

RealA4EPilot
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Community A-4E-C v2.3 (May 2025)
RealA4EPilot replied to plusnine's topic in Flyable/Drivable Mods for DCS World
It looks to me that the Shrike worked as it was designed to. Generally speaking, there appears to be a misunderstanding of how Shrike works. The AN/AGM-45 is basically a missile that is fired ballistically and is guided to the target by the missile maneuvering so that any azimuth or elevation error is zeroed out, i.e., the missile seeker bore sights the emitting radar maneuvers itself so it's aimed directly at the target and error corrects until the missile hits the target or strikes the ground short of the target radar. The missile is easily defeated by shutting the radar down. To my memory there is neither a lock-on tone nor a procedure to lock on. It is fired ballistically and locks itself on the strongest target it sees after launch. -
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A-4E-C Nose Wheel Steering missing.
RealA4EPilot replied to GBU10's topic in How To Mod for DCS World
Roger, out. -
Community A-4E-C v2.3 (May 2025)
RealA4EPilot replied to plusnine's topic in Flyable/Drivable Mods for DCS World
I think this was another one of those NAVAIR AFCs that was approved and promulgated, but few if any A-4Es were modified. I flew A-4s from January 1965 to June 1972 and none of the A-4C or A-4E aircraft had either ACLS or ILS. The A-4 was transferred out of the last fleet squadrons in 1976. If any front line A-4s were modified they were probably Navy A-4Fs and Marine A-4Ms. Only way to know for sure would be for NAVAIR to check the logbooks of the A-4E aircraft. -
Community A-4E-C v2.3 (May 2025)
RealA4EPilot replied to plusnine's topic in Flyable/Drivable Mods for DCS World
Welcome to the A-4 aircraft. The A-4 is highly maneuverable, and if you don't want it to drop off on a wing and start plunging toward the earth, you need to fly the aircraft. If you don't need to yank and bank and you're not at 300ft and 300 knots, engage the autopilot. Otherwise resign yourself to keeping your hand on the stick and flying the aircraft 100% of the time. Taking a cross country in an A-4E was a piece of cake. Engage the autopilot at 2000 to 3000ft and fly the bird with the autopilot. Taking a cross country in the A-4B after we retro transitioned from the A-4Es was a real PITA because you had to fly the aircraft 100% of the time. -
A-4E-C Nose Wheel Steering missing.
RealA4EPilot replied to GBU10's topic in How To Mod for DCS World
Goofing around in a real tactical single seat jet may get you an unwanted write-up in the obit section of your local newspaper, but there's nothing wrong with goofing around in DCS on a solo flight. Getting to the point that you are flying realistic combat missions with three other digital aircraft takes real commitment and intentionallity of all the participants, and it takes time. From beginning to end a 4-aircraft mission with 1+45 flight time will take 6 to 10 hours to execute and will include: 1. Planning the ordnance load. (Done before the day of the mission.) 2. Scheduling the pilots who will participate. (Done before the day of the mission.) 3. Determining the best ingress and egress routes to avoid getting shot down. (Done before the day of the mission.) 4. 2 hours before launch a 90 minute, face to face briefing perhaps using Zoom that covers every step of the flight. 1. Rendezvous after launch. 2. route of flight to target including geographic check points. 3. Supporting forces. 1. tankers 2. Iron Hand 3. Fighter escort, if applicable 4. Jamers/ECM 5. SAR Helo 6. Fleet air defense air intercept control facility/ship (Red Crown?) 4. Run-in heading 5. delivery profile including dive angle, release airspeed, release altitude. 6. Turn off the target and egress route. 7. feet wet rendezvous point. 8. SAR procedures. 5. Start engines 5 minutes before launch. 6. Fly the mission. (1+45) 7. OK pass to the 3 wire. 8. face to face flight debrief (Zoom?) If the above looks like a insurmountable task, that's good. Killing people in combat is not a flippant activity, and sheparding the members of your flight back to their nest on USS Boat is the responsibility of the flight leader. Keep in mind that when a nugget or FNG (F-ing New Guy) in an A-4E squadron few his first major combat mission (20+ aircraft), he had been training for that flight for two and a half to three years, and despite all that intense training all he could do hold on for the ride. No matter how intelligent or gun ho a new pilot is, it takes a while for him or her to get their feet under themselves when they start flying combat sorties from the fliht deck of a carrier. So, it you're overwhelmed at first with multiple aircraft missions, you're in good company. As to a link to the F-18 flight on YouTube, no I do not have it. I just stumbled over it, and I did not bookmark it. If I see it again, I'll post it. Just one last thought on flying multi-aircraft combat sorties in the DCS environment. If you want to swim in the deep end of the DCS pool with 4-plane flights, it will be easier if you live in densely populated area where you and your flight team members can get together and look each other in the eye. Although all the planing and coordination for a mission could be done with emails and text messages, what your're trying to accomplish is to build a team of like minded DCS combat pilots, and it's easier to build a team committed to success in person than it is with ignoreable emails and text messages. Bob -
A-4E-C Nose Wheel Steering missing.
RealA4EPilot replied to GBU10's topic in How To Mod for DCS World
Hi, guys, I've been asked to comment on nosegear steering and I guess steering the A-4 in general. Let me apologize right up front for the sermon that follows discussion on differential braking. The number of tactical jets that use differential breaking to steer is more extensive than one might imagine and while most of them are fairly easy to maneuver around, the A-4 can be a real pain in the ass, especially on the flight deck of a of a carrier with a steel deck when the non-skid coating has lost it's effectiveness and the deck has a fine sheen of oil and hydraulic fluid on it. In those conditions I've seen scooters crabbing 20 to 30 degrees just to keep from going over the side when the ship is in a turn. Obviously oil and other slippery liquids complicate the problem of taxiing using differential braking, but the reason the scooter is so difficult is that the main gear are so close together. If you compare the distance between the main gear on an A-4 and something like an F-86 or a MiG 15, you will see the moment arm for the MiG and the F-86 is almost twice what it is for an A-4. What that equates to is a light tap on an MiG15's brake should get the nose swinging around, but the A-4 requires a heavier foot and more forward motion. As several here have noted, once you get the hang of it, it's okay. I do have a suggestion that might help. I know this will not be as much fun as tearing holes in the sky at 600KIAS [knots of indicated air speed] Spend as much time as it takes to become proficient at taxiing the aircraft at an air field. Use the lines in the concrete for lineup. Try to get to the point where you can make a 90° turn from a NS line to an EW line and bring the aircraft to a stop with you butt directly above a line that is 90° to the direction your aircraft is pointed. Work at becoming a precision taxi pilot. That brings us to nose wheel or nose gear steering. The A-4E did not have nose gear steering. NAVAIR [Naval Air Systems Command] may have promulgated an AFC [air frames change] to retrofit the A-4E aircraft with nose gear steering, but to my knowledge there were only two A-4Es that got nose gear steering, and those two aircraft were the two ECHOS that were rebuilt into the prototype A-4F flight test aircraft. Homework Assignment: What's the difference between indicated airspeed calibrated airspeed true airspeed mach number I've only read about 40 of the 60+ pages of posts by the members of the A-4E DCS community, but from what I’ve read I’ll hazard a guess that I’m the first member with significant amount of flight time in in A-4 aircraft. I say this because there are more than a few forum postings that are factually incorrect or flawed. An example of what I’m talking about is the misinformed discussion of how an A-4A, B, C, or E was positioned on the catapult for launch, that grew out of a Q&A exchange of how you steered an A-4E on the flight deck. The discussion participants concluded that that because of the difficulty of steering an A-4 without nose gear steering, A-4E aircraft were towed into position on the catapult. That is incorrect. differential braking got you in the approximate position and the fine tuning was done by a blue shirt on a tiller bar. Even when an A-4 was towed into position on the catapult for the next launch, the aircraft was spotted behind the position where it is hooked up to the catapult. When it was time for launch, the aircraft was started and taxied into position on the catapult steered by the sailor with his hands on the tiller bar. The tiller bar was basically a piece of thick walled aluminum tubing with a handle on one end and a short piece of tubing mounted at 90 degrees that slipped into the axle of the nose wheel of the A-4. Positioning an aircraft on the catapult is a critical maneuver. The aircraft must be aligned with catapult and as close to the center line of the catapult as possible. I do not know the exact tolerance allowed for misalignment, but more than an inch or two off the center line of the catapult would result in a sinusoidal path L-R down the cat, the severity of which increased exponentially with an increase in line up error. The tiller bar allowed a flight deck enlisted man to easily steer the aircraft into position on the cat, but while the tiller worked well, asymmetric braking by the pilot could yank the tiller out of his hands, injure him and/or fling him away from the nose of the aircraft, but the coup de grâce to the idea that each A-4 was towed into position on the catapult is the excessive amount of time it would have taken to do that. Launching a 20 to 30 plane strike group from 2-catapult 27C class carriers, i.e., Oriskany (CVA-34), Hancock (CVA-19), etc., would have probably been impossible, and the increased time might have overtaxed 4-catapult carriers’ ability to top off the strike group’s fuel before they set off for the target. The community discussion of nose gear steering reveals that while members may be gifted digital stick and throttle jockeys, many in this community do not have a thorough understanding of: • Standard Operating Procedures for the A-4E aircraft. • Standard Operating Procedures around the carrier. • How the flight and hanger deck work. • Etc. The “missing” knowledge is not something that any member of the A-4 DCS community should feel defensive or inadequate about. Those knowledge gaps and confusions exist because you haven’t received any training in those areas. When a Naval Aviator trains to fly a different tactical carrier aircraft, his or her training begins with at least a week of 8 to 12 hour days of ground school and home study on the new aircraft. After passing the aircraft exam, 1:1 training in simulators or procedure training devices gives the pilot a thorough grounding in aircraft specific standard preflight and postflight procedures as well as emergency procedures. Flight training for the new aircraft is broken down into three broad categories, familiarization or transition, mission training, and the final phase of training was carrier qualification which included 10 arrested carrier landings, six during the day and four at night. Woven into all that training were standard operating procedures both at the air station and around the ship. No gamer or VR DCS A-4E simulator pilot needs detailed, intensive training in these areas to enjoy a low altitude visual navigation mission, performing acrobatics like chandelles, wingovers, loops, ½ and full Cuban 8s, aileron rolls, or just simple sightseeing. However, if you are willing to spend a little time teaching yourself the basics of mission planning and execution as well as strictly observing the standard operating procedures, especially around the carrier, you will gain an appreciation for what it means and takes to be a mission ready carrier pilot. You should also develop a greater feeling of professionalism and pride in your developing skill as a digital aviator rather than becoming a one trick monkey-see, monkey-do digital button pusher. At a minimum, I recommend that all hands take an hour or so and download the NATOPS [Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization Program] manuals for the A-4E aircraft as well as the NATOPS manual for aircraft carrier flight operations. When you have the manuals, set aside some time to familiarize yourself with the SOP and aircraft limitations contained therein. Building your proficiency to the point that you can consistently get an OK3 landing grade is worthy goal, but it’s only part of the experience available with a good DCS carrier aircraft. “Thumb” through the DCS based videos and you will see a wide range in quality of mission planning and execution. I believe that people whose only involvement are repetition of monkey-see, monkey-do skills are missing the satisfaction that carefully planning a mission, a thorough preflight briefing with other digital A-4E DCS pilots on the mission, and careful but aggressive execution can provide. I watched a YouTube F/A-18 mission video a few days ago that was reminiscent of combat missions I flew in Vietnam more than 50 years ago. In a short period of time, this two-pilot or team or section overcame the unexpected, destroyed their designated target, knocked out a SAM site, and shot down 3 enemy aircraft. Their communications were short and to the point, but they kept track of each other and joined up as necessary for mutual support. All in all, it was extremely professional, especially compared to the typical mission demos on YouTube. The only thing that would have improved the quality and sense of accomplishment would have been a return to the carrier with an OK3 rather than plopping down lazily on a 12k foot long runway. If this post has not been too annoying to everyone and if I see other glaring errors on the order of how an A-4E is spotted on the catapult, I’ll post additional information. Be professionally aggressive but never reckless when you fly your scooter missions. If you haven’t read John Gillespie Magee’s poem High Flight, Alan B. Shepard’s pity comment on flying on and off the carrier at night, Carey Lohrenz’s extended statement about the lessons of night carrier operations, and LCDR Joe Ruzicka’s lengthy description of landing a fighter on an aircraft carrier on a stormy night, seek them out. The emotions and rhythms of High Flight strongly reminds me of what it’s like to have an A-4E full of JP5 jet fuel, no assigned mission, and a slice of restricted airspace where you’re the only aircraft . . . the absolute freedom to twist and turn, dive, climb, and soar however it suits you. Shepard’s comment is a statement that night carrier operations are the most difficult thing to do in aviation bear special weight because of his experience as a test pilot and astronaut. Carey Lohrenz wrote a complementing and compelling piece about what it takes for night carrier operations that’s worth a read. (Carey was one of the first female Tomcat pilots.) Ruzika’s piece is broadly informative, but is a bit light in the emotion, immediacy, and intensity of the environment of carrier operations at night in crappy weather. That deficiency is not an indictment of Ruzika’s skill as a writer. It’s a statement of the inadequacy of rhetorical tools to write narrative prose that maintains the tension and emotion brought on by the pressure of night carrier operations from beginning to end. Almost encyclopedic, quasi academic descriptions of things like the profile, vocabulary, and procedures of a case 3 recovery is information that the reader needs to know in order to understand what the writer is talking about, but every academic interlude is narrational stop sign that tends to cool the immediate fervor of the action. My profound apologies if any of the above was tedious, bored the hell out of you, seemed presumptuous or pompous, or was too long. I do have a tendency to wax on a bit too much. RMW – Scooter Driver Extraordinaire (at least I was 57 years ago)- 61 replies
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Introduction of a Really Old A-4E Driver I started flying A-4s in January 1965. No matter on which side of the bread you butter your toast, that’s a bunch of years ago . . . 57 years ago to be exact. I was trained at NAS Cecil Field in Jacksonville, FL, and I flew A-4B, C, E, and F aircraft with the Blue Hawks of VA-72, the Vampires of VX-5, and the Lobos of VA-305. I also flew A-7Bs with the Silver Foxes of VA-155, but that’s a different aircraft and another story. It’s important to mention to the A-4E DCS community here that two of the three deployments I made with VA-72 I flew the A-4E, a straight or basic A-4E during the first cruise and the Shoehorned A-4E during the second cruise. Both deployments were to the Gulf of Tonkin and the Vietnam War. During those deployments I carried and/or delivered WWII fat bombs, the full line of the low drag Mk-80 series bombs, small and large Bullpup guided air to ground missiles, AN/AGM-45A Shrike anti-radiation missiles used to knock out fire control radars for Soviet supplied SA-2 Guideline surface to air missiles and anti-aircraft or flack guns, cluster munitions, napalm, 2.75 in. and 5.0 in rockets, etc. In short just about every piece of conventional ordnance the aircraft could carry. I emphasize my experience with the scooter in combat and peacetime not as an act of chest beating or horn tooting. I bring it up for one reason and one reason only. If I respond to a discussion of the A-4E, its arsenal of weapons, its electronic equipment, its configuration, its employment, tactics, or how the pilots were trained, I know of what I speak. In the vernacular of today, “Been there, done that.” Oh yeah, about the really old part. I celebrated my 80th birthday in January 2022. FWIW, during my time flying A-4 aircraft I amassed several hundred arrested carrier landings and roughly 1,500 hours of flight time in one A-4 cockpit or another. More than half the guys I flew A-4s with have flown off into the perpetually warm late summer sunset.
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