Captain Orso

In a good documentary they stated that at some point they thought that they could put rookie pilots into Harrier training; that the rookies would simply learn the Harrier along with the rest. After a number of fatal crashes, they realized that only seasoned pilots had the instincts and know-how to deal with the quirks of the Harrier. Since then only experience pilots are selected to pilot Harriers.

Well... Marines I guess - lol I'm still wondering about not being able to change loadouts. Even the new DCS World guide says that you can change waypoints and loadouts in Mission Planner. I get what you mean about GBU's although since the goal is the C&C (I guess the command vehicle?) but yeah, that would be too easy. Also, far from certain that the staff would necessarily be sitting in the vehicle just waiting to be bombed. I'd still like the opportunity to try things like rockeyes and snakeyes, just for fun. I guess just different versions of the mission are the only viable possibilities.

So I gave the SP mission a shot, and I had some... issues... I mean, I didn't even find the FRAGO until after I'd failed, but not as completely as you might expect. There are a bunch of spelling errors, for example, in the briefing description #3 you DROP bombs, and it's "at this STAGE". Don't know how realistic the frago format is, but you do not "stall" the enemy, you delay him. Also, commanders do not have "intents", but rather objectives, and in stating an objective, describing an "endstate" (sic.) is superfluous. Some more tangible issues I had were 1. I could not change my loadout. In fact I wanted to reorganize my flight completely. 2. It's not a CAS mission, it's a air interdiction or a strike, but not close air support. 3. I couldn't really think of why I would need a TPOD and wanted to get rid of it, but either the mission is locked so that I can't change the loadout, or DCS has changed with the same results. 4. I wanted to do the DEAD mission myself, because I don't trust DCS to do it right, and I was right. I pointed #2 toward the SA-8's and told him to attack air defences, and he headed straight for Chieftain and took an IGLA in the face while heading in :doh: Personally if I could have redon all the loadouts et al, I'd have used snakeyes. I'd have set Dodge 1-1 SEAD (DEAD): AGM-122 Sidearms*4, Fuel Tank 300g*2, DECM, Gunpod Dodge 1-2 CAP: AIM-9M*4, Fuel Tank 300g*2, Gunpod Dodge 1-3 AI/Strike: AIM-9M*2, Mk82SE*6, Fuel Tank 300g*2, TPOD(maybe), Gunpod 5. waypoint (target) is not actually on Chieftain. It''s offset to the north a few hundred yards. 6. apropos, the recon photo ought to have a north-arrow on it. I may edit the loadouts in the ME and try again.

Hey Sedlo, thanks for the prompt reply. I was kind of hoping it was MIST script issue, and that by inserting a newer MIST script it would solve itself, but after some thought, I've got MIST is a few missions where I don't have an issue, so... guess I'll wait. T(h)anks anyway :)

On 2.5.6 OB I'm getting MIST script crashes during radio comms. Pressing the confirmation button on the pop-ups allows the mission to continue (I've only flown the first mission). Also, my PTT assignments for radio 1 and 2 are somehow blocked. The only thing that works is directly pressing "".

<LCTRL> is a modifier key. This has nothing to do with Windows™ but that it is per default defined as a modifier under Option => Controls => Spitfire => Modifiers Modifiers must be pressed first, which is also only logical. Also, there is no point in trying to press them simultaneously. Press and hold the modifier <LCTRL> and then the modified key, in this case <E>, three times. You can assign a binding which does or does not require a modifier, but you still have to press the key/button/switch -- modified or not -- 3 times quickly.

It use to break the lock with a long enough press of the slew in one direction, but since the IRMV should lock onto what the TPOD was locked on to, I never have the IRMV locked onto the wrong target. I mean, maybe of your have a long line of tanks and are flying directy at them at low altitude so that their silhouettes overlap each other... I don't think I've ever seen a lock on an electrical mast. Slewing the IRMV should not alter the TPOD IIRC. The IRMV slaves to the TPOD, but I don't think it works the other way around, although I might be wrong. If I am wrong, then there's nothing you can do against it AFAIK

I think you're confused about a number of things at once. The targeting pod is the targeting pod, and the IRMV is the IRMV. Don't mix them together. So you have the TPOD displayed on your right MPCD and out of standby. You slew is controlling the TPOD's carrot. Slew it to your target. If the target is a vehicle, the TPOD ought to automatically lock onto the vehicle and PNT will be underlined at OSB 20. Sometimes you have to press OSB 20 though. Once the TPOD is locked on the target you uncage the IRMV, which will bring it's IR display on to the left MFCD with it pointing to the exact same point as the TPOD, if the target is within the IRMV's FOV. Press SSS-Aft to move the Sensor Selector Switch focus to the IRMV. Starting now the slew will control the IRMV's camera, but you should already be on target. Press the slew down to confirm the target, which will have the target reticle lines close in on the target (about one pixel will be missing from the lines touching the target). The IRMV has now locked the target as well. Now just press the pickel when you are ready to fire.

Okay okay, let's not get carried away. No one actually said, "mehh it’s another jump jet", and so I didn't say "f*ck'em" to anyone. I guess that fact did a fly-over at angels 10, while some had their HMD's leutering at angels 5 :smilewink:

There are many videos about Harrier development out there, covering from the very first hover of an experimental aircraft up to the AV-8B+. Why should RAZBAM repeat what is already available? The first gen. Harriers deployed in the '70's, also with the US Marines. The US immediately wished for a more capable aircraft and McDonnell Douglas signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the BAe that said they would develop it together. The BAe eventually dropped out of development (BAe is government owned, and they didn't want to invest in the cost of development) and left MD to do their own thing, so MD basically took all the development of HSA and BAe and designed the AV-8B Harrier II. All the groundbreaking knowledge of first Harrier went into the II, which used new materials and technology to build a completely new and better Harrier. Parallel to all of this the RN had the Sea Harrier developed, because they had different needs than the RAF, namely air defense. The Sear Harrier went operational in 1980 but only two squadrons were operational during the Falklands War in '82, both were deployed on the HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes. The RAF also had a Harrier I Gr3. squadron in the Falklands for CAS duties, which was not the primary duty of the Sea Harrier. The Sea Harrier stayed in service with the RN until 2006, while the RAF started transitioning to the BAe implementation of the MD Harrier II in 1990. So the Harrier I, Harrier II and Sea Harrier are all very different aircraft, with the Harrier I and Sea Harrier sharing at least the entire airframe. For RAZBAM they might have been able to share a huge amount of development between the Harrer I and the Sea Harrier, but they're not building the RAF's Harrier I. So, yes, the Sea Harrier is a completely different aircraft from the AV-8B Harrier II. Anyone who says "mehh it’s another jump jet" doesn't know anything about their capabilities and deployment, or just doesn't care, so f*ck'em.

I don't know if this is the same phenomena, but I was fly the Mustang yesterday. I went in for a strafing run (not extremely steep or anything, and right after starting to pull out the sound when weird like I had tinnitus; like you were swimming and your ears were full of water. Everything was muffled and there was a slight ringing. The last part might have just been me through :music_whistling:

andremsmv, you've obviously got a chip on your shoulder, but that's not my problem. I'm talking about 1-v-1 combat here. In multiple aircraft vs multiple aircraft countless things can happen which you cannot plan; you can only take advantage of the opportunity. Nine times out of ten, if you listen to aces talk about their kills, it was because the poor sucker who they shot down, didn't know they were there until it was too late, and it was not something you can plan for. It happens. Aces proved that they know how to take advantage of the situation and have the aggression to do it. You apparently don't know what a dog-fight is. It's not when any two aircraft meet in the sky and at least one fires onto the other. It's aerial combat in which the emphasis is on out maneuvering the enemy, which means turning and fighting along the horizontal to the greatest extent, which means the aircraft which can turn the best while retaining the most airspeed will have a great advantage in such a turn-n-burn fight. The P-51D losses a lot of speed in tight turns, and because of its weight, it does not climb nor accelerate well. If you cannot turn with the 109 and cannot climb with it, you cannot dog-fight it. You can do that which your aircraft is good at, which is diving and retaining speed, striking the enemy (and hopefully killing him) and then using your energy advantage to climb out of the enemies attack radius. That's not dog-fighting, that's booming-n-zooming. About the enemy being unaware of your presence, if the enemy doesn't know you are there, you can be 5,000 feet below him and 50kts slower, and as long as he doesn't spot you, he's dead meat (period). That's not a strategy nor a tactic. That's the blind luck of war or the incompetence of the enemy. How do you want to practice and learn that? To say that the P-51D could not turn with the Bf-109K-4 would be factually incorrect. At above about 23,000 feet the P-51D has a power advantage over the Kürfurst enough to be able to hold a sustained turn tighter. But at above 20,000 feet, all turns are pretty tame compared to below 15,000 feet.

WxH: 768x1024 (3x4) ... or at least that's what the original files are.

It depends on what kind of "images" you are talking about. - Put as much info in plain text (black on white) as possible. - Use a program such as OpenOffice Write to create your base document. - - Format pages to fit exactly to your kneeboard pages. - - Use a font which is easily read, even when blurry. NOT Arial, nor any sans serif! - - - This is an example of a serif font: Times New Roman. Note that at the ends of each line of each letter there is a very small, perpendicular stroke added. That is seriffing. - You can skip the rest of this point, unless you are interested in some media history. Seriffing, beyond simply decoration, was used in print media to make letters more uniform in width. In the early days of printing, they discovered that small printed letters which got too close together, because they were very narrow, lead to ink bleeding from one letter to the next, so to widen the letters seriffing was added to printed media. In the process it was noticed that the printing was also easier to read; thus serif fonts became popular. Only when printing technology became more sophisticated and electronic media completely removed the danger of bleed-over, did san serif fonts become popular again, because they are narrower and more letters can be fit in the same width. - - - - Arial: IIIIIIII <= quickly, how many 'I's are there? - - - - Courier New: IIIIIIII <= quickly, how many 'I's are there? - - So pick a font you can easily read in VR on the kneeboard. There is no shortcut to trying different fonts. Also, don't shy away from searching the internet for a new font. Examples of serif fonts I find easy to read are Bitter, Lora, and Bookerly. Bookerly is what Amazon uses in their Kindle devices, and was chosen scientifically to be very easily readable with as little eye strain as possible on their 'real paper' electronic devices. - - Use a font size small enough to be able to fit as much info on one page as possible, but large enough to be easily ready without having to press your virtual nose against the virtual screen. - - If you indent, use filler characters to make lines easy to follow. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - easier to - - - - - - - - - - - - follow with - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - filler characters than if text is simply floating in the air. There's no shortcut to trying different things out to find what works for you.

I honestly don't, but I think it was in a post answering exactly that question, whether the avatars would do physical marshaling. IIRC he didn't even say "for now", or "at release", which kind of disappointed me, because it sounds like there are no plans what-so-ever.

It depends on the situation, plus you have to look at the weapons you have available. If my targets are literally sleeping armor, with absolutely no air defence capabilities, GBU's are a better choice, because you can carry 12 of them, as opposed to 4 IRMV's. You fly overhead at 15-20k, paint (laser) one target after another and send each a little Easter present; and even if the target moves, the TPOD will track it. But if they're going to reciprocate with some SAM's GBU's are out of the question. With an IRMV you can setup yourtarget at 10-15k alt. and 15 nm and slide in carefully while playing the TPOD-paparazzi game. At about 7 nm you can launch and if no one has raised a fuss, turn away and return to the 15 nm mark to turn around and pick off the next target; the IRMV, once it's on-target is a sure hit, about 95% of the time, even if the target starts to move. If the enemy gets frisky, fire your missle and turn off 90° and head for the deck, where you turn off another 45° and sneak back out, while blowing chaff out your ass, to climb up to 10-15k again, rinse and repeat. Also, with heavy cloud cover, you can forget GBU's completely.

It's been reported about 100 times already. It's a very know bug, which generally (always?) starts appearing after having landed and taken off again. After a couple minutes Bitchin' Betty starts getting PTSD flashbacks. Sometimes it's just the start of a message, like the first 1/10 of a second, and sometimes she speaks them out completely, "Altitude, altitude", "PULL UP!! PULL UP!!", poor Betty :(

Glad it works for you :) Another thing you can do for practice is fly formation on the 109. On the straight and level it's not hard, but in the corners it's a rodio :D

Actually IIRC Wags said the avatars will not marshal aircraft through hand signals. Maybe they'll have like arrows pointing the way, maybe nothing and you'll have to F2 it.

They say a picture's worth a thousand word... I haven't actually tested this -- bit tired at the moment -- so if anything is amiss, let me know. Check the 109 for advanced waypoint tasks for where all the magic is... yeah, it's not really any magic, just a few settings. Have fun and feel free to make any changes you might wish. P-51D A2A Training.miz

The P-51D is not a dog-fighter. You Boom-n-Zoom her, and that's it. Nothing else will work well. Also having an wingman is an enormous advantage. - When you started your approach to the 109 you have about 400kts TAS and the 109 about 265kts(!!) plus over 1000 feet. That's a huge advantage. But by the time you pull into 1000 feet behind the 109 he's at 280 and you are at 330 TAS. Your advantage of 135kts and 1000 feet(!!) have already dropped to 50kts and 0 feet. I don't think this is simply from the turn, because even after the turn your are still losing speed. I think you've pulled back on the throttle to allow for more time to fire, so you are throwing your speed and altitude advantage away. Better would be to stay at your altitude and gently circle around behind the 109 (go from above right of the 109 (his fight direction) to above, behind, left to allow for a wide turn with minimal speed loss, plus to use space to stay behind him. Then when you are ready to dive on him you still have most of your speed, plus you gain from diving. - Target practice - you needs it. It takes lots of practice to get to be a good shot, especially in aiming an aircraft. It's about 1000% more difficult than aiming a rifle. To shift your aim a little to the left, there is no way to just drag your reticle (unless you only need one shot and only need to adjust just a little, you can use the rudder) to the left, you have to bank, rudder just enough and then just before you're directly on target you have to bank in the other direction to stop your turn. It requires more than twice as much coordination as simply pointing, and that requires practice. Set up a training mission with a target aircraft which has ROE to never fire and set to never avoid enemy attacks. Put it on a race track circuit or set 4 waypoints (1, 2, 3, 4) with a trigger that when it gets to waypoint 4 it switches to waypoint 1, so that it will fly around forever until you shot it down. Now practice on shooting it down. Trying different attack angles. But practice. - After passing the 109 (he pulled down and left, you should not have tried to follow him. He will ALWAYS out turn you - ALWAYS. He's more maneuverable, and slower (or he was :smilewink: ). Just start a shallow climb keeping an eye on him. You are now defensive as long as he is behind you. You have to know how to read what he's trying to do and how to counter it. He turned hard left. If he keeps hard left, he's trying to get behind you, which he will. You can either extend (increase your distance) and pull away by going into a shallow dive, or turn slowing in his direction, to force him to lengthen his turn and cost more energy to get behind you. Whatever you do, play to your strengths, which are really just maintaining speed. This is why maintaining your speed is of utmost importance, and why shooting skill will save your life. Get in, shoot (hopefully kill), and climb out with your speed. If you didn't kill him, tough. Live to try again and get good.

While in SP you can open 'Options -> Controls -> aircraft' and manage your control bindings. When you return to your running mission, DCS will have forgotten all of your controller switch positions. EG You have a switch for undercarriage (aft = down, forward = up) and you start cold on the ground. After starting the mission, you change something in your bindings. After taking off, you flip the switch for your undercarriage to 'up' and nothing happens. You have to flip back to 'down' and then back to 'up' again before DCS recognizes the correct state of the switch and raises the undercarriage. This happens every time that I can recall, with no exceptions. Otherwise the Synchronize HOTAS Controllers setting seems to always work.

So... the TPODs are really just NYAN cats with lasers :D

The entire strategic concept of developing the Harrier was to carry tactical nukes. As Harlikwin pointed out, ED will never introduce nukes into DCS. I wish people would stop drooling over them.

:huh: lol, never noticed before :) NATOPS says that the PB -- regardless of being in FLIR, CCD, or VCR mode -- exits the TPOD page and goes to the BIT page, and "the TPOD does not write anything in this area", whatever that means. So if it basically turns the TPOD off, I guess that pretty descriptive of STOP :smilewink: