firehawkordy

Perfect Water is visually great, however I got talked into using Vista Oz a couple of years ago, I do most of my flying in Papua New Guinea and various river regions in South America. VOZ changes the river ways to muddy brown-brownish green which looks good at all altitudes. Also changes the vegetation and ground colors. Best part is that you can switch between the 4 VOZ zones and default so anything you added before VOZ will still show like Perfect Water.

Thanks for the comments, one of these days I'll get used to the thank yous and not get flustered.

Last weekend I took my wife and grandson to NAS North Island for the Centennial of Naval Aviation celebrations on Saturday. On Sunday we went to the USS Midway so I could show my love how I used to live and what I actually did in the fleet as an ABF and an AO. Most of the time below decks and in the hangar bay was quiet but once we got onto the roof, I was in my element so to speak. I started showing the family the various birds and pointing out things that made them unique. Showed them mostly the areas I would have worked on either fueling or arming an aircraft for the most part. The funny thing was that when I started showing and explaining to my grandson how we would arm the F-4 or F/A-18 I looked up and noticed that I had drawn a large crowd. It seems that other guests thought I was part of the tour and had started following us around the flight deck, one mother told her kids to be quiet so they could learn something. After some time I was fielding questions about my job as an AO and the roof in general. I found out later that this happens a lot to Navy Vets when they come aboard and start showing their families what they did. I felt a little nervous about the attention we got but to be able to show folks what one did and have the actual airplanes that you would have worked on was an honor. My only problem is when I get thanked for my service, I tend to get embarrassed, I have never gotten used to that.

Thanks for the link,it shows off the heritage birds better than what I could snap. FYI, if anyone cares, the HSC-84 bird is very special to me in many ways, 1 It is painted in our predecessors colors with the names of the Seawolves' KIAs. 2 The painting and re-assembly, along with sleepless nights, was overseen by a Brother Firehawk 3 This particular airframe belonged to HCS-5 at least twice in her career and I have armed her, fixed her, and flown in her during my time as a Firehawk. Seeing Redwolf 202 on the line with Brother Seawolves, Redwovles and Firehawks last weekend with my grandson will be a high point in my life.

Storm, glad you liked the shots, there was a P-3 in the fly by also, however my camera decided that it was going to zoom when it wanted too so I missed a lot of shots. That said if I was f'ing with the camera I would have missed out on telling my grandson about the birds and what was going on in some of the demos. All in all this is going to be a year long celebration so anywhere the Navy has the chance some of the retro birds will be there. I'll put the link to my FB album with everything I shot later. BTW, hope your ORE went off well.

Storm, here's your retro P-3C... VP-6 Was talking to the crew who said that along with the bird's paint job they wear VP-9's old school patch on Friday, or as they said "Retro Friday". As for some Atlantic paints, the SBD that flew over was painted that way. Unfortunately, my camera decided at that time to zoom in when it felt like it so I lost a lot of shots. All that said this was on helluva airshow, the bridge from SD to NAS NI was complete gridlock, fortunately since I'm retired Navy I got in through the gate by the runway. Took the grandson and wife with me and introduced them to some of my old Shipmates. The look on the boys face when I told him the HH-60H that he was looking at and touching was one that I had actually worked on and flew in was priceless. If he didn't want to be in Naval Aviation before I think he is starting to get the bug now.

Oh yeah, Turtlehawk, happy belated birthday, I hope you got a chance to see the celebration.

Just got home from SD here's a couple of pics, one is of HA(L)-3 from which the Navy's CSAR/SPECWAR helo squadrons HAL-4/5 HCS-4/5 and HSC-84 descended from... Seawolf 321 HA(L)-3 Redwolf 202 HSC-84 Also, HSC-85 who will take on HCS-5's mission in the near future provided the helos that the Leap Frogs used in their jumps. The airshow was as awesome as it could get and a lot of retirees felt for a few hours young again. It's amazing that lifers like me put in at least 20 years of our lives in this first hundred. If I could do it over again or go back right now,I'd be there in an New York minute.

This what this country needs, more parents like this man, my hat is off to him. Just in case someone should start a pay pal account for his bail because some bleeding heart out there will want to file abuse charges.

A Civil Air Patrol wanabee irritated me to bestow on him the moniker "Notso",last name was Bright. I won't list any of the pilots that I worked for in the Navy out of respect and fear of reprisals, but here are some of the call signs from the enlisted side: Animal Tree, the kid was 18 and 6'5" Tree2, 6'4" same unit and shop Pork Chop Mongo, dude looked like Mongo from Blazing Saddles Zippy Gilligan, self explanatory Wookie Beerwolf Toothy,Last name was Brush Spuds, from Trainspotting Crash Puppy, fell out of a pickup truck leaving the Club Skivies, last name was Haines Killer Kat, one of our lady AZ's after she fell in love with the Mossberg 500 I wound up with the name Sleaze after one of my LPO's saw me in a different local err, "house" on nearly every DET I went on.

If you want to a good history of the A-7A-P try getting your hands on this book,A-7 Corsair II In Detail and Scale, goes through the changes of each type and has real good "backstage" pics of the various areas on the birds. http://www.amazon.com/-7-Corsair-II-detail-scale/dp/0830685324%3FSubscriptionId%3D1E2MCMDX6VVV67W7T882%26tag%3Dabs-bookdetailsapi-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0830685324 And Prowler was right about the FLIR pod for the A-7, big, heavy and a pain in the nuts to load. The pods on the Hornet were so much nicer to load.

I've used FRAPS and then edited the raw video with Windows Movie Maker so I could lay an audio track with it. Like FUBAR said, once you register it all the upgrades are free.

Nothing bad ever happens when you combine sleep deprivation, heavy equipment and explosives.

This is too true for the helo guys like me...

Happy B-day!

Anyone that is tired of the same boring gray NAVAIR paint jobs should like this. I'll be down in NAS NI to see the HSC-84 and 85 birds sitting with Seawolf 321 next month. I promise to take lots of pics. BTW, did you all miss me?

Thanks for the congrats, I passed them onto my son, now I know how proud my dad was of me when I made AO2. Ezlead, I tell him every week either when he calls me or on his Face Book page that I am proud of him as did my dad when he was alive. ONETINSOLDIER, unfortunately I only had him until he was 8 years old, and he went through hell after his mother and I split. That said he has always told me that what I and his grandfather taught him kept him on the right path. He has always called me dad from the time his mother and I got together and he will always be my son. He may not be a Jones by blood but he's a Jones by willpower and attitude.

As most of everyone here knows I have a son in the Marine Corps, and that I am very obnoxiously proud of him. Today he called me at around 1400 my time to tell me that he has made Sargent (E-5). I cannot find the words to tell him how proud me and the whole family are of him. I can say this, the rest of the day I was telling all my co-workers about him making rank. I am still waiting to see him face to face since the last time I saw him he was just a little boy and I worried constantly, but the man he turned out to be is what I had prayed for. He picks up his stripes on the first of next month, I wish I could fly out to Iwakuni for the ceremony but I'm afraid that won't happen. BRAVO ZULU to him and all the other Marines that advanced, I know how hard it is to make rate in the Corps. Semper Fi.

But it's better to poke fun at those who take themselves to seriously. As may have mentioned I run a virtual airline, or at least my members let me think I run it. In 2004 I got into online flightsimming, first here when it was BioHazard and later at West Coast ATC. Eventually I wound up at FS Top Gun and started a military VA called CAG40. Well after five years of flying military I decided to try something different so I closed CAG40 and started Lagoon Transport Ltd or Less Than Legitimate airlines. It started as joke among friends but the potential for making fun of VA's that have so many rules that they suck the fun out of this hobby was to great to pass up. I have been operating this VA for about a year now and I feel that it's time to share what we made. So if you want a laugh check out my page, it's not complete and it is usually updated after a few few beers and lack of sleep. Some pages go nowhere and some are confusing, but that's life and when the site is perfect then that's about the time to start something new. So go here and remember that drunken monkeys could do a better job, but I'm to cheap to hire drunk monkeys. http://www.freewebs.com/cvw40ops/ And yes I'm too cheap to also get a new web address.

Try here.... http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/forum11-flight-simulator-cfs/ There are some good tutorials fonts and color chips on the site as well. What program do you use to repaint your aircraft? I use Abacus' FS Repaint as an interface and do the actual painting with GIMP and adding artwork and lettering with PaintDot Net. You might want to see if the bird you are trying to skin has a paint kit made for it, that saves a lot of grief. You also may want to go here for info and the DXTBMP program... http://www.btinternet.com/~mnwright/ I can't give any advice to you for FSX as all my work is for FS9 but I hope this helps you out.

Besides Falcon and I and a few others that post in the Sci-Fi board how many others here watch anime or read mangas ? I always wonder because it's a guilty pleasure in my circle of friends. And if you watch or read, what do you watch or read? I'll list some of my stuff, you'll be surprised at it but for all my geekiness I spent 15 out 20 years in the Navy playing with all kinds of destruction. RaXephon Neon Genesis Evangelion Mezzo DSA Gunslinger Girl (I know this irritates Falcon) Both seasons and the OVA Full Metal Panic FMP The Second Raid Solty Rei Desert Punk Innocent Venus Grenadier Eureka 7 Got more but these are the ones that I can sit down and waste an entire weekend with. And you all thought I just spent my spare time threatening my daughters boyfriend

Happy b-day bud, hope you made out like a bandit!