Random

Absolutely agree. That shape really is iconic.

Not comparable really. Different roles.

Are those 20mm cannon?

May I recommend the Reinforce Alert mod for dangerous waters? Big realism improvements and additional platforms and weapons etc.

Great feeling when you do it perfectly... Awful feeling when you realise you HAVEN'T mastered it yet when the next flight involves yet another fishtailing takeoff and a snapped wing on landing. I need more practice!

Excellent read!

If I could make a bit of money it would be a Beech 17. Beautiful aeroplanes and not millions to buy and operate.

Yep just trim and it's fine.

Some nice additions! Have to start flying the Mi8 again!

You can manually set prop pitch to give yourself more drag but be very careful not to overspeed the engine!

Wow lots I've never heard of and I'm surprised by what was around in the early 80s too.

Id want my money back if a game only lasted 2 hours!

Just a bit curious about where we all started... For me it was Night Raider on the Amstrad CPC 464 when I was something like 4 or 5 years old!

SLI will make things worse. At least in my experience. DCS is currently bottlenecked by CPU performance bot GPU. Hopefully the shift to DX11 with DCS 2.0 for those of us with beefy hardware will give a nice fps boost. I get a bit of judder in DK2 near airfields but goid and smooth once flying. 780ti here.

AAAH Tactical Nuclear Penguin. I had the chance to buy a bottle a few years back but didn't I hope they produce another batch.

You need to manually align the curcle on the HUD with the target. Should be able to launch then

Thats why you bind a snap view with your head in your lap!

Beer is good. Making your own is better. Here's my latest batch!

Yep guns in the ventral tank for the F.6 and agree that yhe 60s-70s was the best era for jets that would become iconic. Hummingbird I'll try to post that info tonight.

Could only match an eagle if you ran very light.... No ventral tank, no weapons and very little fuel etc... F2a had lower powered engines too which helped with range. Mach 2.2 was above VNE for the F.6 though may have been possible in some atmospheric conditions it couldn't be done in ICAO conditions according to the graphs in my manual.

Those rates of climb seem very suspect. Possibly attainable briefly by going at max speed at sea level then pulling up hard.... Also what weights are you using for TWR and wing loading? A quick google yielded a lower TWR for the mig.... I think I can now figure out sustained turn rates for the lightning. Give me until tomorrow evening ;) We need to look a bit more at weapons... I know redtop was designed as a bomber killer so maybe not the most agile missile but if the target was supersonic it could detect and home on the hot skin of the target. Its seeker could be slaved to the radar iirc too leading to faster aquisition and finally the lightning had computer commanded intercept. The computer would display a marker you centre on the radar screen to bring you into a firing solution While also setting fusing of the redtop for the closing speeds (head on would be a short delay, tail chase would be a longer delay) What sidewinder variants could the crusader use? Any all aspect capability? Likewise what would the migs missiles be able to do in head on engagements?

Id be interested to see sustained turn performance for the crusader and mig ... Thrust is important for a sustained turn and the lightning wins there.... The view up and rearwards in the lightning isn't great... I've only sat in one with the canopy open but the canopy frame would certainly limit your view

Few quick bits on the Lightnings performance.... All figures for F.6 with Avon 301's Full reheat Time to altitude ICAO at 38 500 starting weight with ventral tank and red tops... 20 000ft about 55seconds 30 000ft 90 seconds 40 000ft 156 seconds Max cruise range configuration as above 36 000ft 0.87 mach 805NM Max Speeds and acceleration from 0.87cruise Red tops, ventral tank and starting at 36 000lbs. Max speeds may be off... I'm just going from where the acceleration graph lines stop. Given more time higher speeds may be attainable. Again ICAO 5000ft : 1.12 Mach in 108s 15000ft: 1.42 Mach in 192s 25000ft : 1.72 Mach in 246s 35000ft :1.98 Mach in 372s Note: It will accelerate past mach 1 without reheat from about 5000ft..... Don't think the F8 or Mig21 can do that! Note2: With avon 302's above 20k ft knock 10% off the acceleration times! Just reading up on turn performance and trying to figure out the graphs!

I'll dig out what data I can though average height and speeds are a little tricky as that kinda depends on what you are doing... Combat record for the lightning is easy... was never used in anger. Service life for the F.6 was 1964 or 65 off the top of my head until 1987 or 88 though I don't think you can really claim that length of service = pilot skill....

Thanks for posting! My grandad was an engine fitter on blenheims so it has special significance to me. I've a collection of photos from duxford over the weekend featuring the Blenheim. Will post when I get time!