crl848

Good site, I know of Chris Carey from the flight helmet world. He is one of the authorities.

I've got that on vinyl courtesy of my none-too hip dad. Great record. I vote for David Bowie.

A different 'C pit would be excellent if possible .

Today was cancelled earlier but I had hopes for tomorrow - just heard that Fairford is still waterlogged. Bang goes my chance to see the F-22 and the Vulcan fly. And this is my main airshow of the year too.

Nice one.

Mk2, I'd like to add my thanks for your support of the site - amazing growth in such a short space of time.

Got my vote. As a parent, I think the key is to be vigilant as the vast majority of abuse comes from people known to the family. Easier said than done.

Since Greece went out I lost interest.

Sharky Ward is pretty bitter, but then again so is everyone else who has written a book. You should read what the RAF GR.3 pilots thought of the Navy ("RAF Harrier Ground Attack Falklands" by Sqn Ldr Jerry Pook). Sample chapter headings: "Ch. 17 More Navy cockups" and "Ch. 19 Yet more Navy cockups". In my readings around the war, everyone gets a good slagging off by everyone else. The navy by the RAF, the RAF by the Navy, the ground commanders & units by each other, the Flag by er, everyone including most of the Navy Captains. That's the one thing they all agree on, that Woodward was an idiot.

I taped last night's episode but haven't watched it yet. It is sad that a carrier can clear the Suez Canal without any fixed wing aircraft on board. On the subject of losing fleet air defence with the SHAR, I wonder if we couldn't have leased some cheap AV8s from the US or othe operators until the supposed arrival of the JSF? Amazing that no-one learned the lessons from the Falklands and the lead up to the war: don't trust the RAF to defend the fleet! Anyone interested in the post WWII prime of the fleet air arm should read this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fly-Navy-View-Cock...618&sr=1-14

I've read about this guy before - a retired French army parachutist is attempting to break various world records including highest parachute jump. The record is currently held by Joe Kittinger of the USAF who made a balloon jump in 1960. He was later a POW in North Vietnam IIRC. Jump was scheduled yesterday but should go today. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080526/tod-...te-7f81b96.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/sports/o...amp;oref=slogin Those interested in pilot gear might notice that he appears to be wearing a French partial pressure high altitude flight helmet & suit EFA type 21 (see http://www.flightgear.dk/efagear.htm). I have one in my collection.

Guy Gibson (CO of 617 sqn) wrote a great book about his war and the Dambusters raid before he was sadly killed: Enemy Coast Ahead. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enemy-Coast-Ahead-...n/dp/0859791181

Insane. Why do a test flight in the mountains where there's more to crash into?

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs. My favourite but most Bowie records between 1970-80 would do. The Velvet Underground - VU. Or anything by Lou Reed from the 1970s (except Metal Machine Music). The Pixies - Doolittle. Great live band, invented the quiet/loud "Nirvana sound". My top band when I was 18. The Beatles - Revolver. Not much to say about this one that hasn't been said 1,000,000 times. The Clash - London Calling. Best Album of 1979, the exception to the rule that punk rock was good at singles but not LPs. That might cover it.

Chuck Yeager is probably the one I played the most. Also Tornado and TFX.

Supported by charitable donations from the general public (some 20,000 of them apparently) and a £2.7m donation from the national lottery (i.e. government).

This series is a great idea. I'd like to hear some of the pros' views on flight sims - what they fly virtually and why they like it.

That is a good one.

Fantastic job, Mirage Factory. I got into a flat spin a few times and had to spend a sortie practising spin recovery. This has given me new desire to fly the F-4 after countless sorties in SFP1 over the years. I feel that I getting close to the real F-4 experience for the first time.

I'm surprised that the Voodoo is doo - ing so well (3rd place). It's much more useless than the F-100. I agree with the Thud and the Zip being 1 and 2 though.

Had that when it was new back in FS2002. The 2d panel was great - VC not so much. Are you bouncing the tower at Brough in those pics? Sadly Holme on Spalding Moor is not an airfield any more.

BTW, I just finished this excellent book: http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Rockets-Outra...t/dp/0743276833 so I might just have another go at the Shuttle sim: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=978

I think I started with Chuck Yeager's Air Combat on my 486 - conned my parents into believing that I needed a PC at university in the early '90s. Tornado was a big one for me (also Shuttle: remember that one?). Then USNF, DI Falcon, Jane's, SF, LOMAC, various MSFS (FS5, 2k, 2k2, ACOF, X). Did I miss anything? I've got Tornado on the shelf too. Good just to RTFM again.

Not fair, guys. I wasted an hour + reading the comments on that vid. Sad.

In an idle moment today, I thought about what features I'd like to see in a sim. I'm no realism fanatic and I like it to be fun, but here are a few things that aren't in the sims I play anyway (SF series and LOMAC). 1. Ability to do proper circuits and landing procedures. I'd like to enter the pattern, and have the formation perform a proper break, downwind leg etc. on my command. Especially important in carrier ops. 2. Better CAS procedures with FACs and ground troops involved. E.g. 2 clicks south of the tree line, hit my smoke etc. 3. Rescue operations if you or a flight member gets shot down. Not sure how this would work without being boring, but at the moment it takes a real mental effort to care about a downed comrade. I should really check for a chute (not SF ) , check him out on the radio, ask for an extraction, hit bad guys trying to capture him, perform RESCAP fuel permitting etc. 4. Something to make me care about waypoint timing and precision attacks, like a virtual kneeboard. I remember the old DI Tornado game had a time early/late indication in the cockpit, which you had to use to hit the target at the right time as the rest of your flight who would attack from different directions at the same time. In SF, the randomly generated missions will generally have a full strike package (SEAD, strike, CAP etc.) but unless I've written down the waypoint info I can't time it properly. I reckon that if you have to write things down outside the sim, it's not fun anymore. 5. Seamless swapping between lead/wingman/element positions (in planning, not in flight like Jane's USAF). It's nice to not always be in charge. Anyone recommend a sim or have other odd wish lists?