| Airmail Pilot | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Instant Software [1] |
| Publisher(s) | Instant Software [2] |
| Platform(s) | TRS-80, TI-99/4A [3] |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Flight simulator |
Airmail Pilot is a video game published in 1979 by Instant Software, in which the player pilots a Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" biplane carrying mail from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago. [5] [6] [7]
The game begins with an advertisement attributed to an 18 July 1922 issue of the Chicago Sun which reads: "Wanted: Airmail pilot for the Columbus to Chicago run. Must be willing to fly in every type of weather. Only the foolhardy need apply." The player pilots a Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" biplane carrying mail from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago, via Dayton, Indianapolis, and Logansport.
Bruce Campbell reviewed Airmail Pilot in The Space Gamer No. 36. [5] Campbell commented that "If you are looking for a realistic airflight simulation, Airmail Pilot is not for you. Since its price is on the lower end of the software spectrum, I do recommend it for those looking for a quick, easy, enjoyable game with limited staying power." [5] Another reviewer from Moves commented, "It can be fun and amusing, but it is not designed to hold an adult's attention for very long." [8]
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" continued after World War I as a civil aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. The associated video display controller provides color graphics and sprite support which were only comparable with those of the Atari 400 and 800 released a month after the TI-99/4.
The Curtiss OX-5 was an early V-8 American liquid-cooled aircraft engine built by Curtiss. It was the first American-designed aircraft engine to enter mass production, although it was considered obsolete when it did so in 1917. It nevertheless found widespread use on a number of aircraft, perhaps the most famous being the JN-4 "Jenny". Some 12,600 units were built through early 1919. The wide availability of the engine in the surplus market made it common until the 1930s, although it was considered unreliable for most of its service life.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
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