ordway

I am getting to work again on a "South African terrain" (Angola and Nambia [sW Africa]). I've been working on it for four years off and on.

The vast terrain variety and vast kilometers/miles needed for an Angolan terrain from orange desert, to white sand, to pink bush terrain to white bush terrain to orange bush terrain, to green river land to dense forest to mountain terrain has been a bugaboo for many modelers (including myself) I believe.  There just does not seem to be any easy way to model all this massive variety even half-way well. 

However, I am going at it again and it feels much better this time around-my third attempt. My Photoshop/Gimp skills have much improved.

So, that's what I have to offer in the future.

Richard

One article I read yesterday about this had the Chinese warning about a possible future collision! Ram Jaeger!

Nice Description for this fine series!  What altitude or altitudes did you fly against the P-51?

ERASED! I've been gone too long.

     The MIG-23's combat record is also an indication of how effective it was. Unfortunately, it will likely never be known.  The record is sharply disputed depending on whether you were from from the Soviet Bloc or the  American Bloc.  Reports exist of it gaining complete air superiority against the South African's Mirage F1s over Angola.(F1 fighter pilot Dick Lord).. Soviet Bloc people claim that although it got slaughtered against Israeli F-15s and F-16s in the Becca Valley, that it still got a few kills against the superior F-16's and F-15s.  However, no confirming wreckage was ever presented.

     When the MiG-23s were working,many had a working  IRST (infrared search and tracking system) that would let the MiG-23s engage without using radar to give themselves away. Apparently,  a standard Eastern Bloc joke went something like "the cheapest way to get a MiG-23 was to buy a plot of land and wait for one to crash on it."  At the very least, the MiG-23 was an effective fighter against the South Africans around 1986.

      An interesting comparison is with the MiG-25 which almost certainly shot down a US F-18 and disrupted some American air operations during the Iraqi Wars.. The MiG-23 could not claim this and so you could definitely make a case that the MiG-23 was not effective for the time it was operational.

Just me, but I find many Warsaw pact fighters have better radar and all aspect missiles (read MIG-23 and MIG-25).  I have only rear aspect missiles.  If I approach them at 50 feet AGL(above ground level) and beam their radars (Turn 90 degrees to them and their missiles so losing their lock) when (if) they even lock on me, I can get close and use my small size and good climb to get on their tails.

It is also quite fun to plan a pincer movement with four F-5s.  Put two high up approaching the MIGs from far on my side and I and my wing man stay at 50 feet AGL.  When my poor wingmen act as decoys, I can stay undetected and completely get on the MIGs tails undetected while they are messing with my other flight. Also I can use close to the same tactic and dive to the ground while applying afterburner and lose my wing men and flight and approach at 50 feet undetected while the rest of my flight stays higher and distracts the MIGs. It is also called a hi-lo tactic.

If you are at a higher altitude and get  detected by MIGs, you can also dive straight down and beam them that way and then hide in ground clutter at 50 ft AGL and ambush them that way.

(EDIT- added more description on beaming)

Wow, nice find!  I noticed what ginormous stick movements the pilot was making...Talk about a" pilot's airplane!"

>Hi guys,

 

>I don't know if some managed to, but I made my Yak-38 flyable with Lift engines etc.... I added RCS for hover control (from AV-8A, with no tweaks)

 

>I know that there are still some tweaks to do but it flies lovely now !

 

>I don't know how to post the YAK-38_DATA.ini, but here are the sections I changed :

 

 

Nice job! I am wondering what cockpit you decided to use and how that is working out?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Pitts2A

I'm getting a crash whenever I click fly with the SMB2. It gets to 90%, then the jet engine loading sound abruptly dies and it freezes until I eventually get "SF2.exe has stopped working".

I'm using a merged SF2 install, what did I do wrong?

Have you tried extracting and putting all the F-100 files (especially the .lod files) into the new Super Mystere folder? Sometimes for me, this will solve all problems.

There's so much legal stuff, that I hesitate to do this for a download for the public. But you, of course, can.

Richard

Look up Akureyi Airport.

Wow, this photo shows a wicked Akureyl Airport close to what one of the SFP2 NA screenshots shows. It must be an extremely pleasant field for jets to land at -Snicker, Snicker, Snicker.

http://www.isavia.is/english/airports/other-airports

No map and featureless terrain. Comment said to change the name of Flight to "-Flight" ...where? Thanks for the assist.

The map is also black for me and even when I zoom in, it sometimes turns black again and I have to keep playing with the zoom back and forth.

1. Why spend $25 dollars if I don't have to?

Hmmm, maybe because it is one of the last PC flight sim developers left that hasn't gone out of business and you want them to keep giving us more flight sims?

Sorry to be snarky, but unfortunately it seems to be probably true.

WIP:

1) A SAAF Angola/Namibia (SW Africa) terrain.

Now that the Mirage F1AZ, Mirage F1CZ and Impala are released, It is finally time for them to have something to fly over.

Hi:

 

I was curious as to the size of this download -- almost 80 mb. The download package includes:

 

- two different copies of the featured aircraft, one in nested folders;

 

- a host of apparently unrelated files in the cockpit directories of each aircraft, including what looks to be a complete set of files (LODs, BMPs, INIs, texture folders, etc.) for the AV-8A, as well as a large number of INIs, LODs, BMPs, and TGAs from the cockpits of other aircraft including various F-4s, the Harrier3, the Jaguar GR, the A-7E, the A-10A, and the Super Etendard.

 

Two questions:

 

1. What is the difference between the various copies of the main aircraft featured in this package?

 

2. Are all these other files really necessary? (I find it difficult to believe, for example, that the cockpit directory really requires a complete copy of the AV-8A, aircraft LODs and all.)

Thanks for the feedback. (EDIT: I have reduced the size without changing anything else...I hope). Making the two versions of the F1Az and CZ simultaneously and making them as accurate as possible was literally a nightmare of six months work of mishing and mashing many aircaft together..a feature would not work and then with one change would suddenly start working. Then I would take a feature to Abobe to make it more realistic and it would not work. I would take an exasperated break and work on the as-messy skin with up to three meshes clashing on a skin edge and not knowing where any of the meshes ended or began and then taking a break from that and going back to the as-messy cockpit HUD and weapon features which would start working with one tiny change, etc. Half the time a new feature I wanted, I could not get to work and I would have to arrange a work around that would suddenly stop working.

Notice in spite of our extremely talented community, no one has released this sand and green SAAF complex F1 skin, aircraft or SAAF cockpit before (I was the one who released the orignal low res F1CZ cockpit thats been out for a while). To put it mildly, this has been a complete bitch. I do not have the talent to start an aircraft from scratch so I have to work with what I was given.

Finally after six months, I did not know anymore which item would turn on a feature in any single aircraft and which would suddenly stop it from working which made me hesitant finally to erase anything. As it was, I tried to lighten up the number of extraneous files even before the current release!

But yes, you are right. I will try to erase uneeded files and re-release a cleaned up version without messing up a feature...it might take a while.

2) As to which aircraft are different from one another in the same big folder...I believe if they are in the same folder there should be no differences...but with the complex spider web of relationships between different files and meshes there could be some differences...but I think not.

Basically, I did this as a labor of love, because during the cold war as an American stationed there, I lived (and almost died there several times) in Africa and part of me still lives there I think.

Richard

Edit: Thanks, I have reduced the file size, but kept everything else the same as far as I can tell.

-

Any hope for an SF-2 conversion?

 

Please ...

 

Yes, however I think that TK is making a Mirage F1CZ for SF2...so I don't want to spoil his thunder :) Some aircraft are almost seamless to transport to SF2... and others like the Mig-23 are terrible and literally impossible to transport everything. I'll have to see.

Any hope for an SF-2 coversion?

 

Please .....

 

Yes, I have been mulling it. Right now I am trying to work on the terrain for it to fly over! I know (or think) that TK is working on a Mirage F1CZ...so I don't want to spoil his thunder...however, I don't think he is working on a Mirage F1AZ (radically different cockpit than the CZ fighter version).

I just released both the flyable SAAF Mirage F1CZ and the SAAF Mirage F1AZ available here:

I just released both the flyable SAAF Mirage F1CZ and the SAAF Mirage F1AZ available here:

http://combatace.com...-modified-sfp1/

http://combatace.com...-modified-sfp1/

Resized to 68% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 68% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Very nice drawing the drawing above is I think, of a later Az with the RWR in the round format in the upper right section. I could add that round RWR, however I think it is a later addtion than most if not all Bush War Azs had. I am going by Dick Lord's descriptions. However, I might be wrong.

I just released both the flyable SAAF Mirage F1CZ and the SAAF Mirage F1AZ available here:

http://combatace.com...-modified-sfp1/

http://combatace.com...-modified-sfp1/

Resized to 68% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

Resized to 68% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

nice skin

I just released both the flyable SAAF Mirage F1CZ and the SAAF Mirage F1AZ available here:

http://combatace.com/files/file/12323-mig-fighter-saaf-mirage-f1az-fighterbomber-saaf-modified-sfp1/

http://combatace.com/files/file/12322-mig-killer-saaf-mirage-f1cz-saaf-modified-sfp1/

Flyable SAAF Mirage F1CZ 3 Squadron No. 213 Johan Rankin (sand and green camouflage) Thirdwire's SFP1 at combatace.com

Flyable SAAF Mirage F1AZ No. 229 (Sand and Green camouflage) Thirdwire's SFP1 at combatace.com

http://combatace.com/topic/27540-mig-15bis-cockpit/ I understand the Ruskies grabbed some shot down US aircraft during the Korean War and copied the US star shaped lead computing gunsight. (Book A Mig-15 to Freedom Kum-sok ). Some earlier ones apparently also had the copied British round gunsight.

Cheers

Holy...! This is awesome! Been looking for this aircraft for a long time.

 

 

 

Yes indeed, and despite their heavier loadouts (with the 'clean' MiGs out-performing them in the acceleration), the F1s usually came on top:

 

 

 

Here's the layout of the -AZ's cockpit, with the moving map display in the centre:

 

Great project!

Very nice drawing the drawing above is I think, of a later Az with the RWR in the round format in the upper right section. I could add that round RWR, however I think it is a later addtion than most if not all Bush War Azs had. I am going by Dick Lord's descriptions. However, I might be wrong.

Here is a screenshot of the basically finished SAAF Mirage F1AZ ground attack fighter with its working laser range finder/designator under the nose and includes its skin. Reportedly, they were as accurate as F-16s in the dumb bomb drop mode. It also reportedly had dogfights with Angolan (Cuban) Mig-23MLs. It also intercepted a Mig-17. It is for SFP1

The mostly finished SAAF Mirage F1AZ ground attack fighters cockpit based on the Mirage Factory's superb Jaguar cockpit. It has the equivalent of a CCIP. The SAAF basically designed this cockpit. It had a moving map and a laser that made its bombing incredibly accurate with dumb bombs.

Just for kicks, here is a screenshot of an updated hires SAAF Mirage F1CZ fighter cockpit based on Foxmonters great Dassault Super Etendard cockpit.

I'm going to Burning Man and then to buying conferences, so these will be on hold for at least a month.

Finally got SF2E and immediately went and downloaded NATO Fighters IV+. Flying the '62 campaign in the F-102. I'm two missions in with one KIA, a damaged plane, and one kill (granted he was an ace). I've already been nearly hit by MiG-17s more times than I can count on fingers alone and got chased half way into West Germany by a MiG-19 after losing my wingman. And that was just in the first mission. Second one was a recon flight so I just flew low and fast(ish).

 

How does one survive in the Delta Dagger? The AIM-4s suck and the FFARs are useless. Can't accelerate past mach 1 outside of a dive either. I've only been up to 20,000 feet so I don't know if flying low is the problem. Is the trick to use slashing attacks and the vertical?

Mako69's advice is pretty good. However, I have had sucess in using the F-102 by using the hi Yo Yo against Mig-17s and Mig-21s like the Israelis did in their underpowered Mirage III deltas during their wars (They called it the "stitch"). Basically, you conserve energy and outturn him in the vertical. Always keep your speed high. At the merge, get as close head on to the Mig as you can. Just before the merge pull up (not too hard) into a climbing turn in his direction of turn. As he is turning horizontally, you can literally cut across his turn. Dive back down to his level and and repeat the climbing turn in the same direction.

Eventually, you will be able to come into his rear quadrant from below. He will panic and turn harder until he is out of speed. Then he is a sitting duck.

A second alternative is the "rope a dope". Being a Mig, they will bleed off energy pretty badly in a turn. So at the merge, again get as close to him as possible. Start a gentle early turn but maintain your speed. Let him do a hard speed-bleeding turn behind you. Keep enough speed to do a loop. By the time he has come almost to within firing range, you can now zoomclimb into the Sun. to behind you in a turn, you go vertically up enough to keep his nose away from you into the Sun. He should run out of speed and stall and his nose will fall. You are maneuverable down to almost zero airspeed in the F-102. So now you can come down and zap him.

A third alternnative is to try to do a turn at above 450-500 knots and keeping your speed at this amount. Often Mig's don't turn well at these speeds due to heavy controls and you will slowly out turn him