Gunrunner

The Yak-38 have been out of service for quite some time now, they were probably retired along with the early Minsk carriers in 1993 or at very last with the Baku (Gorshkov IIRC) in 1996. The Yak-141 never entered service as the program was terminated in the 90's, but AFAIK the development aircrafts are still kept in flying order in case the program got reactivated. There would be little point in reactivating the Yak-141 program as the remaining carrier in Russian service can operate more cost efficient types (Su-33, MiG-29K).

The low altitude tactics makes sense in the WoX world as the missiles have a harder time tracking and following you, often crashing while tracking you, an advantage you don't get when flying high. The idea is not to avoid detection, but to get your opponent to exhaust his supply of BVR missiles (most of them running into the ground) and then getting the advantage of a clearer shot to your target afterwards, or forcing the enemy fighters to fight at low level, where the player usually has an advantage over the AI (who still valiantly runs into the ground). Well, at least that's why I often adopt the low level profile.

Blackbird, IIRC in previous discussions on avionics, it came up that TK decided to simulate that by having the scanner covering the whole deflection range all the time in both planes (as in spatial planes, not aircrafts ^^).

Should depend on the plane, doctrine, equipment, needs... For recce birds available in game I think the usual altitude over target are : U-2A : Very High altitude Yak-25RV : High to Very High altitude Canberras : Medium to Very High altitude RA-5C : Low to High altitude RF-100A : Medium to High altitude RB-66B/C : Medium to High altitude RF-86F : Medium altitude F9F-5P : Medium altitude RF-101(A/C/G/H/B) : Low to Medium altitude RF-4(C/E) : Low to Medium altitude RF-104G : Low to Medium altitude F-16A® : Low to Medium altitude RF-8(C/G) : Low to Medium altitude

You know what ? We should turn that into a regular game... Once upon a time in a French aviation magazine, a dozen pictures were published every month, only parts of airplanes (a nose, an air intake, a landing gear) and we had until next issue to send our guesses on which aircrafts these were from, that was quite entertaining.

Nope, that's probably Vought submission to the VFX (in collaboration with Dassault for the swing wing technology, hence the ressemblance to the Mirage G). However I was not aware it went as far as the full-scale mockup stage (or further ?). I think this picture (or a link to a site featuring it) already came up on the boards (on the topic of the F-14, Mirage G and/or F-111B, but I couldn't find it with the search engine).

That's... wonderful Krizis

Human spam bot more likely... Otherwise it would have popped up too in more recent threads (DDoS was mentionned in the recent case).

One may argue it also may be because the only Fulcrum seeing any action were "monkey-models" sometimes poorly maintained and in the hand of poorly trained pilots. The Indians and Germans (while they had them) seemed to have liked the machine. In Russian service its main problem seems to have been the lack of funding for proper maintenance. Poland seems not too displeased with the type either. You also have to take into account the original purpose of the plane, in PVO service it was meant as a point defense interceptor, while in VVS seervice it was supposed to clear the skies over battlefields, not acquire air superiority or operate in overly hostile skies. It seems that by that point, the real job of theater air superiority was passed on to SAMs, planes only being used for local actions or HVT. As Lindr2 pointed out, the original Fulcrum were not even equipped with AHM (after upgrades and for export customers though it ended otherwise). You'll also note it's the exact same problem with most red birds... far easier to take out at long range than blue birds, yet, once it gets to a gun fight, their maneuverability makes them usually harder opponents than blue birds, the MiG-29 is no exception it seems.

AleDucat> The Skyflash were better missiles than the contemporary Sparrows they were based upon. Likewise, Alenia's Aspide (another Sparrow derivative) was also far superior to the original, being the best "Sparrow" for a long time. As for the Super 530D, it was identical to the 530F except for the seeker, whose additionnal abilities were not so much range and ECCM but better chances of taking on low-flying aircrafts and look down capacities. So it's not all inconsistencies...

Silverbolt> The AV-MF used Fencers, but as shore-based strike aircrafts, they never were intended as carrier based aircrafts. AFAIR it was less than 100 planes, passed on from the VVS to replace Blinders, and they were attached to the Baltic Fleet.

They would be wonderful ! Imagine that... The activist in front, haggard, stumbling on the battlefield, yelling, half-panicked "stop ! stop firing ! we come in peace, we mean no harm, don't kill the poor creatures !" and while the enemy's laughing, they don't notice the chimps getting closer and closer, ready to tear them apart... Delicious idea.

Well, unless I forget others, there are 3 great F-104 families for WoX : - TW's, actually only the F-104G and the community derivatives. - Ajunaidr's F-104, the whole family, unfortunately they date from quite some time, meaning the FM might possibly not be up to the actual standards, also, the mapping and skins often don't match the feel of other planes which may be visually disturbing for some people. - Wpnssgt F-104s, mostly early ones, while the comments on the FM also apply, their skins on the other hand are often a better match with the rest of the planeset. It's all a question of tastes, needs and verisimilitude. They're all quality products by the standards of their release, but may seem quite dated with the stream of very high quality (and polygon count) planes we get these days.

It's always been there, except in this case, either a) the angle on the picture make it appear quite high, b) it is too high or c) the "windows" are too small. Its design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AMX30_bustle.jpg) was meant to offer 360° visibility to tank commanders even when buttoned up. IIRC, the MG on top of the cupola could be used when buttoned up and could rotate independently from the turret, and the secondary 12.7mm (later 20mm) was independent in elevation from the main gun. It was a nice little tank, more meant for mobility and skirmishes than real tank battles (well, we couldn't afford them, and if we had come to use them in that role, we'd be doomed anyway).

Have you tried from C5's site as well as from CA ? And be sure to erase the original copy, instead of "replacing" the file after the new download, just in case.

Same thing... The lack of "social" education is a modern plight, it's relatively recent that people think they are entitled to... well, whatever (success, wealth, respect), and that society is there to serve them, without having to give anything in return (be it respect, work, efforts, taxes etc...). Likewise, with a globalised "culture" (if you can still call the result a culture), ideas and behaviours travel fast and far, with little resistance as there is little education and local culture to fight.

Welcome to the modern world and global "culture"...

Great, especially since we could use them in ODS... Just one thing though, the commander's cupola seems a tad too high.

C5> OT, but has anyone tried to explain to Lindr2 how obnoxious he end up being, and why ? I think he sincerely doesn't understand the errors of his way... tempbanning him won't do any good if he doesn't understand why, it will only make him frustrated and either drive him out of the community or make him even more obnoxious and neither of those options are benefits.

AFAIR, the A-7D took over the Sandy role during the Vietnam war, and probably would have done so until the service entry of the A-10/AV-8.

Next TMF project... Is that a moon ?

Well, if I'm not mistaken, it's the new "in" method to get them out of hovercrafts, one might say there are more efficient methods, but one has to admit it's got a certain je-ne-sais-quoi, style, or flair, for lack of better word. And it might help us solve the ultimate question for rivet-counters, how many eels does it take to fully infest an hovercraft (a worthy intellectual quest if there ever was one) ?

A Tu-126, that's wonderful Europe was lacking red HVTs

Kindly ask FastCargo (he has a real life and other projects), IIRC he's the one coming up with the ALE-50 (the towed decoy) for the Super Hornets.

Those things are monsters... A dream to fly (had to check twice I really was in Hard FM, as they are a really smooth ride), and a nightmare to face in knife fight, even worse than the Flankers.