CowboyTodd41

I'm thinking about writing up a short story/series of AAR's for the new ODS campaign I started called "The Last Charge of the American Rhino" where I'm flying F-4E-ARN-101's with the 3rd TFS, trying to make ace(!) while still completing my assigned objectives. I got lucky with two kills the first night. Apologies for the poor quality of the photos. Polaroids don't come out too well in Phantom cockpits! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 17th January, 1991 06:15 Somewhere over Northern Saudi Arabia My flight, "Crab-01" was a pair of late model F-4E's from the 3rd TFS fragged to strike an enemy C3 facility just North East of An Najaf. We were carrying 4 LGB's and plenty of ECM equipment, but we had also three AIM-7's each. These Rhinos were not without their horns. This image (along with all the Polaroids) was taken by my RIO 1/LT Norman "Weirdo" Patterson, of my wingman's F-4E #72-166. Piloted by 2/LT Donald "Row" Bott, with 2/LT Stephen "Ford" Pinto. My aircraft was tail number #72-161. 06:37 Near As-Salman, Iraq As my flight headed northwest over the border, we got a call from AWACS that a large, slow aircraft (later identified as an An-12) had taken off BEHIND the main strike package and was making a turn East. Either to run to friendly units in Kuwait, or more likely, Iran. As the closest "interceptor", and with all the other fighters tied up with the rest of the IrAF, AWACS had us pull a quick 180 and engage the beast. I grabbed the camera from my RIO as he locked up the Cub, I just HAD to get of picture of the radar lock! 06:38 With the Cub locked and the missile reading in range, I called "FOX ONE!" and pickled the Sparrow. This is a frame from the gun camera footage of my AIM-7 lancing towards the target. Only a few seconds later the Antonov was a flaming wreck, careening towards the desert floor. Shortly after we turned back towards the target, the adrenaline started to wear off and we got back down to business. One look at my radar scope showed a fierce air battle raging just forty to fifty miles to the north, over An Najaf. Weirdo held camera over my shoulder and snapped this picture, just tenths of a second after our jet was locked up by an IrAF MiG-29, and shortly thereafter, a Foxbat. The Fulcrum got eliminated by a flight of F-15's, but the Foxbat took a shot. We maneuvered against the missile and it passed harmlessly below us as the Eagle drivers lit the MiG up like Christmas. Shortly after this my radar scope, cluttered with IFF returns from the strike package ahead of me showed one or two unidentified contacts. The one closest to me began to change direction, going from to right to left to aggressively turning into my nose. I asked AWACS to report any unknowns. I was surprised to hear the controller reply "Bandit! Your 12 O'Clock, angels ten, fifteen miles. Cleared to Engage!" In the confusion of the dogfight a MiG-23 had gotten lost in the center of the engagement and no one had their nose pointed at him but me. And he was doing likewise. Lt Patterson locked him up and once again my voiced called fox one. Weirdo hit the flash, and it glared on the canopy, but you can still see my second Sparrow on the way towards the next target. The MiG disintegrated in a fire ball at my high 1 O'Clock. When I transitioned back to my primary, the scope was clear. At least for the first night, the Allies had achieved air superiority. This next image was developed from a roll of film found in the camera of a dead Roland battery crewman that was guarding my primary. This was the last image taken, and appears to be 72-161 rolling off target. I remember the Roland locking me up as I passed overhead, so I have to assume it's me. And finally the victors return! Another view of 72-161 on this sortie taken from a third party, albeit this time from an F-15 crew chief who grabbed a picture of the Mighty MiG Killers taxiing back in. Well, I hope ya'll enjoyed this. The images were regular screenshots I touched up with a quick instagram/pixlr style image tweaker.

This is really eye opening. I guess it goes back to the old "location, location, location." What frustrates me is there are plenty of now electronic gadget friendly baby boomers who grew up with all of these jets twirling around their houses and they would kill for a sim like this. My dad was practically drooling at the mouth when I was trapping an F-4K on the Ark Royal. His eyes get about the size of dinner plates anytime there's an F-100. There's ways to advertise these things without being insanely cost prohibitive.

Just wanted to drop by and say that I'm really excited for this campaign. I always love learning about eras in aviation I don't know very much about.

Hey, cool air to air shots of Bears with US fighter escorts again!. Except this time they'll all show up on the tail gunner's instagram feed.

The project is being headed up by Ian Carmack and everything I've read says it's the real deal. I guess some media types who got to test it out got vertigo looking over virtual cliffs.

Since we're on the subject, does anyone have a link to a download for the aircraft and the cockpit?

Radical, sign me up.

Will this use the stock SFNA terrain or the HFD remake?

I'll have to check that book out. I know that during the 34th's first deployment to the area in '05 (before my time) and the 37th's directly following that, was some of the few times they used the bone in OIF. We mostly just drop[ped] bombs for the OEF side of things. There were quite a few crowd dispersion sorties using low level sonic booms, and occasionally flares. Only to let the more persistent types know that it won't take long for that flare to become a 500lb munition. Also during that time a B-1 became the only aircraft during the conflict to drop bombs in both theaters in the same day. During the same sortie in fact!

It's what happens when the subcontractors who build the systems grossly inflate the projected lifespans of the systems so that when that their lowest bidder price seems like a great rather than "you get what you pay for" which is, of course, what's really happening. Also, a lot of aircraft use specialized ECM equipment specific to that airframe. I worked on the AN/ALQ-161 on the B-1B, and once they had stopped building the jets, they stopped manufacturing all of our parts as well. So we keep rebuilding the same avionics boxes over and over again. And that's not just the USAF, that's every country that has even a fairly modern air arm. We're the best equipped and we still do it. This youtube video is pretty much the perfect explanation as to why this problem occurs.

I can't believe I just saw this. I was part of this operation just before I separated. I helped launch the two B-1B's that took part. By the way, your source material is off, the B-1's weren't from Eielson AFB, they were from Ellsworth AFB. Both 34th BS aircraft, lead was 85-060 and the number two was 86-095. Also, if you go here that's me driving the de-icer truck (not the bucket) the night before, keeping nice and toasty

Probably easier to transition everyone over as well.

I can get on board with this.

Well everyone, it's blockbuster season once again and I think it's time we have a thread about everyone's favorite aviation films, good or bad or Iron Eagle III. So go ahead and post your favorites, I'll start! The Hunters - 1958 Great aerial action scenes of MiG Alley with real F-86's and F-84's posing as MiG-15's. The love story is pretty ham fisted, but that's what fast forward is for. Also Robert Wagner as beat generation lingo spouting fighter pilot always cracks me up. "Coo, coo dadio!" Trailer via YouTube

...not Kansas though? Looks like I'm still proud to be an American!

lol, I dig this. and Life of Brian is always awesome

Some of the aircrew guys at the 34th here have bumper stickers that say "We're the real Thunderbirds. We don't do loops to music, we kill people and break their sh*t" Also, I know a guy who's got a patch from the ALE-50 Towed Decoy program that says "Blow It Out Your Aft." I dig it.