[ MSFS2020 | VATSIM ] the Blackbird (MilViz) Corsair, and Ocean City Maryland Google Earth Scenery!

Tonight was a bit of a different look for our stream! Just four days shy of Armed Forces Day in the United States, and one month exactly to go before the 2nd Annual Virtual USA Flying Club Airshow, we figured it was a ripe opportunity to get some practice in for our demonstration in the Blackbird (AKA MilViz) FG-1D Corsair! We've chosen the Corsair as a tribute to my very own grandfather, who flew the type in World War II as part of his service the US Navy -- his uniform hat and leather flight helmet are visible over my right shoulder during the livestreams!
But before heading out to Galesburg, Illinois to work on our routine, we also wanted to check out a freeware scenery enhancement that a friend had pointed us toward in one of our Discord communities. The modification is a derivative of Google Earth data, imagery, and objects, and it enhances my real-life stomping grounds of Ocean City, Maryland! The city already looks pretty great in the stock scenery, but the demo video we'd been pointed to on UA-cam made my head explode. I had to see it in the sim for myself. My big fear was that it would drag my four-year-old system to a crawl. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it handled the enhancement perfectly smoothly!
The scenery is SO good that we could easily identify many of the iconic hotels and large buildings throughout the town, with no problem whatsoever. The side of the Holiday Inn, which serves as show center for Ocean City's own airshow, was plainly visible and marked with its trademark logo. The Convention Center looked spot-on from both front and bayside. The "Tidal Wave" roller coaster was represented, as was the Ocean City Eye and the Trimpers' Ferris Wheel on the Pier. We even took a spin by the Carousel Hotel and could plainly see the vertical lettering down the front spelling out "C-A-R-O-U-S-E-L".
After our return to Ocean City Municipal (KOXB) it was time to head out to Galesburg (KGBG) to make a handful of run-throughs of our airshow demo! After pruning the routine down to keep it within the time limits, the maneuvers are -- (1) takeoff, (2) high-speed low pass, (3) double-aileron-roll, (4) high-speed low inverted pass, (5) vertical loop, (6) vertical aileron roll and power-on stall, and (7) carrier break and landing.
Our first attempt was pretty disastrous, as I failed to keep the nose elevated through the double-aileron roll, and tumbled across the ground. However, our subsequent tries all worked out fairly well. There was one attempt in which we found ourselves off-line pretty consistently -- which I think later I figured out was due to a slight bit of right rudder throughout the reversal maneuvers. There was another in which we blew our engine going into the vertical loop, but fortunately because we had all that extra height, we had no trouble retuning to the runway for a dead-stick landing. (In fact, sadly enough, that one was our best landing of the evening!) But most of the other run-throughs were pretty passable, and I concluded two in particular by saying "If that's how I do it next month, I'll be happy!" -- Watch live at / slantalphaadventures