gbnavy61

Was playing Burning Sands, second mission w/ VA-172. Got tasked w/ a CAS mission. Flew over to the target and started to loiter. Detached Dash-2 to zap a nearby AAA battery. Rejoined the flight and continued to loiter, waiting for Snoopy, presumably. Suddenly, game crashes - Windows message - SF2 has stopped working, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't think to grab any of the details. Anyone else experienced any similar difficulties? One thing I did notice that was odd - it seemed like my flight of four were the only friendlies airborne up until I got over the target area.

Just use the keyboard.

Personally, Cool Ranch is my Dorito of choice.

As does the quality.

The best I could find was a DFC for taking my A-6E (SWIP) and pasting an enemy runway. It was a nice run-in, got lined up with the runway and came screaming in and dropped 6 bombs - cratered down the length of the thing. Then, for good measure, I came back around for one pass and pickled 6 more into a pack of MiG-21s just parked out on the ramp. Nice secondaries. Could've sworn I had a Navy Cross around for something, but I must have uninstalled and reinstalled over it. --- Had quite the hairy sortie yesterday, though. A recce run over an enemy airfield - I mistakenly thought "milk run." Me and my wing in our EA-6Bs - we loaded up with tanks, so we can't even shoot enemy ground threats. I figured we'd just jam the s**t out of everything anyway, and if that didn't work, we could get low and haul ass. We headed off, everything was fine. Got up to about 8k for the short trip into indian country, then dropped down to about 1k for the run-in. All was going well until we had to overfly the field. We were lined up a little off so had to come back one more time for a better pass. About this time, I look back over to my wing and I see some tracers whizzing by him - I thought from the airfield. Then, he called out, "Bandits." We got jumped by a pair of MiG-21s. I told him to break while I pulled around for the run over the airfield and threw the left hand forward all the way. Success for the recce run, time to get out of there alive. Wing was engaged defensive and then I got jumped by the second MiG. I wrapped it up in a sharp turn, while the MiG overshot. Then, I started for the deck and home all at once. Wasn't a long trip (distance-wise) but I couldn't get home fast enough. I thought, maybe I can sucker the MiG down here and run him into something. So, I got low - as in less than three digits on the radalt, and even that didn't seem low enough. The MiG popped all 4 of his heaters off at me over the next 4-5 mins. That was really disconcerting - intermittent RWR tones followed by missile calls from my wing. All I could do was pop chaff and flares and keep it on the deck. Eventually, we got close to home and I had the clever idea of leading this bastard over one of my AAA batteries to shake the sucker (maybe kill him) - since he was intent on hounding me all the way to the runway. About that time, wing got back over near me - apparently having shaken his pursuer. Either my MiG knew what I was planning, or just lucked out, but he bit off on my wing and got behind him. Since my tail was now clear, I thought maybe I could help out my wingman, so I peeled off the deck and swung it around behind the MiG. I figured, maybe I could scare him off my wingman, and if not - it was safer to be behind the MiG than in front of him. Unfortunately, the MiG got a good guns shot on my wing and he went spinning out over the water, smoking on the way down. I closed behind the MiG and eventually overshot, so I broke low and out of the fight. The second MiG had shown up, but the pair apparently had had enough and kept trucking off NE over the sea. I came back on the deck and made an uneventful landing. I felt bad for my wingman.

Agree on the Sparrows/Sidewinders. Also agree w/ Spectre. I try get all my Sparrows off the rails and into the bad guys before we merge - mostly due to the low reliability of the early Sidewinders. After that, it's harder to get a good shot for the Sparrow, so you are better off taking a chance with the Sidewinders, but then you're really taking a chance. zmatt, yeah inside 10 miles it's too much hassle to work the search mode and try to pick out a specific target, generally. If you're really in a helluva dogfight, you won't get enough time w/ your nose pointed one way to get a paint on a target, then lock it up. Better off w/ boresight/ACM mode.

That poor guy's about to have a really bad day...for the last time. ____ A little Razbam Prowler action.

Oh they are beautiful, but then, one can't fly a screenshot.

Disturbing...in more ways than one.

I would enjoy being proved wrong.

TMF new Tomcats are mythical. Like Pegasus.

So far, the only improvement I've seen is the 8-way chat/party system. Otherwise, everything they "improved" sucks. "Lame" fits it pretty well.

US in anything from Korea on up. Otherwise, I'll bounce between Britain and Germany for Europe - they have the aircraft that I prefer (either for reputation/looks or performance). Spitfires, Mosquitoes and 109s are some of my favorites. Always the Allies in the Pacific, mostly Hellcats and Corsairs.

I said weird. Never said wrong, did I? Chill pills for all. I'll take the first one.

Sweet. I like the paintjob, too. Btw, is the F-14 pic a painting or a computer image? Either way, it blows the doors off of anything I can do now.

Ooh.

Well, most USN traditions/customs/courtesies are from the RN originally. Likewise, our Air Force sprung from our Army, so they have the same (weird) habits.

Nothing against the Army, but they do think it's "normal" to salute inside of buildings and without a cover on. So, to someone with that background this also seems "normal." Congrats to your wife on the upcoming advancement.

Oh, an Army guy made the bill. That explains a lot. It just doesn't feel right saluting uncovered, especially out of uniform. Not to mention, it just looks weird. I don't find hand over heart or position of attention any less respectful than a salute. To each his own, I guess.

Nice - VF-24 and the Connie. Freakin' beautiful. Do you take requests?

I like to bring the jets back if I can. I figure, hey why not simulate the skipper wanting me to bring the jet back if possible. Aside from being on fire or out of control, I pretty much have only one concern with battle damage: when I move the gear handle, do I get three down and locked? If yes, easy day. If no, I'm thinking getting out is a better idea than making a fireball on the runway - I just don't know what the thing is gonna do on the ground when not on the wheels. I once brought back an F-14 with one engine, one stabilator and full of holes. (Unfortunately, no glorious battle tale - I just got a little too low on a practice strafing run. Ripped a fuel tank off and shed some fan blades, among other things.) Made it back to the field no problem - all gear working. I dead-sticked an F-4E in to land, twice. No damage, just ran it out of gas in combat, so again all gear working. Just last week, I took an A-4H in and zapped a runway. Got good and shot up for my efforts - although, I did violate the sacred rule of "One Pass, Haul Ass." Lost the rudder and got shot full o' holes, but all else seemed normal. Got back to the field for the straight-in approach, and son of a gun, I only get one main down. At that point, I cleaned it up, pointed it toward the coast and slowed down to 160-ish and pulled the handle. I was wounded, but survived. If I tried to belly land, or do a two wheel landing, I'm fairly confident I would have bought the farm. My advice, if you're not sure, get out. If you have a chance to do a controlled ejection, slow it down, minimize the sink rate (level flight or a little climb is better), and get a little altitude beneath you, if you can.

That or the Starship Enterprise. I'm still holding out... Very cool, though.

I think the little bulb hanging off the jet is a laser designator or some type of IR sensor/designator.