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View File [Fictional] Lockheed F-104H Starfighter for SF2 Lockheed F-104H Starfighter for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 This is a simple mod of the stock F-104G to create a fictional F-104H in service with Air/Aerospace Defense Command in the 1966-1986 timeline. Markings are provided for the following squadrons; 111st Fighter Interceptor Squadron (Texas Air National Guard) 178th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (North Dakota Air National Guard) 186th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (Montana Air National Guard) 318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (a regular USAF unit attached to the 25th Air Division) BACKSTORY On March 15th 1963, two Soviet bombers overflew Alaska and despite a desperate chase the F-102A's of Alaskan Air Command were unable to intercept them. The immediate response to this embarrassing intrusion was to deploy ten F-106A's drawn from various Air Defense Command Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons to Alaska and to recall the remaining F-104A's that had previously been transferred to the Air National Guard back in 1960. Despite the excellence of the F-106A it did come with a pretty hefty price tag (and was actually out of production) and Air Defense Command realised that in order to replace the earlier F-101's and F-102's a cheaper alternative was required. With Lockheed's multi-role F-104G Starfighter in a high-rate of production the relatively low unit cost attracted the attention of the US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara who authorised production of the F-104H a dedicated interceptor version based on the F-104G and an initial order for 200 was made. The F-104H was powered by the uprated General Electric J79-GE-10 engine rated at 11,905 lbf dry thrust and 17,844 lbf thrust with afterburner although initial deliveries were powered by the earlier J79-GE-8B. The F-104H incorporated the advanced Litton LN-3 inertial navigation system and also featured the Autonetics NASARR F-15J-50 radar and fire control system optimised for the air-to-air mode with all ground-mapping, contour-mapping and terrain-avoidance modes deleted. After some debate, the M61 20mm cannon was retained but the main armament for the F-104H was the AIM-7 Sparrow semi-active homing missile, the AIM-9 Sidewinder infra-red heat-seeking missile and the AIR-2 Genie unguided air-to-air rocket with a 1.5 kt nuclear warhead. Entering service in April 1965 the F-104H eventually served with nine squadrons. Whilst the USAF's F-104A's and F-104C's had suffered the highest accident rate of any of the USAF Century Series fighters (25.2 aircraft destroyed per 100,000 flight hours) the F-104H's fared much better and were second only to the Spanish Air Force who actually achieved the perfect safety record of losing none of 21 F-104's over a total of 17,500 flight hours. The F-104H was gradually withdrawn from Aerospace Defense Command service from the late 1970's onwards although two Air National Guard units soldiered on until 1986 when the type was finally retired. INSTRUCTIONS 1. From the AIRCRAFT folder drag and drop the F-104H folder into your Aircraft folder. 2. From the DECALS folder drag and drop the F-104H folder into your Decals folder. That's it! CREDITS As always, thanks to Third Wire for a great little game/sim. Thanks to bobrock for the excellent F-104G template. And, finally, thanks to everyone in the wider Third Wire community. Regards Spinners Version 1 - December 30th, 2023 Submitter Spinners Submitted 12/30/2023 Category What If Hangar  

Hi! I'm trying to start building addon campaigns for eburger68's amazing SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion mod. I'm trying to start by making a "red" version of the Easter Offensive campaign called "Red Fiery Summer", where the player is a VPAF pilot in an alternate Easter Offensive where the PAVN/NLF ground forces had air support. The missions would be more varied than the ones in eburger68's own VPAF addon, with strike, recon, and CAS missions in addition to CAP and Intercept. If anyone can help me get it set up and working, or at least teach me how to do it, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Attached below are my files for the campaign as they currently exist Fer_RedFierySummer.INI Fer_RedFierySummer_DATA.INI Fer_RedFierySummerEnd.TXT Fer_RedFierySummerSTART.TXT Fer_RedFierySummerSTART1.TXT

Fans of ThirdWire's Strike Fighters, I'm glad to announce the Christmas release of Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition. This huge and quality total conversion has seen two Early Access releases this year, one back in January 16th and the other on August 2nd. Once available to site subscribers only, now we offer an updated version of the package to all CombatACE users as our Christmas gift, regardless of a subscription. There have been usual bug fixes and important improvements since the last release. Make sure to read the change log and all the details in the mod's download page once it's approved. You are not required to own a subscription, but keep in mind that the mod is distributed in a hefty, yet highly compressed 3GB installer which contains 15GB of contents. You will need a stable internet connection in order to download it. The mod cannot and will not be offered in a different form. A subscription grants you unlimited number of downloads for its duration and will support the site's hosting costs. The Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition modification does NOT comply with CombatACE's Freeware Licensing. Various contents of this modification are exclusive, as such you are NOT allowed to share, redistribute and/or make use of the mod and/or its contents for other purposes, without the consent of the mod's developers. Contents of the modification are the copyright of their respective authors. My personal thanks to the ODS 30AE Development Team, you guys keep inspiring me with your great works and continuous support! And special thanks to @Erik and to all admins and moderators of this great place that is CombatACE. Happy Holidays, pilots of the virtual skies!

Enjoy : https://sandrermakoff.livejournal.com/641744.html

Good morning everyone! I have been looking for information on how to install Jane's USAF big mod package known as Super Pro 9.4 for Windows 10. I have successfully set up Jane's USAF and have it running on Windows 10 with Tcklbrry patch. I have been spending a long time trying to get Super Pro 9.4 working. The links for a fully upgraded Super Pro 9.4 are also unavailable. Many of the websites related to Jane's USAF and Super Pro 9.4 ar also not avaiable anymore. If any of you have the information or the knowledge on how to set up Super Pro 9.4 or have the links to the fully upgraded Super Pro 9.4, please let me know. Thank you very much! Kind regards, Eagle114th

View File Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition Welcome To Duty Built with the extraordinary expertise and dedication of modders from CombatACE.com, Operation Desert Storm – 30th Anniversary Edition promises to be the most complete total conversion ever made for Strike Fighters 2 by ThirdWire. Fly with more than 50 aircraft ranging from Cold War relics to the most advanced platforms. Gain air superiority in the mighty F-15C Eagle or challenge the Coalition with the agile Fulcrum. Support troops with the A-10A Thunderbolt II, bomb strategic targets with the stealthy F-117A Nighthawk, lead airfield denial operations in the iconic Tornado. Enjoy a beautifully rendered scenario on a scaled and accurate terrain. Fly over the lakes and rivers of Mesopotamia, the oil-rich fields of Kuwait, the mountains of Iran and Turkey. Take-off from aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf to watch over Kuwaiti oil rigs. Perform landings and patrols in more than 90 airports and air bases in the Middle East. Take part in different campaigns including the Iraqi blitzkrieg on Kuwait and the US-led liberation of the Kuwaiti Emirate. Discover how the Iraqi Army was one of the biggest in the world, through the eyes of American, British, Canadian, French, Italian and Arab pilots. Test your skills and abilities flying for the Iraqi Air Force during all stages of the conflict. Thirty years after, Operation Desert Storm still remains the largest air operation of modern warfare to date. Modders and flight sim enthusiasts at CombatACE teamed up to bring you a unique product in the lite flight sim world. Exquisitely detailed aircraft and paint schemes are delivered in a well-researched and thorough order of battle. The ODS 30th AE Development team would like to thank CombatACE.com, its admins, moderators and contributors. We are sure you will enjoy and appreciate this high-quality freeware product. From the aviation enthusiasts, to the aviation enthusiasts... and for the pilots of tomorrow. Minimum Requirements Required products from ThirdWire: Strike Fighters 2, July 2013 patch Strike Fighters 2: Israel, July 2013 patch Strike Fighters 2: North Atlantic, July 2013 patch Full support for: Mission Editor DLC Campaign Customizer DLC System specs: OS: Windows 7 x86 Processor: Dual Core 2.7 GHz Memory: 4.0 GB RAM Hard Drive: 17.0 GB Free Space Video Card: 1024 MB DirectX 10 Sneak Peek Disclaimer CombatACE.com shall at all times retain ownership of the Software as originally downloaded by you and all subsequent downloads of the Software by you. The Software (and the copyright, and other intellectual property rights of whatever nature in the Software, including any modifications made thereto) are and shall remain the property of CombatACE.com and of the respective developers/modders. In no event, unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, shall CombatACE.com, or any person be liable for any loss, expense or damage, of any type or nature arising out of the use of, or inability to use this installer or program, including, but not limited to, claims, suits or causes of action involving alleged infringement of copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or unfair competition. The Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition modification does NOT comply with CombatACE's Freeware Licensing. Various contents of this modification are exclusive, as such you are NOT allowed to share, redistribute and/or make use of the mod and/or its contents for other purposes, without the consent of the mod's developers. Contents of the modification are the copyright of their respective authors. Notes about the installer Beware, the mod is available only in the ISO format. You can either mount it on a virtual drive, burn it on a DVD like in the good old days, or unzip it with 7-Zip or equivalent software. The installer will automatically detect your installation of the required Strike Fighters 2 games by reading through the registry keys. Game folders that are copied from or manually moved from where they were originally installed are not supported. You need all three aforementioned Strike Fighters 2 games and they must be installed with ThirdWire's original installers, not manually copied from other sources nor moved elsewhere after installation to other folders or drives. If you do not meet any of these requirements, installation cannot proceed and you are on your own. If you install all required games properly, the installation of the mod will proceed correctly as intended. The installer then lets you choose where to install the mod folder; you can even install the mod on a different drive or partition than the one where Strike Fighters 2 is installed. No further user input nor manual edits after installation are ever required; the installer takes care of creating all proper links to your desired path for the mod folder. After installation is over, simply run the mod by using the created Desktop and/or Start Menu links. If you have a previous version of the mod installed, please use the uninstaller to remove it completely. Clean installation is mandatory. You might want to make a backup of the Controls folder, so that you can easily restore your controller settings afterwards. Suggestions on common issues Make sure that you are using your dedicated GPU. By default, Strike Fighters 2 usually selects the integrated GPU you may have on your CPU, which is much weaker in terms of VRAM. In case you have frequent crashes or black/missing textures, I highly suggest you download and install the DXVK graphics wrapper (x86 DLLs) into your Strike Fighters 2 game folder: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk. You need a Vulkan-compatible GPU. The wrapper can greatly improve the experience with the mod. With DXVK I can play the mod on a mere Intel UHD 710, whereas without it the mod would always crash to desktop. Go to Sound and set Sound Channels to 32. We got reports that 16 is not enough and will cause crashes on some systems, due to the higher quality sounds included within the mod. The mod is pretty heavy for the game engine despite huge optimizations. Strike Fighters 2's engine is 32bit only and apparently does not manage VRAM properly; consecutive campaign missions might show black/missing textures on objects or cause crashes to desktop because the game does not release the occupied VRAM from the previous mission you played, thus the more missions are loaded consecutively, the more easily you may run out of memory. Set Ground Objects to Medium or Low, Horizon Distance to Near, and Shadows to Medium or Low. These are the most troubling settings. Avoid Unlimited settings as much as possible. If the mod used to work and suddenly crashes to desktop, updating or reinstalling video drivers should help. Make sure that DirectX June 2010 Redistributables are also installed, they are included inside the ISO disk image of the mod. Inside the mod folder, you'll find some extra text files. "(Coalition Order of Battle)" should be of your interest; the mod's terrain covers the entirety of Iraq, at the cost of not having all of Saudi Arabia; this means that a number of important units are based on airbases that are beyond the in-game playable area. With those units you always spawn near the target area, you'll never get to start from a runway nor to land on the assigned runway beyond the invisible wall. You have an entire list of the affected units in the aforementioned text file. By pressing ALT+N, the plane returns to base automatically. The mod is fully compatible with the Campaign Customizer and Mission Editor DLCs by ThirdWire. The Campaign Customizer might be an alternative way to experience those off map units I mentioned previously, since it assigns you to a random airbase of the in-game flyable area. Escort missions are often broken, this is not an issue of the mod, but a bug of the stock game; sometimes the AI flight you escort does not engage its target and keeps flying in a straight line instead of following waypoints, thus the trigger for mission success will never happen. Abandon the mission or retry it if the issue happens, sometimes it works. Pray for ThirdWire AKA Tsuyoshi Kawahito to work on a 64bit version of Strike Fighters 2, maybe even with support for DirectX 12. With that done, any out of memory issues should become an old memory. Submitter Menrva Submitted 01/16/2021 Category User Made Campaigns

Welcome To Duty Built with the extraordinary expertise and dedication of modders from CombatACE.com, Operation Desert Storm – 30th Anniversary Edition promises to be the most complete total conversion ever made for Strike Fighters 2 by ThirdWire. Fly with more than 50 aircraft ranging from Cold War relics to the most advanced platforms. Gain air superiority in the mighty F-15C Eagle or challenge the Coalition with the agile Fulcrum. Support troops with the A-10A Thunderbolt II, bomb strategic targets with the stealthy F-117A Nighthawk, lead airfield denial operations in the iconic Tornado. Enjoy a beautifully rendered scenario on a scaled and accurate terrain. Fly over the lakes and rivers of Mesopotamia, the oil-rich fields of Kuwait, the mountains of Iran and Turkey. Take-off from aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf to watch over Kuwaiti oil rigs. Perform landings and patrols in more than 90 airports and air bases in the Middle East. Take part in different campaigns including the Iraqi blitzkrieg on Kuwait and the US-led liberation of the Kuwaiti Emirate. Discover how the Iraqi Army was one of the biggest in the world, through the eyes of American, British, Canadian, French, Italian and Arab pilots. Test your skills and abilities flying for the Iraqi Air Force during all stages of the conflict. Thirty years after, Operation Desert Storm still remains the largest air operation of modern warfare to date. Modders and flight sim enthusiasts at CombatACE teamed up to bring you a unique product in the lite flight sim world. Exquisitely detailed aircraft and paint schemes are delivered in a well-researched and thorough order of battle. The ODS 30th AE Development team would like to thank CombatACE.com, its admins, moderators and contributors. We are sure you will enjoy and appreciate this high-quality freeware product. From the aviation enthusiasts, to the aviation enthusiasts... and for the pilots of tomorrow. Minimum Requirements Required products from ThirdWire: Strike Fighters 2 Strike Fighters 2: Israel Strike Fighters 2: North Atlantic Full support for: Mission Editor DLC Campaign Customizer DLC System specs: OS: Windows 7 x86 Processor: Dual Core 2.7 GHz Memory: 4.0 GB RAM Hard Drive: 17.0 GB Free Space Video Card: 1024 MB DirectX 10 Sneak Peek A Note from Menrva I started this project back in May of 2020. When I invited some of the most renowned modders to contribute to it, I would have never expected such an amazing support from many of them. After roughly 8 months of development, we have produced a high-quality total conversion for Strike Fighters 2, all for free. Driven by passion and teamwork, we managed to achieve new heights and set new standards; this modification is most likely the most complete ever anthology of the Gulf War in any flight sim to date. 2020 has been a difficult year for so many all over the world due to an unprecedented pandemic. It has been a very difficult year for me as well, unrelated to the pandemic. I am extremely proud of what I started, but without the support of the team I managed to form, I would have never accomplished this amazing modding project with success. I want to dedicate this to my beloved girlfriend, Alessandra. With her love and support, I have come to realize my potential and value as a human being. Così adesso lo sai... Download Rights In accordance with the owner and admins of CombatACE.com, the ODS 30th AE Development Team decided to offer the mod in Early Access to all contributors of the site (modders and subscribers alike). Revenue generated by the release in the form of download subscriptions will be used toward the regular monthly operating costs of CombatACE. Modders individually will not be profiting from their work released here. This is our thank you to the community who has supported us throughout the years and to the site for which we are greatly appreciative. A minimum of a 1 month subscription plan is required for download access. Available January 17th, 2021.

https://i-hls.com/archives/98856

From The Drive... and clearly should give @kblomkvist ideas: The Drive: F-35 Aggressor Squadron To Be Activated At Nellis Air Force Base The whole article is worth a read. The plan is to seriously retrofit early F-35As that could never see combat.

Ahh that old familiar tale you say - of course, in the late 1960s the F-4 Phantom II finally had a gun installed, which meant that everything was better, magical unicorns danced around the sky and the Vietnamese MiGs would fall from the sky in droves! Okay so that didn’t quite happen….......what did? Note - These articles are a compacted summary of a rather massive topic and will discuss the F-4 and Guns in Vietnam mostly ignoring missiles. Vietnam will be used instead of SEA. And USN includes the US Marines for simplicity. Very different F-4s and Air Forces (USAF v USN) Firstly, with different equipment, ideas and ways of doing things the United States pretty much had different Air Forces in the US Navy (USN) and the US Air Force (USAF), so it is important to draw a big red line between them with a quick summary: US Navy F-4 Versions in Vietnam F-4B (F4H-1) – Second F-4 version but first major production version of the F-4. F-4J - Improved F-4B Major Differences compared to the USAF Air to Air Refueling with Drogue and Basket Use of AIM-9B/D/G/H versions of Sidewinder only as Short Range Missile. Never fitted Guns, and only rare use of the MK4 gun pod (mostly Air to Ground use). Internal ECM equipment. Different Radars (AN/APQ-72, -59 & AWG-10 Pulse Doppler) Had no flight controls in the back seat In 1972 preferred used of AIM-9G/H Sidewinder over AIM-7E-2 Sparrow Used more flexible Loose Deuce A-A formation tactics Carrier and land based (Marines) USN F-4J refueling drogue and chute style (USN) USAF F-4 Versions in Vietnam F-4C (F-110A) – Based on the F-4B with USAF changes. F-4D – Improved F-4C. F-4E – This is the (only) F-4 with the internal Gun. Major Differences compared to the US Navy Air to Air Refueling with Boom Used AIM-9B/E/J versions of Sidewinder Used AIM-4D Falcon for periods over the AIM-9 on F-4D/E External Podded ECM equipment Different Radars (AN/APQ-100, -109 & -120 ) Use of Gun Pods (SUU-16 & SUU-23) Had some flight controls in the back seat In 1972 preferred use of AIM-7E-2 Sparrow over AIM-9 / AIM-4 Insisted on sticking to the obsolete / useless fluid four (Welded Wing) A-A formation tactics right to the end. USAF F-4 nears the boom of a KC-135 in 1967 (USAF) Why no gun on the F-4 to start with? On the 18th September 1947 the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) became the USAF and with the limited budget constraints after WWII, Strategic Air Command (SAC) was seen as security priority and was thus given the major funding over the Tactical Air Forces (TAF). SAC culture dominated the USAF in the early years along with its doctrine of strategic nuclear bombing with massive manned bombers. Tactical Fighters (F-100/F-101 etc) under this emphasis on SAC now had two roles: Defend against enemy bombers as interceptors. (Air Defence Command / ADC) Low level delivery of tactical Nukes. (Tactical Air Forces / TAF) Apparently, Korea never happened because by the late 1950s bombing a target in a fighter within 750ft was more then good enough (with a Nuclear weapon) so not only conventional Air to Air training went out the window but also conventional bombing! One Air Force general noted about this period, General (Curtiss) LeMay had deliberately loaded the Air Staff with bomber guys, who were not well acquainted with things like air superiority or air-to-air combat, and who wanted to destroy enemy aircraft on their airfields. In 1957, LeMay actually tried to eliminate the TAF, but the possibility of the Army developing its tactical air support arm overrode this idea, and later that year LeMay reluctantly gave the TAF more funds to keep its mission from being turned over to the Army. Who needs fighters anyway? - the B-36 Peacemaker takes its toddler son for a walk in 1948 (USAF) Some of this thinking was perhaps driving the US Navy with their F4 program in the 1950s. The USN had a requirement to intercept Soviet bombers attacking the fleet above 50,000ft out of the range of gun armed fighters and thus from 1956 the AIM-7 Sparrow III was to be the primary weapon with a gun as secondary. By 1957 however the gun was deleted from the design because the new AIM-9 Sidewinder was to be the secondary weapon. Feeling in the USAF really was in some respects that the day of the gun had past, working at the Pentagon in Air Force Operations as a colonel in the early 1960s, Maj Gen Richard Catledge recounted his Pentagon experience with the antigun sentiment and General Momyer: I realized this two-star, General “Spike” Momyer[,] ran the Air Staff—very strongminded individual, very knowledgeable individual, who did his homework on everything. . . . It was his belief and his concept that future airplanes would not have guns in them. There was no need for guns. I couldn’t believe this when I came across it in the Pentagon. So I built a flip chart briefing, with my convictions, why we needed guns, more for air-to-air than for air-to-ground. . . . Anyway, I found it was an uphill fight. That every colonel, every major, in requirements, whose business I was getting into, believed as their boss did. So I really went uphill. I built my chart, got my ducks all lined up, and went to my boss, [Major General] Jamie Gough, and gave him that briefing. He said, “Well, it’s a good story, . . . [but] you are going to have to run this by Spike Momyer, and I’m not going with you.” . . . So I went up, got the appointment, put my stand in front of his [Momyer’s] desk, and started in telling him why we needed guns in airplanes. Well at one point in this—he stopped me several times and gave me a few words on why we did not, and [that] essentially missiles had taken over. Missiles had taken over for air-to-air . . . and other kinds of munitions [had taken over] for air-to-ground, so there really was no need [for obsolete guns]. Well, I thought I had a pretty good argument, but didn’t convince him. I remember he’d beat on his table and say, “There will be a gun in the F-4 over my dead body.” That was his attitude. Seems strange that despite the many limitations of missiles then, such as they couldn't be used at the close ranges guns were used at, and they had no way to ID aircraft Beyond Visual Range makes it look at if Momyer was towing a party agenda for flashy new technology. [Even if the technology was crap] The USAF took on the F-4 as part of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s drive to get the services to use standard equipment with commonality. He was also interested in the conventional side of things and saw both the A-G potential as well as the A-A potential and thus the USAF received the F-4C (originally designated F-110A). (Note: yes this was potentially one of the few things McNamara did that wasn’t a complete catastrophe!) Of course, the F-4 wasn’t the only aircraft of its time without an internal gun (another reason seen given is that pilots would never have closed to gun range to take down a bomber carrying Nukes.) Some other Interceptors of the era born with no internal Gun: F-102 Delta Dagger F-106 Delta Dart (Some later got a gun under project Six Shooter from around 1969) Su-9/11 Fishpot Tu-128 Fiddler Su-15 Flagon MiG-25 Foxbat Some Interceptors that had the gun removed: Lightning Fmk3 CF-104 Starfighter (Early) A gun was later incorporated MiG-17PFU Fresco MiG-19PM Farmer MiG-21PF/PFL/PFS/PFM/FL (PFL and PFM used by the VPAF in Vietnam along with the gun armed F-13 and MF) F-102A Delta Dagger interceptors (USAF) Getting a gun on the F-4E McDonnell first proposed an internal gun for the F-4 in 1961 however it wasn’t until a potential limited war in Vietnam looked likely in 1963 that this was taken more seriously by the military for Ground Attack / strafing. By 1965 combat experience determined that a gun was a requirement and it was trialed in the F-4, and thus the F-4E was born with a nose job and new APQ-120 Radar: This shows the 22 modules (Line Replaceable Units / LRUs) required for the APQ-120 radar Adding the gun solved all the problems yes? The original gun muzzle caused a few problems. Firstly gas ingestion into the engine inlets caused engine flameouts and secondly it made a loud whistling noise that apparently notified the enemy troops (and their Dogs presumably ) long before the F-4 got there. The muzzle had to be redesigned and the later F-4Es have a longer gun muzzle under the nose. Also not shown in the diagram above, the gun assembly and ammo drum took up a lot of space in the nose and the dish/antenna size was reduced. The Westinghouse APQ-120 was an early ‘Solid State’ radar (derived from the APQ-109) and being Solid State must have helped in reducing the obvious vibration issue when you have a massive Gatling gun sitting next to 1960s electronics! Despite this it still exceeded the reliability requirements and was similar in that regards to the F-4D radar that had no gun in the nose. Ex F-4 flyer Walt BJ stated that the APQ-120 in the F-4E had about 20-25% less range over the APQ-109 in the F-4D. Didn’t the F-4E just wipe the floor now it had a gun? During Operation Linebacker I & II (1972/73): The USAF F-4E had 22 claims in 25 (known) engagements including 7 gun kills The USAF F-4D had 27 claims in 30 (known) engagements with no gun kills So firstly, if you add an internal gun but still don’t train anyone to use it then despite any figures nothing really changes. Secondly the missiles and radars had improved since 1965 regarding close in capability and so the Gun was starting to look very secondary by now. Considering the extra effort required for guns in skill, fuel, risk of collision, and making themselves more vulnerable, a missile would be the priority weapon regardless of the USAF training issues. What about the gun pods? Stop gap measures meant some squads using the 20mm SUU-16 and SUU-23 Gatling gun pods on the F-4C and D respectively – however despite some success these were somewhat inaccurate and the extra drag had a noticeable effect on range. Looking happy to be here - SUU-23 Gun pod on the center line station of an F-4 (Clive Camm) Some championed the Gun pod such as Korean war ace Col Frederik “Boots” Blesse after it became a useful strafing tool for South Vietnam sorties. USAF Col Robin Olds was a tad less enthusiastic: The gun pod wasn’t so much a speed penalty as an object of increased drag and fuel consumption. But that wasn’t my objection to the gun pod, I refused to carry it for 3 basic reasons; It took the place of five or six 750 lb bombs. Only my older and more experienced fighter pilots had ever been trained in aerial gunnery, to say nothing of air-to-air fighting. There were perhaps a dozen of them in the 8th TFW. I had no intention of giving any of my young pilots the temptation to go charging off to engage MiG-17s with a gun. They would have been eaten alive. Instead they fought MiGs the way I taught them and did so with notable success. The US Navy briefly trialed and used the 20mm MK4 (GAU-4) Gatling gun pod mostly for A-G but this was determined to be useless in operation with technical difficulties and also meant the preferred configuration of centre line drop tank only could not be carried. The not so successful MK4 (GAU-4) gun pod at China Lake (Dave Woolsey) Did the Navy not want an internal or any gun? For the primary purpose of fleet air defense, ‘missiles only’ it seems was deemed adequate. When in combat over Vietnam some Navy pilots wanted it and others didn’t. The gun pod was not persevered with and even an offer of free SUU-16/23 pods from the USAF was turned down on one occasion. We can deduce that if you reshaped the F-4J nose like the F-4E then you also have to reduce the radar dish size and forfeit range which might not be the best idea regarding fleet defense. Simply plonking in the APQ-120 with less range and no useful lookdown/shootdown capability was probably not going to win USN favour. Even spending the money on a modified APG-59/AWG-10 still gets you reduced range at the end of it. The APG-59/AWG-10 in the F-4J had some good lookdown techniques (for its time) and was considered superior. However even without the gun the F-4B/J Phantom avionics suffered from heavy carrier landings: I had a USN F4J pilot in my back seat one night gunship escort mission (can't for the life of me remember why) and he marvelled at the radar pickup. I asked him why he thought it was so good when he was flying the J model. He told me after about 4 'standard' carrier landings the radar wasn't so hot anymore. (Walt BJ) So, what did the Pilots say about Guns, Training, and Back Seat Drivers During the Vietnam conflict a Secret project (Red Baron) took place which compiled every A-A engagement fought. As part of that the aircrews were interviewed where available, giving quite a mixed view. 3 April 1965 F-4B USN front seat pilot (with 1000 hours) There is a need for a close in weapon as a backup on any mission……………….Guns would also be useful as an air-ground weapon (stopping a truck convoy, for example) 10 July 1965 USAF F-4C front seat pilot Gun not necessary; it will get people into trouble. Would like capability to fire all missiles on the F-4 with Centreline Tank on. Less minimum range for missiles instead of guns…….Because lack of ACT at time of event, did not know how to manoeuvre the F-4 as well as he could later after some experience. 6 Oct 1965 USN F-4B front seat pilot Fighter needs guns or short range missile……………..Turning and acceleration rate of MiG-17 was impressive. The MiG leader was aggressive and a good fighter pilot. 23 April 1966 USAF F-4C front seat pilot Improve the performance of the AAM and the gun will not be needed…………Training safety restrictions severely limited air-combat-tactics training prior to deployment to the combat area. 23 April 1966 USAF F-4C front seat pilot The need for a F-4 gun is overstated, although it would be of value if it could be obtained without hurting current radar and other system performance. If you are in a position to fire guns, you have made some mistake. Why after a mistake would a gun solve all problems. Also having a gun would require proficiency at firing, extra training etc. Have enough problems staying proficient in current systems. If the F-4 had guns, we would have lost a lot more, since once a gun dual starts the F-4 is at a disadvantage against the MiG. 23 April 1966 USAF F-4C front seat pilot Felt that he had very poor air-combat-tactics background. Prior background was bomber and other multi-engine. Transition to F-4 oriented toward upgrading a qualified fighter pilot rather than training a pilot with no fighter background. 25 April 1966 USAF F-4C back seat pilot Gun is not particularly desirable, if the performance of the aircraft is degraded by an external installation. Also, one might make the mistake of getting into a turning battle if a gun was available 25 April 1966 USAF F-4C back seat pilot Capability of the F-4 is being wasted by having a pilot in the back seat. The pilot is not adequately trained as a radar observer. Need a radar expert in the back seat. The pilot back seaters main goal is to be upgraded to the front seat rather than master the radar. 26 April 1966 USAF F-4C front pilot It is a fallacy to say that you can bring the F-4C home and land it solely from the back seat. You’ve got to blow the gear down and then there is no antiskid system; there is no drag chute handle; there is no fuel gauges or switches; you may be limited to using internal fuel; you can’t dump fuel or jettison tanks. A gun would be nice in an F-4C as long as it was clearly understood it was only a weapon of last resort. Soviet fighters are more capable than US aircraft inside gun range. 29 April 1966 USAF F-4C back seat pilot It was not necessary to have a pilot in the back seat of the F-4 except during night A-G missions when a pilot may more capably advise the aircraft commander. Actually, a radar officer would be more interested in the back-seat operation than a pilot would be. 29 April 1966 USAF F-4C front seat pilot It would be undesirable and possibly fatal for an F-4 to use a gun in fighting with a MiG because the MiG is built to fight with guns and the F-4 is not. 30 April 1966 USAF F-4C front seat pilot Training was not really adequate for this engagement, didn’t know what the back should do in a hassle such as this. 14 June 1966 USN front seat pilot Guns would be most useful for the ResCAP role but not particularly valuable in the air to air role. An F-4B from VF-111 Sundowners giving it some - just because (USN) The F-4 Phantom II Dogfighter? As we know the F-4 was not particularly the most agile fighter in theatre and turning at a slower speed was a bit of a problem. However, US fighters had seldom been the best turners in previous conflicts such as WWII (think F-6F Hellcat V Zero) ……power and speed could make up for it and were often better attributes to have. In 1966 the US Navy flew “Project Plan” flying the F-4B against a series of fighters to determine how good it was in an Air Superiority role. It concluded that contrary to what F-4 pilots thought the F-4 was the best air to air fighter in the world (including the F-8), if the F-4 stayed fast. To fly the F-4 however in BFM/ACM you needed to have training and a lot of experience (like most jets of this era). One particular characteristic of the hard-winged F-4 was “Adverse Yaw” at slower speeds where the pilot had to make the turn using rudder pedals instead of the stick. If the stick was used the chances of departing were very high – somewhat fatal in combat. Now stick a pilot in the cockpit with little training and you can see that in the heat of battle adverse yaw becomes quite serious (not just A-A but avoiding SAMs etc). Of course, pilots just simply avoided going anywhere near adverse yaw if they could however that meant they could never max perform the jet if they needed to in every situation. Adverse Yaw was all but eliminated by adding leading edge slats to the F-4E with the 556 "Rivet Haste" Mod late 1972. Too late to have any real relevance for Vietnam though. In Part 2 we look at the very different training aspects of the USN/USAF/VPAF, the F-105 / F-8 paradox and the myth / legend of Colonel Tomb.

View File Viper's Massive Collection of Insignias, Emblems and Patches My massive collection of aircraft and related insignias, emblems and patches! I forgot to mention, I didn't create all of these...didn't mean to imply I made them all...I collected them from all over...here and the net... I could not find the source (CombatAce Links) for some of the items, (didn't remember where I got it from) so I removed them...sorry about that... Enjoy! V. Submitter viper63a Submitted 01/07/2018 Category Other  

File Name: 'Rivet Haste’ F-4E USAF pack add-on File Submitter: dtmdragon File Submitted: 19 June 2016 File Category: F-4 F-4E project ‘Rivet Haste’ add-on for ravenclaw_007 and Co’s F-4E USAF pack 2.0 2.0 Updates/ corrections - Corrected tail tip color from green to red/ orange. - Added historicly correct small serial numbers to tail fin - Big thanks to mppd for the color reference photos (I could only find a single black & white one) and historical serial numbers. Included: - F-4E_72 ‘Rivet Haste’ You must have ravenclaw_007 and Co’s F-4E USAF pack installed for weapons & effects etc: http://combatace.com/files/file/13932-f-4e-usaf-pack/ Animation / Function - Canopy - Hook - Air Refuel - Gun Vent ______________ automatic when gun is fired or as soon as the landing gear is deployed - Brake Chute____________ works with the Air Brake below 150kts Features of the ‘Rivet Haste’ F-4E: - Slatted wings. The Rivet Haste F-4 were the only Phantoms in the Vietnam conflict to have slatted wings. - MIDAS4 gun port. - TISEO - APR-35/36 RHAW - Assigned to the 555th TFW but operated as a separate flight from the rest of the squadrons non Rivet Haste Phantoms. - Operated without any tail codes or serial numbers. Aircraft had RRRRibit in yellow on the tail fin along with a green tailfin tip. Hangar and Loading screens are in 1920 x 1080 , optional 1024 x 768 Hangar and Loading screens are included in a separate folder Installation: - Drop all files into your mod folder the way they are setup in this pack and overwrite if ask to - If you are unsure about the way how mods are installed, check the knowledge base at CombatAce! Credits: - ravenclaw_007 - original model by TW , BPAO , Crab_02 - cockpits from TW - Decals for the 34TFS , 469TFS and the original Templates from Sundowner - Skins for the 57th FIS made by Soulfreak - TISEO made by Crusader - Testpilots , EricJ , Slartibartfast , JAT81500 , Dast24 , Centurion1 , Ianh755 , GodsLt - new updated model , textures and weapons by ravenclaw_007 - mppd Enjoy, Dan. Background on the Rivet Haste project: With the soft (slatted) wing, the pinkie switch (basically the very first HOTAS), and the TISEO modifications for the F-4E, the USAF realized it had the tools to make its fighter pilots more lethal. In the late summer of 1972, the Rivet Haste program was established. Rivet Haste would be the Air Force's acknowledgement that years of substandard training and poor doctrine had to be reversed. Rivet Haste combined the slatted wing, TISEO, and 556 mod of the F-4E and teamed them up with handpicked crews with combat experience over Vietnam. They were assembled at Nellis AFB and here the key of Rivet Haste would take place- intensive training with the new F-4Es against the secret MiG force that Air Force flew out of Tonopah north of Las Vegas. Each Rivet Haste crew were paired up to stay together through training to deployment for combat- this allowed the pilot and his WSO to develop their own system of coordination in the cockpit and carry that to combat. Six pilots and six WSOs were in each Rivet Haste group and each pilot/WSO would fly at least three missions against the MiGs at Tonopah. Each month, a new group of six pilots and six WSOs were assigned to Rivet Haste. Crews assigned to Rivet Haste saw it as a quantum leap in air combat training that the USAF had never had before. Unfortunately they arrived in Vietnam to late to score any air-to air-kills and only flew a handful of Linebacker II missions before the end of the war. Click here to download this file

File Name: F-106A Delta Dart in Vietnam (What if) File Submitter: dtmdragon File Submitted: 21 July 2015 File Category: What If Hangar F-106A in Vietnam (What if) Background: During the late 60’s there were serious discussions in the USAF about deploying the F-106A to the conflict in Vietnam. Obviously this never eventuated but the possibility lead to project Six Shooter which saw a gun pack and an improved visibility canopy added to the F-106A. So what would the Delta Dart have looked like if it had served in the skies above Vietnam? In 1968 the USAF conducted a Tactical Evaluation to evaluate the effectiveness of existing tactical manoeuvres by USAF and USN combat aircraft against the MiG-21 Fishbed. It was called ‘Have Drill/ Have Ferry.’ The ADC evaluated the F-106 and found its radar capable of acquisition of the MIG and that radar snap-up attack could be used to exploit the MiG-21's lack of fire control. The F-106 could use better acceleration to get beyond MiG-21 speed limits. A direct result of this evaluation was the ADC recommendation to “expedite fitting the internal gun, redesigned canopy, radar warning and ECM equipment into the F-106”. So based on the above (factual) information I present the F-106A Delta Dart (69) ‘Nam’ To the SF2 F-106A I have added the following: - Permanently mounted M61A1 Gun Pack (Project Six Shooter) - Internal ALQ-100 ECM - Chaff dispensers - APR-25 RHAW (Audio only) - SEA camouflage (Day and Night) - Pilot in tiger stripped flight suit. - I have also applied the MA-1 FCS ECCM upgrade done to 314 F-106 in 1963. The ECCM system allowed the FCS to reject radar returns resulting from chaff dispersal by a target. As part of the upgrade a final modification resulted in increased missile performance. Modifications to the FCS permitted up to 35 percent more deflection of the Falcon missile’s control surfaces. This resulted in a more agile missile at launch, increasing the missile’s ability to react to a maneuvering target. To portray this in the game I have made changes to the F-106 avionics as well as a specific ECCS AIM-4F missile. Notes: - The AIM-4G has been changed to have no audible growl (It never had it) and is slaved to the radar. This more accurately portrays the employment of the IR guided Falcons. You will have to use the radar to know when you are locked on and in range. (Just like a F-106 pilot would have had to done in real life). - The weapon bay doors are manually activated, I prefer this as the animation doesn’t work with most missile shots when it’s set on automatic. - There is a specific version of the M61A1 gun for the F-106 as when installed in the F-106 its rate of fire was limited to 4500 rounds per minute. Credits for the original SF2 F-106A and SEA skin decals: Pasko Kesselbrut Column5, MKSheppard eburger68 Sundowner Dave DaniloE31 Pasko DaniloE31 Lexx Luthor 76.IAP-Blackbird Cliff7600 Enjoy! Dan (Dtmdragon) Click here to download this file

Watch that F-15 come out strutting like he owns the walk....

View File F-16A Block 15 Air Defense Fighter (ADF) Air National Guard F-16A Block 15 Air Defense Fighter (ADF) The F-16 Air Defense Fighter (ADF) was a special variant of the Block 15 optimized for the United States Air National Guard's fighter interception mission. I started this by breathing some new life into the old TMF F-16A ADF but then after posting some screen shots JAT kindly offered to do an updated model so here it is: - Updated F-16A ADF 3D model by JAT81500 - New skins using the Team Viper F-16C High Res templates modified to fit the ADF. - Detailed Team Viper F-16 pilot model and ejection seat. - Flight model updated to the standard of the latest Team Viper F-16 flight model. - Third Wire F-16A cockpit and avionics modified to include the real world ADF upgrade (AIM-7/120). - Team Viper effects, sounds, fuel tanks and weapons. To install: Drop into your C:\Users\xxxxxx\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters XXXXX Credits: - JAT81500 for doing the updated F-16A ADF 3D model - TMF/ Mirage Factory for the original F-16A ADF. - The Viper Team for thier F-16C/AM series. - Ravenclaw for the weapons. - Migbuster fot the F-16C skin templates. - =58=Sprig, Creepn_Death & suhsjake for the old F-16A ADF skins I used some of the decals from. - FANATIC MODDER Enjoy, Dan (dtmdragon) History In October 1986, the USAF announced that operational block 15 F-16A/B aircraft would be converted to air defense fighters for the Air National Guard, and would take over the fighter interception mission, providing the primary defense of North America against bombers and cruise missiles. The first F-16A ADF conversion was completed in February 1989, while a contract was placed for kits to update and modify a total of 270 F-16A/B's at the Ogden Air Logistics Center in Utah. The Block 15 airframes used for the ADF program were all meant to be upgraded to block 15OCU standard, and both programs ran in conjunction. Aircraft entering the Ogden ALC for ADF upgrade also received the Block 15OCU avionics installation. The net result is that all ADF aircraft are Block 15OCU airframes. The last ADF left Ogden in 1992. Structure & Avionics Modifications included Bendix King (now Allied Signal) AN/ARC-200HF/SSB radios with Have Quick II Secure Speech Module and the Teledyne/E Systems Mk.XII Advanced IFF system (APX-109). The APG-66 radar was modified (designated APG-66A) to provide look down/shoot-down capability, enhanced small target detection, and CW (Continuous Wave) illumination for AIM-7 guidance. A 150,000 candlepower night identification spotlight was installed on the port side of the nose (below and in front of the cockpit) to aid in the identification of nighttime intruders. The aircraft were equipped to carry 600 (US) gallon (2,271 liter) external drop tanks, and to carry 6 BVR missiles such as the AIM-7 Sparrow or AIM-120 AMRAAM. Modifications & Upgrades The ADF aircraft can be distinguished from "standard" F-16A/B's by several external identifying features, such as long and thin horizontal bulges on the base of the vertical tail (only A-models), plus a set of four blade antenna, nicknamed "bird-slicer", carried just forward of the canopy (as part of the IFF system). The bulges are caused by the relocation of the Bendix-King AN/ARC-200 high frequency single-sideband radio to the leading edge of the fin. This in turn caused the flight control accumulators, which were installed one over the other, to be relocated to either side of the tail fin. The bulges were installed to provide sufficient room for these accumulators. Note that, since the Bravo-model ADF's do not have the Bendix HF radio, they also don't have the bulges. Production All ADF F-16s are modified airframes. Existing Block 15 models where converted to the Block 15OCU upgrade and to ADF standard at once. In total, 271 airframes, consisting in 246 A-models and 25 B-models have been converted between 1989 and 1992. Minor differences exist between the A-model and B-model as described earlier. Because of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the opening of relationships between West and East, the program had lost its major reason of existence, being the protection of the North American continent against Russian bombers flying over the North Pole. Although the program was finished and all aircraft stayed into service with the Air National Guard detachments, they were the first to be mothballed at AMARC with the first major restructuring of the USAF. Beginning in 1994, these aircraft began to be replaced by newer F-16C variants. By 2005, only the North Dakota ANG was flying this variant, with these last examples retired by 2007. A lot of these ADF F-16s are a very cheap and quite modern asset for allied countries. These aircraft have relatively low flying hours on their airframes. A lot of them are sold on the second-hand market. Jordan was the first to receive 12 A-models and 4-models under the Peace Falcon program in 1997. Most have since been received the Mid Life Upgrade (MLU). Thailand has acquired another batch of 15 A-models and 1 B-model under the Peace Naresuan IV program. Also the Italian Air Force received 26 A-models and 4 B-models under a 10-year lease agreement called Peace Caesar. Submitter dtmdragon Submitted 07/04/2015 Category F-16  

View File USAF / ANG T-33A Skins USAF / ANG T-33A Skin Pack by Carlo "7eleven" Vecchi This skinpack is only for the great T-33A from EricGen. Pack includes 8 USAF / ANG Skins. Credits: EricGen for the great T-33A, Thank you so much Enrico for all your work my friend! This mod is released under the combatace freeware licensing agreement: http://combatace.com...are?do=findComment&comment=594960 Read the readme.txt!!! Schapen, June 10th 2015 Carlo Vecchi Submitter Soulfreak Submitted 06/10/2015 Category Other  

View File Strikefighters2 Europe Hi-Res 1920x1080 Menu Screens and Music! SF2 Europe Hi-Res 1920x1080 Menu Screens and Music v5 By Viper 05/17/2020 Note: I removed all the nation sounds from this Menu packs for size reasons. If you intend to install the "VIPER63A HQ Menu Sounds" pack, please install that pack first. Installing the HQ Sound pack over the Menu pack may overwrite some of the menu specific music files. You can always re-install this menu pack to get the menu specific theme music back. Unzip the package and preview the new screens before installing them. I recommend doing to see what you're getting. If you choose to install this package, I recommend that you back up your FLIGHT, MENU, CAMPAIGNS and PILOTDATA folders in the SF2 Mod folder you're installing this package into. Just in case you want to go back to your original setup. * To install, simply unzip and copy the uncompressed CAMPAIGNS, FLIGHT, MENU and PILOTDATA folders to your StrikeFighter2 mod folder. My StrikeFighter2 mod on Win97 64-bit was..(yours may be different)... C:\Users\<your_id>\Saved Games\Thirdwire\StrikeFighter2 Europe\ or C:\Users\<your_id>\Saved Games\Thirdwire\StrikeFighter2 Europe2\ Enjoy! Submitter viper63a Submitted 05/29/2015 Category Menus