streakeagle

Don't give up. It is worth the effort to get it working!

While their products had flaws, I bought and enjoyed all of the RAZBAM SF aircraft releases. One of the aircraft that keeps me flying SF2 is their F2H-2. When they originally sold their products, IIRC, they did have quite a disclaimer about how long you would be able to download from them and that it was the purchaser's responsibility to store/backup the purchased files. I remember a number of people being ignored who needed new copies later. I don't understand why they aren't more customer friendly? But, I have all of my aircraft backed up on a dvd (among countless other SF files) as well as stored on multiple hard drives. As I don't fly SF2 that much anymore, I don't know that I would be bothered if I lost the files at this point, but if I really missed the F2H-2, I might buy that one again, because it was dramatically better than the "A-Team"'s version. As far as the DCS Mirage 2000C goes, I have done a few take-offs/landings and some WVR air combat with guns. I like what I see, but won't bother getting to know this plane until its feature set/flight model is more stable. Based on how well it works right now, I won't hesitate to buy their DCS Mirage IIICJ when/if it becomes available.

Even the AIM-9B had some sort of prox fusing... it was one of several advantages it held over the AIM-4 (which required a direct hit to detonate). But the "kill radius" is a measure of the warhead's effectiveness, not the range/sensitivity of the fusing. I don't know about the game's logic for prox fusing, but in real life a rear aspect missile like an AIM-9 would want to wait until the missile had reached its closest point of approach before detonating, so most likely, it would either have a fairly close prox range with hardly any delay, or a small delay for a longer prox range to give the missile time to get closer before detonating. A head on aspect missile like the early AIM-7s needed to be fused for high closure rates... longer range proximity with very fast detonation, putting up a wall of fragments in front of the target. This made early AIM-7s less than useful for tail shots. Later versions improved for dogfighting had a more dynamic fusing setup allowing for different aspects.

The key is that it is not a true simulation, it looks and feels like a simulation, but its primary purpose is to be a fun game. I don't like it when a random bomber or sub comes and destroys one of my favorite ships with almost nothing I can do about it, but those are just about the only problems I can't work around. Carriers are oddly implemented... they are easily taken out since they start within gun range, but if you know how to use torpedo and dive bombers correctly, they are even more powerful than submarines with their lethal and and long ranged attacks. My favorite is a straight BB vs BB fight... or other well balanced matchups such as DD vs DD or CA vs CA.

Due to the format of the game, submarines are unrealistically powerful. Using three submarines, normally at least two will have good positions to intercept and kill the targets as they drive by. If not, just disengage and try again. It is fairly easy to win the static campaigns with only submarines. But, for me, the fun is trying to duke it out with battleships. So, unless there are enemy aircraft carriers or enemy subs, I like to use all surface ships to have more fun.

High turnover rate -> rapid advancement. I made E-6 in 5 years. Some branches have people retiring as an E-6 after 20 years. There are always trade-offs.

Compared to WW2 and Korea, Vietnam kill claims were remarkably accurate. Most US claims were backed by VPAF loss records. The US tended to distort its losses: VPAF claims frequently coincided with US losses to flak and SAMs. In many cases, the pilots' never saw what hit them and just guessed based on the circumstances. But I also suspect that when in doubt, the USAF preferred to deflate their losses to MiGs based on the way they ran the entire war based on statistics. Such as trying to rack up sorties even when there weren't enough bombs to send out more sorties.

It was kind of painful transitioning from SFP1 to SF2. A lot of great work was lost due to changes or ignored and forgotten.

My SF2V take on that mission is available here: http://combatace.com/files/file/12285-650404-f-100d-probable-mig-kill/ The interesting fact is that the VPAF claimed that it lost not just one, but three MiG-17s to aerial dogfights that day. It is possible that the one Kilgus claimed did not actually go down due to his attacks, but even if he didn't shoot it down, that aircraft didn't make it home. The other two, if not all three, were most likely shot down by their own air defenses. Despite the surviving MiG-17 pilot's claim of losing his other three wingmen to US aircraft, the USAF only had one claim. If any F-100 or F-105 pilot had been in a position to even have a chance of claiming a kill, they would have tried to claim it. I would give Kilgus the credit: he repeatedly fired on and hit the target, and the target didn't make it home.

In my many debates in the F-4 vs F-8 battle, I always encounter assertions about how much better the F-8 was because it had guns and was more maneuverable. The gun argument is easy to refute as aircraft that had both guns and missiles available almost always scored their kills with missiles, especially the F-8 units as they were privileged to be converted to the AIM-9D as soon as it was available. The maneuverability issue is harder to prove since I have never found any charts showing the sustained or instantaneous turn performance of the F-8. The F-4, on the otherhand, has detailed information for almost every version/configuration flown by the US military. Crusader fans always loosely paraphrase pilot anecdotes from Crusader pilots that flew rings around Phantom pilots in mock dogfights. So, let me quote a Crusader pilot anecdote that should spell out just how maneuverable the F-8 was against the MiG-17, its principal foe: "At one point, while I was pursuing the lead section of MiGs in a high-G, left turn, the second section got behind me. Tracers from the leader streaked over my canopy. The knee-jerk reaction to such a dire situation would have been to pull hard, putting more Gs to 'throw the shooter out of the saddle'. However, I remembered an incident a few months before when MiG-17s had surprised two other VF-111 pilots by popping out of the clouds behind the F-8s. The Crusader pilots tried to out-turn the MiGs, which shot down one F-8..." While this pilot lived by pushing his nose down into a negative 'g' roll forcing the MiGs to overshoot, one of the F-8s that showed up to help him out tried to turn with one of the MiGs, which resulted in the MiG getting on his tail. His wingman then scared the MiG off of his tail, but "each time Lt Wyman tried to fire a Sidewinder, the MiG would shake him off in a tight turn." Ultimately, the fight went down to treetop level and the MiG was shot down by Lt Wyman. But it took four F-8s in an extended dogfight to trap this one MiG-17 into AIM-9D firing parameters. This was not a typical MiG-17 pilot. He was aware of all the F-8s around him and as such maneuvered repeatedly to deny shot opportunities. CVW-21 scored 9 of the 18 official kills on one cruise and attributed their success compared to other units to: 1) Being the only air wing exclusively tasked as fighters (no bomb racks, only very rarely carrying Zunis). 2) Using the AIM-9D instead of the AIM-9B. If you review all of the F-8 kills scored in Vietnam (originally scored as 18, now at least 19, but possibly 20 or 21 depending on how you score a probable and one in which the pilot bailed out before the F-8 could kill the MiG), then you will find that in many cases the MiG-17s were either flying straight while disengaging, setting up a shot on another aircraft (typically A-4s), or just popped up in front of an F-8 unaware that the F-8 was there and had a good firing opportunity. Many of the pilots clearly reported that they were pulling little or no G at the time of firing the fatal shots since their targets were pulling little or no G. If the MiG-17s had been aware they were under attack and utilized their turn capability, Even the AIM-9D would have been much less effective. Guns were used effectively only 2 or 3 times of the 18 or 20 kills scored. The peformance capabilities the F-8 used against the MiG-17 were: acceleration, climb, and speed, NEVER turning. Separation and mutual support were almost always used to allow turns/reversals with the general exception being quick breaks used to cause overshoots by rapidly appraoching attackers. The only way an F-8 could convert onto a MiG-17s tail is if the MiG-17 wasn't using its full turn performance. Suggested reading: USAF Red Baron reports (covering every air-to-air engagement between US and enemy forces during Vietnam in detail). MiG Killers A Chronology of U.S. Air Victories in Vietnam 1965-1973 (solid data on who, when, where, aircraft type destroyed and what weapon was used) Clashes Air Combat over North Vietnam 1965-1972 (seriously bashes USAF leadership for ignoring the results of its own studies) F-8 Crusader Units of the Vietnam War (recounts the MiG kills fairly well including quoted anecdotes) List of known kills (including some not officially recognized) 01. 660612 MiG-17 AIM-9D Disengaging Cdr Harold L. Marr "he rolls and heads straight for his base... At a half-mile, I fire my last winder, and it chops off his tail and starboard wing." 02. 660612 MiG-17 Cannon Bounced Cdr Harold L. Marr "climbed to 6,000 feet and engaged the second pair of MiGs, firing 25-30 cannon rounds. He saw fragments coming off the right wing of one of the MiGs, but he quickly ran out of ammunition and had to break off." 03. 660621 MiG-17 Cannon Headon pass Lt Eugene J. Chancy "Lt Chancy's desparate fire hit the MiG wingman as the section slashed through the Crusaders, blowing a wing off the MiG." 04. 660621 MiG-17 AIM-9D Disengaging Lt jg Phillip V. Vampatella "the North Vietnamese pilot seemed to have turned back toward home, probably low on fuel himself. Seizing the opportunity, Vampatella reduced his speed and turned back toward the departing MiG. At approximately three-quarters of a mile, he tried on Sidewinder, then the second. The second finally came off the rail and guided straight toward the MiG, detonating immediately behind the fighter, which crashed." 05. 661009 MiG-21 AIM-9D Undetected? Cdr Richard M. Bellinger "One of the delta-winged MiGs split-essed toward the ground, and Bellinger followed, firing two Sidewinders...one of the Sidewinders found its mark, and the MiG-21 crashed into the rice paddies below." 06. 670501 MiG-17 AIM-9D Target fixated Lt Cdr Marshall O. Wright "He got on the MiG's tail as it attacked an A-4 and fired a Sidewinder, which sent the jet tumbling into the ground." 07. 670519 MiG-17 AIM-9D Unexpected Lt Cdr Bobby C. Lee "a MiG-17 crossed their noses. Lee fired a Sidewinder, shich cut the MiG in half." 08. 670519 MiG-17 AIM-9D ACM? Lt Phillip R. Wood "hauled his F-8 around and fired another AIM-9D. The missile hit the MiG, sending it diving toward the ground." 09. 670519 MiG-17 AIM-9D ACM Cdr Paul H. Speer "engaged the North Vietnamese fighter in a series of maneuvers until the MiG pilot finally offered the Crusader pilot a shot. Speer's first Sidewinder fell away, but his second missile hit the MiG in the tail." 10. 670520 MiG-17 AIM-9D Undetected? Lt jg Joseph M. Shea "fired two Sidewinders, both of which hit the MiG, sending it also into the Hanoi suburbs." 11. 670721 MiG-17 AIM-9D ? Lt jg Philip Dempewolf details not clear, "probable" possibly confirmed after the war? 12. 670721 MiG-17 AIM-9D Target fixated Lt Cdr Marion H. Isaacks "A-4s were attacked by an estimated force of ten MiG-17s...got above and behind one MiG...The third missile came off the rail and tracked perfectly, right up the MiG's tailpipe." 13. 670721 MiG-17 Cannon Bounced Lt Cdr Robert L. Kirkwood "I was in good position at his 6 o'clock and not pulling much G...I squeezed the trigger and closed to 300 ft. I could see my shells hitting theMiG's fuselage" 14. 670721 MiG-17 Rocket Overshoot Lt Cdr Ray G. Hubbard Jr. "forcing the second MiG to overshoot...fired his remaining two Zunis, which blew up close enough to the MiG to cause major damage." 15. 671214 MiG-17 AIM-9D ACM Lt Richard E. Wyman "got behind the MiG and fired another Sidewinder. This time the AIM-9 guided perfectly and took off the MiG's left wing, the enemy fighter diving into the ground only 50 ft below." (4 F-8s to 1 MiG-17 from 16,000 ft down to treetop level). 16. 680626 MiG-21 AIM-9D ACM Cdr Lowell R. Landers "The MiG made a head-on pass against the three VF-51 fighters, and Myers wrapped his Crusader into a turn, which put him at the MiG's six o'clock, and he fired his Sidewinder." (appears to be no dogfight, MiG-21 continued straight?) 17. 680709 MiG-17 Cannon Novice Lt Cdr John B. Nichols III "The MiG pilot suddenly stopped his turn, rolled to wings level and lit his afterburner. Nichols saddled in and fired a second Sidewinder. This time the missile hit the MiG, causing major damage. The fighter remained in the air, however, much to Nichol's amazement, and he began firing his cannon, obtaining a few hits." (Intel provided briefing on pilot shot down: newly converted MiG-17 pilot with relatively low hours) 18. 680729 MiG-17 AIM-9D ACM Cdr Guy Cane "ended up turning with the enemy fighters until Cane got off a missile, which detonated just behind the MiG's tailpipe." 19. 680801 MiG-21 AIM-9D Damaged Lt Norman K. McCoy "When they reacquired him, McCoy was in the driver's seat, close to a minute after Hise's call. He pickled off a 'winder and nailed him." (Damaged by Hise's AIM-9D one minute earlier, lost in clouds, re-aquired flying straight?) 20. 680919 MiG-21 AIM-9D ACM Lt Anthony J. Nargi "He climbed and went into a loop, and I was able to get into position behind him." 21. 720523 MiG-17 Fear? Lt. Jerry Tucker "Suddenly the MiG's canopy flew off, followed by the pilot." (MiG-17 pilot bailed out for no apparent reason.) While only 3 or 4 F-8s were lost to MiGs, this was less related to the performance of the aircraft and more related to how it was operated and where it was operated. F-8s were seldom bounced since they almost always practiced fluid two mutual support and usually had Red Crown vectoring them to MiGs being tracked on radar or spotted MiGs engaging other aircraft such as A-4s.

Welcome to Combat Ace. This is a great place to come if you are a Strike Fighters fan (or any other flight sim for that matter). How long have you been playing Strike Fighters?

From the depth/width of the spine, I am going to say BIS.

Pilot quality is everything. F-8 pilots had extensive dogfight/gunfight training. F-4 pilots had none, and in fact didn't even have good live fire training for the missiles they carried. Once Navy F-4 pilots got that training, their kill ratio reflected it. USAF F-15s not only lost to F-4s, but also F-104s. A good pilot will recognize a bad pilot's weakness and exploit it with tactics when aircraft performance can't get the job done. On energy-maneuverability, if you search the internet, you can find quotes from F-8 pilots that converted to the F-4. One of my favorites basically stated that he couldn't understand how an F-4 could lose to an F-8 in a dogfight with all of the extra power available. The F-4 wasn't the cleanest aircraft in terms of zero-lift drag. It also had a fairly high level of induced drag due to its nearly pure delta Mach 2 wing. Yet it was both faster in level flight and had higher sustained climb rates than any F-8 (the F-4 set climb records only broken by the MiG-25 and F-15). That many pilots tasked with flying the F-4 weren't trained to fly it to its limits does not make the F-4 inferior to the F-8.

I think you will find that TK eliminated the ability to run an engine with negative fuel consumption, which allowed "refueling". YAP's 05 was absolutely livid about SFP1/WoX's final patches with the release of WoI that "broke" bugs that YAP was exploiting to enhance its missions. From TK's perspective, the ability to have a negative fuel consumption was an oversight that was finally corrected. From 05's point of view, TK was intentionally breaking his 3rd party addons. It is simple to test, use a negative fuel rate on a stock aircraft and see what happens to the fuel weight.

Some information on Balter flight, the top cover for Oyster flight: - Oyster Flight, 4 F-4D (with Combat Tree) from 555th TFS/432nd TRW, lead by Maj. Robert Locher - Balter Flight, 4 F-4D (with Combat Tree) from 13th TFS/432nd TRW, lead by ? A crew member photo and name is in the book, "One Day in a Long War": Capt Bill Ridge, presumably one of the two pilots that didn't turn back. I can't find any more information on Balter flight of May 10. The name doesn't get any hits on the internet, no matter what qualifiers I use to filter the search.

The key involves reverting back to DX9, but TK may have deleted code/hooks that render that path impossible without carefully merging some code from SFP1/WoX games. It would be a daunting task unless you can read hex code like a dick and jane book. I found it is a lot more practical to try to retrofit SF2 material back into WoI with the last expansion pack. Up to a certain patch level, SF2 3d models could be retrofitted back into This version of WoI, which retains multiplayer. However, that final WoI+Expansion pack needed a patch to fix some bugs, and TK abandoned it. Also, getting the nicer, newer 3d models into the older game is one thing, but the RWR and some other functions take a step back. It would take a lot of work to bring all the aircraft, weapons, ground objects and terrain from all of the other games into this one installation. In the end, the original multiplayer was so limited in capability, it would largely be a waste of time to do so. The best path is to multiplayer is to play the original SFP1/WoX/FE games as is (with everyone sharing compatible mods). For all their limitations, I had a lot of fun playing them online. But, I have tried the DCS World F-86F online before the flyable MiG-15bis was released. You could fight AI with co-op or fly F-86F vs F-86F. It was so much better than any SFP1 based mutliplayer: runway starts, full graphics for terrain and clouds, complex AI scripting, landing/refueling/rearming. DCS still needs the SF terrain, plane, and ground object libraries, but the engine is pretty solid. The release of the F-14 and F-5, combined with Nevada and the MiG-21bis largely replaces the SFP1 experience with a far superior multiplayer setup. However, finding a multiplayer server that runs during your free time with people that want to play the same way you do remains the challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed the one F-86 server, but it disappeared after the MiG-21 was released, and I never really found another server that caught my interest. As a single player game, the SF2/FE2 series still has a lot to offer that you can't do with DCS World, yet. But multiplayer for the SF series just wasn't ever good enough to draw a crowd, and much better options are available. If someone wants to try to get an online group going for the old games, I can try to participate. I have all the old games and will install them as necessary to try. But there are some tricks required to get anything beyond Wings Over Vietnam or SFP1 running via HyperLobby. The real trick is using virtual LAN software to get around the issues DirectPlay and the SFP1 series games have with routing/firewalls. Hamachi used to be perfect for getting players all joined together despite routers, but it has changed over the years and I am not certain it is as useful any more.

I have been spending time on this well before there were PC flight sims. SPI had a board game named "Air War. "https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1629/air-war-modern-tactical-air-combat It was re-released by TSR while I was in high school about 1983, which was when I bought it. There were two scenarios in that game that were my all time favorite ones to play: two F-105s being bounced by MiG-17s (possibly recreating the first F-105 lost to MiGs) and "The Death of Major Lodge". Later on, around 1987 or 1988, I bought a very big book, "Modern Fighting Aircraft Volume 4 F-4 Phantom". http://www.amazon.com/F-4-Phantom-Modern-Fighting-Aircraft/dp/0668060689/ref=sr_1_20?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460837049&sr=1-20&keywords=F-4+Phantom It had a detailed description of this same air battle, complete with a diagram summarizing all of the key events. Over the years, I have built a decent library of books on F-4 Phantoms, the Vietnam air war, and air combat in general, which frequently mention this particular incident. Somewhere along the way, the narrative description changed as the existence, function, and employment of Combat Tree was declassified. Before, this incident was famous not for the death of Major Lodge, or being the source of one of Steve Ritchie's 5 kills, but because it was the sole textbook example from the entire Vietnam air war showing how great a weapon the AIM-7 Sparrow could be when employed Beyond Visual Range. The text would explain the unique circumstances of this mission that enabled Oyster flight to be certain that they were not firing on friendlies without getting a visual ID. Red Crown, airborne monitoring, and a lack of any allied aircraft in front of them. Now we no the truth: this was just one of many incidents where Combat Tree got an IFF response from MiGs confirming their identity as an enemy without a doubt and permitting AIM-7s to be fired well beyond visual range.

With blue numbers, which are USSR issue colors. Of course, humans aren't the best witnesses. Subject to errors. The USSR is steadfast that it did not fight in the air in Vietnam as it did in Korea. But what would make Locher see/recall these details other than actually having seen them up close? I would take his word unless better evidence such as photos/film contradicted him. But the VPAF records are fairly good, too. They certainly knew which aircraft/pilots didn't come home on any given day. It is difficult to accurately peel back the fog of war, especially when the whole incident was somewhat classified until recently due to the use of Combat Tree.

I am trying to build some nice screenshots to compare and contrast a max-modded SF2/Vietnam/F-4B/Coral Sea install versus FSX/TacPack/Vietnam/SimWorks Studios F-4B Beta release. What I have learned from doing this is: 1) Sundowner made some great templates available, which have to be modified to suit the particular unit/time frame I am trying to showcase. I am not very good at skinning and hate having to do anything more than download ready-made flawless skins by people with far greater skills than me. So, why doesn't SF2 have a complete library of skins that are hi-res/Sundowner quality for major stock aircraft the way SFP1/WoX did? MyTai did wonderful work for SFP1 and a mix between his work and the Sundowner templates is the way to go. But both the Sundowner template and the MyTai decals need to be modified to get nearly flawless results. I am spoiled from the past where everything I wanted just magically appeared (aside from Thunderbirds F-4E skins, and TK eventually improved that situation with a fairly decent DLC). 2) The stock provision for Coral Sea is still the stock Kittyhawk CV. 3) The freeware available at CombatAce for CV-43 supports SF2 NA carriers and is a huge improvement in many ways, but... 4) To this day, the only maxed out quality carriers for the SF series are YAP carriers, which don't inherently support SF2 and have the pretty, but impractical solution of having one version of the model for taking off and one version for landing. This looks great for hand written missions, but just doesn't work for generated missions, especially campaigns. On a related note: I was trying to replicate Oyster flight from May 10, 1972 for a nice screenshot. SF2 does not inherently support the "OY" tail code for the Triple Nickel in 1972 and CombatAce does not have an SF2 skin available, much less a Sundowner qulaity skin for the OY tail code. Sundowner did release a generic F-4D skin that would probably work ok if I had the right decals for 1972 Triple Nickel "OY" F-4Ds. But I can see the collapse of the SF community that took place in the transition from SFP1/WoX to SF2. In consolidating the core games, TK gave up some skins/decal variations that he had fully supported between SFP1, WoV, WoE, and WoI. The community never fully provided updated, hi-res replacements for the huge volume of material published to enhance/expand SFP1/WoX. So, what I really want, but am too unskilled/lazy to provide are: Complete skins at a Sundowner quality level for every aircraft in the SF2 library, especially the F-4. Freeware versions of all aircraft carriers that equal or surpass YAP carriers visual quality AND allow a single model to support both takeoffs and landings to be suitable for campaigns. Someone out there needs to get hot so I can ignore/criticize their work while I revert back to DCS World in the time it takes you to try to support an obsolete/unsupported sim that eventually won't work with the latest PCs/Windows. If you can't see the sarcasm/humor in my entire post, you can **** off! On the other hand, if someone could quickly polish up the 3d models/textures for an SF2 CV-43 Coral Sea in 1965 on very short notice, I would actually use it for a few screen shots.

Reading and re-reading my sources on this subject take me back in time. The names are so familiar. ACIG has an alternative description of what happened taking into account what the VPAF reported sorties and losses were for that day. The US perspective had a flight of 4 x MiG-21s supplemented by a flight of 4 x MiG-19s. The VPAF claimed 2 x MiG-21 + 4 x MiG-19. But Roger Locher's description of the MiG-21 that Bob Lodge died trying to kill is indicative of a Soviet flown MiG-21. No VPAF MiG-21s meet Locher's description. The VPAF description would fit the initial detection of and killing of two MiG-21s, but then Roger Locher identified an additional MiG-21 at point blank range and Steve Ritchie also thought he had shot down a MiG-21. It is possible that the three known kills were 1 x MiG-21 and 2 x MiG-19 with Roger Locher having seen the second MiG-21. But then what did Markle see attacking Lodge? 2 x MiG-19 or 4 x MiG-19? I think the ACIG later amended their description of this fight to include for the possibility that there really were 4 x MiG-21s involved despite the VPAF claims, because I don't remember them previously accepting the possibility that there really were 4 x MiG-21s and my latest re-reading of their post did include that possibility rather than outright refuting it as I remembered. The USSR records admit flying combat missions in Korea but have never admitted doing so in Vietnam. But first hand pilot accounts (such as Locher's) indicate that it may have occurred whether the USSR realized it or not. One bonus in having the VPAF's account of that day is that there was one more kill that should be credited to that flight, and most probably Bod Lodge and Roger Locher: the MiG-19 that shot them down ended up running out of fuel, landing too fast, and flipping over on landing, killing the pilot. So the final tally for the day would be 4:1 in favor of the US. If Bob Lodge had heeded the "break" call from Oyster 2, it probably would have been 3:0. As smart and good as Maj Lodge was, he apparently had become obsessed with becoming the first USAF Vietnam ace. If he hadn't suffered from target fixation on that day, he probably would have been. He is a classic tragic hero. It still makes me sad to read about this mission. Especially hearing the recording of Locher describing the events. I am sure the VPAF pilots were heroic, too. The Osprey books on the VPAF Mig-17/MiG-19 and VPAF MiG-21 units do a good job of showing the war from their perspective. But as a US citizen and veteran who grew up loving our fighter pilots, I can't quite feel the pride and sadness of their situation as much as I can for US pilots. The same goes for Nazi and Japanese pilots vs Allied pilots. I love and respect them all, but I can't help but root and cry more for the home team.

Oyster flight on May 10, 1972 consisted of four F-4Ds: Oyster 1, OY 65-0784 crewed by Maj. Robert Lodge and Capt. Roger Locher Oyster 2, OY 66-8734 crewed by 1Lt. John Markle and Capt. Steven Eaves. Oyster 3, OY 66-7463 crewed by Capt. Steve Ritchie and Capt. Chuck DeBellevue Oyster 4, OY ? crewed by 1Lt. Tommy Feezel and Capt. Larry Pettit Here are some profiles from the Osprey book, "USAF F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-73": Having seen real photos of OY 65-0784 just two days prior to May 10, the first obvious error is the ecm pod in the front AIM-7 well. It should be an ALQ-101, not an ALQ-71. The 71 was under the left wing. OY 65-0784 and OY 66-7463 both had combat tree, so they both should probably have the red warning label seen on the splitter plate of OC 66-0230 and OY 66-6463. This red square is about the self-destruct mechanism for the highly classified combat tree system. While the profile doesn't show it, I have seen photos that indicate OY 66-7463 had "slimer" formation lights as depicted for OY 66-8734 and OY 65-0784. Knowing that the loadout on OY 65-0784 is probably wrong in the profile, the other two should be equally inaccurate, but may reflect what the pilots recalled in past interviews. Of interest to me is that Oyster 1 and 2 show ALQ-71 pods in the forward AIM-7 well while Oyster 3 shows AIM-7s up front and an ALQ-101 pod on the wing pylon.

It is just interesting after all these years with so many user mods that the carriers remained neglected. At this point, the limited life remaining for this sim due to operating system/driver version issues makes the value of any further labor intensive addons questionable.

I need to consolidate my sources. But the Osprey book on USAF F-4 kills in 72-73 is agreeing with my other book that chronicles all MiG killers of the entire war. The profiles in the Osprey book got some things right, but still have mistakes. Interesting text on the loadouts: the #2/#4 planes apparently carried fewer missiles based on a statement from the #2 pilot in this historical incident. Oyster 1: 3 x AIM-7, 2 x AIM-4 Oyster 2: 2 x AIM-7, 1 x AIM-4 Apparently all carried 3 drop tanks, which they dropped prior to engaging.

The early J models rushed into service had some reliability issues. The later post-Vietnam J models were much better, but were way behind what the AIM-G/H series had achieved. The jump from the AIM-9H to the AIM-9L was fairly small. Just a tweak to the seeker to give a chance at all-aspect. But if you look at the Israeli and Falklands data, AIM-9L series was still primarily fired from rear aspect, but achieved about 80% PK, not only well above the 15-25% experienced in Vietnam, but smoking the 35-40% achieved with AIM-7M in Desert Storm. As far as I can tell, AIM-9N/Ps were AIM-9Js altered to be roughly comparable to the AIM-9L/M without the all-aspect capability. On my submarine, we had the sonar equivalent to a RWR, the AN/WLR-9. Its job was to automatically warn us with a variety of beeps to any active sonar that met its detection criteria. It would give you a direction, a signal strength, frequency, and pulse length. But under some circumstances, the false alarm rate was very high and it would largely be disregarded -- though we had to verbally acknowledge all torpedo detections as false alarms to the officer of the deck in control. But when a real sonar or torpedo was really going active, it gave us great information automatically. We never faced the saturation of active sonars in all directions that Olds faced in Vietnam. The system would have been utterly useless in the middle of a surface action group banging away at full power on their active sonars. Nice profile. My books never had a current photo of the Oyster flight F-4Ds. This crew chief's photos are fantastic and belong in my books. I have identified three of the four tail codes in that flight. I would also like to know the tail codes of the sister, Balter, flight, especially the two that completed the mission and flew up high as bait. Once source confessed that 784 wasn't even assigned to them, but after scoring their kills, they used rank to have it the name blocks repainted/assigned to them. I never trust profiles. Photos have limited usefulness unless you can be certain about the date/location... but still much better than profiles. In the absence of information, I always take what I can get though. In the words of my WEPS on SSN-687 (weapons officer), "bad data is better than no data".

I have both. I don't have YAP3 or one last patch for YAP2 (though I still have the no longer valid email link to the patch).