lazboy

A navigator who ejected from an RAF Tornado fighter aircraft over Norfolk in the United Kingdom whilst the aircraft was flying upside down has been found dead in a field, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed. The navigator's body was found at South Creake and was pronounced dead at the scene. The aircraft landed later safely at its RAF Marham base and the ejector seat was found near the Sandringham Estate. The MoD said the aircraft was flown by a civilian crew from BAE Systems. A tape of the pilot's conversation with controllers has been heard by the BBC and describes the moment the pilot realised his navigator had ejected from the aircraft. The Pilot told controllers that he had not seen a parachute deploy. The cause of the incident is currently under investigation although it has been confirmed that no other aircraft were involved. BAE Systems are responsible for maintaining the Tornado fleet based at RAF Marham.

For sometime I have believed we needed a more modern Harrier in WOE especially with some of the great new weapons available that Fast Cargo has been producing of late. Well I have aAV-8B Harrier 11 3ds model available that needs someone to finish it off, it needs skinning, a FM and some animation but would hopefully then make a good addition via CombatAce to the skies of WOE. If you fancy finishing it off and releasing it I will happily pass on the 3ds model to you just send me a PM. lAZBOY

We are truly not worthy and should lower our eyes in your prescence for fear of being turned to stone. How about this for your next challenge and a test of your powers: The Russians developed and tested I believe on a SU-27 a rearward firing air to air missile base on the R-73 (A-11 Archer) which was designed to provide coverage of the rear hemisphere of an aircraft. The missile was launched in the opposite direction to the carrier aircraft. It was apparently tested in both sub and supersonic regimes. I am unsure whether it was passive IR or slaved to a rearward facing radar. Is it possible within TH to model such a rearward facing missile either IR or radar guided? Lazboy R_73.bmp

Wrench a quick search of the internet thingy confirms that there is in fact a R1 official release of the original Richard Todd Dambusters movie in NTSC widely available. I actually meet him once at a Battle of Britain memorial do held at the former Tangmere airfield and he can tell some stories about the filming that would make some great extras on the DVD.

Well if nothing else we have stimulated a healthy debate about the future direction of the SF Community and why we each are involved in it and what we hope to get from it in the future and the direction that it perhaps should take in order to remain healthy and prosperous. It strikes me that the community has actually out grown TH to some extent and that TH is actually failing to keep up with the demands and expectations of its customer base particularly with regards what modders would like to be able to acheive within the constraints of the existing game engine. Are we about to see the emergence of another source of Payware aircraft was that why this thread was originally created, I don't for one know but should a supplier have available an aircraft that I would like to fly reasonably priced I will probably pay for it. Aircraft that I would love to see include: Rafale, TSR2, Buccanneer, F101, Victor, SR71, Lazboy

There are some notable omissions from amoungst the aircrafty that are currently available, The Buccaneer for instance, The Voodoo, Frogfoot for which I would happily pay to be able to fly now rather than in Two weeks time. The cornerstone of the SF community is and always will be its vounteer modders but it could also be at the same time what restricts its expansion. There is somewhat of a tendancy to try and recreate every conceivable version of a particular aircraft rather than create models of completely new aircraft and thus fill some of the gaps that exist in all of our hangers. I think there is room in SF for Pay per Plane as it could allow some of the gaps to be filled more rapidly whilst taking off of the Volunteer modders the pressure of the endless questions from Newbies as to when this or that plane is going to be realeased which inevitably results in the Two Weeks rebutal. I would even be willing to contribute towards the cost of a modder creating a particular aircraft that could then be released free of charge to the wider SF Community if it mean't that our skies would be full of new and exciting aircraft. Lazboy

No seriously, I agree with streakeagle; I would pay for any reasonably priced addon. Ok so lets define what is a "reasonable price" for an aircraft. I have purchased additional aircraft as addons for FS2004 and paid in the order of £10 ($20)for them as downloads and around £14 ($28) in the UK for them as retail packages and generally been happy with what I received for my money. I reckon that bearing in mind the time and effort that comes into creating a new aircraft that between £5 - £10 ($10-$20) per aircraft would be reasonable especially if they came with additional skins and optional loadouts. There are some planes I would even pay more for just to be able to fly in the skies of WOV, how much do you consider reasonable?

Hi can any one point me in the right direction as I have recently exported an aircraft model using the TH Exporter and created a LOD for the plane successfully, however when I fly the plane in WOE or WOV the airframe is invisible and amusingly all you see flying through the air is the pilot and any weapons that it might be carrying. The plane is fully controlable just Invisible! I guess that I must have done something wrong in the model creation or exporting phases? Any clues ? Lazboy

Iran has signed a deal with China to buy two squadrons of J-10 fighter planes that are based on Israeli technology, the Russian news agency Novosti reported Tuesday. The 24 aircraft are based on technology and components provided to China by Israel following the cancellation of the Lavi project in the mid-1980s. The engines of the J-10 are Russian-made. Representatives of the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company said China would deliver the total (24 jets) in 2008-2010. Experts, estimating one fighter at $40 million, put the contract's value at $1 billion. The estimated operational range of the aircraft, with external fuel tanks, is 3,000 kilometers, which means Israel falls within their radius of operation.Until now, Iran's longest-reach fighters have been Russian-made MiG-29s (Fulcrum), whose maximum range is 2,100 km. In the view of experts , Iran will most likely use J-10s to protect key facilities, such as the nuclear power plant at Bushehr.the very presence of J-10 jets could act as a deterrent, the fighters could theoretically scuttle any Israeli strike at facilities which Israel may believe are manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.

I have some 3ds models of Vietnam era Patrol Boats, Russian missile boats and a Junk which could be converted into usable ground objects in WOV and Woe if any one has the time to convert them send me a PM and i'll let you have them. Lazboy

It shouldn't be too hard to model...just kind of need to know what was it's purpose? Steerable camera similiar to under nose mount in F-14? FastCargo The Target Interception System, Electro-Optical was a small, telescopic TV camera mounted in the left wing, a few feet to the left of the radar boreline. The camera was slaved to the radar antenna's "look angle". (Each cockpit's view was independent of the other; one could look at a TV close-up of the target, while the other watched the target on radar. TISEO could visually acquire a lockon, and slave the radar antenna to the TV, as well. (An early "Stealth" mode of attack; the tracking radar could be placed in standby - not transmitting anything that could be picked up as a threat - while the missile-guidance transmitter painted the target.) The system was designed to overcome idiotic "see before you shoot" rules-of-engagement in place during the Vietnam War, which gave unnecessary advantage to the enemy. The Northorp TISEO camera system was introduced in late F4E production Being retrofitted to older aircraft as well. It was a daylight clear – weather only system. Most export F-4Es were not fitted with TISEO although examples of Iranian Phantoms have been seen with the system installed. Lazboy

Thanks Capun for the heads up it did turn out to be the orientation and now she flys straight and true. I blame too many late nights and not reading the Exporter notes, but I am finding modding as addictive as actually flying in WOE. Lazboy

Having experimented with Sketchup quite extensively I can report that it will allow you to open and modify existing 3ds files and create and save models to 3ds format but will not accept the TH Exporter, so the only way still to export a model to LOD is from within 3d Max. However as a free piece of software I find it fine for playing around with models on my laptop when I am away on business and don't have access to my home PC. Lazboy

Don't worry only used Google Sketchup to take the screen images the model is in 3ds format and I have already exported it into LOD but for some reason that I haven't been able to fathom it insists on flying backwards which is probably down to the jury rigged flight model that I am currently using rather than the model itself. Lazboy

Here are a couple of pictures of the model so far but I need a proper modeller to take it further and finish it off, I have gotten it flying in WOE with a test FM etc. but for some reason that I haven't figured out as yet it flys backwards!! Lazboy

In general how do you go about reducing the poly count of a high count model so that it will work in WOE using 3ds Studio Max? I have a high poly model that I need to reduce the poly count of in order that I can use it in WOE, at the moment it just crashes me system when selected. Lazboy

Hi we have recently downloaded the Exporter Plugin for 3ds Max version 8 and placed it in the Plugins directory of Max, however when we try to export a model as a LOD the option to export the file as a LOD does not appear in the drop down menu, i'm sure its something straight forward that we are doing wrong, can anyone point us in the right direction and explain in laymans terms how to export a file in Max to create a Lod file? Cheers Lazboy

Craig you have managed to put a smile on my face twice today, firstly with the announcement of the Typhoon and now by resolving the problem of exporting for us, if you ever need anything just let us know. Thanks again Lazboy

From one UK Simmer to another your model is looking the Bees Knees and I for one can't wait to fly her in RAF colours, good job well done. Lazboy

If you can built it I would damn well love to fly it, theres plenty of life left and interest in the old lady still and it would be great to see what she would have been capable of had she been developed further.

I am afraid that I am old enough to have seen it the first time around when it was shown dubbed on the BBC on Saturday mornings, It was not too bad the flying scenes with Mirage 111's based at Dijon were the best part and the series is available on DVD in France but only in French. I have a copy of the more recent film which actually features some of the best aerial shots seen on film for quite a few years, which I got ebay for 20euros. http://www.leschevaliers-lefilm.com/site/intro.html Link to films website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Chevaliers_du_ciel Further Information

Getting down and dirty again Flygirl, never insult my old lady as she has given me a lot of pleasure over the years and made many a boy into a man! :angry2:

Well guys if you are going to augment a beatiful woman like the Phantom why not also make her faster and more deadly by giving her some of the modifications proposed by Boeing and IAI in the late 1980's that would have created the SUPER PHANTOM: The aircraft were to be fitted with twin Pratt & Whitney (P&W) PW1120 turbofan engines.The PW1120 was a derivative of the P&W F100 used on the F-15 and F-16. The PW1120 was shorter and lighter than the J79 but almost the same diameter, making installation in the Phantom relatively straightforward. The PW1120 offered 25% more dry thrust and 30% more afterburning thrust than the J79. The new powerplants would give a marked improvement in Phantom performance, with sustained turn rate being increased from 9 to 10.5 degrees per second and initial climb rate being increased from 42,300 to 51,000 feet per minute. The aircraft was also to have had a 1100-US gallon conformal fuel tank fitted onto its belly. This tank was to have had hard points on it for four bombs or two Sparrow air-to-air missiles. Such a tank could carry nearly twice the fuel of the standard centerline drop tank of the Phantom and offered only 29 percent of the drag. The forward nose landing gear was to have folded inside a forward faring in the tank, and the rear fairing of the tank was to have carried an AN/ALE-40 chaff/flare dispenser. Among the avionics options proposed were the fitting of a GEC heads-up display, a Honeywell 423 ring laser gyro inertial navigational system, and APG-65 radar and "hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS)" controls. Now that's a Phantom I would like to fly with only a single seat!

I wonder if it would be possible to also equip the Cobra we some means of self defence against air attack, I have seen pictures of attack helicopters carrying AA missiles such as the Sidewinder and the Stinger, is the Stinger currently available in the Weapons Pack?

I seem to recall reading on the following site that the R-6 Mk 151 20mm pod carries 120 shells. http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/bf10...109armament.htm