G.J.S

Oops. Never mind

More or less. The RN got them I think about a year before the RAF started operating them. The RAF just gained more when the RN stopped flying them.

The Aardvark being prepped by crew chief . . .

The whole “dated then married” evolution

Can we see some images of the HB product please, showing us images of actual F-4’s is misleading . . . Looking good guys. VERY good.

Made me wonder too. For a first post - quite a way to announce yourself.

One makes the sort of howl that makes it seem almost unearthly, has a look straight out of a sci-fi film, can cavort around the sky at altitudes that can embarrass quite a few fighters, and comes from the same stables as the Lanc. The other can, as evidenced in the picture above, light it’s farts.

Everyone must know the "Pardo's push" saga . . . That takes some unfeasibly large brass ones, because you have around 30 Tons of sick F-4 pushing back on your windshield framing - get it wrong and your mushy body wouldn't even slow the hook down before it embeds itself in the ejection seat. Blue skies.

Really? Given that it’s free, the core sim is rather bloody good! 15 years of dedication in its current iteration, kept aloft by a band of very talented people, who unfortunately have to see posts like that which you proffer.

Giving or receiving? Lol. As with a lot of things - it depends. Depends on the launch platform, the target to be prosecuted, the environment, and desired effect.

I flew with it for just over 10 minutes in total, on the B-1b’s ingress when it was nowhere near its release point, and left it when it was around 70NM from its target area. The doors were never closed, just cracked in this partial open configuration and stayed in the same, which seemed odd and unlikely behaviour for the real thing (why increase your RCS greatly?). Just to re-iterate, this was BEFORE any weapons release - long before - and not in the target area. I didn’t see the B-1 during its entire flight, only for a little over 10 minutes before departing to RTB. The doors were cracked before I latched on wing, remained so during my following, and was the same upon my departure from it.

Only noticed as passing, decided to latch for a while, and noticed that the bomb bay doors are partly cracked open. The B-1B was still circa 70NM from target, and for the duration of my forming up, the doors neither closed fully nor opened, they just stayed as seen here. B-1B loadout was full load of GBU-31. A/C at 27000ft and .95M. Screenshot taken, no track I'm afraid.

Certainly looks so, doesn’t it? Early blast diffuser - pre Midas 4.

Well she wasn't as aerodynamically pure anymore No. Weighing about 1800lbs (i think?), it lowered Vmax somewhat, and violent maneuvering could shift the alignment whilst airborne meaning that it would have to be "re-boarded" when back on the ground - the armourers would set up a board ahead of the A/C and sight the pod against that. Laborious! Pods were routinely carried by the squadrons in Germany, and the Falklands detachment. Not so common in the UK, other than training that required the gun.

Indeed it was. The air defence role trained with it quite a bit, it would have been a pain downloading the pod, then uploading again and having to re-align the gun. Dispersion could vary greatly if the pod had the slightest hint of “shimmy”. The mud movers also could use gun, but where the A2A used LCOSS, the ground role would use a set depression for range, and the combination of dive angle and target altitude would dictate your initial pitch in alt, giving you a few seconds to get your sight picture and at the relevant time - make the pod a few rounds lighter (hopefully showering your desired aim point with sufficient lead). For a good approximation, if you own the F-5 module, the way the HUD symbology is utilised in the A2A role - both Sidewinder and gun, is very close to the F-4.

It is threads like this that show what a great community we are all a part of. To pretty much all of us, he was but a name on screen. But the genuine outpouring of sentiment from people far and wide, truly shows the just how - no matter where you are from, no matter your faith, no matter what - we are in essence one big family. Don would be proud.

Subaru has much more environmentally friendly emissions though!

Nessun problema amico, l'ho trovato divertente perché la UEFA è una cosa di calcio.

UEFA???

Exactly.

Guessing he gave up on the “rofighter”. Or xilon_x is giving a political slant to things?

Good catch.