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    Steel Fury - the British are coming!
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    A new feature for the Steel Tank Add-on mod - British tank missions for North West Europe, 1944-45!     Not a mission report, strictly speaking, this is more a quick look at the mission that will feature in the first instalment of STA-Britpack. Which is what, exactly? Well it's inspired by Aldo's 'Brit44' mod for Panzer Elite, still a top tanksim, 17 years after release. Brit44 swapped for PE's stock US vehicles a good range of British AFVs, including Sherman, Cromwell and Churchill tanks. The missions were still the stock ones on the stock maps for the US Army's St Lo sector. But at last, we could try our hands against the 'Mark IVs', Panthers and Tigers with the thick-skinned Churchills, the speedy Cromwells or if in a Sherman, one with a big 17 Pounder gun, of the sort that seems to have brought panzer ace Michael Wittmann's career to a firey end.   Steel Fury of course started life as a strictly Eastern Front tanksim, and limited to the battle whose name it bore - Kharkov 1942. But the modders soon added vehicles, theatres and missions, to the extent that you can now fight in Africa and NW Europe too. Below is a British Churchill in Tunisia; and below that, some of Will 73's US Shermans in a mission by Lockie based on the forest ambush scene from the movie 'Fury'. [EDIT, Feb 2016 - a CombatAce mission report on this is now online, here]       Naturally, you will already know all of this, if you keep a weather eye upon the STA forums. But if you don't, well, now you know!   With the fairly recent addition of a Sherman Firefly - the British 17 Pdr variant - we now have a good selection of British Army AFVs suitable for missions set in and beyond the Normandy campaign - although the only Churchill is still the earlier MkIII. And did I mention already there's a Firefly...     ...plus, for the 75mm gun variants, we now have an M4A1, distinguished by its rounded, cast hull...     ...and an M4A2, a diesel-engined type, with the more common angular, welded hull, here with the tank commander rather rashly 'standing tall'...     ...and there's a Cromwell, a 'cruiser' tank whose Steel Fury incarnation has an interesting and authentic camo net camouflage option...     Also, we have British versions of the US M3 half-track and M5 'Honey' or Stuart light tank, and some genuine Made-in-Britain kit like a '3-tonner' truck, 6 and 17 Pounder towed anti-tank guns, a 25 Pdr gun-howitzer, and the distinctive Universal Carrier aka Bren Carrier, a little multi-purpose AFV which was used throughout the war...     Sadly, there are few missions to take advantage of all this nice kit, and what there is, mainly involves reducing it to shell-shot hulks, burning or otherwise...     So, having finally cut my teeth with the Steel Fury Mission Editor, making some contributions to the upcoming 'Schuzle's Diary' SP gun campaign, I thought I might try to do something about that. Phase 1 of STA-Britpak is the first result - a single British Army Normandy mission, and a set of supporting file modifications which do useful things like add to the existing 3-tank platoons, a 4-tank option for British medium tanks, with either three Cromwells or Shermans, and a Firefly; and lower the height of the tank commander and loader figures, so that they are just heads out of the hatch when opened up, instead of standing tall like they are on a parade. Also, there will be a voice pack, which will, as the term suggests, add British-accented voices.   The single mission is a follow-on of sorts to the two Jagdpanther missions I made for the aforementioned German campaign; like them, it's using the existing Normandy map based on Villers Bocage (made by Deviator, with input from Lockie), but re-labelled to represent the area around Hill 226 and Saint-Martin-des-Besaces, where some tough fighting took place during the Operation Bluecoat offensive.   For this mission, set on 31 July 1944, the player is a Troop (platoon) Leader in the 23rd Hussars, a cavalry regiment which, being formed during World War 2, never went to war on horses! It's the day after the Jagdpanthers of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 654 famously mauled the Churchills of the Scots Guards on Hill 226. Now, the Germans are pulling back to more defensible positions nearer Vire, and your unit, 'A' Squadron, has been tasked with clearing a German rearguard out of St Martin. Though not an actual historical mission, it's based on the sort of battles that the Hussars fought about this time, during Bluecoat.   A feature of this mission - and the others that will hopefully join it, in subsequent phases - is that instead of the common Steel Fury style of 'briefing' delivered to the player alone, the mission will begin with orders, given as if at an 'O' Group by the player's unit commander, to the player and all the other participating sub-unit commanders. These orders, though simplified, will be in the authentic British WW2 format, which was functionally the same as the NATO format I learned in the 1970s.   Units will be deployed in recognisable formations and will have HQ units, present on the battlefield and making themselves 'heard' on the radio net (seen, actually, as scripted radio messages appear as subtitles). The mission scripting will also endeavour to have the units operate to the plan described in the orders, using something approximating to realistic company-level tactics.   The 23rd Hussars attack on St Martin begins with 'A' Squadron formed up in a field, facing the objective, which is on the other side of several hedgerows running roughly left to right across their front. They are deployed in the attack formation described in the orders - 'two up', meaning that two of the sqaudron's three tank troops are ahead, with the third - the player's - behind ('in depth'). Just ahead of the player, are the half-tracks of the attached motor rifle platoon from 3 Monmouths, the player's task being to assault with them, while the other two troops provide fire support from either flank. The two tanks of Squadron HQ are in the middle of the formation.   As the leading troops move off, the hedgerows ahead are struck by the supressive fire of the supporting artillery. A second barrage will fall on the more distant hedgerows immediately in front of St Martin, as the attackers close the range.     In line formation, 3 Troop's Shermans speed their way across an open field, trying to keep up with the rapidly-moving half-tracks.     Traversing right as we reach the village, I can see in the gunsight a burning house, and that somebody over on the right has helpfully managed to clobber one of the defending SP guns.     We have a scary minute or two, as we are engaged head on by another SP which has seemingly been waiting for us to come into sight around the corner of the main street. It gets scarier when a second SP appears, but having called my Troop into close order column formation, we manage to win the fire fight.     Reaching our phase 1 objective - the town square - a Sherman ahead and right fires across the street at an unseen target. My own tank's commander spots some motor transport tying to 'leg it', on the far side of town.     Spreading out again, we reach the Hotel de Ville, where the Nazi flag is still flying...but not for much longer!     This is the only mission that will be available with Phase 1 of STA-Britpak, but as more maps become available, more will be added - ideally and time permitting, in the form of mini-campaigns based on notable tankie memoirs, like John Foley's 'Mailed Fist' and Robert Boscawen's 'Armoured Guardsmen'.   The current release of Phase 1 is in test - at time of writing, it lacks the voice pack (using instead the existing US voices). And it's built in the upcoming STA 2.0 mod with the December update, this so far only being available to testers, so it may be released with STA 2.0, whose release date hasn't yet been announced. If Britpak works with the current 1.0 release of STA, we may release the former sooner. In the meantime, watch your arcs!  

    DCS Newsletter for 29 Jan 16 - F/A-18C This Year!
    Dave
    By Dave,
      Dear Pilots!

    2015 was an important year for DCS World with the introduction of new Eagle Dynamics Modules like DCS: L-39 Albatros, DCS: NEVADA Test and Training Range, and both Su-27 and Ka-50 campaigns. Just as important, we launched our new graphics engine, the ability to support multiple maps, introduction of cooperative multiplayer in the same aircraft, and a rapidly growing number of high quality 3rd party developers. These accomplishments have laid the foundation for great things in 2016 and beyond.   We also launched the new DCS World website that you can view here:
    http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/index.php

    On both our Youtube channel and Facebook page, we released many new videos of modules and news updates. Here are some of our favorite highlights:




    Our fundamental goals for DCS World remain unchanged: we aim to build a deeply immersive and accurate world simulation engine that allows you to enjoy the highest levels of fidelity in aircraft operations from WWII onwards, in wonderfully detailed and varied areas of the globe while offering an ever more credible ground simulation experience. 
    DCS World 2.0 in 2016 will offer new clouds and weather effects; improved HDR; deferred lighting (more light sources); new FLIR system; an improved Air Traffic Control (ATC) system; enhanced explosions, over-wing vapor, and rain on canopy; procedural grass and vegetation; improved multiplayer with dedicated server support; a new Air Combat Generator with enhanced user control of air-to-air generated missions; new custom overlays option for the Mission Editor, and a new Virtual Reality (VR) tab in Options which will improve the DCS World experience in VR.  

    Aircraft Modules  
    Eagle Dynamics’s first goal in 2016 is to wrap up the L-39 Albatros with the addition of the L-39ZA version along with the addition of interactive training missions. We will also continue to improve the cooperative multiplayer experience in the L-39 as a test bed for this technology.   In parallel we continue to work on the F/A-18C Hornet. We are currently working on the cockpit and setting up its functionality. Later in 2016 we plan to release the Hornet as an “Early Access” product that will allow you to participate in early testing.   
    Our goals for DCS World War II remain unchanged and are still focused on a stable of WWII aircraft in addition to a 1944 map of Northern France with period ground units. We hope to finish the Spitfire IX in mid-2016 followed by the P-47D at the end of the year. We will also continue to fine-tune the P-51D, Fw 190 and Bf 109.   To complete the update to all DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3 aircraft, we plan to add a new 3D external model for the MiG-29 with the incorporation of the Professional Fight Models (PFM) to both the Su-33 and MiG-29.   In the first half of 2016, several new 3rd party aircraft modules will also be launched. These include the F-5E Tiger II by Belsimtek, the SA342 Gazelle by Polychop Simulations, and the AJS-37 Viggen by Leatherneck Simulations.

    Map Modules

    DCS: NEVADA Test and Training Range map is being enhanced with the addition of: [*]Tonopah Air Force Base [*]New casino/hotels in the Las Vegas strip [*]A number of airfields and landing strips in the central (detailed) portion of the map [*]The National Training Center (NTC) [*]Improved grass and ground clutter [*]Plus a host of minor improvements We have also been working on the DCS: Strait of Hormuz map with the primary focus on F/A-18C operations. For this release we are working on our new T5 dynamic mesh terrain technology that we believe will bring this map a new dimension in quality and detail.

    The third map being worked on is the 1944 Northern France map. We see this period map as a cornerstone element to create an immersive World War II air combat experience.

    Aircraft Carriers We see 2016 as a big year for aircraft carrier operations as we plan to release both Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier modules. Both of these modules will be incredibly detailed models with working elevators, interior hanger bays, animated ship systems, and the ability to walk around inside the ships. These will be optional modules that would replace the existing ships currently in DCS World.

    New Campaigns
    As we release maps and aircraft, we will also continue to offer new campaign modules. These will include both training and combat scenario campaigns.

    Summary
    We see 2016 as a very exciting time for DCS World with the growth in maps, aircraft, and features. When we include all the new aircraft and map modules being developed by our talented 3rd parties, 2016 will be an exceptional and fun time in the skies of DCS World.
      Sincerely,
    The Eagle Dynamics Team

    F-15C: 16-2 Red Flag Campaign Now Available
    Dave
    By Dave,
    Starting today, the F-15C 16-2 Red Flag Campaign is available for purchase and download from: F-15C 16-2 Red Flag Campaign    The F-15C 16-2 Red Flag Campaign is a depiction of flying the F-15C Eagle during a typical Red Flag exercise in the skies over Nevada. This campaign includes extensive briefing, map, and lineup card PDF files for each mission and was designed in consultation with the renowned author Steve Davies, the authority on the F-15C.
    All of the missions are based on input from real F-15C pilots that have flown in Red Flag exercises and will provide you a challenge that will test even the most skilled virtual pilots.

    Features:
    10 handcrafted mission that depict number of types of missions a F-15C pilot would fly in a Red Flag
    Highly detailed mission briefings, mission maps, and lineup cards as PDF files
    Custom voice overs and hundreds of triggers
    Created in partnership with the author Steve Davies and F-15C pilots that have flown Red Flags
    Note: this campaign requires ownership of either DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3 or F-15C for DCS World, along with the DCS: NEVADA Test and Training Range map.

    For those that pre-purchased the Nevada map and elected to receive this map for free, you will now be able to activate this campaign from the DCS World 2.0 Module Manager.   Glowing Amraam made a great video for this as well.        Head on over to DCS and get it from this link below.   http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/2016-01-15_F-15C_Red_Flag_Campaign/

    CA-WW1 - Flying Minnows
    33LIMA
    By 33LIMA,
    Re-living another classic WW1 air war memoir, in Wings over Flanders Fields!   This is a rather late addition to my earlier series of WOFF mission reports inspired by real-life WW1 aircrew memoirs. The inspiration in this case is ‘Flying Minnows’  which was, in turn, a late addition to my library, picked up the other week from a local second-hand bookstore. The book was first published in 1935 under the author's pseudonym ‘Roger Vee’, my 1979 reprint appearing under the author’s real name of Vivian Voss. Though sharing the surname of the famous German ace, this Voss was a South African, with family ties to my own home town of Belfast, in Northern Ireland.
      The man and the book
    ‘Flying Minnows’ – which I haven’t finished reading yet – begins with Voss’s flying training in 1917, in Canada, having crossed from the USA where he was studying at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, to join up. From his account, the standard of basic training seems only slightly evolved from the beginning of the war. At Camp Mohawk near Deseronto, Voss learns to fly in the ‘Buffalo Curtiss’ type JN-4A, which is what we today would commonly call a Curtiss ’Jenny’. Slightly more advanced training then follows, after a move to Camp Borden, flying both the 'Buffalo Curtiss’ and another ‘Jenny’ they called the 'Canadian Curtiss', with reduced dihedral and a normal joystick instead of the Buffalo's one with a wheel for aileron control. Amongst other things, Voss receives instruction in artillery spotting, providing a usefully detailed description of the basic procedure, including examples of the actual Morse Code signals used.  He receives his commission in Toronto then leaves via steamer from Halifax for Liverpool. In England, flying first at Shawbury in Shropshire, Voss records briefly his impressions of other types he flies during ‘continuation training’ there and later. He says of the Avro 504 trainer ‘It took me some time to get used to these rotary engines, and to the extermely sensitive "balanced" rudder. But they were remarkably stable machines and easy to land.' Of the Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, he says 'They were easy machines to fly', capable of being trimmed so they could be flown 'hands off' - literally: he tells the story of a Strutter which landed in a field 70 miles behind the Lines, and how the officer who walked over to offer assistance found that '...the petrol tank was empty, but the airmen needed no help. Both the pilot and the observer were dead.'   Voss moves to Netherhavon on Salisbury Plain and fears he is doomed to artillery spotting rather than a fighter pilot career, when he hears they have RE8s there. However, he soon finds out he's destined to be flying Bristol Fighters and that these are not the obsolete Bristol Scouts he had known off, but modern 2-seaters, said by some of his fellows there to be '...considered to be the finest fighting machines ever built.'   Taking up a BE2e at Netherhavon for the first time, his instruction consists of being told 'Don't spin or loop it, as it won't stand it.' He finds the BE is '...an easy machine to fly, and did several half rolls (Immelmann turns) and vertical banks with it. It was very light and felt like a toy after the the heavier 1 1/2 Strutters I had been flying.'  The DH6 trainer also on station is ‘...a very slow machine...hideously ugly...commonly known as a 'Clutching Hand' or a 'Crab'. I have seen Crabs flying against the wind with such low air-speeds that they were actually drifting backwards relative to the ground.' Of the RE8 he says 'It was the heaviest machine I had yet flown...fortunately all the serviceable RE8s were crashed just about this time, so I was put straight on to Bristol Fighters.' Of his first solo in the latter machine, Voss says 'I felt at home at once...the engine, a 250 hp Rolls- Royce, was infinitely more powerful than anything I had come acrross so far. It gave a full-throated roar and shot away across the aerodrome and then up, soaring into the air like a great eagle. She was a massive machine but so beautifully designed that she did not feel heavy on the controls. She responded surperbly to the least touch of the stick or rudder-bar.'  Such are the impressions that we WW1 air war afficionados love to savour!   Voss's most memorable experience from this time is when he’s sent on an ‘altitude test’ to confirm he can tolerate the conditions. This he manages, but his base is clouded in below him. Having without visible reference points drifted well south in his wide spiralling ascent, he ends up coming back down through the overcast to find himself well out over a blustery sea, land no-where in sight. Luckily, he runs out of petrol close to a solitary fishing boat, which quickly rescues him.
     
    Completing his training, Voss is posted to France and is on operations from February 1918 to the end of the war, flying first with No. 48 Squadron, then with 88. With the reticence that was typical of the times, the squadrons are not identified by number and individuals are identified by more pseudonyms; but all is revealed in detailed appendices by renowned WW1 author Norman Franks, which include lists of casualties and claims for both squadrons during the author’s period of service. I haven’t done more than skip through the rest of the story but from what I’ve seen, it’s a fascinating one, different from but well up there with the likes of Norman MacMillan’s ‘Into The Blue’ or Duncan Grinnell-Milne’s ‘Wind in the Wires’. Based largely on an incident during training, one online review unfairly slates Voss for being a ‘chinless wonder’ type of officer, looking down his nose at the ‘other ranks’ - but leaving aside the fact the review mis-reports or mis-represents the incident, Voss is a man of his times not ours. And a brave man at that. To me, he displays a real charm and a self-effacing sense of humour. He does not disguise his fears, while maintaining the usual (for that era and that author base) stoical stance when recounting some of the crashes and other nastiness he encounters. I’ll not spoil the book for anyone else by saying more...besides, I haven’t finished it myself, yet! But it has already prompted me to start another Bristol Fighter campaign – I think my last serious one of these was in Over Flanders Fields, WOFF’s predecessor, so this outing in the Bristol is long overdue.


    The campaign
    Though Voss’s war started in early 1918, my favoured period for WW1 in the air is 1917, taking in ‘Bloody April', the RFC’s subsequent resurgence, and the appearance of many classic types like the Albatros D.III and D.V, the Pfalz D.III and Fokker Dr.1, and on the Entente side, the SE5 and the Camel...and of course, the Bristol Fighter. I decided to start in March 1917, with the type’s debut at the front with 48 Squadron. A side-benefit of this is that my low-spec PC isn’t going to be over-taxed by the higher volumes of air activity generated by WOFF for later-war periods, or need me to dial back my graphics settings.

    At this point, we have the early F2A version (tho WOFF visually represents this with a typical, later F2B). And our ranks include as a flight leader no less a man that William Leefe Robinson VC, feted back home as the slayer of a ‘zepp’ raiding England, in fact not a Zeppelin but the Schutte-Lanz airship S L11. Sure enough, WOFF’s order or battle lets me not only fly with the same squadron Voss was to join, but from its inauguration at the front and with Leefe Robinson on its duty roster. And of course WOFF puts us where we should be, at the airfield of la Bellevue. Naturally, I’m hoping that's as far as the recreation of history goes - because I want to avoid the fate of the squadron in what was reported to be its first foray over the Lines into enemy airspace (termed an 'Offensive Patrol', which Voss reminds us was known at the time as a 'O Pip'), when it met Manfred von Richthofen’s Jasta 11 and lost four out of six, including Leefe Robinson’s Bristol.

     
    The first mission
    As befits our first excursion since arriving at the front, our opening mission is a trip up to, but not over, the Lines. Having no particular interest in formation flying and preferring the extra tactical challenge of the flight leader, I have selected ‘Always lead’ so I’m at the head of the four Bristols for this trip. Bad weather – WOFF’s option to replicate the effects of historical weather, is another feature of this truly great sim – 'washed out' the previous day’s flying, so I’m keen to get away and at the Hun. I check the controls and start her up, the others doing likewise, including ‘A’ Flight, which will have three machines operating in loose support in the same area.

    I open her up and off we go! The ground is soon falling away behind us and I’m relishing the powerful, low snarl of my big Rolls Royce engine, such sounds being another of WOFF’s outstanding features. Up ahead, there’s still a lot of cloud, and if we go for our briefed altitude of 7,500 feet, I’m not yet sure whether we’ll be below, above or amongst all the white stuff. I’ll worry about that when I get up there, I decide.     At a couple of thousand feet, I throttle back and level off while the others catch up. We make a series of gentle climbing turns, opening up and climbing harder as the formation comes nicely together. ‘A’ Flight slides across behind and below us and is last seen as a group of three dark specs, to our left and somewhat lower down.     As we gain height, I settle onto a course that will take us to our assigned turning point above, but not across, the famous Lines. Grey and white clouds gather all around, but we plough on. The cloud stays fairly well broken and visibility is acceptable at our patrol height, which we reach after a long climb.     With no ‘warp to next waypoint’ feature in WOFF, I much prefer to fly in real time. Even with autopilot, I dislike flying in accelerated time, but the short flights make this bearable. This, and the fact that if there’s a sim besides WOFF which captures with such uncanny depth the feeling you get from so many accounts of flying over the front in the First World War, I have yet to find it.   Even over my own side of the Lines, with contact with the enemy not especially likely and with enemy fighters less so, I was kept busy enough scanning the skies above, around and below, in between admiring the view.

    And there is much to admire.  For one thing, the Bristol, always one of the best-rendered kites in OFF, looks better than ever, in WOFF. As does the landscape, in this case including the battered town of Arras, near the Lines below us and soon to give its name to the battle that will spawn 'Bloody April'.
      The cloudscapes are equally good (especially with Arisfuser's cloud mod). They're not volumetric and sometimes it shows; but to my eye, they are as good or better than anything else in the business and their presence and appearance adds massively to the feeling that 'you are up there', over the front and at the mercy of everything from the elements, to the Archie (AA fire) and of course, the wily Huns, in the sun and elsewhere.   But on we go, the eight of us, pilots and gunners, in our big new Bristol Fighters, ready for anything...we hope...     ...to be continued!

    DCS World 1.5.2 Released
    Dave
    By Dave,
    Please use DCS Updater to update current DCS 1.2.16 to DCS 1.5.2. Note. All products (modules) should be installed via ingame Module Manager only. Dedicated installers will not be provided anymore.   http://combatace.com/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=3

    Our 2015 Holiday Wish
    Erik
    By Erik,
    To all our friends and family,   The holidays are upon us and I wonder to myself where this year went.   It's the season to wish one another joy, love, and peace. Our wishes for you are to have the happiest of holidays no matter how you celebrate the season, may you give and receive love throughout this time of year, and may you all find warmth and celebration with family and friends.   We'll see you in 2016!   Be well and happy holidays,   From all of us at CombatACE  

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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