My attempt at DID

[Rambler 1-1 9]

Well, I liked the idea of a DID campaign, and seeing as my polict in the past has been pretty close to DID, just without the campaign, I thought it would be fun to give it a shot.

 

I started a new Rolling Thunder campaign in my combined SF2:E and V (with Green Hell terrain and targets), flying the good 'ol F-4B from CVN-62 with the Jolly Rogers. My first mission was a basic strike over Haiphong, taking out a warehouse about 20 miles inland. My first carrier takeoff with a squadron was awesome. That's definitely the way to do it; you don't have to waste fuel getting up to speed and climbing out. As we approached the land, I told my squad to close up out of (bad?) habit; smaller radar target (?). My wingman swung very close very quickly, and before i could react, I heard a "BUNK" and my master caution light came on. Then I started to yaw back and forth uncontrollably. A quick F6 informed me that most of my vertical stabilizer was gone.

 

I told my flight to engage ground, and my wingman to engage the target, and I dumped my stores and prepared to ditch. As I descended, however, the yawing calmed down, and through extensive aileron input I managed to achieve a steady (ish) cruise. I still had lots of dutch roll, and every now and then, If I wasn't careful, I would almost go out of control, but after a couple near-death plunges I found a nice safe cruise at 350 knots and 3000 feet. I headed back towards the carrier to ditch.

 

As I approached the carrier (this was my first carrier landing where I had to fly the pattern and the approach myself), I found that the Phantom became more stable as I slowed down, so I decided to try and land it. Gear, flaps, and hook down and no death spiral. I turned base (massive amounts of slip- the most un-coordinated turn ever), and all was fine, but a bit fast. Turning final and picking up the meatball, I started to get dutch roll again as I slowed to landing speed. Some creative throttle and AOA, combined with desperate aileron action somehow lined me up for a nearly perfect landing.

 

I stepped away from the computer s**tting bricks and praying thanks to Saint Jude.

 

"I'm RTBing"

 

"Ah $h!t"

 

"Tomahawk 1-1, requesting immediate pattern entry"

 

On downwind...

 

on FINAL...

 

touchdown!

 

Sorry, crew chief... I'm gonna need a new flight suit... and I think my RIO is throwing up.

 

 

I was gonna put this in the "Most Damaged Aircraft that Remained Airborne" thread, but I lost it.

 

My pilot apparently died, btw, and my first DID campaign was over before I got to drop a single bomb .

[Lt. James Cater 62]

You ought to get in on the DiD challenge if you haven't already.

 

There are so many things that can go wrong outside of contact with the enemy. I've collided with others while assembling formations 3 times and collided with a wingman while changing course at altitude.

 

Not to mention Blue on Blue!

Edited December 12, 2009 by Lt. James Cater

[+hgbn 91]

Tried it so many times on final aproach. a wingie who has cutting my tail off. Now somewhat smarter I allways land last to avoid being hit by my own flight The same in formation flight. Allways checking how my AI wingie behave. If he flies somewhat unstable I use the command spread out.

[xclusiv8 35]

Awesome! I have never seen this before. Didnt even know SF2 had this kind of damagemodel.