alouette III with the Rotores de Portugal livery, which is different from the two liveries present in Taog’s Hangar Alouette III for MSFS. Those familiar with airshows and plane spotting will, no doubt, know some of the places shown in the two sets of photographs published here. One important note here about how the simulation and this recreation of the Alouette III by Taog’s Hangar recreates reality: the pair of images shown here reveals how it may be difficult, sometimes, to know what is from the sim or fom RL.
Although one of the liveries used in the simulation has the national colours, it’s different from this one, so I hope to see someone creating the specific Rotores de Portugal livery, as this helicopter deserves to be flown in group, maybe trying to execute the same aerobatic displays that made the Rotores de Portugal team so popular both in Portugal and abroad. And, if I may ask, having the option to use smoke would be the cherry on top of the cake.
What about performance in VR?
It’s easy to understand, now, why I could not resist buying the Alouette III. I’ve sat inside their cockpits in RL, I’ve photographed their unique coreographychoreography, talked with the pilots that made these machines dance. As helicopters go, I like the Huey in DCS, the Bell 47G-2 for MSFS and now the Alouette III. All of them are “old time machines” and that’s something I tend to appreciate. I’ve played with other helicopters, but there is something special about these models that attracts me to them as a moth is attracted to light.
After reading the review at HeliSimmer I believed I could fork out the money for this experience, but I must admit I was a bit afraid as there was no reference to its behavior in VR, and that’s how I fly. The manual, the first thing I checked after downloading the product (which is not refundable) noted that there are problems with VR positioning that the author will resolve in the future. It was a disappointment and I prepared for the worst…
Fortunately, it’s possible to adjust the pilot’s position in the cockpit by picking the right keys in MSFS, which I transposed to my HOTAS, and It did not take long to be able to fly. I started in Juneau, Alaska, which is an area I like to use to test aircraft and gliders, but the scenery I bought from Orbx is not working as it should. This is one problem with some external sceneries for MSFS: they don’t get the love they need, and you end paying for something that ends broken and unusable. I’ve tried everything Orbx suggests but I keep getting tiles breaking and updating and other graphic glitches. Please don’t tell me it’s my machine, it’s a 9700K with a RTX 4090 and 32GB fast memory running MSFS from NVMe…
The Alouette III needs some… smoke
So, I went to Norway — Ørsta–Volda Airport, code ENOV — which gives me an area of mountains and valleys… and is working fine, to try the Alouette III. Great flying, and the precision from my new HOTAS system — VKB hardware — makes flying helicopters easier than ever. The Alouette III is a nimble machine, not as stable as some modern helicopters but not as hard to keep straight as the Bell 47G-2. It will take time to get to learn how to better handle it, but that’s part of the fun, and the reason why we buy these things, isn’t it?
As I was eager to try the helicopter at locations where I saw the real Alouette III from Rotores de Portugal perform their air displays, I moved to Santa Cruz, where I saw them performing and captured some of the most exciting images, like the one over the beach… now you know why I would like to have smoke on Taog’s Hangar Alouette III!
From Santa Cruz (which is not represented as the real airfield) I flew down the coast, only to discover that although the key geographic elements are there, things like Cabo da Roca — which is the most western point in continental Europe) do not look like in RL. Even the Pena Palace, which is well represented, appears now amidst trees that are not there in real life. But I digress…
For a review of the Alouette III, check HeliSimmer’s article, which has all the information you need. As for Virtual Reality, if you use it, the Alouette III works just fine, although you’ll have to adjust the pilot’s position. Once that’s done the helicopter is a great flying platform to fly around and enjoy the landscape… in Virtual Reality. It’s a beast you’ll need to learn to tame, but if you like those machines from the past, this is a nice addition to your hangar.
Let me end as I started: “I am not much for buying new aircraft for MSFS these days… unless they offer something out of the ordinary”. Now, let me just start the engine and go on a new tour…
