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I'm splitting my time between the Caudron R11 and the Berg D1. Berg progress shot below.

Bell F-109A Airacobra - 154 Gruppo, 6 Stormo, 1970

Interesting plane to fly........

Prohaska is right in the middle of it ..flying with his personal coat of arms

German MiG's over the Faeroer islands heading to the Shetlands. The worst thing that can happen to us is a german in a MiG! Heading home

Nicely done Spinners, I can still remember when the then in-development MRCA was initially to be called the Panther, before it was renamed Tornado. This must have been in the 1969-70 time frame. I recall preparing hand-drawn scale drawings of it while still at high school, with the optimistic intention of one day scratch-building a model (oh well) . In those days all the artists' impressions showed a much sleeker airframe - something more akin to the eventual Tornado F3 than the stubby GR1- with half-circle intakes plus half-cone centrebodies á la Mirage III. After I joined the RAF in 1972 I discovered what MRCA was believed to really stand for in the eyes of the Service at that time: "Must Refurbish Canberra Again". Only the really cynical said it stood for "Mother Riley's Cardboard Aeroplane".. Mike

Actually, this isn't the whole truth (what Wrench said being true, but not the whole picture). The first format is for using Nations already set in the global NATIONS.INI file (this is usually all SF2 needs) or set within the local *_NATIONS.INI file (requiring further declarations). The second format is to set new Nations, not already present in the global NATIONS.INI, for use by the AI only (as you can't select the defined nation otherwise); you have to make sure it uses a unique NationID though as duplicates MAY cause problems (usually doesn't because they exist as SF1 legacy, representing the same nations with same names and IDs). I use this to prune nations I don't intend to fly from the global NATIONS.INI, while adding them to their specific terrains, allowing me to have a shorter, more pertinent service list to choose from, while keeping everything working as intended. In short, in SF2 they're complementing each other for specific purposes, not alternatives. For example you can do something like : [LimitedNationList] FriendlyNation001=Australia FriendlyNation002=AustralianNavy FriendlyNation003=NewZealand EnemyNation001=Indonesia EnemyNation002=China EnemyNation003=Mordor [Nation001] NationID=xxx (ideally a number greater than the last one used in the NATION.INI, but I haven't tested if it's required to be in sequence or if gaps in the sequence are supported, assume it's not) Name=Mordor DisplayName=Mordor Alignment=Enemy PilotNameList=NamesChineseWG.lst RankList=RanksUSAF.lst CallsignList=CallsignsUS.lst Formation.Fighter=USFighter Formation.Attack=USFighter Formation.Bomber=USBomber Formation.Transport=USBomber Formation.Tank=USTank Formation.MobileAD=USAD PilotTrainingStandard=Normal GenderRatio=0

BAC Panther FGR.1 - No.54 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1971 After a couple of blissful years when it was allowed to proceed in relative peace and quiet, 1963 was not a good year for the TSR.2 programme. At the start of the year both Olympus 22R test engines at BAC's Patchway engine testing facility were playing up with LP shaft problems and turbine disc failures eventually traced to high-frequency oscillations of the LP shaft. With a view to reducing the unit cost per aircraft an export order to Australia was deemed vital to the TSR.2 programme but when technical reports got back to the Australian Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, he publicly stated that Australia couldn't wait for the TSR.2 and that they needed to replace their ageing Canberra's within three years. With the British opposition Labour party openly stating that they "would cancel the TSR.2 when elected" the Australian government felt that they simply dare not rely on an aircraft that might not get built so it was no real surprise when on October 24th, 1963 Menzies signed for 24 F-111C's at a cost of US$ 91million. In early November 1963, whilst still reeling from that blow, BAC were devastated when a prototype Olympus 22R engine blew up under the Vulcan test bed at Filton destroying not only the engine but also the heavily instrumented Vulcan. By this time, Britain had a new Prime Minister after Alec Douglas-Home had succeeded an ailing Harold Macmillan in October 1963. Douglas-Home knew that his Conservative government, still unpopular from the Profumo scandal, would likely lose the forthcoming General Election to a resurgent Labour party under the leadership of Harold Wilson. Therefore, in a bold move, Douglas-Home decided to take away one of Wilson's Tory-bashing weapons by cancelling the TSR.2 programme himself and BAC's recent woes played right into his hands. The assassination of US President John F Kennedy in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963 allowed Douglas-Home to quietly announce the cancellation of the TSR.2 the day following Kennedy's tragic death to a nation and a world focused on just one sad story. British interest in variable-geometry (VG) had stemmed from Dr. Barnes Wallis' 1944 studies on 'polymorphic' aircraft but whilst English Electric had finally settled on a small, highly blown, fixed wing design for the TSR.2 both they and the counterparts at Vickers had sketched many and various VG designs for aircraft ranging in size from small supersonic light-attack aircraft to supersonic airliners. In early 1964, with the RAF still looking for a Hunter replacement, BAC dusted off their private-venture P.45 design for a small VG fighter-bomber powered a single afterburning Spey turbofan and gambled on an eager RAF requiring slightly more range and payload so they designed an overall larger aircraft powered by two turbofan engines in the 16,000lbs thrust category. With engines generally taking longer development time than airframes this could have caused BAC considerable problems but Rolls-Royce and MAN-Turbomotoren had already been running the RB.153 turbofan since November 1963 and were confident of upsizing this advanced three-shaft turbofan "to fit anything up to F-4 size" and BAC confidently settled on the RB.199 engine proposed by Rolls-Royce. With a view to making their new aircraft design as marketable as possible BAC named it the MRCA-70 (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft for 1970) and were soon waving brochures around the Air Ministry and posting copies to senior RAF officials. Having lost the TSR.2 (and feeling sour at the prospect of being forced into adopting Mountbatten's beloved F-4 Phantom) the RAF were desperate to order the MRCA-70 and politics once again played it's part. Labour leader Harold Wilson stated that "only Labour could lead the technological revolution necessary for a modern Britain". So, to counter this, on April 6th, 1964 Alec Douglas-Home announced that Britain was to develop it's own variable-geometry multi-role combat aircraft and that contracts would be placed with the British Aircraft Corporation for 120 MRCA-70 aircraft for delivery in the 1969 to 1970 timeline to replace Hunters and Canberras in the strike/attack role and that further orders were likely to replace Lightnings in the air defence role. In 1966 the aircraft was christened Panther by BAC and development moved swiftly with the first flight of the prototype taking place on April 1st, 1968 as part of the celebrations to mark the RAF's 50th anniversary. Development and testing continued during 1968 and 1969 and in November 1970 No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Coningsby became the first squadron to equip with the Panther FGR.1 followed in March 1971 by No.54 Squadron at RAF Coltishall.

Geezer's Gladiator MK1 attached. The model is "quite finished' with a couple of skins and some distance Lod's as well. Like the Sea Gladiator the canopy is fixed open and the cockpit has non functional gauges. Also, there are no animated flaps but , unlike the Sea Gladiator, I didn't add the "fake flaps", which make things easier for carrier landings. With the open canopy and pilot in shirt sleeves, this plane probably best suits an MTO install. I think the date range I came up with reflects MTO use. Gladiator_MK1.7z Skinners may want to check out some Gladiator artwork in the FE downloads: https://combatace.com/files/file/16037-templates-for-gladiator-mk1-and-mk2/

As I've stated before................."Detail at its finest"! Can't wait for WEP PAK3 total! Mandatory Pic - Can't remember where this pic came from, but I thought it was cool

View File realSKY Environment realSKY Environment January 13th, 2019 (1st Release) by Menrva >For Strike Fighters 2 games This is my sky enhancement mod. It also combines the work of many other modders, in order to provide a realistic, better looking sky. Here below a quick summary of the changes: -Tweaked sky colours, something in between Cellinsky's widesky and the stock SF2 colours. -More realistic Night colours, sky and ambient are much darker. -More atmospheric, reddish transition from Twilight to Night. -New "dark blue" High Altitude colours (fly near space with a NF-104). -Moon produces a yellowish light instead of the default purple. -Sky is "wider" much like Cellinsky's widesky mod (background horizon clouds are bigger and more noticeable). -Added beautiful cloud graphics made by Cellinsky and ShrikeHawk, tweaked for each weather type. -Added a low number of stray clouds to Clear weather. -Added noticeable clouds to Overcast weather and Inclement weather, "fixing" a known SF2 "bug". -Combined various mods to produce a more interesting Rain Effect under Inclement weather. -Added Stary's lens flare effects from the SARCASM 2 mod, in place of Cellinsky's widesky effects. -Added Cloud Layer graphics by Stary, Fubar512 and Brain32. -Reworked secondary atmospheric effects, such as contrails and wingtip vortexes. In addition, the package includes alternative environment configuration files in the Alternative Weather folder; they enable different effects for the Inclement weather. You can choose between thunderstorm (default, adapt for most terrains), snowstorm (for cold, icy terrains) and sandstorm (for hot, desert terrains). For those who wish not to change the effect globally, I highly suggest to try the included terrain-specific environment example provided for stock SF2 terrains; the default global effect is thunderstorm, while terrains with their own environment file either use sandstorm or snowstorm as appropriate. Use this as a basis to customize other terrains. By setting the Effects to Unlimited, the game makes use of a DirectX 10 post processing effect; the stock game's post processing shader generates a pointless and horrible bloom effect which excessively blinds the player during twilight transitions. By default, realSKY includes a reworked post processing shader (TWPOSTPROCESS.FX) which provides more contrast, more vignetting, minor color correction and a daytime-only bloom effect, so it's miles better than what the stock game offers. Alternative post processing tweaks are included in the Alternative Shaders folder; choose the one you wish to try (check the included screenshots for fast comparisons) and overwrite the default one in your mod's Flight folder. If you don't care about the post processing effect, you may want to set the game's Effects to High in the Options menu. >Credits (in no particular order): -Cellinsky, for his fantastic widesky mod from which I borrowed some tweaks. -Stary, for his Thunderstorm and Heavy Snowfall weather mods, and his SARCASM 2 beta mod from which I borrowed some effects. -PanamaRed, for tweaks in regards to Clouds (especially the Broken weather ones). -Fubar512 and Brain32, for their Cloud Layer Top bitmaps, which I have smoothed for a better looking effect. -ShrikeHawk, for his CloudSkins mods, from which I took the spectacular cloud graphics. -BearGryllis, for his Thunderstorm Pack With Enhanced Lightnings 2.0b package. -Orsin, for his Improved Rain Effect and Heavy Rain 0.8 mods. -luk1978, for his interesting WeatherEffect package. -ArmedLightning, for his Special FX v2.2 mod for the GTR 2 game, from which I borrowed a lens flare effect. -baffmeister, for the idea of recreating sandstorm weather effects. -tiopilotos, for suggesting improvements on other subjects. -Eagle114th, for his Improved Wingtip Vortex mod which I have reworked. -JosefK, guuruu and Coupi, for their interest and support. I included the original readme files from the mentioned mods, where available, to the end of giving proper credit to everyone involved directly or not. >Disclaimer: This is a freeware; yet it can be redistributed ONLY in other CombatACE mods/mod packages. This mod may NOT in any way, shape or form be used in any payware additions. Submitter Menrva Submitted 01/13/2019 Category Environmental Mods  

It's great to have Geezer back! Geezer is mostly interested in First Eagles projects but he has done quite a few preliminary mid thirties/early WW2 models that can be made to work in SF2. Geezer has given me the OK to post them as open beta testers so I'm going to upload a few of the more finished ones here and take a closer look at some of the others. This thread is aimed at "do it your self" types and the uploads will be incomplete in some respects. That means things like unfinished skins, [make your own] no bomb racks, [add your own] and unfinished FM's. These aircraft may or may not get finished at some point but at least the "12 people" [Wrench Quote ] who have an interest in SF2-WW2 will be able to add some new and interesting aircraft. I think the thread will be good for exchanging information and files as well. Any new skins can be posted here, as well as edits for nation specific types etc. Some rules: 1. None of Geezers models or skins can be used in a formal upload without his consent. They are beta. 2. None of his models or skins can be posted to another website. 3. Preferably, keep any exchange of files confined to this thread, so everyone stays in the loop. Here are a couple of links to get 2 "finished" Geezer models: https://combatace.com/files/file/16169-geezer-sea-gladiator-for-sf-2-mto-and-eto/?tab=comments https://combatace.com/files/file/16173-geezer-cr-42-sf-2-mto/?tab=comments I will be uploading a CR-32 beta tester very soon.

I'm really interested, what type of planes Mordor is currently flying.

There is an instant action for the Hornet in the Persian Gulf that is a guns only 2 vs 2 fight against the MiG-15bis. It reminds me of so many SFP1/SF2 fights with the F-4 vs the MiG-17. AI response is similar and tactics required to win are similar... Given both sims have fairly realistic flight models, here is why the combat feels so similar: Weight: F-4 41,500, F/A-18 36,970 A/B thrust: F-4 2x17,900, F/A-18 2x17,750 Mil thrust: F-4 2x11,905, F/A-18 2x11,000 Wing loading: F-4 41,500 / 530 = 78 lbs/ft^2, F/A-18 36,970 / 410 = 90 Wing span: F-4 38 ft 5 in, F/A-18 40 ft 4 in The Hornet's aspect ratio and maneuvering flaps make up for its wing loading, but a slatted F-4E has respectable AoA authority. The F/A-18C is really a slightly smaller F-4 with more agility, a bubble canopy, but slower and smaller stores load. The F/A-18E pretty much matches the size and payload of the F-4. Of course the MiG-17 is basically a MiG-15bis with an afterburner and wings swept back a bit more for better transonic/supersonic performance. At dogfight speeds, the MiG-15bis is a lot like a MiG-17F stuck in military power with a higher wing loading. So, beating the Korean War era MiG-15bis with an F/A-18C in a guns only fight is not much easier than beating a Vietnam War MiG-17F with a slatted F-4E. The Hornet can climb and turn using its power/weight advantage to spiral above the MiG-15 and then bleed that altitude pulling high AoA to saddle up for a medium to close range gunshot. It is a little bit easier than the F-4 vs MiG-17 because the Hornet can briefly pull some radical AoA to lead for a gun shot while the MiG-15 can't turn or retain energy quite as well as a MiG-17. If you try to beat the MiG-15 with a ham-fisted turn-n-burn fight, you will bleed your speed giving the MiG-15 a chance to gain angles or even get a decent shot. Of course flying an unslatted F-4 or better yet an F-100D or F-105D vs the MiG-17 is far more challenging, but the overall fight looks the same. You just have to be more proficient at exploiting boom-n-zoom opportunities given the AoA restrictions on unslatted F-4s.

And one more screenie for this thread...couldn't resist posting this oddity. Von S

age difference .... the lower (Formosa) is the very early style, possibly even SF1 the upper is the newer, correct SF2 style

Down and out in North Africa.

Sorry for being a little late to the Bleriot XI party. There are currently two replicas (FAA-registered as N913BL and N791X) at MAM - the pix I forwarded were of N913BL at an airshow a couple years ago, and you can see N791X in the photo adjacent to the placard and I've included a hangar shot of it below (especially note the original-style wing suspension). N791X was rebuilt after a crash-landing and was formerly registered as C-FBLW in Quebec where it was originally constructed. All three of those registrations can be searched on and the aircraft background and some photos of each are available online.

Thanks for your help, guys. I figured out the last gauge was fuel pressure!

Après moi le déluge

The more I try WoE, the more I am angered; even in WoE the FAC doesn't seem to spawn (I'm using the latest Oct2008b patch), but at least the ground forces' chatter is complete, they talk to Snoopy and request assistance. In SF2, the ground forces are silent mostly, saying only "we're moving out" or "enemy units southeast of our position". This shows that the cut FAC ruined something more in SF2, something that in WoE worked perfectly. No Snoopy? Alright, but at least the ground unit could talk. And it's not the speechsystem.ini file. This broken behaviour is hardcoded, I am afraid.