WACO

On behalf of WACO Classic I would like to invite all interested to try their hand at designing the paint scheme for our demo Great Lakes 2T-1A! For info on the WACO Classic Great Lakes 2T-1A project see this: http://www.wacoaircraft.com/great-lakes/ our project blog: http://wacoclassic.blogspot.com/ The demo plane, the first on the production line (S/N 1200) N21GL, will be our show plane and will visit airshows and other fly-ins all across the US. Show us what you got! Contest info http://www.wacoaircraft.com/great-lakes/contest

SayWhatt I am going to be brief 1) Global Security is a legitimate source, at least I was using a world wide accepted source for some data. 2) The DoD and Lockheed Martin have ADMITTED that China has stolen vital data on the F-22 and F-35 that lead to the development of their aircraft systems. 3) I have heard again from legitimate sources that the PLAF was having serviceability problems with their old 3rd gen fighters like those that are copies/developments of the Mig-19 and Mig-21 as well as their bombers based on the Tu-16 and IL-28. I said serviceability meaning how many aircraft they can get in the air (EG into combat). 4) Too many other points I do not have the will to argue over. If you disagree, whatever, have a good evening. Tailwinds, WACO

USN sub inventory: http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/ Chinese sub inventory: http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/china/submar.htm NOTE: This list does not show the large number of heavily obsolete diesel 'Romeo' class subs which were completely outclassed over 15 years ago thus today are not very useful (its like the USAF using B-29s today). 20:1 in favor of the Chinese?! Completely false. Now on to the general criticism that prevails in regards to China's airpower: First let me post some info on their inventory of all aircraft systems: Army Aviation http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/army-avn-equip.htm Air Force http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/plaaf-equip.htm Naval Aviation http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/plan-af-equip.htm USofA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_United_States_military_aircraft#cite_note-USAF_Almanac-4 NOTE: the wiki article is off at times by a lot but I cannot find the 2011 annual military aircraft inventory list yearly published by Aviation Week. The last time I read that article it indicated over 1,000 F-16Cs alone (not 1,000 combined of all versions) and about 30% more USMC Hornets but had no figures on planned procurement. So with those links out there, I draw your attention to how many extremely obsolete aircraft the Chinese have in service. It is rather startling, eventually yes they will be replaced obviously as the planned procurement schedule indicates. If you look at their aircraft that are equal to the F-15 and F-16, the Chinese are heavily outnumbered. I have also read that the serviceability of these old Chinese birds is rather bad, so a decent percentage of them are not serviceable. 1) The Chinese numerical advantage is really only in rifle men and non existent in most fields and slim in a few. 2) The aircraft and systems they do have borrows heavily from foreign designs. Even the J-20 and J-31 borrow HEAVILY from stolen info on the F-22 and F-35 (according to Aviation Week) as the DoD and Lockheed Martin have been repeatedly hacked. With the tech state of China cleared up, I should also note that this carrier uses a ski-jump which means the big and burly Flanker cannot take off fully loaded unlike US carriers. But consider how much experience the USN has developed over decades of intense and regular carrier flight operations and still today the danger level for USN/USMC carrier pilots is very high in adverse weather & or night ops. Our training curriculum has decades of experience to train new pilots. But also consider the amount of knowledge and experience that even LSOs have and deck hands have in carrier flight ops. The Chinese have a very long way to go before they can safely operate in all of the conditions the USN regularly operates aircraft in. Yes eventually China will reach a level of adverse and night capability, however I highly doubt it will reach the level of the USN/USMC carrier squadrons today...although the massive defense spending cuts heading are way will lower our future capabilities. In short, the US carrier force is where it is today through decades of flight ops and many combat operations/wars along the way picking up the knowledge through a large amount of incidents on/around the boat. I just honestly hope the Chinese get the hang of carrier flight ops without losing too many sailors and pilots. Tailwinds, WACO

Well sooner or later it was going to happen. I am not convinced they will operate at the same level of USN carriers. Launching fighters in calm seas in the day is one thing...but launching and recovering them in the dead of night in pitching seas is another and I bet the USN will remain the only Navy to operate its aircraft regularly in adverse weather.

IL-2 and UP. Best WW2 sim ever.

http://www.keepfififlying.org/ "Keep 'em Flying!"

Happy birthday Marines! Keep kicking ass!

Unless all you know of the candidates and proposals is what is said on TV and memes....then do the US a favor and stay home.

Good grief. Starting to remind me of all the mergers in the aviation industry...

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x1225370836/Body-of-Marine-Sgt-Daniel-Price-arrives-in-Holland This happened over the summer but I was unaware of this topic in the forums until now. I did not know him or his family. But what I do know is he served with distinction. A Marine and a husband. The annoying Westboro Baptist nimrods TRIED soiling the funeral of Gunnery Sgt. Price. Thankfully our entire town turned out to honor him.

http://www.inquisitr.com/380085/live-sandy-coverage-tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier-remains-guarded-under-fierce-hurricane-winds/ Apparently no storm can stop the 3rd Infantry Division of the US Army from manning their vigil at the 'Tomb of the Unkown Soldier".

I am in the Aeronautical Engineering program at WMU (am a senior). Currently am an assistant engineer/ engineer intern at WACO Classic working on the Great Lakes project. Keep an eye out over there, the Great Lakes will soon be in production! ;) By the way, one day I looked over at Duncan from our observation deck and saw a Beech Starship over there. I was a little jealous!

Wait....Fates, do you work there? I happened to work there over this past summer. Classes started up again so I have not been able to work much this semester though.

Good ol Michigan. I see you are from Battle Creek, there is a very unique aircraft manufacturer at the airport there ;) http://www.wacoaircraft.com/

After the horrid debacle known as MS Flight I am hoping another sim will come on to the scene. Yes there is X-Plane, tried it, hated it for a great many reasons. Fingers crossed this is just the start of something greater!

Play it a lot, just joined the 14th AD clan. Profile: http://worldoftanks....022564-wahubna/ Current tanks: French: B1 Soviet: KV-1S KV-3 German: Vk3601H VK3002DB Jagdpanther (hello 105!) American: Super Pershing M4 just sold T20 T-29 Currently saving credits for the King Tiger, M26 Pershing, IS, Su-85, and the M-18 Hellcat Personally I love the game. The latest updates have greatly improved the game. Tier spreads in battles have been greatly narrowed down, physics implemented (a lot of fun), revised visuals, new sounds (holy crap the BL-10 sounds mean), and new maps and battle modes. I do not know the last time you folks have played it, but the latest version 8.0, is fantastic. With the up coming 8.1 update the British will be added. So now its American, Soviet, German, French, and soon British plus many additions to the American, Soviet, and German lines..(M18 Hellcat anyone?). Yes the controls are simple/arcade like. But if you like tanks, give it a try. With the latest addition of physics it has changed the gameplay especially at higher tiers with the big boys...by the way, pushing someone off a cliff or landing on top of a tank is a lot of fun ;) FYI if you have not made it up to at least Tier 6 you have no idea what this game is like. Well I would like to say tier 8 but having gone down several branches I know that can take a while. If you are on the NA server, look me up: username wahubna I'll platoon with you.

Guided weapons?! What are those?! LOL If you want to build your capabilities, like others have said, start in the earliest campaign you can and work up to the fancy guided weapons. #1, install NATO Fighters 5+. Then do an F-86 campaign, its fairly easy, gets you used to having to plan things out more carefully..then try the F-100 campaigns...now those are a challenge! Finally, a F-4 campaign. All of these will really hone your skills and give a lot of respect for the fancy guided weapons.

"good morning sgt major!" Plumbley-"how do you know what kind of God D--n day it is?" *later on* "beautiful morning sgt major" Plumbley- "what are you the f-ing weather man now?!" Pure classic! RIP CSM.

Okay, so it is 'arrival time'. Thank you folks! Im curious how a campaign will go with almost no replacements, should be pretty darn fast don't you think!

Very valid...but the SF2 series is rather open so maybe TK's thought was to let the community tweak it as they wish...

^^^ We will make sure he drops the soap too... LOL

Correct me if I am wrong, but the Poles took on the ex-Luftwaffe Mig-29s correct? Either way I read something in Aviation Week a while back about how their Migs have acquired some nice upgrades (avionics and weapon system wise). I believe they are SNIPER equipped now too.

Yes in deed. That is why I laugh when people think what we do is easy. Speaking of which, over the summer I was working on re-drawing the Great Lakes' seats, turns out if you follow the dimensions on the drawing the seat comes out wrong! So I had to spend a painfully large amount of time measuring an actual seat from a vintage one, measure the dies and templates for the parts, and fudging the seat model to make it work....OH, one more thing, the seat I measured did not match the templates and dies or drawing and the dies/templates did not match the drawing...nothing matched anything lol, but my re-drawn seats fit beautifully together even though I had to pull the dimensions out of a dark place. In short, dear Lord yes it is a difficult process! But rewarding. Checkout our progress here: http://wacoclassic.blogspot.com/

I believe it did, but the bigger points with the Arrow resurrection is how much time has passed and that so much of the Arrow program was destroyed.

I spend my work days trying to resurrect the Great Lakes 2T-1A-2 Aerobatic Biplane at WACO Classic...we previously brought the WACO YMF-5 back into production....I can tell you this beyond a shadow of doubt, bring a vintage design back into production even with most of the original tooling and drawings can be a monumental task and we just build 2 seat single engine biplanes! So bring the CF-105 back into production with all of its tooling and drawings gone and given the complexity means it would be decades of work to come up with a plane with 60 yr old design problems like materials, avionics/weapons growth, engines, hydraulics, etc. not to mention the low-observability issue. In short, no one should have taken this idea seriously and no one SHOULD.