Trotski

11 hours ago, Mike Dora said:

Well 19 and 23 did use SPADs once.

This is true, and were so traumatised by the whole sorry affair, that the vowed never to use our Gallic "friends" aircraft again, except for the Jaguar collaboration of course, and that was just a british, as it was french, and besides, the RAF version was better anyhow , So There 

The RAF....Using......Dare I say it......I shudder at the very notion............Equipped, with, FRENCH Aircraft..The Humanity !!! 

No such thing an an invincible, or invulnerable Tank, Western Tanks, are more survivable than the Former Soviet, or current Russian Tanks, however, they are designed on two totally different tactical doctrines. The West, had envisioned an assault through the Fulda gap, and therefore developed its armour to counter this, ie, better command and control, better Infantry and air combined operations, the Russians/Warpac had one goal in mind, to get in, defeat, occupy and end the war, therefore their armour is faster, lower, and more numerous. Gunnery is another factor, with possibly the advantage going to NATO, as they needed accuracy and quality, that being said, the Russians, build bloody good kit, and, had the cold war gone hot, the outcome would have been awful, as tac nukes would have come into play, and sorry Gents, but no one wins that particular scenario. Anyhow, Russian Tanks are very good, as good as, if different from Western armour, yes they ergonomics can sometimes leave something to be desired,  but, they worked, very well, did the job, and are still running in armies all around the world, not bad for 1960's/70's tech !!

As a former Cold War Warrior, I am fully aware of how terrible a Soviet invasion would have been, my approximate life expectancy was 24 - 48 hours buying time until the US and NATO could pump bodies into the Theatre of ops. Also, another point, even the Israeli's used Soviet Tanks in the form of the Tiran, that speaks volumes in my book. However, ATGM's will kill pretty much ANY tank, be it Western or Eastern European in origin, so the argument is actually academic, as neither

 side really has a "better" Tank.

To make a droll comment here, it aint the size that counts, it's the way one utilises it that really matters.

From what I understand of German Archie, is that it did get nastier and more accurate later into the war, I suspect that there were areas more heavily defended with more guns, this is a reason that balloon busting was frowned upon. As the war progressed, the Germans developed effective Flak guns, things like SockelFlak etc, also the developed guns specifically for throwing as much hate skywards, as accurately as possible as they could, and they were very good at it, a trend to be repeated in WWII. Maybe the sector your gallant French aviator is flying in, happens to be one of those "unpleasant" and rather warm areas, where the attentions of Mr Archibald were more unwelcoming. Also, flying at low to medium altitude was a risky process at the best of times. It must have been terrible for Art Obs pilots, flying figure 8's whilst being potted at by every gunner for miles around.

Congrats on getting your 3rd Stipe mate, dont stop there though, we want to hear about your promotion to Sgt Major  ( or whatever the equivalent rank in Spain is ) 

Ahhhh ok cool, DCS does need a big beautiful Cat that isnt a TomCat.

Ooooh mate !! are you working on a new model of the beautiful Cat ? 

I mean in SF2 not in FE, as the gunners in FE are sorted, and not bad at all.

We could use some Luftwaffe Pilots and crews with the German pattern of oxy mask, and as I said, rear gunners, as the generic ones are just foul.

we need more of these, German pilots with the correct oxy masks, and also rearward facing ones to subtitute for the awful gunners , in fact we need to kill all the in sim gunners, as they are all bloody awful, I do hope someone can carry on Geezers stirling work, I really hate the stock gunners they look crap.

Wizard Prang old chap !!! more flyable aircraft would also be nice. 

Napalm fumes, they smell really good in the morning you know 

I seem to recall that the RNAS, and some RFC squadrons used the French cockades early in the war, maybe as far in as early 1916, so it isn't incorrect. you will also see RNAS roundels that are just a red circle, with a white centre, but I have a feeling that they were for home defence squadrons. So I am unsure if they were used in France at all.

Oh yes I did plow my way through the various packs, of course I did, however, due to extreme shell shock, and eye boggling, I failed to find the droid I was looking for, However the Mk 82 para retarded are just the job, thank you all for your help, so problem solved. I did also find them in the B52 files you mentioned, So thank you for that pointer !! 

I think the issue is I have not really delved into the area of munitions, retarded, or well adjusted, and sometimes the packs can be rather intimidating, and give , in a lot of cases at least, very little clue as to what the weapon actually is, without looking at the Data,INI file for the thing, it also doesnt help that many of the weapons in question, are called different things, rather than having the "idiot guide" clue in the title ( IE mk 82 Parachute retarded Bomb) 

Or, for us Brits, because we are so polite.......Bang tube , awfully loud and inconsiderate, vertically dropped, with regards from your friendly British neighbourhood awfully jolly good chaps, delivered with love, and fluffy pink bunny wunnies. Top hole eh wot wot !! 

Device, Alternatively stable, Horizontally and vertically enabled (  Special ) loud noise and inconveniencing, for the use of. Mark Alternative, and non offending number. With soft and fluffy wrapping, to prevent any untoward damage to the naughty enemy....Ooops sorry, personas of opposing ideas and quite correct acceptable alternative views....Phew !! ahhh fuck it...Bomb, big, huge bang and blood guts and damnation, mark who gives a shit. A1 ( of course, because we got to have an A1 ) 

No not balutes, actual old school Chutes, my good friend Nightshade sent me some, just a few minutes ago, I am sure I had some 750 lb Parachute retarded ones, but I cant for the life of me find the buggers. Also the Weapons packs are so vast , that trawling through them to find one single weapon is .........Well you get the picture.

Does anyone know where I can find any of these, either in the 500Lb/KG or up to 1000Lb/Kg range, I used to have one but I cannot find it anywhere. 

The Cypriot National Guard has T-80U's and T80 UK's 

Gotta love Russian ( originally ) Tanks, they are like Race cars for Squaddies. 

Yes, Decals are very versatile, and they can also cover a lot of mistakes you may have made in the colour scheme, I must say, I never used to be a fan of painted on markings, however,  do tend to use those a lot lately, as they become part of the paint scheme, and you can weather them better that way ( look at my Skyraiders for an example of what I am talking about.

Yes it appeals to my sense of chaos, and I like to see what if scenarios, which are not necessarily aligned with what people think things should be,  because that is what historically happened or is happening in the present. I see no problem with nations having the same kit and then having a dust up, wasn't that what happened in the Football war in S America ? both sides if I remember correctly flew US types of aircraft varying from the F4U Corsair etc. The egyptians flew all sorts of things Soviet, British and Italian, as did a lot of other Arabian Countries, and clashes must have happened where the same types came up against each other. Even the French flew KI  43 Oscars after the war, also some German aircraft as well,  they even had a couple of Panther tanks, so, if one takes that idea and runs with it, boundless choices are open to you.

Here's a Parani HE 51 for you to be going on with

do take a look at the skins I did a while back for Paran and Dhimar aircraft, including a Canadair Sabre, they were early works from myself, so not as good as some of my newer offerings, however they may be a good tool for you to glean some ideas from. I am really miffed that all my library of skins is inaccessible at the moment as I would love to give you a hand with some of the skins. As I said take a look at my back catalogue and see what you can extract ideas wise.

Like I said, I would love to do my Elbonia/Slobogia thing, and base them on Finnish and Swedish, maps with some North Atlantic thrown in for good measure. However, a lot of it is beyond my scope, as I am unable to do any modelling, and I am buggered if I am going to splash out a small fortune on 3DS Max !! 

I look forward to seeing what ideas you do come up with, as I feel that the whole idea of using theoretical nations adds a lot to this sim, as that way we are not bound by recorded or actual history.

Dhimar seems to me to be a more "traditional" and logical set up, akin to Saudi, or Oman for instance, therefore they are really the easiest to equip, as they would certainly have an equipment schedule that would be sensible in a logistical, and cost wise sense. Of course this would depend largely on exactly When, you are kitting them out, in other words what year period. When I started doing Paran/Dhimar stuff a while back, I started both countries from just after the First World War, and then equiped them with the likes of Hanriot HD's and other WWI types that could have possibly been around in the 20's and of course taking into account that the 2 nations were only just emerging, so they wouldn't have a huge amount of Shekels to chuck around. If however you are aiming towards a more modern time frame, say the 1960's on, which in my opinion is actually more interesting than more modern stuff. Then you cauold easily equip both sides with British/French/European aircraft, as in fact this did happen in the Middle and Near East during the 50's through 70's So the likes of Vampires, Meteors etc. could be found on both sides of a "Border Incident" No so much with US aircraft, or rather Fighters and bombers, as the Yanks were careful to only supply "the good guys" with their aerospace equipment. Same goes for the Warpac countries, they would only supply to a sure bet, come into my parlour, client state. The Brits and the French however had a more cavalier attitude. Or so it appears at least.So a situation as we see in Iran, with their use of F14's and F4's continued even after the Islamic Revolution. Thus the Iranians have or had, a mix of Western and Soviet airframes. 

As for the respective Navies, a lot depends on whether they have any sort of carrier capability or not. If not then "Navalised" aircraft are not a requirement, if on the other hand, they do have carriers, then again depending on when you are setting you time period, then really it is British, French and US aircraft on the table ( or Flightdeck) as the Soviets had little naval aircraft available until the Forger appeared, and the Forger was pretty rubbish really, and it wasnt until the 80's really that they had much worth using , then of course you get the mighty and most beaudacious  SU 29's which are awesome beasties indeed. I suppose if you wanted to look out of the box a bit, you could cast your eyes over to the Indians, with their Maruts, and licence built Gnats, also the navalised Jaguar !!  However, these are just ideas I am tossing around, which may get you thinking obliquely. I see no reason not to have British/French/Spanish/ Italian airframes in the Airforce, and also be equipped with Soviet or Pact aircraft, at the same time, as this did happen, as did the use of NATO kit to ex WARPAC countries after the fall of the curtain. Germany is a fine example of this, with Hinds, Fulcrums etc. in service and kept in service well after the re unification...........The main think to take away from my rantings and ramblings, is this, the 2 countries are mythical, so therefore by that premise, one does not have to follow ANY rules at all. Make it bright and different, if you want to have a Mig Squadron flying next to a F86 Squadron, then go for it, it isn't wrong, because the whole story is just that, a story, and it is YOUR story, built how YOU want to build it. I wish I had the ability to do it myself (With Elbonia and Slobogia) however as my hard drive with ALL my stuff on it now refuses to work, I am rather stuffed.