MigBuster

Glad to hear from you FireHawk - and extra glad you have managed to fight off some major life issues! About time for a bit of gaming fun at last

One for Hornet fans from Farcebook: https://www.facebook.com/puolustus/videos/o.408372249355283/867334813338844/?type=2&theater

RIP to the pilots - very sad :(

I have Art plates done for the skins but cant post them for copyright reasons The 1968 detachment had no tail codes - just a small USAF with the BU number underneath in black The 428/429/430 were "NA" codes (white) in 1972 till 1973 when they became 347 TFW jets and were recoded "HG". Haven't found NC so far

Have fished this from F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat (2014) 17 Mar 1968 - 19 Nov 1968 Combat Lancer at Takhli RTAFB 6 x F-111As 428TFS / 474TFW ------------------------------------ Constant Guard V from Sept 1972 (inc Linebacker II) at Takhli RTAFB F-111A 428TFS / 474TFW 429TFS / 474TFW 430TFS / 474TFW In March 1973 428TFS took the 430TFS jets and all became the 347TFW which moved to Korat in July 1974 and left SEA finally on 30 June 1975

A student driver blindly pulled out in front of a column of British armor that was cruising along a hardened road in the Lippe district of Germany yesterday. A collision ensued and yes, you guessed it, the one ton Toyota Yaris lost the fight to the 60+ ton Battle Tank in a big way. from http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/tank-teaches-student-driver-in-yaris-a-valuable-driving-1708396324

Check out the KC-130 cockpit!

USS Ross in the Black Sea: May 30, 2015

Decals.ini for the skin look for [Decal007] MeshName=splitter_plate_left ............. FilenameFormat=kill <------------ remove

Quite a selection http://fightersweep.com/2286/photo-gallery-boeing-f-15e-strike-eagle/

First modernized AF-1B jet fighter delivered to the Brazilian Navy ​Gavião Peixoto, Brazil, May 26, 2015 – Embraer Defense & Security held the delivery ceremony, today, of the first modernized AF-1 (AF-1B) fighter jet to the Brazilian Navy at its industrial plant in Gavião Peixoto, in outstate São Paulo. The ceremony was attended by the Navy Commander, Fleet Admiral Eduardo Bacellar Leal Ferreira, and officers of the High Command of the Brazilian Navy. The AF-1 program (the name given by the Navy to the McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk) provides for the revitalization and modernization of 12 subsonic jets – nine AF-1 single-seaters and three AF-1A two-seaters. The AF-1 is an intercept and attack airplane operating from an aircraft carrier to provide air defense for the fleet. These modernized Navy jets received new navigation, weapons, power, tactical communications and sensor systems, plus computers and multimode state-of-the art radar. This equipment, along with the structural work that was performed, will make it possible for these jet fighters to continue operating until 2025. Embraer’s modernization program also includes supplying briefing and debriefing stations that are already being used for the training and proficiency of pilots of the VF-1 Falcão Squadron, in order to improve their use, to reduce costs, and to bring greater effectiveness to mission planning and execution. “For the Brazilian Navy, the modernization of the AF-1 aircraft at Embraer is another important step in capacitating base of Brazil’s defense industry, and the results achieved will allow Naval Aviation to operate an aircraft with state-of-the-art sensors and equipment, representing a large forward leap in the Navy’s capacity,” said Fleet Admiral Eduardo Bacellar Leal Ferreira, Navy Commander. “This is the first contract for systems integration that we have signed with the Brazilian Navy and, therefore, is a landmark in our relations,” said Jackson Schneider, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “The modernization of the AF-1 was a significant technological challenge, since it is a platform that we did not develop. Nevertheless, with the support and competence of the staff of the Brazilian Navy, we were able to deliver a solution that fully meets the operational needs of our client in demonstration of our commitment to the Navy’s projects.” http://www.embraer.com/en-US/ImprensaEventos/Press-releases/noticias/Pages/Embraer-Defesa-e-Seguranca-entrega-primeiro-caca-AF1B-modernizado-para-a-Marinha-do-Brasil.aspx

So sorry to hear Dante - that's a terrible loss for his relatives, you and the entire flight sim community. May he rest in peace now.

The SA-10 (S-300PT) system was in service from around 1978 and the Soviets could have had up to 100 * SA-10 sites of different versions by 1990. The last new SA-2 was the S-75M4 - accepted into service 1978 (and others were brought up to this standard apparently). The Iraqis used the S-75M2 (SA-2F) - originally a 1968 system in the 1980s v Iran.

The dramatic story of a US Navy Tomcat RIO, POW during Operation Desert Storm. In the early morning of Jan. 21, 1991, the F-14B (BuNo 161430, at the time designated F-14A Plus) from the VF-103 “Sluggers,” callsign “Slate 46”, flown by Lt. Devon Jones and RIO Lt. Lawrence Slade, was hit by an Iraqi SA-2 Surface to Air Missile. The crew was forced to eject due to the violent flat spin which followed the SAM explosion. During the descent, the two men saw each other for the last time before entering the clouds and once they put their boots on the ground their fate was quite different. In fact, while Lt. Jones was saved with a spectacular Combat SAR mission, Lt. Slade tried to go as far as he could from the Tomcat crash site, walking for about 2 ½ hours in the desert using his radio every hour without receiving any reply. Then, while Slade tried to hide himself near a little knoll, the Iraqis found him. “At about 1030, a white Datsun pickup truck came around the knoll,” Slade says in the book Gulf Air War Debrief. “It was probably bad luck because I don’t think they were looking for me; they were just driving by. Two men stopped and got out. One had a 12-gauge shot gun, the other, an AK-47. […] They approached me, but it never crossed my mind to pull out my pistol. I was obviously had. They made me strip off all my gear.” The two men were very polite and after they put Slade between them in the pickup, took him in their tent where they fed him. Then, after the lunch, they put him again in the pickup and they asked him if he wanted to go to either Saudi Arabia or Baghdad. Of course, he told them Saudi Arabia, choosing the most northern town he could recall. Slade knew that if the trip took three hours, it would have been Baghdad; eight, Saudi Arabia. Sure enough, 3 ½ hours later they pulled into an army camp, and he knew it wasn’t Saudi Arabia. For the rest of the day Slade was shuttled to six different camps, blindfolded and handcuffed. Nevertheless he was for sure a subject of interest, since people came out to see him, take pictures of him and poke at his gear. They’d pick on him, kick him, and if they spoke English they’d say things like “You kill our children.” Slade spent the following three days in Baghdad where he experienced very harsh interrogations, then he was transferred in the first of several prisons where he spent his POW (Prisoner Of War) experience. As he recalls: “In retrospect, I was shot down on the fourth day of the war and they had already had a few prisoners: a couple of Tornado crews, an A-6 crew and a Marine OV-10 crew. ” Lieutenant Slade and his fellow POWs changed different prisons in Baghdad where they also experienced several allied bombs raids, the most intense of which was the one that took place on Feb. 23, when 2,000-lb bombs almost completely destroyed their jail. But for sure the most impressive experience faced by Slade were the interrogations by Iraqi jailers. He had a total of six interrogations, some of what they called soft-sell, where they just asked him questions. Then there were the hard-sells, where they pounded on him. For the most part, they didn’t use any classic torture methods. They just beat him up, tied his hands behind his back and double-blindfolded him to the point where he couldn’t even blink. They beat allied prisoners even when they answered their questions. Slade, as well as the other POWs answered to the questions just to make beatings stop “even though the answers were complete garbage. Some I didn’t know the answer to, and I’d tell them, then I’d make up something. I could hear them writing it down. I thought, ‘You idiots!’ […] Some time toward the end of February, they banged me up against the wall and broke my seventh vertebra.” During these interrogations Slade was blindfolded and never saw his interrogators, probably so that he could not identify them later, or perhaps because the Iraqis understood how terrifying it is to be blind in the hands of a torturer. Lt. Slade endured interrogation, torture and starvation in the Iraqi hands for 43 days: even if his six weeks as a POW were not anywhere as long as six years in North Vietnamese prisons, to Lawrence Slade every week must have seemed like a year. http://theaviationist.com/2015/05/25/the-story-of-an-f-14-tomcat-rio-who-became-prisoner-of-war-during-the-first-gulf-war/

Have had that book a few years - very technical and detailed - includes all the prototype models and details on design - like his other stuff. There is a bit of stuff on operational use - not that they saw much (has a transcript of the Su-15 airliner shootdown).

http://fightersweep.com/2330/first-f-35a-lightning-ii-class-begins/ A milestone was reached for the 61st Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base this past week. The first F-35A Lightning II class has begun, ushering in a new era at the installation tagged to become the F-35’s main training base for both foreign and domestic pilots.

Just some formation flying from Lithuania.

Janes analysis on Iranian combat jet development: http://www.janes.com/article/51515/iranian-combat-aircraft-programmes-bona-fide-or-bluff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3njDrUtT8k

You can modify HUDDATA.ini also (goes in flight) example HUDDATA.zip Read the text here for map options http://combatace.com/files/file/8446-remove-the-red-planes-from-the-in-flight-map/

Not seen this myself - even the laser guided robots sound impressive. 3 days to paint the thing! - imagine that in the BoB

Thanks again Dante for the update. and heartfelt best wishes to your colleague in his battle with Cancer.

http://feelreal.com/