Kippy

It's not that I think I'm a real fighter pilot, I'm just here to vouch for the guys who take DCS seriously, turn the labels off, and don't feel a need for "balance" in multiplayer like it's War Thunder or Call of Duty. You know, the kind of pilots who know that the Navy doesn't operate the F-15.

Ah, yes. Well, I will be searching for the Syrian SU-22 pilot's formal complaint that he was shot-down by a non-period aircraft.

Is this the general consensus? I don't keep in touch with the less-realistic player groups. I stay on the hardcore simulation end. Do players really see the DCS online mode as an easy-mode arcade setting? If so, I think that's sad... Su-27s already have the HMD combined with the R73. If you ask me, the AIM-9X and JHMCS will be introducing balance. AIM-9Ms just can't compete with the R73.

What if I told you DCS is a simulator, not a video game, and balance is not a concern whatsoever? Do you think that the Syrian Su-22 pilot complained about balance because he got shot down by a much more advanced aircraft? Sorry if that was a bit rude. That point just needs to be driven into the heads of the DCS community. This is not a video game. If you want balance, go to War Thunder.

Thanks for sharing Xavven, great story. :thumbup:

Koty, I can assure you that the 262 is not slow by any means. It will outrun nearly anything, the only obvious threat I remember were Typhoons and Tempests when they had altitude as they retained speed pretty well. A P-51D or 109K-4 simply will not catch it outside of a dive, and will not keep up with it for long in a dive regardless. 262's don't use sharp maneuvers in any circumstance, always maintaining high airspeed by keeping their turns to a very wide radius. Any 262 pilot worth his salt will refuse to allow the aircraft below 375 mp/h when the enemy is around. The priority of flying is stay alive and then fight. A smart 262 pilot will never give up airspeed for a turn, because that's prioritizing fighting over holding onto the thing that keeps them alive - airspeed. Not to be rude, but.. 570 km/h is slow for a 262, but for prop driven aircraft? I think not.

I'm going to pull an excerpt from one of my favorite reads in the last year, "A Higher Call," written about Franz Stigler and his experience over Northern Germany on December 20th, 1943. This part of the book is documenting Franz's time with Jagdgeschwader 27 in North Africa. "Every time you go up, you'll be outnumbered," he said. Franz nodded, wishing Roedel was exaggerating but knowing better, "Those odds may make a man want to fight dirty to survive," Roedel said, squeezing the bunched up leather gloves in his hands. "But let what I'm about to say to you act as a warning. Honor is everything here." Franz shrugged, unsure where Roedel was going with the talk. "What will you do, Stigler [Franz], for instance, if you find your enemy floating in a parachute?" "I guess I've never thought that far ahead yet," Franz said. "If I ever see or hear of you shooting a man in a parachute," Roedel said, "I will shoot you down myself." "You follow the rules of war for you, not for the enemy. You fight by the rules to keep your humanity." There's another excerpt later on that goes along with this topic well: [The background: Franz and his wingman, Voegl, come home after a flight on which Franz scored his first victory.] "Then why are you both smiling?" Roedel asked, his eyes emotional. "Because of his [Franz's] first kill," Voegl said. Roedel dropped his arms to his sides. "You score victories, not kills," Roedel said to Voegl, frustrated. "Haven't you learned anything?" Turning to Franz, Roedel added, "You shoot at a machine, not a man." Roedel looked like he was going to say something more, but he shook his head and walked away. For those interested in the book, go pick it up. It's a fantastic read.

The HMCS is an absolutely incredible tool even without the AIM-9X. It displays altitude, airspeed, steerpoint and bearing info when you're eyes out of the cockpit. It's very useful even if we completely disregard the AIM-9X. Once you fly with the HMCS, you'll never want to fly without it. But, as Eagle Dynamics wants us to be happy little children, they're giving us both the JHMCS and the AIM-9X. :)

Yes it's an AIM-9X. Given the limited information we've seen, it appears likely that we will in fact see the AIM-9X with our F/A-18C.

Ah. Performance wise, the 262 does take quite a long time to get up to the proper airspeed, and during that time she is very vulnerable. You won't see a 262 depart from a frontline base - they will generally takeoff behind the lines, thus allowing them time to build up airspeed and altitude to their advantage. The 262's required time to "wind up," if you will, is it's Achilles Heel, engine problems aside. However, if the 262 is allowed this time, it becomes a very scary machine. I don't really want to repeat what I said a few pages back in this thread, but put simply, If the 262 is engaging fighters that are dogfighting, the 262 controls the entire fight. They will use their high speed to slash in and out the furball rather than dogfight, tagging a target of opportunity every pass. Slash in, shoot one down, fly 4000 yards out, turn back in... rinse and repeat. If you don't remain vigilant of the enemy 262's position, chances are he will tag you in his pass for failing to maneuver evasively when he begins his slash into the fight. Due to their high speed, their trigger time is small and you don't exactly need to take billy-big-boy-steps to get out of their way during their pass. However, even with short trigger time, the guns are 30mm and fire Minengeschoß and HEI shells.. chances are, only one or two of them actually need to connect and the target is bust. Truthfully, if you remain vigilant of their position and when they run in, you should be able to evade rather easily and the 262 simply becomes little more than a minor inconvenience. Any 262 pilot who chooses to dogfight rather than boom and zoom is choosing death. The 262 isn't exactly highly maneuverable, and should be an easy pick should the pilot throw his energy away. If you catch a 262 with his pants down at low speed, if he doesn't have altitude, he's not going to build speed in time to run away from you. As for engaging bombers, the 262s will likely try to approach high and from the front, aiming for a diving pass on nose of the aircraft near the cockpit - the fastest way to remove a B-17 from flight... aim for the pilots and the controls of the bomber. Sometimes you will also see brave 262 pilots diving through the boxes aiming for the wings of bombers; big targets that often collapse when hit with 30mm shells.

The 262 by all means is an awesome machine ; I'd legitimately give my left arm to fly one. It simply comes down to the fact that with the 262 you have to be absolutely very well aware of it's limitations and have the utmost respect for the machine. I see the 262 as a strange quantity, to be treated much like any dangerous substance. She has to be put in qualified hands and treated just right. If not, she will wreak havoc on the user. You have to have some level of respect and faith with any machine that you trust your life with - this goes for all aircraft. Heh, look at me - the kooky guy who respects airplanes like they are sentient beings. The 262 simply had shortcomings in the engines that would be expected of any country under siege, unable to produce proper quality metal. The 262 was constructed hastily and poorly as a last ditch effort to perhaps win air superiority and drive off the allied bombers that ravaged German cities and infrastructure. (Of course this was after Hitler was informed that producing it as a bomber wasn't exactly the best idea, which.. he did anyway) If the 262 had the time to properly mature and have the kinks worked out, and to produce the aircraft with the proper quality, it would have been a very threatening machine to the allied air forces. However, the 262 is a perfect example of an initially disregarded and then rushed product; too little numbers and too late in the war to make a difference. The Luftwaffe lost most of it's experienced pilots before the 262 saw heavy use, and as such the pilots flying her were inexperienced and improperly trained due to the Luftwaffe trying to make up for mounting losses. I believe the 262s characteristics with energy management and engine operation will make her the most challenging module in DCS to actually fly. I'm looking forward to this. The 262 will be the reason I get into the WW2 side of DCS.

This is.. one of those things. Something I never really thought about having, but after having it, I don't see how I ever survived without it. Fantastic idea. Thank you!

The 262 was a dangerous machine that no pilot could ever master. Bearfoot's spot on. The 262s revolutionary Junkers-built Jumo 004s were both the jet's gift and it's curse. The engines were as fragile as fine china because they were made from much lower grade materials due to mineral shortages. It's also documented that some of the 262's parts including engine internals, were manufactured by slave laborers in underground factories. As a result, many of the laborers would either sabotage parts, or, well, just construct them poorly. Pilots had to be very careful with the 262's engines - particularly temperature and throttle movement. As for temperature, the blades inside the engine were unable to withstand the rigorous temperatures due to the poor quality of the metals, and would heat up and expand during flight at nearly full power settings. This did not become a problem until after the aircraft landed, when the blades would cool down, thus retracting and cracking. If this process was repeated many times at high temperatures, then the blades were known to shatter completely during flight, obviously causing catastrophic consequences for the poor engine. As for throttle movement, the engines would suffer flameouts if the throttle was moved too quickly, especially at high altitude. Obviously catastrophic for the 262 if he's being chased or is in the midst of an engagement. The 262's engines had an absolutely horrible lifespan. A brand-new engine had a lifespan of just 28 hours, and refurbished engines were good for just another 10 or so hours between overhauls. An experienced pilot who's careful with the engines and aware of their limitations could potentially heighten the lifespan of the engines (and thus themselves!), but I generally hear that the engines were good for absolutely no longer than 35 hours. The engines are one of the reasons the 262 fleet saw such limited operational capability in low numbers - many working jets had to have their engines cannibalized to keep other jets flying.

Anybody who has flown BMS and used the comms there knows how absolutely fantastic it is. The transmissions sound very real and it's quite easy and straightforward to set up. In my opinion, this is a must have for DCS. +1

http://wane.com/2017/06/07/air-force-secretary-a-10s-in-fort-wayne-5-or-10-years-at-least/ FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) The Air Force has committed the A-10 fighter jet to the Fort Wayne Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing for “the foreseeable future, which is five or ten years at least.” In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly questioned Air Force Secretary Dr. Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein on the Air Force’s commitment to the 122nd’s air combat future. Both officials made that commitment. Here is the exchange: Dr. Heather Wilson, Secretary of the Air Force, testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, June 6, 2017. Donnelly: “I want to make sure that this commitment to maintaining a manned air combat mission at Fort Wayne will be kept.” Wilson: “Senator, the A-10 is at Fort Wayne and we have no intention of removing it. It’s there for the foreseeable future and they’ll have that manned combat mission. We have no intention of changing that.” Goldfein: “The reality is we need that wing flying the A-10 right now, and so we made a decision in this budget to keep the A-10.” Donnelly: “My question is how long does ‘right now’ last?” Wilson: “We’re keeping the A-10s for the foreseeable future, which is five or ten years at least.” As it sits right now, it seems that A-10s will remain flying until 2023-2028. Huzzah!

I'm from Clear Lake, Indiana, <1 mile to the Michigan border. I'm interested here! Sign me up!

DCS has no place being an "arcade" style game like War Thunder. DCS prides itself in being a tight-knit community of high fidelity simulator pilots that I can only compare to a fraternity, rather than being a pool of bumbling morons [excuse the potentially harsh words] like War Thunder. I've never had a bad interaction with a fellow DCS pilot. In stark contrast, go play War Thunder for 10 minutes and read aloud every chat message you see. I can see why ED would want to expand into a more arcade market to generate capital, but it would tear my heart in half to see this happen.

I wouldn't say we're up against War Thunder - War Thunder is arcade through and through, even the simulator battles hardly feel real and targets a casual demographic that doesn't know much about aircraft, while DCS represents a much more realistic and challenging experience targeting a demographic of pretty hardcore simmers. To me, they're parts of two entirely separate genres. War Thunder is a video game, and DCS is a simulator. [/hijack] DCS does seem to have users from all over the world active within the community. It's quite amazing, really. I've personally flown with guys from the US, UK, Germany, and Russia. Let me know if you want to go up sometime Gaz, I'd love to add Australia to that list.

I was blown away when I first loaded up my A-10C on the Ramp at Nellis. While some say the new lighting makes everything look a bit too washed out, and I may have to agree the slightest bit, I was absolutely speechless when I got into the air. Looking around and seeing the desert, with the new lighting for the sky... and how the horizon gradually fades away, I nearly choked up a bit, It truly felt "real." I also noticed, and I haven't flown in NTTR since the launch of 2.0.5, so I'm not sure if this is old news, that the black hot and white hot functions of the TGP actually seemed to work like they should! Targets were very visible from some miles out, which was a great relief from flying back at the Caucasus. I then flew a night sortie, and was even more impressed. The night lighting has always been sublime with Nevada, but the new landing and taxi lights looked great, and made for a jawdropping taxi experience at Nellis. Flying through the night, watching the mavericks fly off the rail in a brilliant flash, seeing the gun produce some small light in the cockpit when firing, I was impressed beyond my words with the new update. I did however, as expected with an Alpha, find a few bugs here and there. The A-10C cockpit lighting felt a little wonky, the side panels where all the switches are seemed to sort of.. glow almost. It's tough to describe, and it didn't feel right. I also immediately discovered that the TAD map didn't approve of the 2.1 update apparently, because it up and left. Wooo, black TAD. Wingtip vortices glow bright white when flying at night, and the HUD was very hard to read on the backdrop of the new sky. Overall, flying during the day I noticed a few times that my CPU Usage was hitting 100% causing stutters and my RAM was also near maxing out, I've never experienced this before. Give ED a month to finish the rough edges and take a look at performance, and I'm sure 2.1 will be a great update.

+1! Fantastic idea! :pilotfly:

Been there once passing through Dayton. Unfortunately, I only had two hours passing through the museum as I was crunched on time. I'll be heading back this summer, as well as stopping in for the Dayton Airshow. I also plan to fly out to EAA AirVenture with a buddy of mine in his Stearman this year as well. Going to be a good summer!

Can't wait to see this thing in person. Seeing these photos has convinced me to head up to Portage this weekend. Thanks!

Looks fantastic! I would even pay good money for a mod that does this, but with NATO gear.

As much as I love the A-10C, I can truthfully say that the F-14 is shaping up to be my favorite module. I can't wait to take my first cat shot and make my first trap! Keep up the fantastic work!

Having a hefty defense budget is nice; it's always better to train shooting at the real thing rather than a tank made from recycled cereal boxes. :)