159_Archer

Well chief, looks like I out-rank you on this 'un (age wise:cry:); I was in the ATC 'till about the end of 1977, and went to a number of interesting bases. Went to RAF waddington when Vulcans were still operating from there. Got one full day there, and there was some sort of exercise going on, so they were rolling in and out all day; Bloomin' heaven...:pilotfly: Also saw Victor tanker at least once, plus all the stuff in service at the time; Lightning, Phantom, Buccaneer and even the good old Shackleton!

Re: Durandals, -I'd never heard that name before. Stuff I load on my frog are BetAB-250/500.

Hey (3sqn) Fudd, you managed to land on a runway that you CBU'd, and repair OK? Whenever I try this in my 25t, it cartwheels to destruction! Do the older flight model planes not suffer so heavily on lighter damaged runways?

By the same token; I believe the developers of 'loco Driver: Black Soot' are now correcting the bug in their train driver sim whereby airoplanes fly across the sky, with-out ever having to land....

:huh: What the h*** are they, exactly?

Fudd; I did a number of tests to see just how much of the RW surface could be damaged. The trouble with the bigger bombs is that they can sure make a nice big hole, but if you drop a stick of them down a RW, there is normally enough space to allow operations to continue. You can drop them diagonally, and this does help, but I find smaller and more numerous weapons get scattered across a bigger area. As I fly the 25T almost all the time, I tend to use the RBK-250 as a rule. As mentioned about using cannons (the 25T pods are good...) you won't see damage to the surface, but just you try and run over it!

Don't you worry yourself about the diamond dissapearing. If you hit a runway, you will damage it. And actually, cluster-bombs are about the best runway denial weapon within Lock-on. You can also use cannons to damage the surface quite sufficiently. Just try using them, then try to land/take-off from it... BTW, just 'cos you can't see any damage, doesn't mean there isn't any!

I think what we may be best doing in the long run, is to take note of the main differences of opinion, and where 2 squad don't agree, just don't mix 'em... So, for example, if squad A doesn't want any truck with Ventrilo, they don't get involved with any side that uses it, or sits out a flight 'till they can team up with a non-ventrilo squad. That's not the way we wanted RF to work, but if people just cannot get past some of these issues, that might have to be the way ahead.

Re; ReOrdains 5 hr RedFlag. I think 5 hours, for most Red flag flights, would be too long; and as you said, it'd add to the workload, which is already high. As for making the mission longer to allow other people in who can't make the 'normal' start time; How about staggering the RF flight start times? Find out the next most suitable start time for sqauds that have trouble making the present time, and do a RF at that time occaisionally.

Well Fusion, the first RedFlag certainly had it 'in' for us... Shallow-G having to drop out, me losing my connection, 3 planes lost in action and, of course, the 'new improved super-duper' AIM 7s!

Re; uneven sides If you watch the Tac file, you will see that BF got more kills, and they also had a number drop-out early through performance reasons. -I think Fudd is still doing an AAR on red flag. As for the apparent 'imbalance' in the 2 forces, well no one claimed that Fudd could get them perfectly matched. Both sides had at least some advantages over the other, and, what it's most important to remember, this was essentially a test for future, similar events. As for some of the comments entered on RF: I, along with many others here, would like that all participants regard these events in the spirit in which they are meant to be held, and not take them too seriously (at least when discussing them...). If we want what has just proven both popular and so far successful to continue, we must realise that some missions will suit us, some will not. But as far as I'm concerned, that's just fine! If you over-come a disadvantage, then that's something to celebrate, surely. It's likely that all the future RF missions will have some imbalance/points of dispute, but if you want to take part, a degree of biting your lip is going to be required; Calmly put suggestions and findings from having flown the mission are fine, but no demands or tantrums. I think almost everyone involved has entered into the spirit of this, and long may that continue!

Forgive me if I'm wrong: I thought I'd seen that there is no warm-up time modelled within the game?

Over at the 159th, we've recently started getting problems in many of our OL squad flights. Up until the end of 2006, most flights comprised of around 8 people, but quite often now we're getting 10 and occaisionally 12 turn up. Obviously having more in game is going to affect things, but when we started getting bigger numbers we didn't get the problems we face at the moment; that is warping and getting kicked or not being able to join easily in the fist place. As I mentioned above, initially we did not have any major probs with the increased numbers, but now, even with around 8 players, we're gettin' trouble. Pings seem stable and good in missions as a rule. We've run mission with few AI units and also with lots, and seemingly little change. As things stand, we use 2 different server machines. The weaker one is mine; Athlon 3000+ 2Ghz, nvidia 6800, 1 meg Ram. My connection is 1 meg broadband. We get similar problems which ever server we use. One thing that does seem noticable is that it's the 25t pilots that are suffering more. Any ideas out there?:huh:

As for destroying Dams: IIRC 617 sqdn Dambusters used a 5 ton Bomb, and this was dropped down the wet face of the Dams so as much of the blast was forced into the Dams as possible. I think you would need a darn big weapon to crack a Dam. Don't think even Bunker-Busters would do it (unless you hit the same spot repeatedly, perhaps).

I had an X45, and a couple of things eventually wore out. So I e-mailed the Saitek help desk:- and they sent out the bits I needed (and pronto, too!). This was the UK dept, as I am in Britain. Check for the e-mail add' in your manual.

Someone posted this info on the fuel tank status, a while back: The orange symbols to the left of the fuel gauge, indicate what tanks are full/empty. The symbol for each tank is thus: I is inner under-wing tanks II is outer U/W tanks 3/4 is tanks 3 and 4 (internal) U is centre fuselage tank 0.6 emergency fuel (VERY limited...) Tank is empty when symbol 'lit'. BTW, as a rough guide to 25T range, I did a fully laden strike down as far as Sukhumi AB, and with a very short ovet-target time managed to get back on internal only, JUST.....

We at the 159th Guards Aviation Regiment fly the Su33 in fighter wing, or the Su25t in strike wing. Our 'opening hours' (for normal squad flights) are 20:00 (UK timezone) on Thursdays and Sundays. We are mainly European based, but have a number of people in Canada, US and now Hawaii. :doh::D:joystick::pilotfly::helpsmilie::megalol::music_whistling::huh::cry: Sums up most squad members nicely. http://www.the159th.com

Just like to say here, that we appreciate all the work that Mako (159th CO) and Invicta (159th FW CO) have put in, plus all the input from everyone else. Our Squads need good people like these to keep running. It also helps, that you can slag 'em off nightly, to get things off your chest...:D

One of our Squad (159th GAR) was on Google Earth recently, and was looking at Krasnodar AB. He ID'd plenty of Russian AC there, but thought one type was probably a C-130. Some of us thought that this was unlikely being a US AC (though not impossible), and other types were put forth. An-12 was dismissed as the wing doesn't look right, as was P3 orion (same reason as C-130) but a few went for the Il 18/20/38 series planes. Looks like a low wing type, to me. What does the panel think?:book:

Zoomboy, I think I've seen your guide before somewhere; It's a good piece of work. Would you mind if I use some/all of it for new guys to our squadron? I have concentrated on combat rather than actual flying, so it would come in handy! Cheers, Archer.

OH, while I am here, the 159th Guards AR are looking for more 25t drivers. We are UK based, but have pilots in Canada, USA, Holland and Germany. We fly mostly at around 20:00UK time. And are a bunch of part-time nutters. :pilotfly:

I'm SW commander in 159th GAR, and have knocked up a brief guide to get new pilots up and running. It also helps as an aide memoir for us older types whos memory is half-shot.... If you want a look, I'll need your e-mail to send it too (I am not a techno geek, and don't know how to put these things on sites for easy DL).

Don't know if there is a key command for repair of planes. But I do know that if you land at an airfield and park up, after about 4-5 mins the aircraft will be repaired (be patient :rolleyes: -it will repair:) ). Had an interesting one when I landed with an engine on fire once; got it stopped on the runway, switched off the engines, and with a few seconds I heard an extinguisher sound - and the fire was out! Lock-on does seem to have a few things that pop-up to surprise you.... I see Weta beat my to it...

I landed a damaged and on-fire 25t not long ago, and more in hope than expectation I switched off the engines on the runway. The fire kept burning, but a few seconds later, an extinguisher-like noise was followed by the fire going out! Then just had to wait for damage to repair, and off I went...:horseback Is this one of those not mentioned extras in game? Anyone had a similar experience?

I have an X45, and I don't use the SST either; when I installed it originally, it caused an FPS hit, and nowadays I just prefer to use it with assigned shift/cntrl/alt buttons - and no modes. And I too have had occaisional probs' with sticking commands. As an example; I put the ground brakes onto the main hat, and when allocated to the r/h side, it stuck the brakes on! Yet when I shifted it to the L/h side, it was fine.... and I had to move the trim for the same reason. Now I have another command on the R/H hat, and there is no sticking.:confused: Don't know what's goin' on here, but it is only an occaisional problem. (I have settled on a profile that hasn't changed for ages).