Rambler 1-1

The mission was called a fighter sweep, but we all knew it was really an escort. "IF ONE OF THOSE F-4S COMES BACK WITH AS MUCH AS A SCRATCH, YOU'LL BE FLYING A DESK FOR THE REST OF YOUR CAREER!" is what Major Leatherlung screamed to my face on the line before takeoff. It was my first time flying as lead, after Lunkhead, out usual leader, had to take the week on sick leave. We were based at some god-forsaken airfield in the middle of the desert of who-knows-where. We were to preform a fighter sweep over an airfield about 60 nautical miles away, to "increase out influence in the region". The F-4s were supposed to bomb the crap outa the place at the same time. No prob. briefing at 0700, takeoff at 0815, no rendevous (therefore NOT an escort), no backup. Overfly the airfield at 0930, then take our time back. No expected enemies up today. Bull cr*p. I got the 2 phoenixes, seeing as I was lead. The plan was to knock off anything trying to take off to clear the way. Everybody else had 4 sparrows and 4 'winders apice. Takeoff was uneventful, and I got contact on the F-4s right away. about 20 minutes from target, we got some other contacts. Two flights of Floggers taking off, we figured. No AWACS today. Then, out of the mountians, we were able to pick up a flight of unidentified bogeys going the other way. Ten minutes off target, I got a lock on the lead flogger and popped off a phoenix. It fired off, jolting the airframe, flew like mad in a straight line, started to track, and then when it's first stage finished, it went poof and exploded. A dud. I made sure I had a solid lock and fired the other. Same result. Our plan was going to hell in a handbasket. by now, the F-4s had called shotgun and had taken out all 3 ADF radars in the area. No SAMs today. The Floggers had been vectored to intercept the phantoms, and as soon as thay were within 15NMs, four sparrows, one from each of us, lurched off the pylons. Within 30 seconds 2 floggers, just rolling in on the phantoms, became craters. The other two were hot on the tails of the phantoms. Remembering my C/O, I told everybody to take those two out before they got to their prey. It was a straight line fight, and the Floggers didn't see us. I lined one up for a 'winder, and fired. It farted off under his right wing. He knew we were there now. He broke off. I told my wingie to take him so I could take the other, which by now was ready to fire guns at one of the phantoms. I fired a fox one as he fired guns, and both the flogger and the phantom went up in flames at the same time. Double damn sh*t fu*k. Now I'm in for it... "BANDITS! BANDITS!" "Lead, check six!" damn. we had been jumped by two fishbeds while we were busy with the floggers. "He's firing a missile!" sure enough, in my mirror I saw a white dot followed by a cloudy trail, with my name on it. Without thinking, I dropped 4 chaff and flare and used my 700 knot speed to pull off an immleman. As I completed the loop, a call came from #2. He had gotten the flogger. Then #3 called that he had gotten the other fishbed. This just left me and this fishbed. I bottomed out of my loop and pulled hard up and right, cutting inside the MiG's turn and advancing my throttles. As the burners kicked in, I ruddered behind him. I launched off my last two 'winders. both missed. Now it was guns VS guns. he rolled quick left and continued to climb. I grimmaced as my cat slowly rolled after him, but then grinned when i realised he was done for. I had more power. he continued to climb and S turn a second time, and I gained on him even more. Then, as he flattened out, I had the perfect shot. Just then, 3 called out "fox two". I wondered what he was shooting at, then a horrible preminition came over me. "FRIENDLY FIRE! CHECK FIRE!" Just as I pulled the trigger and filled my opponent with lead, there was a loud "thumpCRACK...POW" as #3's AIM-9P broke off my right vertical stabiliser and exploded. My MiG was finished and going down. I wasn't mad at 3, I realised it could have been an honest mistake. Then he said over the radio, "Hey Rambler, don't try to cut in on my kill, or next time, it'll be guns that hit you!" Now I was mad. the flight home was bad. My left leg cramped from holding the rudder, becuase my right engine was dead and trim was out. Two informed me that 4 had bought it when the flogger got a lucky gun shot, and there were no chutes. Furthermore, I was leaking hydraulic fluid like a sieve. And 3 wouldn't talk. Good. I told 2 and 3 to go ahead and land. I lined up so my approach wouldn't be over the city, instead it was over the ocean. The slower I got, the less controll I had. As I approached the runway, about 50 feet off, the cat suddenly started to bank and rudder left, and then it pulled up and stalled. I gave the command for my GIB to punch out. Then, with a pat on the instrument panel and a quiet "sorry", I ejected. I landed 20 feet from a triple-A gun as the cat made a 10-foot crater with a ground-shaking "whump". Suprisingly, both me and my RIO were unscratched, and after a check-over by the flight surgeon, we were allowed to head for the Officer's club. I walked in to find a crowd around Lieutenant Shalanski, my #3 from today, as he told how I tried to steal his kill so he shot me with a 'winder. Then he went on to explain how he could have landed the cat. I walked over and punched him twice, breaking his nose and cracking his jaw. EDIT- awww, it won't let me add the picture. A little long, I guess.

no, the enemies in WOC would be either the soviets trying to get our northeren oil reserves, or the Quebec Liberation Party Air Force.

It's things like that that make you thankful for what you DO have. Now homework doesn't seem that bad.

wings over Kosovo or wings over Morridor WINGS OVER CANADA!! come on! I'd even settle for "wings Over Quebec"!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! "VIGGY"!!!! jus' kidding, although it is kinda funny to see somebody aside from me taking flak.

"I'd mow 'em down like a weed eater..." Dos Gringos, "I wish I had a gun just like the A-10"

that's really sad. my day was lousy too, we got a double assignment of math on top of everything else. :(

actually, that was my wingie in the pic. I was in an F-8. 'winders proved useless, so I dumped them all and used guns. After wayy too many overshoots, I put some flap out and took to using the vertical. I got 8 and my wingie got 2. It's amazing how they just fell apart after taking a single round of 20mm!

did it already, but then a bunch of my other planes have phoenixes too, and it was meant to be an exclusive weapon. I'll just modify the F-4J instead and go find a cool skin for it. problem solved- sorta. I donno about stormtroopers' hellmavs.

aiee, it sounds like cargo has gotten serious about something... BREAKTHROUGH!!! I GOT THE PHOENIXES TO WORK ON THE F-4J!!! It must be a nations thing, then, despite the fact that I made all the loadout points able to use USN weapons.

STILL waiting for WoC... maybe they'll be a 1500AD sim, with Da Vinci's Ornithoptors, heliocopters and such, called "apendages of various flying machines over Italy" (AoVFMoI)

remember, I'm not asking if the radial or inline were better in WW2, just in general. I knew Majorlee would be a big asset for the radial side

Yes, Viggen, that is the arctic camo, or as we refer to it, "monochrome splinter". AmokFloo- I'll try that. EDIT- It didn't work. I can now load EVERY A2A MISSILE IN THE GAME on this sucker exept for the Phoenix. Even the AIR-2 Genie. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?

if you really want a recording program that won't slow down your frame rates, go gamecam lite. it's just an essential recording system, but it works the best for dogfight recording.

don't laugh, but I'm adding the Phoenix to an F-4E. I've got the .inis all worked out so it'll work (see pic), but the missile won't show up in the inventory/master list. I was gonna try to avoid mentioning that i was adding a phoenix to a phantom, 'cause I knew that would attract a lot of flak, but it seems I have no choice.

Nope. Niet. Nein. Nothing. Tried that, The avaliability was set to 2 and base quantity was 40. Even worse, now it's not showing up in the master list at all, that seemed to be nothing more than a flash in the pan. I went over everything again, but it seems like it should all work.

Putin's lead brick collection? A shipment of depleted uranium doorstops? I believe that is an Ilyushin IL-76. I always thought, out of ALL the planes in the world, those suckers are the ones that should have burners.

I'll bet the pilot sneezed at V2. wait... I know why all these planes are going kaputski... THE SOVIETS HAVE PUT SNEEZING POWDER IN ALL THE OXYGEN MASKS IN THE USAF! PILOTS ARE SNEEZING AT CRITICAL TIMES DURING FLIGHTS AND CAUSING CRASHES! boy, jumping to conclusions is tiring...

Oh! Rignt! That french attacker/bomber/intercepter(huh?) from the 50's.

Lamani- I know the missiles will fit and work on the plane, because I have loaded a mission as another plane that uses that missile and then switched planes on the loadout screen. This way I was able to fly with the new missiles on there, so I know I did the ini stuff right. FastCargo- I've checked all of these things many times already, and like I said, I CAN get the plane to fly with the missiles, but they just won't show up in the master list. REVISION- The missile DOES show up in the master list, but it says that there's 0 avaliable. Now how the heck do I change that?

okay, I don't think this is a tough one, but I'ts become a tripping stone for development of my custom planes. I'm trying to add a new missile to the stock F-4E Phantom. I did all the ini stuff and I know the missile will work on the plane, but I can't get it to show up in the avaliable inventory for the Phantom on any mission. I tried putting the new missile on with the loadout file, but to no avail. Any help is appreciated, and badly needed. Thanks!

is this damage modeling gonna be in the next pack for SF? I can't run WoI, so if not, BUMMMER!!!! Hey bounder, what kind of plane is that? looks like Hawker Hunter/Yak-28 cross.

I had this problem back when i had a bunch of WWII planes on here. A picture says a thousand words... remind you of a movie?

that pic is my desktop background. I have a cassette copy of "supersonic sentinel", the official Avro Arrow promotion video. It has some nice flight scenes.

just don't pull that black and yellow striped one. I'd give ANYTHING to see an F-14, let alone sit in one. Nice P-40, too!