North American Aviation developed the Navion just after the war to fill what was expected to be a huge surge in civilian aviation. In the end, the USAAF ended up ordering a number for transport and liaison purposes. In 1948 Ryan took over production until the mid 1950s when TUSCO took them over (Post war aviation industry was a little turbulent everywhere apparently) The differences between pre war civilian aircraft and post war civilian aircraft become obvious when you compare Piper Cubs and Aeroncas to Navions and Beech Bonanzas... All metal construction, hydraulics, retractable gear etc.
vFlyteAir's Navion was once payware but has now been made freeware and by crikey it's good. Definitely one of the best free GA aircraft out there. If you do download it there are a couple of things to note. RTFM... there are a couple of systems that are different to anything else that I have flown. There is a slight flickering in the reflection of the gauges inside and there is a slight loop in the sound at high power settings. Not enough to put most people off.
I flew from Stewart (CZST) in BC to Ketchican (PAKT) in Alaska. A trip of only around 50nm. At first I didn't even think that Ketchican was in a different country, it was only when I was tuning in the VOR that I realised... good thing I brought my passport...
Backtracking down the sloped runway at Stewart.
Climbing out. Performance isn't too bad but it's no rocket...
Default AviTab integration for your maps and stuff.
Awesome part of the world to fly around.
Approach to Ketchican. The airport and the town are separated and ferry services run between.
Default scenery not terrible. There is some pretty good payware scenery which I might get at some stage.
