fltsimbuff

I am not sure where people in this thread are getting the idea it needs a high end-game velocity, and at the same time glides better... after all, gliding is going to slow it down vs free-fall. Aren't range and speed pretty much mutually exclusive for a gliding weapon? With sufficient starting altitude and nosing over into freefall before hitting the target, it might be able to hit terminal velocity before impact, but a gliding weapon isn't going to hit terminal velocity *while it is gliding* I am sure there are problems with range, probably due to the simplified guidance and afm, but the low terminal speed doesn't mean anything.

If it helps, the HOTAS Warthog flaps switch is set up like 2 buttons. When it is in MVR the neither switch is pressed. When it is in UP, Button 22 on the controller is held in. When it is down, Button 23 is held in instead. You should be able to start with it in MVR, and set "Toggle Flaps Up" and "Toggle Flaps down" on the controls page under ALL. I am not sure if that will allow the proper functionality for MVR position though.

Yes, I've also noticed wingtip lights continue to flash when the tips are broken off. I can't really complain because the damage model is still the best I've seen in a combat sim, but it would be nice to see improvements.

Maybe he meant literally "tons" of missiles, as a full load of Phoenix missiles will weigh in around 3 tons....

I've heard of this before, and apparently the planes were flying a tight formation at the time. Consider that the largest warhead on an AMRAAM is 50lb, and the Phoenix had a 135lb warhead. It was designed to take down "larger prey." Fantastic? Yes. Plausible? Yes.

You must be doing something wrong. I've dropped thousands of tons over the past couple of years.

I have the Huey and the Mi-8, but no rudder pedals, so I just sit in the cockpit and go "WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh BOOM!" and then fire off a celebratory burst from the door guns. ;)

What about the parts where they say "I'll brake and he'll fly right by" and then push the throttles *forward* to the stops and pull up? I find that kind of painful to watch...

In his defense, in recent combat use, they might as well have been bomb racks :D

I considered posting a convincing-looking cancellation announcement for the F-14, but then I remembered all the pitch forks...

It is interesting that they just re-added Top Gun to Netflix streaming on US accounts. Coincidence?

How hard could it be to get F-14 info? Just watch Top Gun a couple of times... and ignore the backwards throttle movements....

We should probably keep this thread slow and boring. Cobra has work to do.

It had better be the RG version...

Be careful... Do you have any idea how many pitchfork-and-fire armed people are on this thread just waiting for a Tomcat announcement?

That gives us 90 minutes to try and guess the variant (A, B, D, Super Tomcat 21....)

Or it could be that they found it wasn't going to be ready until 1AM 3/3 UTC time, so just moved over a few time zones to meet so it was still well within 3/2.

Yes, their roles were a little different (nowhere near as different as you seem to think though). The Su-24 was built for a similar purpose, but in accordance with Soviet doctrine (we didn't use our assets the same way). The Variable Geometry wings were added to the design because of the F-111, however. So no, it wasn't a carbon copy like the Tu-4, but it "borrowed" some design elements and both were strike aircraft intended to be used according to their respective doctrines. I wouldn't shun a Fencer one was announced shortly by Leatherneck though... While they are at the whole variable-geometry thing...

I can't see why... The F-111 was more capable in pretty much every way (faster, longer range, could carry a lot more). The Su-24 was a pretty poor imitation.

So while it seems fairly clear this is the F-14 already, I figured I'd add this... The "Welcome Back Baby" might be related to this book "Grumman F-14 Tomcat: Bye - Bye Baby...!: Images & Reminiscences From 35 Years of Active Service" http://www.amazon.com/Grumman-F-14-Tomcat-Reminiscences-Service/dp/0760339813

IRST wouldn't have been useful at the ranges the Phoenix operated. The Phoenix also relied on radar tracking data (INS/Autopilot with SARH updates prior to terminal phase), so they would have had to get a radar track before launching. Now this is pure speculation, but as the Tomcat's IRST was mounted below the nose, it was probably used more to detect sea-skimming cruise missiles and attack planes than high-flying fighters and bombers.

It wasn't really designed with that in mind, but it could hit them if they didn't maneuver too much (at range) and likely do better at shorter ranges. It is questionable whether or not they could even see it coming on RWRs of the time. Iraqi fighters were said to frequently disengage and run whenever a Tomcat started tracking them. At the very least it was a weapon that could force the enemy to go defensive out at 100nm.

The F-14 was *surprisingly* good in a dogfight for its size and weight. It was primarily built as a fleet defense interceptor, not so much for dogfighting. Even so in the hands of a good pilot it could hold its own. There was literally no competition in the fleet defense interceptor category though. The radar, the weapons it could carry, the range and the speed of the fighter made it great. The dogfighting competency was just a bonus. And look at that shape with fully-swept wings... you gotta love that.

I am more excited to see the Phoenix myself, and since the Tomcat is the only aircraft capable of carrying the Phoenix, there you have it. Besides, the F-14 was not only the most capable fighter that could be launched from a ship, but more capable than most launched from land.

Not likely to happen. There's a certain amount of security in not including everything needed (like cockpit textures and data) that prevents someone from making a modification to enable flying a for-pay module. The smaller you make that gap between non-paid module and paid module, the easier you make it for someone to bridge that gap through reverse engineering. That's my take... and besides, the current model seems to work very well. Not much point in making everyone download all that extra data just so they can sit in the cockpit and flip switches that don't do anything.