MK2

Interesting but not yet confirmed. I have been in e-mail contact with Toperczer (written VPAF books) and Chris Hobson (Vietnam air losses). I'll forward this to them as well and see what they think. it's all unconfimred but since I have been heavily researching this stuff lately. I'll dig around and see how this all add ups (I have also e-mailed the original author, Sewell)). Here is the post, the following was not written by me: I wrote the author (Sewell) to see if I could include this in my "ShowTime 100" posting. He gave me permission and updated the original narrative that I had found to include the latest information on the subject. What follows is the narrative he sent me. The author tells me the events outlined in this version are correct and even the VPAF corroborates all but the loss of Ngu (They were a bit embarrassed and grounded the wingman for about six weeks to get his head straight. They also didn't like him going to pieces in a fight nor blabbing the other pilot's name over the radio.) Narrative Even with the publication of a number of books on the VPAF by Hungarian Dr. Istvan Toperczer, it is still problematic determining which Vietnamese pilots flew which aircraft, and what they really did accomplish in combat. One case in point is the notorious "Colonel Tomb", reputedly shot down by Cunningham and Driscoll on 10 May 1972. This individual really did exist and was one of the senior pilots in the VPAF and a crack pilot, but he is a combination of two men, not one single pilot. The actual pilot's name was Dinh Ton, but his name was mangled by the U.S. press as "Tomb". Jack Anderson of the Washington Post wrote about him in 1971. Anderson, using material obtained from an unnamed intelligence source, saw the name in Vietnamese telegraphic spelling. He pointed out that the Vietnamese spelled the name T - Long O sound - N - rising inflection tone; but once the press and writers got hold of it, nobody noticed or cared. "Colonel Tomb" sounds far more dramatic. However, his exploits are mostly those of one of the senior pilots in the VPAF, Dang Ngoc Ngu. Both first flew MiG-17s, but transitioned into MiG-21s by late 1965. Ngu was the "old man" of the VPAF and flew missions up until his death on 8 July 1972. Ironically, Ngu was shot down by a missile fired from a US Navy cruiser, not an air-to-air missile. Ton was paired with another pilot named Bieu, of whom we still do not have a good record. Bieu was shot down at least once, flew a MiG-21 in an attempt to attack an SR-71 in which he again had to bail out, and planted a third MiG-21 outside of Bai Thuong when he had an altimeter failure over the airfield, no GCA and 10/10 cloud cover. Ton was noted as THE Maverick of the VPAF and, as such, had a number of wild tales told about him. Before continuing, it is only fair to recount some of the tales about Ton so that the reader can understand why his legend grew among U.S. pilots in Southeast Asia. Unlike many of the others, Ton was selected for "Lone Wolf" tactics, such as single attacks under crazy circumstances. He also enjoying playing with U.S. pilots, usually Air Force F-4 jocks, just for the fun of it. There are a number of instances where F-4 flights would suddenly gain a PFM wingman; it was usually "Ton" flying formation with them, and more often than not with bare missile rails. Once spotted, he would usually give a cheery wave, go inverted, and split-S away on full burner. The story recounted by Captain Don Logan in Lou Drendel's book Phantom II about seeing such an incident occur right after being hit by an Atoll on 5 July 1972 has all the hallmarks of one of Ton's capers. However, it is now known that the pilot who shot him down was probably Ngu. The boldest of Ton's adventures occurred in the fall of 1971 when the VPAF carried out "Operation B-52", an attack on an ARCLIGHT raid of three B-52 bombers with the mission of destroying one. Ton had no qualms about volunteering and apparently bet he could get one. When an ARCLIGHT mission was located headed into the Laotian panhandle, he took off and headed for the area given him by the ground coordinator. The B-52s were escorted by 16 F-4s as MiG activity had been warned; four flew at each point of the compass around the big bombers as they lumbered on at 45,000 feet, right at sunset. Just as the bombers prepared to break up for their bomb run, they were spotted by Ton who rolled in to attack at once. He switched on both his radar and, in typical fashion, his anti-collision lights as well; he went in through four flustered Phantoms on full afterburner. Ton locked on to the center aircraft, fired both of his missiles when his SPIN SCAN radar sight indicated full lock-on (all the radar indicated was that he was within range and pointed dead at the target; Atolls are heat-seekers, not beam-riders) and did an Immelman back through the surprised Phantoms who marveled at the lights as he went by at a closing speed of some 2000 MPH. "Ton" saw an explosion as he left the area and the lights of the B-52 as it fell out of control and figured that he got a "big one". Champagne supposedly flowed at Phuc Yen that night. What had happened was that one of the two missiles locked on to the setting sun and "went west"; the other tracked true right up to the last second. The tail gunner on the B-52, seeing the missile whiz by, ejected (and apparently became an MIA); but the missile dropped under the B-52 at the last second and detonated approximately 100 feet under the cockpit. The worst real casualty of the detonation (other than the unfortunate gunner) was the co-pilot who caught a piece of shrapnel in one of his big toes. But the explosion under the cockpit when the aircraft was switched to the radar bombsight caused it to go into a spin and it fell almost 40,000 feet before the pilots could jettison their ordnance and get the now damaged bomber back under control and headed for Thailand and safety. The bomber made it to Nakhom Phanom (a base NOT designed for B-52s) and made a safe landing. Ton got the bad news the next day that he had missed. Neither Ton nor Ngu was killed on 10 May 1972. Ton was not noted in action, but Ngu was posted to the new 927th FAR at Kep. He and his wingman took off when the first strikes rolled in, and had the misfortune to be spotted by Curt Dose and Jim McDevitt. They shot down Ngu's wingman, and while he later claimed them as a kill (often mis-associated as shooting down Cunningham and Driscoll) nothing of the sort took place. The three kills claimed by Cunningham and Driscoll were all MiG-17 drivers, but to this day all of the VPAF's senior aces have been accounted for, so it was not one of the aces who fought with them. But who was it? Other factors now go into the equation. Based on the Soviet style system used by the VPAF, the regimental commander also flies with his men and, in many cases, is also the leading scorer. For example, during the Korean war Evgeniy Pepelyaev, who at the time was a Lieutenant Colonel and regimental commander, was also the highest scoring Soviet pilot and top scorer in his regiment. The man that Cunningham and Driscoll tangled with was probably a unit commander, either company or more likely regimental level, who was warned to break off the combat and land. But as a senior commander (i.e. a colonel) he could disregard the order with a relative degree of impunity (R.H.I.P. -- easy; just outrank the ground controller). Some Western aviation writers still believe that "North Vietnamese pilots often flew different aircraft types". This is a nice idea, and would make some things fit, but it is not the Soviet way, and was not the VPAF way. Once trained on a specific aircraft type, the Soviet goal is to make the pilot get the most out of that particular aircraft rather than "rate" on a number of different types. As an example, according to recent Russian articles on the VPAF, in December 1972 they had 194 pilots on hand but only 13 qualified in making night combat flights. The average VPAF pilot had only 450 hours in the air -- while compared to WW I standards a great deal, but that works out to only slightly over the basic and advanced training requirements for most modern pilots to begin familiarity with the aircraft. This statement alone does not support the claim of "swapping" types at random. Once VPAF pilots transitioned into the MiG-21, and even moreso the MiG-21MF, they did not change aircraft types. This was a honor, as they were the hottest aircraft around and had the added advantage of the GSh-23 gun pack, thus giving a modicum of a fair fight once missiles were expended. The MiG-17 pilot faced by Cunningham and Driscoll was probably a senior in the 923rd FAR - a flight leader, a squadron commander, or possibly the regimental commander. The main question today is who was it? The VPAF claims a pilot named Nguyen Van Tho (pronounced T-UH) was the one who had the big fight with Cunningham but they also claimed he survived the fight which does not seem credible. Only examination of the records of that day will provide the information, as the VPAF has muddied the waters in its official history which Dr. Toperczer has faithfully translated. They also claimed that Dang Ngoc Ngu survived the war, even though it was obvious to US Intelligence on 8 July 1972 when he was shot down and his wingman nearly suffered a nervous breakdown in flight as he saw him disintegrate in midair. Which of these pilots fought with Randy Cunningham and Willie Driscoll and paid the ultimate price for a mistake? We still do not know who it was, we only know who it was not. Sewell AMPS original story: http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/cunnigh...hvictimcs_1.htm

Scout I loved your reply so much(good stuff) that I feel like giving you my opinions on each and everyone. ....but I'll stay on the subject...here is more good stuff (I am trying to locate the complete interview). Robey Price Aug 6 2001, 9:58 am hide options Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military From: (Robey Price) - Find messages by this author Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 16:46:57 GMT Local: Mon, Aug 6 2001 9:46 am Subject: Re: Colonel Tomb Just to add to the confusion...in Steve Ritchie's _Oct 72_ interview for the USAF Oral History program says, "As it turned out, we engaged a flight of four MiG-21s with two MiG-21s and two [MiG] 19s high and in trail with the first flight." >IMHO, a rather probable version is, that Lodge and Markle have got >both MiG-21s, and Ritchie - which followed rather a radar than visual >contact (!) - has got Nguyen Hong Son on MiG-19, shooting it finally >down by a Sparrow. Respectfully, Ritchie reports that Lodge and Markle took face-shots killed two MiG-21 then the 4-ship coverted to the rear hemisphere on the second pair of 21s. Ritchie had a 'tally' on the MiG he shot down. A MiG-21 from about 5000'-6000' feet aft. >Of course, these are only names starting with T, but, knowing about so >many different (and partially completely wrong) English spellings of >certain other names (for people, places etc.) I wouldn't be surprised >if some misinterpreted name was indeed the reason behind the whole >legend behind the "Col. Toon".... Again from Ritchie's perspective (as indicated by his interview), Q: Are you familiar with Nguyen? SR: Yes, he's called several different things--Tome, Colonel Tome, General Nguyen, and the Red Baron. Q: When you left [sEA], was he back on flying status? SR: As far as I know. Q: As far as you know? SR: That's right. Q: Do you know who shot him down? SR: Do I know who shot him down? No. It is my understanding that he has been shot down, since early in the war, a couple or three times and that he ahs a number of F-4s to his credit. I've seen him a couple of times. Of course, I didn't find [that] out until after the action. The guy can really turn the airplane--really maneuver the airplane--but he loses wingmen on a regular basis. He has little concept of mutual support and doesn't care anything about his wingman. He'll save himself, but he just leaves his wingmen and his wingmen normally get shot down.

Starfighter I think everyone here understands that. We're trying to help uncover the identity of the pilot Cunningham shot down. BTW I will post an Interview later tonight with Steve Ritchie , in 1972, a debrief for history done by the USAF and he discusses "Colonel Tomb" he ran into that VPAF pilot twice in his career (he was told after he landed both times) and even discusses his flying characteristics "He can really turn that air plane" He cared little about wingmen". So there was a hot shot pilot identified by the US, obviously not 13 kills, but some of the piltos we are disucssing had 2 or 3 kills to their names. Whoever the pilot was, he was good, we know that much. There were very FEW VPAF pilots so the fact that Ritchie and Cunnigham ran into him is not far fetched at all.

Here is a post by Tom Cooper who has written several OSprey series books on Iranian F-4 and F-14 units. I had just found out about Le Than Dao this evening and was doing research. Tom Cooper Aug 5 2001, 7:37 am show options Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military From: muf...@yline.com (Tom Cooper) - Find messages by this author Date: 5 Aug 2001 07:37:19 -0700 Local: Sun, Aug 5 2001 7:37 am Subject: Re: Colonel Tomb Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original | Report Abuse IMHO, the matter is slightly more complicated if all aspects that matter are taken into the context. As first, by early 1970s, different US services listened very intensively to NVAF comms, simultaneously also working with the help of such devices like "Combat Tree" etc. While this is still not widely known in the public - nor is the importance of such operations really recognized as such - it sounds very plausible Lets go through some stuff in chronological order. 08:45 The first US kill on 10 May 1972 was scored by Lt. C. Dosé/Lt.Cdr. J. McDevitt which surprised two MiG-21MFs of the 921st FR, flown by Dang Ngoc Ngu and Nguyen Van Ngai at take off from Kep. Missile fired at Ngu hit the ground under his MiG, while Ngai was shot down by the second Sidewinder several seconds later. At the time, two other MiG-21MFs were readied for start at Kep, one of them piloted by Le THANH Dao (the other by Vu Duc Hop). Le Thanh Dao was indeed one of NVAF's leading aces at the time, and finished the war with six claims to his credit. But, in this case, warned by Ngu, he aborted the mission. 09:40AM Then came the clash between "Oysters" and what - apparently (according to Toperczer's book) - must have been either four or six J-6s (MiG-19s) and two or four MiG-21s, which ended with three Vietnamese and one Phantom being shot down (by Pham Hung Son). One of the Vietnamese MiGs was shot down by Capt. S. Ritchie/RIO Capt. C. DeBellevue, for their second kill. Ritchie was to reach the status of an "ace" only during the summer of 1972 (followed by DeBellevue, which - as RIO for Ritchie and John Madden - became the US "leading MiG-killer" of that war, with six kills), not on 10 May, and they flew for the USAF. 01:00PM For the rest of the day, the NVAF increased the pace, starting with another foursome of J-6s which - at 10:14AM - intercepted the Harlow flight (USAF), out of which Nguyen Manh Tung downed the F-4E flown by Capt. J. Harris and Capt. D. Wilkinson (both KIA). Around 01:00PM, during the battle of Hai Duong, seven MiG-17s were shot down by USN Phantms and one damaged (by an A-7 of VA-147). This is the moment in which Lt. R. Cunningham/RIO Lt. W. Driscoll have scored their 3rd, 4th and 5th kills for becoming first USN aces of the war. However, the battle went not - as officially (and so often) explained - without air-to-air losses for USN Phantoms. To contrary. And, this is the point where Le Thanh Dao comes into the game for the second time, but this time flying an MiG-21PFM of the 927th FR, together with Vu Duc Hop. Dao and Hop sneaked upon two F-4Js of the VF-92 and attacked them at the same moment Phantoms came under a heavy flak fire. Le Thanh Dao fired the first K-13, damaging the Phantom of Cdr. H. Blackburn/Lt. S. Rudloff; his second K-13 blew the fin of the F-4J (Lt. Rudloff believed that an 85mm shell shot the fin off) and the Phantom crashed, killing Cdr. Blackburn. Seconds later, the F-4J flown by Lt. R. Dilworth was hit by an K-13 fired by Vu Duc Hop. The damage shut one engine down. Dilworth - which never saw any of the two MiGs - managed to land safely back at USS Constellation (and almost shoot down the A-7 flown by Lt. G. Goryanec - the pilot which previously damaged an MiG-17 - by the Sparrow he ejected!). Yet Dillworth's Phantom (155560) was subsequently w/o. Consequently, we have here a name Le THANH Dao, which certainly sounds similar to "Toon" for somebody listening to comms from hundert or so kms away, at the time Cunningham/Driscoll were in the air. Thus, if the intelligence about "Col. Toon" was foremost based on listening NVAF comms, then it sounds plausible, - that "Toon" - but actually Le THANH Dao - was understood as flying (at least) two times that day; - that "Col. Toon's" first - but actually that of Le THANH Dao - sortie would then be the one in the morning, when he rolled to the start at Kep, right after Dang Ngoc Ngu and Nguyen Van Ngai which were attacked by Dosé and Hawkins. US-services could hear even comms of NVAF fighers while these were still on the ground, no prob with that; - that "he" - but actually Le THANH Dao - was understood to have been in the air again at the time Cunningham/Driscoll shot down their fifth MiG. The only differences would be, that he flew MiG-21 and never meet them, but passed nearby just some 30 seconds before future USN aces were to engage their 5th MiG. Considering the available informations, that sounds as most plausible explanation to me. Regards, Tom PS Oh, BTW, the first "US ace" in Vietnam were actually not Cunningham/Driscoll, but an AQM-34L recce drone of the 100th SRW, which caused a loss of five MiG-21s and MiG-17 during recce missions over North Vietnam between March 1970 and mid-1971..

Excellent campaign!

Great post USAFMTL, I rememeber the story but did not know about the CMH, glad to know he is being honored.

Here is the awards creens and others :

Thanks for the post scout, I did mention is it unconfirmed and also mentioned that I did not write it. So I guess you are saying that the author "might be right but..." ;) I agree with what you are saying, still interesting info. However I have been in touch with the author and he will be updating this soon. We'll see, i also found another "unconfirmed story" about a VPAF pilot form a Vietnamese website, maybe I'll post it later...

Kout inspires me to make sure this campaign turns out well. Here are screens with the text. I have also included new VPAF pilot photos.

Howling great timing on the post read this: Here is a response from the author of the article (including some stunning news on the Soviet 6 kill ace). Alex, The six-kill Soviet "ace" that I checked on turned out to be a SA-2 battalion commander! (He got six all right, but not in air-to-air combat; only one Soviet pilot was confirmed to be involved in air combat, and he was flying a MiG-21UTI so had no armament and a scared VPAF student in the front seat!) I have a new version of this article done but it is with Dr. John Sherwood of the Naval History office in DC and he is going to post it sometime (I hope!) I took 4 years to get the SIGINT for 10 May 1972 which essentially confirms the US side of things, not sure how it will turn out as Frank Rozendaal thinks the VPAF had some more accurate statements. (I wish I had the raw traffic from that day, but that would have put me in jail 33 years ago!) Cookie

Ok here is a step by step look on how to successfully intercept an incoming raid by US forces if you are flying for the VPAF. I have read a few times that surviving as a VPAF pilot is almost impossible in this game. The series up coming lessons will hopefully disprove that. I fly on all HARD settings. I used a Mig-21MF from the 1/921st regiment in the up and coming Aces over North Vietnam Campaign. I will include tips at the end of the presentation but will focus on the most important thing which is the intercept itself. You must I repeat you must use the map liberally. For anyone who thinks this is unfair I point out , that it is included in the game as a situational awareness tool and the GCI of the VPAF (Ground Control Intercept) was historically phenomenal. I have successfully taken off and I am on the way to the intercept. Ground control makes me aware that they have bandits on their radar. I check the map and see the following: There is an incoming raid, most likely the first aircraft are fighter escort sent in to clear the way. I am flying from the cockpit of course (if not I would crash) but momentarily check the map for positioning. Here I make a hard left and accelerate using afterburner. The escorts GCI has spotted me as well and they turn to meet me. I continue to accelerate and drop a bit to gain even more energy. I have now successfully separated myself from the escorts and the hunt begins. The intercept has gone very well and I used my eyes to spot flak burst and locate the enemy flight visually. I also hit the T key so that I may now orientate myself properly (what planes are we attacking) and so that I may use the pad lock key to close in on my target. Here the first A-4 erupts from an Atoll missile. The second A-4 erupts from another Atoll, I have not slowed down a bit and I maintain full energy as I accelerate past the flight. DO NOT EVER LOSE ENERGY ON THE INTERCEPT that is fatal. If you can not set up properly and your speed is too great, well then too bad, live to fight another day, blast past the enemy flight and don?t look back, do not turn, do not slow down, head for home, the intercept is blown. That was not the case this time. Notice how we have maintained flight integrity. All flight members are still together. Try to not hit ?engage air? to soon , as the other members might go ?Rambo? on you and head for another flight. The only time you let them loose is when all bets are off and the enemy fighters have successfully gotten in your way. If this happens, YOU MUST deal with the enemy fighters. I will talk about that in the follow up lesson(just check this thread at a later date). I have numbered the flight members in the picture below. One last point to drive home. Once you have the "mission is a success" signal (or failure) or for that matter you blew the intercept, calmly send everyone home. Light afterburner and get as low as you can possibly go. I have avoided and survived Sparrow and Aim missle shots at the end of an intercept by getting low. Also you draw the enemy over your own AAA and SAMs. I will post pictures on how that works in another segment (just check this thread at a later date). So now I got home, the entire flight intact, avoided the dreaded Phantom Js that were lurking. Got two of the enemy (ground fire got a third and helped with the mission being successful) and completed a successful intercept. Flying with a Mig-21 in the late war environment is tough but with discipline you can be successful.

Here is an update: North Vietnamese writings included for ambience. I have also added all the planes to the download (Including the wonderful Mig-21MF by Mago, Badger and Fubar). I have included cockpits for the Mig-17s and Mig-19s (A-4 repaint with Russian lettering on the gauges): I have also added cockpits for the Mig-21F-13 , the PFV and the PFM (F-4 repaint with Russian lettering on the gauges) I have also added Wrench's wonderful hangar screens. I have added music from North Vietnam, China, Laos etc (I personally do not like the songs but do it in the interest of historical flavor ;) ). It is just about ready. All I need is one hangar screen and it should be good to go. I might actually release it before the patch since there are so many US units, the bug is not felt nearly as much. Let me know what you think about that. This is a list of the books used to research this project (in case anyone is interested in picking them up): Clashes: Air Combat Over North Vietnam, 1965-1972 by Michel, Marshall Vietnam Air Losses by Chris Hobson Mig-21 Units of the Vietnam War by Istvan Toperczer Mig-17 and Mig-19 units of the Vietnam war by Istvan Toperczer And Kill Migs by Lou Drendel Air War over North Vietnam by Istvan Toperczer Mig-21 "Fishbed" by Yefim Gordon and Bill Gunston US Navy Phantom II Mig Killers 1972-73 by Brad Elward and Peter Davies Mig Killers of Yankee Station by Michael O?coonor

I have to thank Fates for pointing this one out. Go this from GMT this week. It is a real in depth wargame based on the air war over Vietnam. The map is real nice, and so are the counters. So much detailed is modeled in the game that it would be hard to explain. Here are some nice pictures of the contents of the box. If you go to this website, there is also play by e-mail and online versions (download section). it is highly recommned it if you are a wargamer and have interest in the Vietnam Air War. http://www.airbattle.co.uk/downtown.html

The cool thing is the website, especially this section: http://www.airbattle.co.uk/d_downloads.html It has updated rule sets, updated player aid card sets, rules for solitaire play, rules for Play by e-mail, variant rules for what if scenarios (Tomcats over Vietnam in 1975 even !) etc. tons of support for a board wargame on the web (never actually seen that before...very cool). I do plan on getting the others in the series once they are released.

This game just gets better and better the more you play. here are some in game screen shots.

Here is one more, in my favorite part of the game so far....second day when you start interacting with the tanks (and riding on them as well!)

Looks like he had problems with his provider but he got it fixed ....should be up again shortly

wow, awesome site!

Picked up this game this afternoon and have been playing it sense. This one is highly recommended. It's not an FPS it is more of a WW2 Infantry combat simulator. It flows so well. When you move up to commanding your fellow soldiers it just adds a completely new dimension that has not been seen before in this type of game. This one is a major keeper

Fates, it is linear in the way that if you have to go from point A to point B you can NOT detour to point C. However, when you encounter resistance , there are many cool ways to overcome the enemy troops. The cool part is in the part of the game where you direct the rest of the squad. I like the game alot. However Silent Hunter III is not to shabby either, so if you can only get one....good luck in deciding!

These are random tips directed at new players for getting more shoot downs. If anyone is intereste in these files I mention below. E-mail me at mk2(at)bellsouth(dot)net . How can you actually score more kills? It?s all in learning how the weapons work I fly with the following settings: Flight: hard Weapons: hard Ammo Usage: hard Everything else including enemy skill on Normal. So let?s do those settings first. Now I hate the cones, and the crappy radar on the top right and the target info lower right, so I tweaked my own hud data ini. I am including it in the zip file mentioned above, you can place it in your flight folder and try it out, and remove it if you do not like it. The radar is set on normal for this hud data (make sure it is set on normal). Next step: Get familiar with the ?T? key. This targets your next enemy in visual range. It places a rectangular red box over the target (using the above settings). This is great if you have bad eye sight like I do as you will be able to pick up the red box when otherwise you would miss the target against the background or down low in the weeds etc. Now lets move on to weapons selection. Arm the weapon you want, lets talk about the radar guided missiles first. Turn on the Radar. You can set it to search and hit the corresponding key to change range (I find this useless unless I am trying to pop something with an Aim-54 from very far away) usually I set it to bore sight as I am within 10 miles when I run into the enemy. If you are on boresight and you keep your nose pointed at the enemy (hopefully by now you have hit T key and placed a rectangular box around him) a yellow diamond will appear. At this point, if you are in the envelope where you can fire the missile, you do so. If you are turning?.you have to wait for a cleaner shot, one that will allow the weapon to guide. Once you fire , you must keep your nose on the enemy to maintain lock. The IR missiles are a bit different. I found that the growl it makes when it is locked is real weak. I always miss it when wingmen are screaming and the afterburner is on, so I tweaked my own file (back up your original , and place this one in your sound directory, it will be included in the zip). This file really GROWLS loud and there is no mistaking when you have a lock. I find that different weapons require different angles. When I fire an early model Atolls for example, I like to be slightly above or below the plane and I have to fire it almost when I am at his 6 o?clock and he is not moving much, it has a real small launch window. The modern IR missiles require you to lead a bit (to help the missile out) depending which way the target is leaning. So lets recap: Get your settings the way you like them but I find the above to be the best for new players who want realism but flexibility to learn how to play. Familiarize yourself with the ?T? key Familiarize yourself with switching Radar to ?Bore sight ? mode. Familiarize yourself with switching from weapon to weapon. Here is one I did not mention before, familiarize yourself with turning on ECM, also if you are flying a plane that does not have chaff and flares, I include a step by step in the zip to add chaff and flares to any plane you want to add it to (courtesy of Eagle). Ok this is the most important one. When you go to the control section to set all these keys up, find the command that is defaulted to F4 on your keyboard, it is your padlock target. I set it up on my joystick. When I click it my eyes go right to the target and I can keep a visual on him while I am turning and burning. If I need to orientate myself again, I click on it again to look forward. In a dogfight I usually go back and forth, back and forth. This will take your head out of the cockpit and keep it where it belongs, in the fight. Also, when you are a point blank range, switch to guns, make sure the command is on your joystick, so you can get to it quickly. The following was posted by Fritze and was a follow up to the above: - posted SIMHQ December 31, 2004 22:12 Fritze When radar is on hard and in search mode you will also have to sweep your nose up and down to locate a target. If the enemy is at your 12 oclock position but below or above your radar cone he will not show up, you will have to point your nose up or down to locate him, depending on his altitude in relation to your own. Also dont forget to change your radar ranges, he wont show up if he is 15 miles away and your radar is at the 5 mile setting. These early radars also had to be locked onto the target all the way to impact, I believe at least thats the way it was. Not like the current AIM-120 which can activate its own radar and track the target itself. And the heaters in this game on hard settings are rear aspect low g use only. Now maybe I am way off base here but, with a heater if the enemy is pointed up into the sky there is a larger chance of it losing lock, in fact early ones from what I remeber lose lock to the solar radiation of the sun. And sparrows have a hard time differentiating between ground clutter and aircarft, so going nape of the earth (NOE) can cause a sparrow to lose its track, well actually the enemies aircrafts radar. Then theres the old trick of putting any good size piece of real estate between you and the enemy plane/missile, like in the early days of Janes USAF online DF where we would duck in and out of the canyons so our enemies missiles would lose lock.

Fighter Pilot, welcome to the game! I am going to post a quick and dirty reference for new players in a minute.