Rambler 1-1

you know, usually jets constantly flying over your house lowers the value and makes the occupants grumpy. But not for Dave, for him it's just a big, private airshow. Now, if everybody here mails one dollar to him, we'll have some really nice pics. Just make sure you send it in pennes. One at a time.

Turns out that my last campiagn flight in the F-100 was also my best. 4 kills, baby! I would never had got them if I hadn't learned about selecting gun groups, it really saves ammo! Try to outclimb me? UP YOURS!

you sure? The gearbox would mean an even longer nose, not to mention a maintinence nightmere. Turboprops don't really make loads more power then a compareable radial, but they usually weigh (a bit) less and are not so bad for maintenence. I know that they converted the Convair 580 from radials (donno what kind) to Allison turbines (very similar to those in the P-3 and C-130H), and it still flew like a mongaloid hippo, but at least it didn't crash or cost as much.

ah, just make the wing bigger, add a landing skid and eat only beans for a week before takeoff. Problems solved.

Well, I'll have you guys know that I had in my SF folder, the screenshot that was going to win this month. It was a beautiful shot of an F-4B in the dark of night firing off a sparrow, and it was at just the right angle and distance that the sparrow's booster illuminated the Phantom's mencaing form against the dark, starry backdrop. Unfortunately, my computer then went completely belly-up in a crash worthy of a novel. I cranked it back to life to find that SFP1 and multiple other programs were gone for good, along with the only screenshot I've ever taken that wasn't low-res looking and could beat anything I've seen so far. Exept maybe for Dueces' shot, but mine wasn't photoshopped. But now it's gone for good, along with all my mods and custom campaigns and pilots. At least I've been having fun with a fresh install with the avaliable patches, albeit in 800x600 res. Phooey. anyway, here's another shot of some down-home SFP1 action. who needs high-res skins, 3D animated water, shadows, radar, missiles, swing wings, rehab, countermeasures, lead computing sights, lasers, flight computers and supercruise? NOT ME.

could it be the practical Jetpack?

waitaminute... I though this was gonna be the last patch for SFP1! Are they even going to make one? Please tell me I'm not high-and-dry untill I get a new comp, because SFP1 is the only TW game I can run.

time for a blast from the past... I was a meek new Ensign assigned to the VF-111 Sundowners on the USS Coral Sea. I was lucky to get a chance flying in this legendary squadron while still an Ensign, and I was eager to prove that I had what it took to be a US Navy fighter pilot. On my first cruise, we were deployed to support some sort of uprising in the middle east over oil fields or something, but i didn't really care because I was just a kid, waiting for my first combat mission, or more specifically, my first chance to go up against some MiGs in the Phantom. Unfortunately, my first couple missions were uneventful, and always from the same mold. Four phantoms would be scrambled to "Interdict undisclosed enemy flights". The first contact turned out to be a lowly civil transport, and the next missions we didn't see mutch at all, despite the fact that there was supposed to be flights of MiGs sighted in the area. It all changed, however, on mission number 6, all that changed. We had started to take two Phantoms at a time out on patrol, and the COs were determined to mix the leads and wingmen around. I found myself as #2 to another young guy, but he was already a lieutenant. We catted at about 0800, each carrying a 600 gallon centerline, 4 'winders and 4 sparrows. it was a nice day, broken cloud at about 5000 and reasonable temperatures. We kept radio silence on the way out. My RIO was a reliable guy, and he ran the set well. We scanned the skies, alert for anything. Anything at all. - "we got a possible contact about 75 miles off." Lead signaled to turn about 20 degrees port, homing in on the bogey. "Sundowner, possible bandits, 70 miles. Turn 275, climb to Angels twenty." two clicks of the mike acknowledged the message. we droned on for a couple more minutes, and I was hoping that we would not be dissapointed. then we got the fateful call. "Sundowner. Clear to engage." I wanted to take in the moment, but i was snapped back to reality when Lunkhead broke radio silence. "Ok Rambler. got a lock?" -"do we got a lock?" - "Now we do." "Yep" "Good. We don't. What's the distance?" - "about thirty miles closing 700 knots" "thirty, coming straight at us." "Fire when you're locked." Those were the words I had been waiting for. -"you hear that? - "We're locked. Fire away." I flipped the master arm switch, selected sparrows, made sure the lock was good, and popped one off, then waited and fired another. A tense minute passed as we bashed through cloud, and I was hoping that I had just got my first kill. - "Lost the lock. -"do ya think I got 'im? - "who knows?" "Fox one" - "got a lock again." I fired again, thinking that another sparrow gone can't do any harm. To us, at least. "They're inside 5 miles, below us. Keep your eyes open." Just then, a flight of two shiny MiG-17s and one MiG-19 came out of the cloud below us, and miraculously didn't see us. "Hot s**t! Stay high, I'm goin' in!" Lead dove down, coming behind the second MiG-17 high and fast. I circled and stayed above the MiGs, not sure what to do. "Fox two!" A sidewinder jumped off Lead's Phantom, shortly followed by another. The first one didn't track, but the second did, and the MiG pulled up too late. The missile nicked the tail and the Fresco began to arc forward while yawing into a spin. The Pilot punched out. "Jesus! RAMBLER!" I looked back to see Lead climbing away, burners full, with the MiG-19 in hot prisuit. The other -17 had dissapeared. I thought about it for a second, and then I nosed over to 0G and firewalled the throttles. The Phantom accelerated like it had been shot out of a cannon, and I rolled over and pulled up gently to get behind the offending Farmer. I switched to winders. Lead was still climbing, but somehow the MiG was still right there, lining up for a cannon shot. I was about a mile back, behind and to the right of the MiG, when I got tone. I was about to fire when I realised that the Phantom's flaming tailpipes were pointing straight at me, and that was too good a target for an AIM-9 to pass up. "Lead! Break left! Outa burners!" "f*** no! I'm waxed!" "Trust me!" there was a slight pause, and then the Phantom's burners cut out and it rolled left and nosed over. My tone went quiet, then the MiG turned left to follow the Phantom, and I got tone back. I fired two winders in quick sucession, forgetting to say "fox two". Both tracked and the MiG, high, slow, and with it's twin engines in full burner, was like a fish in a barrell. My first kill. "You get him?" the words snapped me out of my trance and I realised that Lead had no idea his tail was clear. "yeah, two 'winders up the ass. Uhh,, I mean, ass sir. well, I got him." "I owe you." - "Rambler! nice play!" "there's one more." "what?" - "what?" "there were two seventeens." "well, he's gone now. Keep an eye on your six, and let's head home." -"see if you can find it. Musta lost the fight in the clouds." We turned on a heading back to the carrier, and it wasn't long before my GIB piped up. - "got a contact about 40 miles off, between here and the carrier, closing rate about 200 knots." "Lead, bogey at twelve, heading for the carrier. Sounds like a Fresco going our direction." "He must be trying to find the carrier." there was a squack while lunk changed channels. "Home plate, bogey coming from our direction, suspect bandit scout." "Roger Sundowner. Squack IFF." there was a pause while the scope dopes on the Coral Sea identified the inbound MiG. "Sundowner, clear to engage. Bandit 70 miles off carrier." "Roger. Engaging." "Ram, I can't get a lock, my radar's on the fritz." -"locked?" - "yep. In range." "Fox One." I fired my last sparrow with the good lock. A long minute passed. "Sundowner, splash one. Nice shot. Radar contact." Landing went okay, I got the last wire, and my crew chief was overjoyed to hear the his plane had blood to it's credit. Lead walked over to me after debrief. "thanks for that call. Any other wingman would have shot first, worried about me later." "Well, I wasn't about to have my first kill be my flight lead." "Anyway, I'd just like to say that I'd be glad to have you on my flight anytime." "if it means gotting easy MiGs off your tail then it sounds good." As we were going off to our foxholes, he called back, "By the way, you can call me Lunkhead."

Using Tactics listed here (and at the Air Combat School), I was able to make my latest pilot a Phantom ace in three missions. I am Rambler 1 and I approve this message. I like to circle high and tell my wingman to engage the MiGs below, and I become the wing man, covering him. Sometimes he gets into a turning fight and then I dive in to save the day, or sometimes a MiG will try profusely to climb up to get me, and I just slip down behind him. And let me tell you, there's noting that's easier to shoot then a high and slow MiG 21.

F7F? Where'd you get it? I LOVE THAT PLANE! now for my shot. Some good ol' SFP1 action!

this may come in handy in the Air Combat School over in the general forums.

maybe it's a ploy to unite the youtubers of the world. The only thing I've noticed with youtube lately is that a) it won't let me watch most videos, even my own ("This video is no longer avaliable" er sump'n like that), and b) the videos I can watch take forever to load, and even then still lag like nuts.

I like the Lions. the BC Lions.

where's out resident Spadgirl to judge this one? kinda reminds me of the cavalier mustang, a turboprop CAS version of the WWII warbird. Looks like a british (rolls royce?) turboprop, with the gearbox in line with the engine and intake. I'd definetly like to fly one of those turbo-spads. btw, there's also the SkyPirate, kinda like a megaspad. Quad-bank counter-rotating radial, musta weighed a LOT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TB2D_Skypirate

man, the fastest thing I've ever seen over my house was a learjet 45... gotta move to comox...

EDIT: whoops, didn't see the other two pages anyway, I think that those who make descisions about this stuff know the reality, the only problem I can think of here is ignorant berks coming around saying how crappy the F-35 is. ther is one real way to solve this, though. AI vs AI battle in WOI with the up-and-coming F-35 against any random opponent. -another thing is that computers don't know everything. For example, in the f0's, and "advanced" IBM flight simulating computer said that the Avro Arrow would never get off the ground, let alone break the sound barrier. However, it did both with hardly a problem. I know that the computer was probably wayy innacurate, and it was run by americans who didn't want Canada to have a good fighter, but it still makes a point.

I actually thought it was real, untill the endorsement.

happy birthday old timers. And you too, NGHENGO.

some place between here and Edmonton (on the "scenic route"... Edson, I think) has a city park with a T-33 and an F-101, both ex-RCAF, on big pedistals at either end of a field. I thought it was awesome, but everybody else complained about how they "spoil the natural scenery".

I'm counting the days untill I get BoB 2. It looks good. You'll have to inform me on what it's like, with or without the patch!

Sounds like FOD, maybe tire burst. S

"Avoid contact with eyes and skin" AAHHH! COMBATACEBURN!

great job with the Ekranoplane launchers! Looks awesome! might wanna try the C-130 cockpit, it's a bit closer to then the A-6 pit, but I wouldn't care if it had an A-4 pit: It's big, it carries more bombs then Canada owns and a flight of them would be unstoppable! They could sink Japan! It kinda reminds me of the Maksim Gorki of the 20s, just make sure some MiG-29 pilot doesn't pull a Blargin.

funny, i was just thinking about that too... maybe he's off fixing ICBMs, or maybe he's become the new leader of North Korea...?

I still own that one too! although I could never get past that level in the career mode where you have to deliver the boxter in a set ammount of time without damaging it. I also wish there was one ferrari per era or something just to judge the Porsches against.