KiraTheCat

Don't know if you need another nudge in the direction of doing this campaign, but have one anyway. Anything the community does is something that keeps flight simming alive a little longer. Go for it!

Might as well post here too. Love the idea, but no skins on the frontpage anymore...? Did they get lost in the ether? Loved the MLP skins on M4T for IL2. It'd be great to have a few for DCS as well. Where'd they go? (Where'd who go??? hehe)

Another article from that site. It seems a good site for such things. The Nugget Cruise. http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/8881/taking-the-f-14a-tomcat-on-cruise-for-the-first-time?iid=sr-link2

Yes, I believe so. This was because the 1950's era engines still had a long spool up time. The solution was to put as much drag on the aircraft as possible, so that you could carry as much power as possible on approach, thus not needing to worry quite so much about spool up times. Need speed? Close the speed-brakes. Instant speed, without having to wait for the engine(s) to wind up. 1:04 here clearly shows the speed brakes deployed prior to runway landing in the FJ2, the Navy equivalent of the F-86 Sabre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoB3ViKhCs8 The same procedure was continued even after engines got more reliable and faster on the uptake. Good habits die hard? Either way, I'm sure it was difficult to unlearn having power available when looking at that postage stamp of a flight deck, especially at night. As an aside, I know a retired 747 guy who says that's exactly what they did on approaches. Everything out (gear, flaps, the works), THEN start your approach. Their rationale was that if you had everything out beforehand, then you weren't changing the configuration, and thus flying characteristics, of the aircraft mid-way through an approach. Solid reasoning. Hmmm, crash barrier. An excellent suggestion, ghostdog688.

For years, I flew Jane's USNF 97 and Jane's Fighter's Anthology. One of the super-rare occurrences during carrier operations was a catapult failure, the infamous "cold cat shot". The deck shooter would yell "Cat failure! Eject!", and I'd be down one aircraft from inventory, as well as, of course, failing that particular mission. Nothing like watching one's bird dribble off the deck at not too many knots. Like so from 0:52: Would the possibility of incorporating failures of that sort into the Forrestal be considered? Another "good" failure would be arresting wire failure. These happen far more often than cold cats. Speaking of the wires, how about a hook skip bolter? While I'm making requests, are there plans for visible deck crewmen, like the aforementioned Shooter? I'm not sure about Air Force ground crew, but Deck Crew are all over the place on a carrier. Different colour jerseys for different jobs. And finally, of course, the LSO. Naturally to go along with the Fresnel lens. (Optical Landing System, apparently.) Thanks for the consideration.