Joe Miller

Nah. I have zero interest in the A-6, so im very happy the eurofighte is next in line. The EF and F4 are some of my favourite planes, so im happy we have the F4 to keep us busy.

I have nothing much to add, but just wanted to thank beamscanner for this absolutely INCREDIBLE read. Being able to read such well researched, high effort and detailed information on modern fighter radars for free is amazing. Despite what people think, nothing on an F15, or any fighter, is magic (although high frequency RF sure gets close in my book, give me vortex flow fields anyday). Physics still exists. If you're determined enough and dig for the available information, have the requisite time and equations, and are knowledgeable enough on the subjects required, you can do some pretty cool reverse engineering Beamscanner is a legend

The tempest mk v would be my top pick for the next dcs ww2 module. It really had some innovative features, spring tabbed ailerons, MUCH better wing design, etc. As a (quite shitty) mechanical engineer I have the greatest respect for those who designed the sabre engine, and its my favourite engine of the war for many reasons. The short stroke in comparison to every other ww2 engine, combined with the relativity low capacity per cylinder, spot on reciprocating and rotational balance thanks to basically being 2 flat engines on top of each other, and the lack of inertia from valve springs/valvetrain made it the highest revving aircraft piston engine. Looking at the frankly quite ridiculous ammount of precision required in making the thing during wartime with the problems of metallurgy inherent to sleve valve engines and severe lack of oil quality in those days, its no suprise had problems at the start. Something I find cool is that it was the only engine from ww2 (from what I know) to make 100hp/l, at least in prototype form. Plus, we need an actual late war british fighter to go up against the germans since we dont have that yet ;))

What do you have against the F14 mate? It is unquestionably an excellent dogfighter, and has a great sustained turn rate. As people have already said, there are SO many variables to pilot stories. The experience of the adversary pilot is a big one. Hell, there are accounts of mig 21 folks beating inexperienced F15 pilots out there. What type of fight were they participating in? At what altitude? What airspeed? Any stores/pylons? Etc...

Its not anything to do with being "less modern." The tomcat's radar is currently one of the best a2a radars in dcs if you know how to use it well (which is quite a challenge). When it comes to range and mechanically scanned arrays, its extremely hard to get around a smaller antenna and lower transmit power, like in the f18 and f16 (the viper's antenna is also non circular, which adds its own quirks from what I understand). Its just always going to be a major fundamental limitation. According to a few people here, the APG-68 also doesnt use HPRF in TWS or RWS, so all these things together account for the lack of detection range in comparison to something like a tomcat. Also, loosing track in TWS while doing violent maneuvers is a problem for pretty much EVERY mechanically scanned radar until you get to a PESA/AESA, or the absolute best mechanical radars (eg. the eurofighter). Apparently, the jeff also shows this quirk now. Either way, im just happy that radars in dcs are slowly becoming a lot more realistic (no idea about any of the fc3 radars tho :D)