Stingray72

DWC Ace and others wondering about the ELT.... I am in the USCG, our boats and A/C have them, they are called EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Indicating Radion Beacon) and carry small ones on our vests called PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). Here's how they work. The old ones transmitted on only 121.5 MhZ, and our gear is set up for that still. All ELT's / EPRIB's / PLB's transmit on 121.5. Now the 406MhZ comes into play with satellites. How it works is your ELT goes off, a satellite picks it up and transmits the position to a center somewhere (can't remember), it's manned by IAMSAR crews made up of civilians, USAF personnel, USCG folks, people from other countries, whatever have you. Within 1 hour they have you located to within 1 mile and have assets heading to your position. That's as close as the 406 gets. Once within a few miles your ELT is tracked by our Radio Direction Finder (DF) which reads many VHF and other frequencies. We pickup the transmission of the 121.5 on this and DF in to within a few hundred yards. You are located visually the rest of the way unless it's foggy or something, then we have to do DF runs and try to get Lines Of Position (LOP's) to cross reference the signals and find you. All of the new beacons transmit on both 406 and 121.5 for this reason. I was kind of hoping for the best too, but I was stationed in Alaska and very rarely does it turn out well because of how remote every place except towns are and the harsh environment, even in the SE. The only hope is the sweet training that the US forces (USAF and USCG) go through when you are stationed in Alaska that pertain specifically to that region. The USAF has quite a bit of survival training for it's pilots for bailouts, and with specialty training for Alaska and the pilots previous training sessions there is definitely hope assuming that this person did make it our of the A/C. ~Stingray

The UP 2.01 is the be all / end all for mods for now. We won't be getting any new planes until someone else makes them separate, like AAA mod staff. We get a new version, 4.10, this spring, but it is going to just be an all inclusive patch to bring 4.09m up closer to UP status, with some of the mods being permanent, like sound mods and such. There wee a lot of planes many of us were hoping for, we will be waiting for a bit though. I have even heard nonsense like we will be getting an F-4 to match to MiG-17. Seriously right? I guess the last thing to remember is that it is a WWII sim, and the focus is more towards that, not so much jets. ~Stingray

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. I feel like I have ade this post before, major deja' vu lol! I think it is good to go home when you have the chance. It's not saying you are a coward, it's thining clearly, "I have low fuel, no gun, and who knows what trouble else I will find, time to RTB". I recently read "When Thunder Rolled" and Ed Rasimus came hot off a target one day in a Thud and tried to rejoin on a flight of MiG's. He had, as he put it, a fighter pilot's dream, 2 MiGs lined up for him to shoot at, but he was low on fuel and one of his systems was wonky. He opted to just pass underneat them and head home since they hadn't seen him yet, and may have saved his own neck in doing so. This guy flw over 100 mission to North Vietnam, so it wasn't bravery that held him back, it was discretion. Good judgement is every bit as big as bravery in the cockpit. Nice work!!!!! ~Stingray

Yes, the ODS is a very difficult but very fun campaign. I have a few pilots started, many of them survivors of battles fought over Europe on NF4. There are a few newcomers though, flying modern Navy jets from carriers, such as the F/A-18 and the Tomcat. This all started when I was unable to get WOV 1984 to work. Cliff budy, if your reading this, wepas editor? Having problems with that; I really wanted to start an F-4S campaign :( Yeah, ODS is to pooh though!!!! There certainly is lots going on and I love flying all of the newer fighters in a desert setting. It's nice also because it's realistic, not some made made up war over Europe or Vietnam in 1984. Oh, and the A-6 E model, sweet lol. Again with the weaps editor, would be nice to get an AIM-9 on that mother. I haven't had the opportunity but once, but on that mission where I had one wing this happened: I was approaching the airfield and the enemy planes were scrampling. Up in front of me about a mile away was a big ol' transport plane. Woulda been cool to take a whack at him in my A-6!!!!

Hi all! I've been away form DiD for some months, and recently downloaded the ODS campaign from JSF_Aggie and decided to run some of the campaigns form there since I had thought that the NF series was so great. One of my pilots had some rough luck last night. 2nd LT Jake Barnes was on a strike mission flying the A-6E (TRAM) with VMFA-224 on his third mission. He did very well for himself, striking 2 SAM radars with missiles, then went in on his bomb run to destroy the runway with three 1000lb bombs. While getting ready to release bombs, he was hit hard and the plane rolled to the left. "I tried to drop the bombs as I was able to temporarily right the plane, but they wouldn't leave the MIR's, so I opted to eject all of my external ordinance. They bombs and MER's were successfully ejected and I noticed that I was having a hell of a time trying to keep her level. I tried to turn to the left and the plane flipped over on her back, and as I righted her I began to look around to see what had been hit. If you look at the pics, my master caution was on, so I looked right, everything was normal, then I looked over my left shoulder and saw the bullet holes ending in a stump!!!! I called 'Mayday Mayday Mayda' on the radio and made for the nearest airfield. That's right, she would fly, although not well. She constantly rolled, and then she would always over correct. I made it all the way down through the approach and touchdow, where she bounced once then exploded...." Dear Sir or Ma'am, The Defense Department regrets to inform you that you son was killed in action.......

hi all!!! ~S I have been flying WOI recently quite a bit and was wondering if the camo desert skin that is available for the F-15 C/D can be changed to use with the stock F-15A. If not, does anyone know where I can find it??? ~Stingray

Yeah, I figured as much, but who has one for the stock F-15A? I gotta believe someone has one!!!! MiG, you listening in? Can I call in one more request......?? ~Stingray

I got one!! I read this on some comms funnies that came in an email chain. A Beech Bonanza was waiting to take off at a busy airport somewhere, the runway was being used by a DC-10 or something. So the DC-10 turns off the runway and the co-pilot looks out the window and sees the Beech and says on the radio something like "Cute airplane, did you build it yourself?" To which the pilot of the Beech replies "Yep, I built it out of DC-10 parts. Another landing like yours and I'll have enough parts to finish my second one." ~Stingray

I'm with stick. I mean, I play a mean game of tennis, but John McEnroe would beat me silly with an old wooden racket eh? ~Stingray

I forget which General said it in WWII, but he said this about the Corps : "Marines remind me of rottweilers and dobermans, because there are only two types of Marines, big and mean, and skinny and mean". Happy Birthday ~Stingray

The one that doesn't pay taxes? So that would be heaven then??

Yes, may Frank rest in peace knowing that he did more than his share for our country on the Home Front. His sacrifice is a snapshot of the fabric of this country, and he will be in my prayers as another true American hero. ~Rob

I can say, without a doubt, that I would never be able to do that job. The highest I have ever climbed on my own was on the USCG Barque Eagle, some 140 feet in the air. I am afraid of heights, and it took a lot to get me to work aloft, and in the end I was never comfortable, but I could work. This is something else man lol, I could never be paid enough to go to the top and back!!!! ~Stingray

Dang, Viper beat me to the first mishap poke lol. Viper, I saw the header and was totally coming in here to leave one

My question is this: how do you let 600 million dolars worth of military aircrafty burn down in a forest fire? lol, don't they have a procedure for that? Stingray

Yeah, or tampon or Vagisil commercials during lunch :(

As a military member I can relate. There will always be someone who makes it his or her agenda to enforce the rules with an iron fist, no matter what the circumstance. I don't know what service you are in or what a UIF is, but I think an LOC is a Letter Of Counseling. If this is the case, then it is probably like the USCG's Page 3307 (Negative), which is just an entry that serves as documentation for a later issue, and only if the issue of of the same nature. Saying that you have never had one is about like saying that you have never gotten a speeding ticket: it's only a matter of time until the law gets you, right or wrong-ish, and it isn't a huge deal. I have been in 14 years and have seen every mission and mentality that go with them in the Coast Guard. You can read your post and if you are in the military you can think of some incident where the enforcer of rule number whatever went ape sh*t over the tiniest detail. It will always be unfair, and it's because there is always someone higher than you who is in the right; ie, you said your boss is your friend right? Maybe the ultra boss is this guy's friend. It happens, and move on and don't sweat it. Revel in the fact that he is a douche bag and you aren't!! Oh, and I am not allowed to say that. It's now vagina bag. Yep, at my station we can't say douche bag, as per the Commanding Officer. One more thing, always assume that you need to be in uniform, that way it isn't an issue. "yeah" can be "Nah" when asked if I gave permission, um, which one did you want to hear so I don't get hollered at? If you are told flat out that you don't have to be in uniform then cool, but if no one tells you this piece of info then go in uniform and avoid the BS, which you have just experienced.

There are a bunch of actor / veterans that we don't regularly think about: http://www.kidsthankavet.com/?path=famous I found this one after trying to find a pretty good list to post, this one is cool, but you have to do some work on your own to actually read what they each did. Still, fun to think about, all of these actors and musicians who served. ~Stingray

Well, I just had a great mission. 2nd LT. Dave Skelton is another of my new DID campaign characters. I was just running a mission this morning and not thinking too much about the details when I went on it. We were bombing an oil storage facility, and it turned out to be fairly clean as far as AAA goes, one auto gun and two small caliber machine guns. We leveled the facility and headed home. On egress I shot a MiG down with a fast cannon pass; I was surprised to have hit it and thought an F-100 had actually finished him off, but I got credit for it in the debrief. As we passed another airfield I heard the report of bandits in the area, so I started looking. Sure as, well, sure lol, there was a MiG 17 following us at 2 miles. I called for my wingman, 2nd LT Hewes, to attack. As he broke, the MiG followed him so I rolled opposite to bring myself on his 6. I fired a Sidewinder within parameters, but my wingman broke to avoid the attack, as the MiG had pulled onto his 6. I lined up for the 2nd Sidewinder and let it rip from around .9NM's, and it apparently locked onto my wingman (it said so in the debrief, I fired at an F-105). The missile flew formation with the MiG, then overtook him and went after my boy, but fortunately they can't turn even with a Thud lol. I got close and pulled the trigger to gun him down......nothing!!!! So here I was, sitting on this guy's 6, pretty as can be, no friggin' ammo?!?!?! My wingman is getting shot at, so I need to do something. I did what Jack Ilfry did in Africa when a BF-109 was plugging his best friend and he had no ammo: I rammed him. My plane immediately went to pieces, and you couldn't tell who owned which part of the flaming mess except for the hulls of two broken birdies. I bailed out and was hospitalized for my troubles. I was amazed that I had not been captured as it was more or less over their airfield lol. Doesn't that deserve an MOH? ~Stingray

Widow, I am not a serious rider either, but I do know that the one hand thing is accurate, also there are for sure two types of saddles. Western saddles are large affairs with the stirrups hanging way down the side of a beast, the English saddles are pretty small and light with the stirrups up somewhat higher. Here's what Wiki says about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_saddle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_saddle Good Day!! ~Stingray

Yes welcome!!! I am fairly new as well, maybe been on the forums for a year or so. I am a hard core IL2 gamer, but the community here is so much more tight than anything from the IL2 guys (no offense if you are reading this!!!) You have picked a bunch of guys who will stay up through the wee hours of the night to help you solve you problem, and they are a very knowledgeable bunch indeed. I hope you enjoy what the family has to offer!!! ~Stingray

Nice!! I am pullin' for you then Carter!! You have motivated me to start a WOV campaign too, just not sure which one yet. I have been reading a few books about the F-105 guys, so maybe that one. I have new skins for the F-4C and I want to use them, and I am in love with the A-6 still lol, too many planes it seems, but you know we complain when there is not enough. Oh well!! ~Stingray Who is Johnathan Sykes? Forgive my ignorance.

Yep, the Hornets win lol. To be honest, I thought they looked the coolest when they were flying the A-4F's. That plane is jst such a little mover and it looked great in the Angels colors.

It is the same for all engines when you rap them out. I drive motor lifeboats in the USCG and will use the opportunity to compare two different boats with two different engines and schools of thought. The 47' MLB, fast and maneuverable vs the 52' SPC, named Triumph, 50's tech, slow and steady and rock solid. The 52 carries around 1100 US Gallons of fuel and can go almost 500NM's on a tank of diesel fuel at cruising RPM of 1800 can go 400NM's, which is pretty slick for a vessel. She has some old Detroit diesel engines, 671's. Now the 47' MLB is a speedy sucker, 435HP V-6, with blowers and turbos, and yep, there's two of them. We carry 373 usable gallons of diesel, and she can go around 270nm's. That's it, no farther. I was on 110' Island class patrol boats for a few tours as well, and these boats had a British engine called a Paxman engines rated at 4,000hp, but ours are governed down to 2,800hp each, carrying two. At full RPM these engines burn 275 Gallons per hour, and only carry around 10,000 gallons of diesel total. Do the math and you will realize that she will only go 36 hours at full throttle. You car is the same way, the rated MPG is for a cruising speed of around 40mph. My 2000 Corvette coupe was rated for 28 MPG, but I could get up to 35 mpg out of it if I behaved, like using cruise control and 6th gear when in a 50 mph zone. When I did not, then my mileage suffered, and the mileage counter would let me know neato facts like how I was getting 2 MPG in 1st gear standing on it. Jets burn a lot of fuel much of the same way, they are higher performance machines. The B-52 gets pretty good gas mileage, but they are also not trying to set any speed records with it!!!

It has been brought to my attention that nukes were illegal in DID, so 2nd Lt. Link will be receive a courts martial as such for his infraction on the rules of war concerning DID. I would like to apologize for my mistake, however, it was pretty dern cool lol. I will restart the campaign without further delay. Sorry!!! ~Stingray