Grundar

Saw that earlier this year from a post here, it's a very informative lecture on the F-14 design, some great info in there.

That Panther appears to be in pristine condition, Panther G by the looks of it as well. They need to throw that in a museum, presuming the rather wealthy owner doesn't sue and reclaim it if it has inactivated weaponry.

Ask and ye shall receive!! http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=144200

lmao, I meant twist rudder >_< doh! Really need to get those rudder pedals.

I find the easiest way to avoid the Dora's tailwheel locking and unlocking and the brake dancing you can get caught in is to simply lock it from the ramp. I just keep back pressure on the stick and use the brakes in small taps to orient the Dora as required. Usually when I hit the runway I will unlock it advance a bit, lock it, make sure I am straight then power into a take off. I am using the twist throttle on my stick though I can't justify (to the minister of finance) rudder pedals...

Radar Warning Receivers are just that receivers of radar band width that displays a threat - either on HUD, panels, via tones etc... It's a rather basic device and it's use is more for avoidance or knowledge of directional radar emissions rather than as a complete means of target acquisition. More advanced RWR's feed back to jamming systems to allow jamming of specifically tested radar bands to optimise ECM/Jamming. If an enemy aircraft's radar was operating within the band range of the RWR then it should be able to display at least a directional threat - though it may not differentiate altitude. The ALR 45 operates within the 2 - 18 GHz range and consists of 4 crystal antenna which feeds back to four crystal video receivers giving you the directional component for the RWR. That is further fed back to the threat processor that can filter threat and from there linked to a display/threat panel and ?HUD. In the F-14a the RWR linked to a threat warning panel and would kick a video display from navigational mode to a strobe indicating direction of radar threat as well as giving the warbling tone of the RWR reporting radar threat contacts (at least by 1981 it was doing this). Reading Bio's book Topgun Days, he mentions watching the RWR, in context of an environment of simulated SAM's with Echo Range, but doesn't mention airborne RWR contacts. This was about 1984 or so (I think) so maybe by this stage the ALR-45 had been upgraded (I think the current model is ALR-45f). If at this point the RWR still wasn't capable of determining air radar threats maybe they relied on other sensors and the AWG-9 and the RIO's assessment of the data gathered. Would certainly make BVR contacts much more interesting - especially at phoenix engagement ranges. So i guess this is another reason why the F-14's RIO had a lot of responsibility - all that radar interpretation from that AWG-9 would of kept them busy, not to mention that on top of all their other duties. Sorry for the long winded post probably just regurgitating what others have said :p

Same as how I feel about it. With the DCS level sims I love to learn all the systems and features. The F-14 is my favourite military aircraft and it's coming as a high fidelity sim I can't wait to fly it and RIO in it.

Wow! The stripper-gram offers came in early :P Oh! right! 6 pack of beer ;) :smartass: :D Happy Birthday! :)

I guess for the regular person, if you want to adjust your car seat you often reach under the front of the seat to adjust the position - maybe it was just momentary lapse of concentration/complete fear of reefing up in the back of an F-14 or simply him not being aware that that was the location for ejection or that sort of automatic, as it were, reach for where you adjust a seat. Bloody funny story though, luckily it ended well for all those involved.

Maybe a Draken's front gear? Seems like the early calls on a Zero though are far more likely though. or... it's a BAE Lightning..with incorrectly modeled landing gear >_> :P

In regards to older sims, I think that perhaps they illustrated scale much better. For example something like Rowans BoB showed immense scale in the air battles, yes you were flying a spitfire, hurricane or bf-109 that was modeled well for the time but it was the ensuing whirling air melee that nailed it. Flying up into those masses of bombers truly was a spectacle that gave great context, scale and atmosphere for the flight sim. Sims now are much higher fidelity in terms of simulating the actual craft, for me though they usually fall down in terms of context (ie DCS WWII aircraft w/ no corresponding maps/vehicles or the new Sturmoviks woeful "campaign"), scale (limited maps/poor utilisation of available maps) and the atmosphere (limited players/AI opponents). Luckily DCS is improving in these areas, even things like the new Su-27 campaign has helped it a great deal. The fact that Leatherneck are bringing a map along with their plane is fantastic, it helps to sell the sim as something more than a high detailed study of aircraft systems and then not much to do with it otherwise as it were.

Q: Which theatre will be included with the F-14? A: Very oceany. Very cold. The F-14 Campaign will take place in this theatre. Hmm "cold" as in temperature or cold as in era? *ponders* Hmmm "oceany" as in water or as in soundtrack by Billy Ocean! *ponders the endless possibilities* Partial silliness aside, it is sounding fantastic, great work!

That was great, some fantastic aerial shots there. Also like SilentGun, love the "Right now just cost..." part lol The Tomcat was such a beautiful bird, rather elegant for the beasty thing it really was :P

That was a great video hummingbird. Love those Phoenix shots and even better hearing of the assumed psychological impact on the deployment of Soviet aircraft - which meant the missile was highly successful without being fired. The Tomcat performance data and discussion is also quite surprising and hearing about all those design decisions was really informative. Also nice to see the official loadouts there as well.

It's beautiful, those renders are fantastic. Great to see the pride you guys are taking in this project. Mig-21bis was a beautiful study in detail, I can imagine this will be gifted just as much, if not more love. Top shelf work so far guys!

A human RIO is a second pair of eyes, it increases your situational awareness greatly. Maybe if the RIO AI is prescient and sees absolutely everything it will be redundant to have a human RIO, but where is the fun in that!

Just finished reading that myself, was a good read. Gave a good bit of insight into how the RIO in the F-14 operates. Also he experienced a live ejection out of a 'cat just off of a carrier, so the guy's got credentials there! His Top Gun info was very interesting as well, not to mention the reaction to his Top Gun shirt once the movie came out lol. Detailed enough info, but not detailed enough to make it feel like you are reading a drawn out tech specs manual. Was interesting to see how the RIO deals with the AWG-9, comms and how it enhances the pilots ability to function.

A quarter price for an RIO only version AND the full version pilot gets to assign the callsign to the RIO. "What's our distance to base there Electric Boogaloo?" There's the price of admission right there, for me at least :P

Iran/Iraq or Libya would make the most sense seeing that is where the F-14 has seen combat. That said, as long as there is a carrier and some bogeys, i'm good either way.

AIM-54 was designed to destroy bombers and/or anti-ship missiles. Getting a fighter at vast BVR ranges would be possible though. The AIM-54A was replaced by the AIM-54C in 1986 (i think( and it used digital technology rather than the analog of the AIM-54A) The Phoenix had some reliability issues though with it's engine, phoeni-bombs I believe they were called. I remember reading that that the missile had surprising maneuverability when working right. To achieve it's longest range it would use mid range updates from the Tomcat and gain altitude developing gravitational potential energy on it's climb . When it entered it's internal active homing radar phase, it would then dive towards the target converting that energy into kinetic energy gaining speeds up to Mach 5. I'm trying to remember where I read it, it may of been Tomcat: bye bye baby or another Tomcat resource. Spectators watched an AIM-54 destroy a drone and the second AIM-54 arriving soon after managed to home onto the largest piece of wreckage, now just dropping from the sky, maneuvered rather sharply it appears in it's terminal phase and destroyed that as well. I would feel much better if I could find the exact quote about that. The F-14 itself was a maneuverable enough bird it seems, not the most maneuverable jet on the world, but surprisingly agile for it's size and punch.

*faints* This is the best news in flight simulations for a very long time. So flippin' excited for this one, day one purchase/beta purchase/run around house with paper airplanes making gun and missile noises as I dogfight children, pets, wife, friends, door knockers, postman and exasperated work colleagues.

Uni students never have money, which is fine when you are a Uni student, but sucks when you have graduated and your "professional student" uni friends start mooching off your new found (to a uni student) wealth :P Like seagulls to cast chips on the beach when Uni friends pop around for a visit lmao. Mig 21 is a beautiful module, just start ferreting away a little each week, don't sacrifice the food budget for it - unless you have employed ex-uni friends to mooch off. :P;)

A zero would be very, very cool to fly with,a long overdue WW2 plane and one that is not frequently modeled.

The opening bars of the Danger Zone fade into and out of my head every time I check this section of the site (like 6 times a day) Hopefully we will get news on the Monday that is forthcoming rather than any old Monday :P

Too bad the interview wasn't a video interview - in it we would of seen Cobra alternately stroking two large cats (phoenix and tarps) sitting upon his lap - Dr Evil style. I'm surprised the interviewer didn't bring it up!