streakeagle

Nothing to be sorry about. Just in the process of moving on with my life. Beyond getting my son through the next 3 1/2 years of high school, I will be free to do what I want with my time and money for the first time since I got married. The competition for my funds is flight sim stuff, 1981 Corvette restoration and operation. If my cash flow is positive enough after the divorce, I might finally get a real pilot license.

I am in the process of getting a divorce. Once my wife moves out, I will finally be able to finish my F-4E sim pit I have been working on for ages. The immediate task is to get my throttle integrated into a USB controller and restore the stick to operational capability, this time using a hall effect sensor based system to eliminate the problems I had with having to clean industrial grade pots that wear out and get dirty quickly after my kind of use/abuse.

It is about time. Too many years without my favorite aircraft. Until this release, SF2, essentially a 20-year old game, is still the best F-4 combat flight simulator available despite being only a "lite" sim. If you are happy pushing buttons there are a couple of decent F-4 options for MSFS/P3d, but their usefulness is limited in a civil flight sim, even with VRS TacPack providing basic radar and weapons functionality. Heatblur's F-14A is one of the best modules in the game. While the "Jester AI" isn't perfect, it generally works well enough that it is far better than having no AI at all. Of course, having a real human RIO is much better and more fun. It is only natural that Heatblur would produce the F-4 since there is so much overlap in functionality and operations. I can't wait to get the F-4E and then see which variant they will be working on next.

It looks fantastic. But you know how many years this has already been in development? 3d model being changed / retextured again. So, when is the release and how finished/correct is it at that point? I can't wait to get it, but it has been a very long wait. I wish their F-8J Crusader was being released soon, too.

Finally, this is where I originally found out the source of inspiration for the Lou Drendel "7-11 Honcho" MiG-15bis on my toy glider: A Paint Request Please (sim-outhouse.com)

More stuff on "Casey Jones": apparently some of the original movie footage was used for the "Airwolf" TV show: F-84F Thunderstreak | Airwolf Wiki | Fandom

Someone else is a "Casey Jones" fan, too: F-84 F Thunderstreak “Mig-Double” von Italeri in 1:48 | Stuttgart-Modellbau

Apparently, there is a "Casey Jones" mission in a DCS World F-86 Korea campaign, but I can't see a custom skin for it in this dark video from that mission:

I wanted the skin from the glider on my MiG-15bis in DCS World... only to discover that Lou Drendel had adapted it from a fictional skin from a movie as I found the skin for a MSFS F-84 mod after combing the web for information. I was disappointed to learn that no MiG-15s actually flew with this skin, especially over Korea in combat. So, I find this post most entertaining as I could have used this information some time ago instead of searching endlessly for history that didn't exist. I agree with the original poster, his skin is a more accurate representation of the actual "Casey Jones" skin, even if it was only used in a mediocre Hollywood movie. I would still like to see Lou Drendel's MiG-15bis rendition of this skin on my DCS World MiG-15bis.

This is the entire collection. The F-15 wasn't part of the "Tiger Squadron" glider collection, but I found it in a store years later with almost the same scale and style as the rest of the set, so I bought it.

I got this MiG-15 foam glider toy in 1978. I think I have the entire set of gliders. Look at the paint job given to it by famous aviation artist Lou Drendel:

The model is not very accurate. The model is labeled as an F-4E. The "flying saucer" antenna is consistent with a QF-4E The jet exhaust nozzles look more like an F-4E/F/G/J/S than an F-4B/C/D/N. But the nose is more or less an early F-4B/C. The underwing missile rails look more like a USAF variant than an USN variant. The wings don't have the bumps for wide tire USAF F-4C/D/E/G main landing gear. Given all the discrepancies, it doesn't fit any one type, but it looks closest to a QF-4B or QF-4C, leaning toward the QF-4C because of the USAF "flying saucer" antenna that is not present on USN QF-4 variants.

The "flying saucer" antenna is used for drone control, i.e. QF-4 versions. All of the photos I can find with that antenna are the USAF QF-4E. I did not find a single photo of a Navy QF-4 using that antenna, nor could I find a photo of a QF-4C or QF-4D with that antenna.

main-qimg-bcc7f99b06f84a58ffd23e01323d9c92-c (1200×900) (quoracdn.net)

I had all of them. I mainly played 2nd Fleet, but when I joined the Navy, one of my friends tried 7th Fleet. The rules improved with each iteration, so 2nd Fleet was generally better than 6th Fleet, and 7th Fleet was more refined than 2nd Fleet. But I loved the Frunze in 2nd Fleet. I never lost the Frunze. It was damaged once, but never sunk.

That is big news to me. I know Bodø well thanks to an old naval warfare board game, Victory Games 2nd Fleet.

I remember the transition from Biohaz to CombatAce

I have been flying this free module for quite some time now and watched it develop. There are few bugs left. It works as well or better than any payware module. I am friends with one of the guys coding the systems. What he has done with the ground mapping radar is fantastic. It is one of the best modules in the game with its ability to perform almost any role except all-weather interceptor since it lacks air-intercept radar and Sparrows. It is a fun challenge to land on a carrier.

From the time I was a young boy, I loved the P-51D with the bubble canopy and the F4U-1A and later with the malcom hood style bubbled out canopy. But in recent years, I have developed a fondness for the original bird cage canopies on P-51A/B/Cs and F4U-1s. I have come to appreciate the sleeker, low drag lines despite the horrible looks of the frames. In VR, frames don't really block you vision much: stereo vision lets you see around them. So, I would rather have an extra 2-5 mph performance than frameless canopy. Operationally, the Malcom hood was a huge step forward for the P-51B/C, comparable if not better than the F4U-1A/F4U-1D bulged canopy. But I have come to prefer the much sleeker original P-51B/C lines. But real men fly Allison engined P-51/P-51A Mustangs/A-36 Apaches. High altitude performance issues aside, they are by far the sleekest of all the Mustang variants. The ones with 4 x 20mm cannons are top notch fighters at sea level.

Many Russian women are very attractive when they are young. But sooner or later, they end up looking a little bit less attractive:

TK wanted the SF series to be "light", i.e. fun to fly without horrible handling characteristics. So most stock FMs produce a simple stall that just "mushes" out in a stable way. Since the flight models don't have the elements that are required to accurately model departing controlled flight, asymmetrical data at high AoAs can be used to create a decent effect. The one aircraft TK didn't dumb down the handling characteristics and perhaps made it even harder than reality was the English Electric Lightning. But I complained about it: if a hard-wing F-4 isn't going to depart at high AoA like is should, why should the Lighting? While the Lightning remains one of the more difficult aircraft to fly, TK apparently agreed with my argument and dumbed down the difficulty a bit to be more in line with the other SF2 aircraft that should otherwise be very difficult to fly in some areas of the envelope: i.e. the F-100 and F-104 should be able to kill you instantly under certain conditions, instead they have very docile flight models compared to reality. When TK started "dumbing down" SF2 in later patches, I gave up trying to make SF2 more realistic. I fly DCS World for the flight models, SF2 for the amazing range of aircraft and historical environments available.

I only know two sims with really great helo flight models: DCS:World and Aerofly FS 2. Aerofly FS 2 has a lot of limitations compared to X-Plane and MSFS variants, but it is strong in VR with steady max FPS even with maxed out graphics settings and the helos it comes with plus a free Westland Lynx mod are directly comparable to DCS helos. I spent many years looking for a good helo simulator. DCS won the race, but Aerofly FS 2 matched them. For the record, I have flown DCS World multiplayer missions with some real Army UH-1 pilots and they say DCS is impressive, but is actually harder to fly than the real one: i.e. it is easier to get into vortex ring state (the helo equivalent to stalling/departing controlled flight). The Mi-8 and Mi-24 have a very different feel and are amazing, too. The one with the least realistic flight model is the Gazelle, but its lightweight, super-responsive controls make it fun to fly in contrast to the UH-1 and Russian helos. It is hard to beat the OFP/ArmA series for helo missions, but the flight models are utter crap in comparison to DCS. DCS supports many of the same mission types as OFP/ArmA, but aren't as immersive due to invisible passengers. If you can get your axis curves tuned right, OFP ArmA feels a lot better and the new ArmA 3 Vietnam DLC is absolutely amazing for UH-1 and AH-1 missions. But DCS and Aerofly FS 2 have VR. Once you have flown helos with a realistic flight model in VR, you will never want to fly helos on a flat panel monitor with a crappy FM. Vietnam type missions with rockets, miniguns, door guns, and deployable squads is an incredibly immersive experience in DCS World with VR. I am a huge fan of flying air-to-air combat with jets like the F-5, MiG-21, F-86, and MiG-15, but UH-1 missions are by far the most fun and immersive, especially in a multiplayer with a group of player flown UH-1s flying NOE down a river valley through hostile territory. I flew one mission where there were about 8 or 10 player flown UH-1s and many of them had human co-pilots and door gunners. The voice chatter combined with the visuals provided immersion beyond anything OFP/ArmA had ever given me.

At this point, I have as much flight time in DCS as SFP1/SF2. Some of the aircraft can be configured/flown very much the same as SF2 aircraft. Flaming Cliffs aircraft have common systems mapping just like SF2, so you can setup your hotas to accommodate the US controls and/or the USSR controls and pretty much share the same control maps between all of these aircraft. Older aircraft like the F-5 and F-86 have similar controls to SF2. There is more detail in the operation, but overall, you can fly with just HOTAS buttons mapped. One aspect of DCS that is the hardest is the startup procedures. Some aircraft are similar and/or easy, but many have long, complicated procedures. There is a keyboard shortcut for startups. If you air start rather than start on the ramp or runway, most aircraft have all the combat switches in the correct positions, which leaves most aircraft ready to fly air-to-air as easy as SF2. Some aircraft are extraordinarily complex. There is no getting around all the button pushing. Particularly modern glass cockpit aircraft which have multiple MFDs plus a good amount of conventional switches and buttons. The A-10C and F-16C are the most complex to me. In theory, the F/A-18 is just as complex with all the displays, buttons, and switches. But I find that the F/A-18 can be flown mostly from the HOTAS and feels almost as easy as the F-5 with more power and better radar/weapons. The MiG-21 cockpit is intimidating, but the startup isn't too bad and there aren't many switches you need in combat. If you air start or use the startup shortcut, it only needs a little more effort than the other aircraft. I mostly fly everything from the F-86/MiG-15 to the F-14A. I prefer the SF generation of aircraft and these are they. I also fly the WW2 aircraft, but not as often as I really enjoy the Korea to mid 70s jets. The UH-1H is possibly the most fun module in the game. Once startup is accomplished, weapons are armed, and the gunsight is down and on, it is all about the stick, collective, and rotor pedals. I am not sure how difficult it would be for you using a twist stick and throttle. If you already have the hardware to run and play DCS, you don't have to waste time asking about it. You can fly each module for 2 weeks for free. Given the number of modules available, you could keep yourself busy for free for many months if you don't start the next module until you finish the two weeks for the current one. Also, the A-4E-C Skyhawk is available for free. It is a little harder to fly than an SF2 A-4, but it is amazing. At this point, it is as good or better than most of the payware mods. The A-4 is actually helping DCS sell more modules. People that join the Forgotten's Vietnam server to try out the Skyhawk usually end up buying the UH-1H and/or F-5E after seeing what DCS is like and all the fun those aircraft can have in a good environment.

During the Easter Offensive when the NVA crossed the DMZ and was heading south, they had ZSU-23-4 Shilkas SPAAG and SA-7 Grail shoulder launched SAMs. They had limited quantities, so everything they had was deployed to the front lines to the south. The ZSU-23-4 is what rendered slow movers like the A-1 Skyraider useless. UH-1s would get chewed up, too. ZSU-23-4 wouldn't have helped up north. The US had learned how to almost completely shut down the SA-2 sites with jamming and chaff corridors, so tactical aircraft flew at 15,000 ft, released weapons at 10,000 ft, and were not supposed to go lower than 8,500 ft. The ZU-23 AAA was worthless at those altitudes and it would have been at the limits of the ZSU-23-4. The heavier AAA wasn't particularly effective either as the radar for those was jammed, too. Having a large number of modern resources available, May 10, 1972 looks a little different than it did to me 20 years ago. One interesting aspect is that many pilots who thought they were hit by SAMs and AAA were probably hit by Atolls, including Duke Cunningham. The reason so many MiGs went up in the air on May 10 is because North Vietnam could see new US tactics and equipment were defeating their SAMs and AAA. The MiG-17s got stomped that day because GCI was also being jammed. If the VPAF records are accurate, the MiG-21s more or less traded one-for-one. Of the 3 MiG-21s claimed by Oyster Flight (Major Lodge and then Capt Ritchie), one flew home and the other was a MiG-19. So the US account of MiG-21 losses needs to be lowered by 2. Add two kills for MiG-21s against Navy F-4s and that pretty much evens the score aside from the MiG-17 turkey shoot including 3 by Cunningham. The MiG-19s were potentially their best aircraft for close in dogfighting, yet in all the confusion, they only got Major Lodge and lost one to his Oyster flight. Sneaking up from behind with an Atoll and veering off without ever being seen was the winning tactic, including that day.

The latest Windows 11 update made Ryzen performance even worse.