WOV/SFP1 Is Lite?

[Weasel Keeper]

No flaming allowed.

 

Concerning the F-4 radar in these titles, I asked my friend USAF Col Sid "Scroll" Mayeux (beta credits for SFP1) to try to explain how the search radar worked in this "lite" sim. He worked with TK on the F-4 models and systems. He was an F-4E/G EWO and trained the German AF as an F-4F EWO instructor. Here's his reply (typical instructor).

 

 

I liked having to do the thinking for the airplane. Here's a good one: Rule of 60. Take two lines diverging from a point by 1 degree--they're not parallel, but are on two vectors one degree apart. When those lines are 60 nautical miles from the point of origin, they are physically separated by one nautical mile.

 

Why is that important? 1 nautical = 6000 feet

6000 feet separation at 60 nm

100 feet separation at 1 nm

 

And why is THAT important? If the bandit is 10,000 feet above me at 10 nm, I've got to tilt the radar up 10 degrees to get the contact. The F-4 was hot stuff back then, but it only had a 1-bar search pattern (hey, at least it had a horizon-stabilized scan that referenced the horizon no matter what your wing bank). You had to DO THE MATH to figure out how high/low to tilt the dish--the radar didn't do it for you.

 

And when you got a contact, you locked him up, determined his range on the B scope and DID THE MATH against the antenna tilt.

 

Here's your test:

Fighter Altitude: 20,000'

Target Range: 30 nm

Radar lock elevation: 2 degrees high

What's his altitude?

 

1 degree tilt = 6000' altitude delta at 60 nm

1 degree tilt = 100' altitude delta at 1 nm

1 degree tilt = 3000' altitude delta at 30 nm

3000' delta x 2 degrees el = 6000' delta + 20,000' fighter altitude=???

Answer: 26,000' Bandit altitude (meaning the Bandit has the altitude advantage if this is going to a visual merge).

 

OH, BY THE WAY, you closed on each other 1 nm every 3 seconds. You gotta think FAST!