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Back in 2012, Thirdwire fans awaited with baited breath the latest release of the Strike Fighters 2 series and what new goodies it would bring to everyone. As it turned out the game was quite a departure from the previous four titles and wasn’t just the old engine with a new terrain and new objects. For most, many of the new features and changes added to the series and bought some hope for the future, whereas some features were less promising. Starting off with the good points then.......... The Setting The game takes place primarily over Iceland with its cold war airbases such as Keflavik NAS and perhaps gives us a bit more options for Cold War scenarios than doing the South Atlantic (Falklands) which some may have thought the obvious choice. The real Keflavik in real Iceland! (Wikipedia) New Terrain New with SF2NA came a bold new attempt at a more modern LOD based terrain engine utilising DX10 instead of the older DX9. The water looked amazing: Iceland's man made shoreline! And the runways are even shaped like the actual ones on Iceland instead of the generic bases from the previous four titles. More on this later…….. Fed up with the hot weather the RAAF decide to holiday in Iceland New music For a fresh new start, new menu music, that wasn’t too bad actually – I never replaced it! Yes I realise that is a post cold war shot! Fleet Defender With this release we got the first F-14A from Thirdwire, although this in itself was not ground breaking because there was a very good Mirage Factory F-14 set available as well. It was the Avionics this brought that was the big plus, including support for Active Radar missiles, and a TWS mode that could support multiple simultaneous shots. On the other hand Soviet bombers now came with a ton of anti-ship cruise missiles, jammers and countermeasures. Catch us if you can! Join the Navy Okay so a load of new ships and weapons in this release………and not just a set of new objects, but new ways they could be used in game: · Carrier groups and support groups in campaigns and single missions · Static aircraft on decks · Ships firing missiles and guns to shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft · More roles for aircraft including AWACs and Naval recon If you liked flying the TW A-4 then the TW F-14 is rather less agile and more difficult to fly in comparison Here is a list of the new objects the games came with: Ships: · CGN-36 California class Cruiser · CVN-68 Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier · Gearing FRAM IB class Destroyer · Kashin class Destroyer · Kiev class Aircraft Carrier · Knox class Frigate · Krivak I class Frigate · Krivak II class Frigate · LCC-19 Blue Ridge class Amphibious Command Ship · LHA-1 Tarawa class Amphibious Assault Ship · LPD-4 Austin class Amphibious Transport Dock · Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigate · Oliver Hazard Perry (82) class Frigate · Spruance class Destroyer · Spruance (82) class Destroyer Weapons · AIM-54A Phoenix · SA-N-3 Goblet (M-11 Shtorm) SAM · SA-N-1B Goa SAM · SA-N-4 Gecko SAM · RIM-2F Terrier SAM · RIM-7E/H Sea Sparrow SAM · RIM-66B Standard SAM · K10S (AS-2 Kipper) Cruise Missile · KH22 (AS-4 Kitchen) Cruise Missile · KSR5 (AS-6 Kingfish) Cruise Missile Bears with Flares! The Campaign and missions A big change from the previous titles and perhaps more game like in some respects in the way it was essentially fleet verses fleet. The single missions were more limited due to engine changes and lack of relevant land based targets. If you like Naval intercept missions or ones where you attack the Soviet fleet then it should be right up your street. F-4K - More challenging in the intercept role than the F-14 A-4G - Even more challenging! New Aircraft with SF2 NA (Drool) Grumman F-14A Tomcat Grumman F-14A_77 Tomcat Vought A-7E_74 Corsair II Grumman A-6E Intruder (No Pit) Grumman A-6E_79 Intruder (No Pit) Grumman E-2C Hawkeye (No Pit) Grumman EA-6B Prowler (No Pit) Tu-16K-10-26 Badger C (No Pit) Tu-16K-26 Badger G (No Pit) Tu-16K-26_73 Badger G (No Pit) Tu-16P Badger J (No Pit) Tu-16P_72 Badger J (No Pit) Tu-16RM-1 Badger D (No Pit) Tu-22KD Blinder B (No Pit) Tu-22M2 Backfire B (No Pit) Tu-22M3 Backfire C (No Pit) Tu-22PD Blinder E (No Pit) Tu-22RD Blinder C (No Pit) Tu-95RT Bear D (No Pit) Yak-38 Forger A (No Pit Merging Yes the game can still be merged with the other 4 titles, expansion packs and DLCs! You may also find that a lot of my DLCs live in Iceland exclusively. That is a Yak-38 Forger landing on the Kiev don't you know Now lets look at some of the more controversial additions. Mr AWACs controller Rejoice for Red Crown woman has been replaced by Mr AWACs controller guy! I don’t know how many were pleased to see the E-2 AWACs get blown out of the sky on a regular basis (or even shot it down yourselves) – if they were it was probably down to the guys somewhat laid back voice. How exactly Thirdwire managed to find or even consider using this guys voice for this role is known only to them but it was not on any kind of professional level. Luckily there is a set of modded voice files to replace this blight on the series. We really don't care about your situation..... The Terrain Engine Despite DX10 and gorgeous sea there were a few issues with the terrain which you could surmise were due to having to release the game earlier than expected. · The frame rate was considerably worse. · You needed DX10 capability to run it. · The land was a barren wasteland with unrealistic looking terrain and coastlines – not befitting a sim or a game. · The files for modding it were locked away so potentially no more 3rd party terrains. Whether Thirdwire intended to sell us future Terrain DLCs is still an unknown. But the sea was nice. Luckily the game still supported the older terrain format so Gerwin did put out an old format Iceland terrain and Stary put out some enhanced tiles that I use to this day without the new sea. This mod worked in DX9 and had far better frame rates all round. Some related Mods:

Had a pleasant morning starting the N28, a personal favorite of mine. My recently obtained reference is full of detailed information that contradicts a lot of the stuff on the internet. Two examples: - The N28 was quickly retired because of PLANNING, not bad operational experience. The N28 was ordered as a stopgap when it became clear the French aircraft industry could not deliver SPAD13s on schedule. Turns out, several units resisted replacing their N28s with SPADs and continued flying them after SPADs were available. Indeed, Billy Mitchell recommended continued production and use of the N28 as SPAD operational readiness was terrible, due to unreliable geared Hispano-Suiza engines. - Today's widespread notion of shedding wing fabric is a distortion of the facts - shedding was a symptom, not the cause of the problem. The cause was poorly understood dynamic stress causing structural failure - the leading edge sheared off the wing under high-G maneuvering, and pulled the fabric off the wing as it fell away. A field mod, that partially fixed the problem, was being implemented about the time the N28s were withdrawn from service. Also, no pilot was ever killed by this partial wing failure. In every case, the pilot was able to nurse the N28 down to a forced landing.

Yeah, I read the same stuff but this book is the definitive English language reference and conclusively proves the problem was misreported: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764329332/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The problem was not really understood until after the war because the primitive, low-velocity wind tunnels of the time did not accurately model varying aerodynamic pressures on wings during high-G maneuvering. This resulted in a design flaw: the leading edge section, forward of the main spar, could not withstand high-G bending moments and broke off, dragging the wing fabric aft as the section fell away. The fabric did not detach from the wing until AFTER the wing structure had failed. This was misunderstood in some reports but not in others. For some reason, the inaccurate reports survived while the accurate reports were buried in archives until discovered by the book's author. For example, most photos of this problem were taken from behind the aircraft so they only showed the torn fabric, not the missing wing section. Two ACCURATE photos, showing the missing leading edge section, are below. Also shown is a fragment of the high quality artwork contained in the book.

First picture: Current WW1 Italy terrain Second/Third picture: New WW1 Italy terrain with satellite imagery..more to follow (current only testing)

If I remember correctly, the source I read stated that a seam of the upper wing fabric was located near the center of pressure on the upper wing surface during a high speed dive. This, combined with weak gluing caused the fabric to fail at that seam. By all accounts I've read, the 28 was an excellent fighter; fast, maneuverable, well armed, and, as you've stated, not considered a cast off by the men who flew it. The Spad 13 had operational issues all through its career, and according to Norman and Hall, pilots who flew that wanted a Spad built Spad, with a Hispano Suiza built Hisso, because the subcontractor work was problematic, and there were some subcontractors whose airframes, or engines, you did not want to fly. Those pilots who flew rotaries for the French, or the British, loved their maneuverability and reliability. The 28, like the Pfalz, was one of the most beautiful aircraft of WW1. I will love to see yours. ps, What source did you read? I love reading about stuff like this.

I will finish the four D3a color schemes, but will only make the standard factory scheme for the D3. You guys can use the graphics pack to make any additional D3 paint jobs.

Thak you It works well for the spad VII Still need to learn how to fight in it :)

Yes you can.

Hi Guys, the DEV`s have released some realy nice news and pics, all can be found in the link below. Have fun reading it! Hello everybody, As you may have already noticed, the huge map of Battle of Kuban comes in three seasons (Spring, Summer and Autumn), so there is no winter one. However there are many existing winter maps in our sim, so we had to update the winter landscape quality to match the new map quality level. In the end, after some experiments, we had to remake the chilly skydome, adjust the color palette and contrast to reflect the winter visibility conditions. The existing lighting wasn't bad, but we have found a way to improve its quality and make it even more realistic to get more contrast, bluish shadows which are characteristic of the chilling weather. The overall color temperature also became colder. All this combined allowed for more 'clean air' and deep visual feel. Of course, it's hard to describe such changes with just words, so please take a look at these comparison screenshots: Now, our engineer Roman =Gavrik= Kovalenko wants to tell you a bit about the A-20B he will finish working on soon: A-20B had good flight characteristics, high fineness (wing/drag) ratio and very good aerodynamics. Its top speed exceeded Pe-2 speed even at nominal power mode, it had a good handling and maneuverability. All control surfaces were equipped with servo tabs to reduce the pilots' load. With bombs dropped, A-20B had comparable to fighters wing loading and two powerful Wright R-2600-11 engines allowed for a good power-to-weight ratio. However, aerobatics were forbidden for its pilots and it was advised to dive shallow and recover gently because of the durability concerns (4g maneuver envelope). Nevertheless, the flight manual included some maneuvers like combat turn. Lend-leased A-20B's were upgraded upon arrival to the USSR: they were refitted to support Soviet bombs, electric bomb dropping gear similar to Pe-2 one was installed, and there were some other minor changes. it was one of the first mass-produced aircraft with the nose landing gear, making taxiing, taking off and landing much easier. There was a special electric blocker that didn't allow to erroneously retract the landing gear while on the ground and alarm siren that warned the pilot about the retracted landing gear during flight at low throttle. At high speeds, flaps retracted automatically. Overall, this aircraft was very comfortable for a pilot with its spacious cockpit and good view. The only inconvenience could be caused by the engines that weren't equipped with automatic governors of the manifold pressure, just like the P-40 engine. A-20B bomb load was formidable - up to 16 FAB-100 bombs in the bomb bay and 4 underwing holders that could carry FAB-100 or FAB-250. It is interesting to note that to ease the formation bombing, two signal lights were installed in the aircraft rear that helped the wingmen to open their bomb bay doors and drop bombs simultaneously with the flight leader. In addition to two forward firing .50 cal machine guns, there were two turrets with .50 cal (top) and .303 cal (bottom) MGs, so A-20B weaponry and flight characteristics allowed the bomber to stand up for itself even if it was engaged in air combat. I hope you'll enjoy the A-20B in the game as much as I enjoyed making it. THE LINK: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/page-5#entry530528

Been working on the D3a skins. There are several different interpretations of the paint job shown below. One interpretation is the use of lemon yellow with black stripes. Close examination of the old photo shows slightly different shades of gray when compared to the forward fuselage, so the yellow version may be correct. You guys can use the graphics pack to make your own interpretations.

DCS World 1.5.7 Update 5 This week we have released a fifth update to DCS World version 1.5.7. The primary feature of this update is to fix the server crash that could happen if a client has been disconnected by time-out. You can find the complete DCS World 1.5.7 Update 5 changelog on the DCS forum. DCS: Strait of Hormuz Map Teaser In addition to the development of new aircraft for DCS World, the creation of new theaters in which to fly in are an equally important aspect of the simulation. Today we are happy to provide a little look at the next map coming to DCS World: DCS: Strait of Hormuz Map! As we get closer to release, we will be providing more details on this new combat theater coming to DCS World. Teaser Video: Sincerely, The Eagle Dynamics Team

If you have YAP’s Drug War you have access to the Bell 206B. What you also have access to is all of the textures/skins for the stock FSX Bell 206 because the mapping is the same. All you have to do is download a texture from a FSX site like Avsim.com or Flightsim.com and then convert the file called Bell_206B_T from a .bmp or .dds file to a .tga file (I use a free program called DXTBmp for this) and rename the file remapbell.tga and put it in a skin folder together with an appropriately worded textureset.ini file. You can fly the Bell 206B in your SF1 and SF2 installs, and with so many skins out there it should see a lot of action.

Puma

FS25042 semi-gloss sea blue R/G/B values: 53/63/60 FS15042 glossy sea blue 45/55/61 use those numbers to create the new color swatches, and add to your palette. --------------- required screenshot -----------------

Testing some big rockets...

1976 ish... 1

It will still take alot of time... tons of skins still need to be done....

The begining of the Su-17...