streakeagle

I forget what the website was called before ownership changed hands and the name changed to CombatAce.

You young whipper-snappers, I hit 20 back in January :P

This is now the ultimate modern Navy sim. With as much or more realism than its pure map-based forerunners combined with awesome graphics and player friendly game mechanics: Jane's Fleet Command on steroids.

Strike Fighters 2 has two major limitations compared to modern sims: no multiplayer and no native VR support. Minor limitations include dated terrain system (low resolution meshes) and things like air-to-air refueling. But if you are primarily interested in having fun flying a huge variety of aircraft, some of which are modeled as well as many current sims, in a huge variety of terrains and historical scenarios, nothing can beat Strike Fighters 2. Being an older sim, it tends to run very well on modern PCs, but sometimes encounters gpu driver issues as updated drivers are released. Despite its age, it tends to run just fine on Windows 10 (and I presume Windows 11 as I haven't tried it on 11). Some people do encounter technical issues running it on modern PCs/Windows. I love VR and was a proponent of online multiplayer when Strike Fighters Project 1/WoX series had a basic, limited multiplayer. DCS World expanded to include many of my favorite Cold War era aircraft such as the MiG-21, F-5, F-86, MiG-15, and UH-1 and now have finally added may all-time favorite, the F-4. So, I switched to DCS World quite some time ago. I was able to get SF2 to run in VR using a third party software package called vorpX, but that package was constantly updated, which periodically broke SF2 support. The stock cockpits were never designed for looking outside of certain view angle limits and are therefore incredibly ugly in VR. SF2 shines with historical missions packed with AI all over the map: great dogfights, intense AAA/SAMS, etc. The dynamic campaigns are somewhat historically accurate in scope and feel. The problem is that an accurate Vietnam campaign means there aren't many MiGs to fight, and you often get tasked with bombing the same meaningless targets mission after mission. Israel is where the historical action is with lots of combat with short range mission profiles. The fictional campaign allows you to fly as a mercenary pilot in a war between fictional countries in the middle east where you earn money to buy better planes and build a squadron. Overall, SF2 can be set up to give you whatever you want out of combat flight simming as long as you don't mind the aforementioned limitations. But you won't see the real benefit until you realize the volume of mods available. Almost anything you can imagine from WWI to the 1980s is available, though you will need the separate game using the same engine, First Eagles 2 , for the WW I experience. If you have the cash, the complete SF2 package will all games/expansions/DLC for $100 is a bargain, then $40 more for First Eagles 2 if you like biplane combat. On the other hand, if you have a decent PC/gpu and like the idea of VR, DCS World and the IL-2 Battle/Flying Cirucs series offers brilliant graphics, decent multiplayer, and the amazing immersion of VR.

I flew that terrain so many times before the release of Wings Over Vietnam. I think some of the historical missions I created for it are still out there on the internet at Avsim and CombatAce.

Flying Circus is the successor to the old Rise of Flight. It has all the advantages/disadvantages of the IL-2 Battle series. One of its strong points is that it looks and plays great in VR.

DCS World has missed the boat. DCS already has a lot of assets that would have supported the Korean War. But they don't have the map and never focused on filling in the gaps. DCS still hasn't added dynamic campaigns, either. So, this will be the "go to" sim for the Korean War. When this comes out, I most certainly will get it. But I doubt it will equal the detail and accuracy of the DCS P-51D, F-86F, and MiG-15bis. I almost exclusively fly DCS World. The release of the Heatblur F-4E has assured that I will continue primarily flying DCS World for the foreseeable future. If the flight modeling and AI are decent, I will still find some time to fly this new Korean War sim, too. If they include the F2H-2 Banshee and it is modeled really well, I might even split my time between DCS and this Korean War sim.

I really should sell all of my books. I have reached a point in my life where I don't really want any material goods. The internet appeases my appetite for information. But for some reason, seeing all of my books on a shelf warms my heart. My memory is starting to slip with age. I love being able to go to my books to find information that others want to know but I can't recall accurately. I have so many books, I have trouble remembering which one has the information I recall reading. The internet is so wonderful with free pdfs on so many subjects including flight manuals. But there is nothing more satisfying to me than flipping through the pages of a book. Many of my books are way out of date having been published before the collapse of the Soviet Union, so the information is more speculative. I love seeing the contrast between what the West thought was true and what we know now. Korea and Vietnam histories are much more complete/accurate in recent years. I don't know why I am so obsessed with military aviation technology and history, but it is one of the few things that never bores me.

It seems all of the books in the series are falling out of print. I wish I had gotten a few more of the books. I just picked up a used Su-57 book for $25 plus shipping from Amazon, which was effectively free since I used my "Discover bonus" to pay for it. I don't really care about the Su-57, but that book includes coverage of all of the Soviet next gen aircraft, which is cool. I wonder if the Ukraine war is the cause of the end of this series? Maybe once the war ends, publication/re-publication will resume? I want the Tu-22, Tu-95, Su-24, and Su-25 books, which I could have had at list price. I can live without them, but if reprints or a good used price comes up, I will eventually get them.

I am sure it will be reprinted. I missed some of the original releases and got reprints of the others. I don't have all of the series, but I have the complete MiG progression: 15, 17, 19, 21, 23/27, 29, 31, Su-7/17, Su-27 They are easy to tell apart: original release books have a darker red color than the newer ones. My MiG-15, MiG-21, and Su-7/17 books are all original releases. I would like an Su-9/11/15 book, I have settled for the smaller paperback on those subjects by Yefim. Amazon.com: Sukhoi Interceptors: The Su-9, Su-11, and Su-15: Unsung Soviet Cold War Heroes eBook : Yefim Gordon, Dmitriy Komissarov: Kindle Store

I have the Yefim books (got them at list or less). It is like having gold bricks on my shelf. But I want these German books translated into English. I have the English translation of the Mi-24 Hind book and it is excellent.

DCS World is another step closer to matching the SFP1/WoX/SF2 plane set. If all of the currently announced aircraft are actually finished and released, many of the planes needed for a decent Vietnam environment will be available to fly. The recently announced Sinai terrain will make it possible to portray more historical Arab-Israeli air combat. It has taken a long time and there is still a long way to go, but there has been steady progress in the right direction.

I have added it to my "Early Cold War VSN Server", so it is available online in Vietnam and 1970s themed missions.

Great! I hope an English version is eventually released.

From "The Modern Phantom Guide": Beginning in the late 1970s, many F-4s received an arrow-shaped reinforcement plate on the stabilators. They are found on the top and bottom of the stabilators of nearly all F-4Cs and F-4Ds, many RF-4Cs, F-4Gs, and early F-4Es. Most late-model F-4Es (fy72 and later) did not receive them, while some received only the top plates, but not the bottoms, or vice versa. They were also applied to export F-4s, including many F-4Fs and most F-4EJs and RF-4Es, but not all aircraft received them.

Also note: in the last photo I posted, the radome got replaced with one that didn't have shark's teeth on it. The camo aft of the black area clearly does not match the rest of the aircraft.

I personally prefer the style of shark teeth you are using. However, the photos in this thread clearly show a much different style that not only has more teeth, but is partially blocked by the air intake scoops. The eyes are different, too. Interestingly enough, the 1/32 box art more or less shows the correct teeth clipped by the air intake, but the actual decal sheet comes to a point. They eyes are not quite right on both the box art and decal sheet.

This bird is older (67-0333), but shots of this unit are so rare and somehow this one is a MiG killer as well as having the later gun muzzle.

Those look so beautiful to my eyes!

One last shot of the red bird from an eBay photo of the decal sheet.

I got my first F-4E model, a 1/72 Revell in 2nd grade after having watched a film on the Thunderbirds at school. Sometime between then and halfway through the 3rd grade, I got the 1/32 Revell F-4E pictured above. I loved it even more than my Monogram 1/48 B-17G. I tried to paint it as a Thunderbird with no decals and no photo references, so it was ugly. But I never forgot the box art. When you went to hobby shops or department stores, two large models were almost always prominently displayed: the 1/48 Monogram B-17G and the 1/32 Revell F-4E. The box art for both of those is forever etched in my brain. Of course, unlike the box art, "Hey Jude" flew South Vietnam ground attack sorties and never got near a MiG-21 much less kill one. This is the B-17G box I always saw. I bought the same exact model just before I left the Navy in 1996 and have it painted/decaled per the box as El Lobo II hanging above me as I type this.

Researching the MiG-23MLA, there are two production numbers associated with this designation: the original 23-12a (the 23-12 being the MiG-23ML) and the 23-16. I cannot find with any certainty what the 23-16 was, but a forum suggested that was the designation for older MiG-23M and MiG23ML aircraft brought up to the MiG-23MLA standard. I cannot find any evidence that the MiG-23MLA aircraft exported to other countries was any different than those used by the USSR. Cuba received about around 12-14 MiG-23MLA.

They best I can do on the red bird logo is the box art from the old model.