Silberpfeil

See link below for interesting story from Popular Mechanics: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a23066191/b-52-bombers-fly-until-the-2050s/?src=nl&mag=rdt&list=nl_rdt_news&date=091118

Nice screenshots and thank you for those, gterl! Von S - Thanks for all your work also, and I read your note on the AI (always one of my areas of interest!) and was curious about the CL.IV's rear gunner. Has this WIP FM been tweaked to further improve the AI defensive fire rates and accuracy?

Good one!

Good catch, Crawford!

Great historical photo (almost looks Photoshopped!), Crawford - never saw that one! Any idea where it was originally taken? And I've been remiss to not add my appreciation to Stephen1918 for his model of this interesting aircraft. Thank you!

Really interesting stuff, Geezer! Well done! Awhile back you released some new models as samples to whet the appetite - are there any updated ones available for currency checkrides by FE2 enthusiasts?

Very interesting and your adherence to historical specification is commendable, VonS! Kudos to Geezer for his superb model re-design capabilities, as well! I'm sure I speak for the community when I express my appreciation and thanks for your hard work and diligence in improving FE2 to the best flight simulator it can be! In the text above you mention an upcoming Version 9.5 of your FM updates - is there an ETA for it being released?

Roger that!

Best wishes from U.S. Coast Guard Aviation, 102 years young this year!

IIRC, all twelve "Secretary" class cutters had CWIS installed about 25 years ago under the FRAM program, but only CGC Mellon (WHEC717) had RGM-84 Harpoons. For ASW capability, hull-mount AN/SQS-38 with AN/SQS-17 receiver to work with LAMPS III and Mark 46 torpedo tubes were added. For air and surface search, the AN/SPS-40E and AN/SPS-78 with AN/WLR-1H Electronic Support Surveillance Equipment suites were installed. Just forward of the Jayhawk is a "telescoping" hangar that was also not part of the mid-1960's configuration. Except for "sea-whiz" (now a more modern Mk. 15 Phalanx), the Harpoon and aerial torpedo systems have been removed as they were determined to be mission-duplicative with its Navy counterparts.

Nice! A beautiful 50-year-old "Secretary class" 378' WHEC - still sporting her original 5-inch/38 as main defensive armament! Her gas turbines were supposed to be able to push her along at 30 knots but she would be hard-pressed to get her pit log to show anything in excess of 28 knots. Nowadays her white paint and red-and-blue bow stripe are gone as she is now operated by the Philippine Navy in a sea-gray livery. Still out there pounding the Pacific waves, however! Here's how one of her sister ships looks coming in over the stern as an HH-52A pilot mistakes CGC Morgenthau for an aircraft carrier!

Nice, Geezer! Unfortunately, Bruno doesn't look quite right unless his plane is on fire! And I support your observation on VonS' varied improvements and tweaks to the simulation's .ini files - I've only been picking and choosing among them for installation into my FE2 installs, but have still been very pleased with the outcomes...

Stunning - reminds me of flying in British Columbia and Alaska! What kind of computing power is a user going to need to run scenery like that and keep the framerates up?

Roger that - Happy 242nd Leathernecks! Looking forward to 242 more!

O.K., I got your message - Real Life™ has me out here in Ohio with a bunch of less-than-desirable weather blocking my way back to Hampton Roads. I'll see if I can rustle up some face shots of the Blaine Rawlings character after I get back in tomorrow late afternoon/early evening. Trailing per your request, Geezer - all are of James Franco as he appeared in "Flyboys":

O.K., I got your message - Real Life™ has me out here in Ohio with a bunch of less-than-desirable weather blocking my way back to Hampton Roads. I'll see if I can rustle up some face shots of the Blaine Rawlings character after I get back in tomorrow late afternoon/early evening.

Good job, VonS! Your hard work is appreciated!

So, with a Nieuport 17 in the hopper, what's the chances of seeing a celebrity pilot for the Aéronautique Militaire? Perhaps this guy?

All of those defensive postures help the cause, and AV is an absolute necessity - you need to keep your protection current. But also important is to be sure your backup and restoration media are loaded with recent versions of your data and not routinely connected to your machine(s). And when the inevitable (either from a mechanical hardware failure of a drive, or a software issue/problem from a bona fide provider, or the malicious hack of your system by some outsider) happens, I can speak from personal experience that a comprehensive system image folder has saved my a$$ on a couple of occasions over the past five years...

From "Short Final" of this morning's AvWeb e-zine - rang a faint bell for me (CG 6043 is a Sikorsky MH-60T out of CGAS Sitka): The fall at Juneau Airport, where I’m a controller, generally sees pretty gross days, rain and lots of wind. One day we had six miles of visibility and winds of more than 25 knots and gusts more than 30. I was working a Coast Guard helicopter out and it occurred to me that I never really see those guys when the weather was nice. I figured I'd ask why: Tower: CG 6043 frequency change approved, you guys have time for a question? CG pilot: Frequency change approved and go ahead... Tower: You guys ever fly in nice weather? CG pilot: No. Jeremy Horton

Will this historically significant skin be in the D.III collection?

Be interested to try your revised flight model out, Von S - thank you! Note that using the G4 as a dive bomber is about the only way I can put ordnance anywhere close to on target unless I'm mostly lucky with my release point. I pull the power way back and use the props as speed brakes to better manage the aircraft's diving velocity...at least that's the way it generally works...