Rick50

This is how I feel as well. I don't like some of the politics of the day. HOWEVER... if any young ladies get inspired to try "daddy's flying game", or adult women who have a love of aviation or just want to experience a little bit of virtual flight, I want them to be able to choose a female avatar... I don't want them to feel deliberately excluded. I want for them to be further inspired, to learn more. I want them to be inspired to join the ranks of the DCS squadrons... or REAL squadrons eventually, or fly civilian either as a professional or private enthusiast. Or aim even higher, to orbit and even Mars. We will NEED females to go on interplanetary expeditions, to be a part of new colonies from the start. The qualifications needed, for the early settlers of Mars, will be EXTREMELY high, to ensure just a CHANCE of mission safety. We need to inspire the young people of today, to embark on a lifetime of super intense education, qualifications, cross training in multiple disciplines...and then only pick the very best who can effectively be a part of a great team. That needs to start now, to ensure they are fully ready to launch by age 40. I understand the desire for absolute realism in DCS, it's part of the core, the soul of DCS itself. But in the real world, anyone might sit in a combat helo. Certainly many young boys and girls have had their picture taken in various helos, even if it's at an airshow and all power is turned off. But at the end of the day, we are all "Walter Mitty' imagining ourselves to be German attack helo pilots, yet I am not German, nor am I a licensed helo pilot.... and I certainly have not qualified to shoot TOW or HOT missiles on a West German military range, does that mean I'm not being realistic ? Look, as long as the aircraft is created with respect, beauty, full fidelity, and "game stability", anything else is a nice bonus IMO. Ok I'm rambling incoherently, time to log off!

LOL!! Agreed, she does look like a real world professional combat pilot, type Female. A tank hunter, Mk.1 Mod.0, all business in the business of defending Germany from endless tank columns. Great job Fragger! That said... if somehow Lt Ellen Ripley learned German and flew the Bo in the 1990's, I think she too would be appreciated by some! Sigourney does speak fluent French, I think she has family ties to the nation just to your West. Not the "pretty Ellen" of the first two films with beautiful hair, but maybe more from Alien3 or Resurection, a more intense and serious look. I know that'd be tough, a tall order, but also a nice tribute to perhaps the greatest female action hero of our time.

Well, it doesn't have bench seating, but there's already a Littlebird mod:

I remember reading somewhere that the PBY-5, though designed for water ops, had to undergo a lengthy cleanup process due to salt water ops, to prevent the aluminium hull corroding. In a Chinook doing water landing, some water would end up on the inside of the fuselage, and come into contact with all sorts of components that might not favor longevity!

Earlier in vid covers Phantom ordnance. At 12:40 mark, news from Magnitude3. I've not yet finished watching

Sure, good choice, unique to that conflict! Of course, they had a whole slew of custom modified planes

I think we'd want the "Shark Tail BUFF" or "Big Belly BUFF", at LEAST as AI.... ...but ideally maybe as flyable units? I mean, I don't see B-52's becoming FF modules any time soon, or possibly even ever... but maybe at FC level as a real nice mod perhaps? Maybe an early AC-130 of that era?

I'm sure it could carry any of the standard TOW variants, as the original launcher system seems relatively simple and robust from what I've seen. And after early problems, seems to have stayed pretty much the same since the 1970's other than a nicer thermal/optical sight. As for the missile variants produced in Sweden, I'm sure you are correct about newer variants, I'm far from an expert in TOW systems, or Swedish ordnance inventories or missile purchases from years ago! My information was from a wikipedia page about the TOW system, which I'm sure is not as well updated as it theoretically could be! Now, the impression I seem to remember from talking with people who've fired a TOW, is that it's a solid reliable system, very effective, and relatively easy to get hits... but that if you are startled by the launch noise, or some other major distraction, you needed some iron discipline to keep it aimed on enemy armor, or you were likely to get a miss. That's from a ground mount or Humvee wheeled vehicle... but from a helicopter? Not sure if that was more difficult or not... were 1980's western helos able to have automatic optical tracking of moving targets, or did the gunner have to manually keep the crosshairs on the enemy armor 100% of the time?? I mean, I know this is a way different beast than say a Longbow with modern RF Hellfires of today!

Amazing work, Fragger!! While a few have come close, I don't recall anyone surpassing your skill and dedication at making this bird visually perfect... I was lucky to see one of these in person, back in... either 1990 or 91, during one of the big exercises in Western Germany. An amazing time, with the earliest celebrations of German re-unification! "Winds of Change" by Scorpions on the radio, along with Silent Lucidity and Thunderstruck a few months later... I was posted to Canadian Forces Base Lahr in the southwest corner, near Strasbourg and Frieburg. But I can guarantee that I never got quite as good a look as your model, it was about 100m away!

I had to look up RB55 to understand your post: seems the RB55 is Swedish production TOW missiles. Much like Sweden also made Sidewinder and Maveric missiles too, or German manufactured Sidewinders. One site says the RB55 is specifically the BGM-71C variant Current use is for BGM-71E for tandem warhead to defeat ERA Explosive Reactive Armor (the brick things seen on so many newer Soviet tanks), and BGM-71F which has the top-down attack warheads, meaning the missile flies just over the top of the tank, and when the Magnetic Anomaly Detector detects the massive steel of the tank, detonates it's warhead straight down through the tank hatch, using an Explosive Formed Projectile. Was there never any Bo-105 using TOW in German use? I now think there wasn't... I think I got confused when seeing some of them having tubes in a downward angle, guessing that was a later improvement to just reduce space when on the ground? Like this: Instead of the earlier setup:

same

Nice screenshots!! Glad this is being made!

Whoa.... ... ok, please share more info!!!

Ooooh, ya got me~!! The point wasn't me giving exact numbers, the point was, we neither have the hardware, nor software coding, to handle the nation of Vietnam, in DCS yet. Of course we have drawing distance and LOD's... but clearly that's not enough, not even close... THAT tech is 20+ years old, what's needed for a 'Nam map, that looks like the real thing, keep the immersion, give 100 fps in VR, as that's the baseline for sims very soon, is other, new "tricks" of coding, along with better hardware that can truly keep up with large air battles. Look, DCS employees have actually told us that tech is not yet able to do a 'Nam map yet, but that when the tech catches up, they ARE interested in making maps for SEA region. So, get the noggin joggin, and imagine, create and then share, possible tricks, methods, that could enable all the extra features a 'Nam map would need, and then share or sell them to ED. Edit: Or, if you feel it's doable today, then start raising funds and start a studio making that map.

If our personal gaming computers could handle 35 trillion trees at 200 fps in VR at 4k, with dynamic campaigns and advanced artificial intelligence enemies and wingmen, we'd already have Vietnam and Korea, possibly the Solomon Islands too. So clearly we have a little bit of a pause before we can expect DCS 'Nam...

A youtube video of a military exercise in Switzerland in 1964 got me thinking that this might make an interesting DCS map... sure, no wars there recently... but imagine the cold war potential for fictional scenarios... the limitations due to the terrain could really make the invading side REALLY work hard for any gains at all!. Now, yes, we don't have any Hunters in DCS at this time, but we do have Tigers and Hornets. And maybe someday we might get Mirage III as well...

Cool yes... not sure about "not so distant future" though, last I heard from a while ago, was that they were already booked up for some time, with the EF2000 Typhoon being next after Phantom, then... an AI plane for the A-6E Intruder, then a full Grumman Intruder Full Fidelity module... a Navy carrier Phantom, maybe an N or a J possibly, then I think there was talk about maybe a helo of some kind? I think Heatblur is maybe a little more interested in past classics, than flying computers like the SuperBug, I mean, they picked the Viggen, Tomcat and now the Phantom... sure, the EF2k is a super modern jet, but then that's a collaborative with other companies and entities who need HB's expertise to complete. I'd expect them to consider other airframes, maybe the Scooter, Widow Maker, Aardvark, Jaguar or even maybe a 1980's Flanker? Maybe a Dassault Mirage III even...? Not that I know anything, just my own gut feeling. Then again, just the projects they've talked about could consume the next 10 years! Also, my memory, and their plans, have probably changed since I last heard, maybe a year ago.

I'm absolutely certain this isn't an original idea on this forum, or for DCS, but... I'm seeing more reasons to strongly consider an: "Iran Vs Iraq War 1980-88" map and campaign set! Why? Red Air, Green Air F-5E Tigers, F-4 Phantoms and F-14 Tomcats Vs Mig21's, Mig 23's, Mirage F1's, and the Mig-25... Real battles. Armor on armor, jets vs helos, jets vs jets vs tanks. Strikes on enemy airbases. Same area could be used to recreate the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars, albeit with rather lopsided power balance. The map would be located north/west of the Persian Gulf map, and to the east of the Syria map, basically showing the land border between Iran and Iraq, and maybe the top tip of the Persian Gulf waters, near Basra and Kuwait. edit: Just learned of an attack by Iran onto Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, days after this war started, and the year before Israel attacked Osirak in 1981 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Scorch_Sword

... understandable, many children seem to have more fun with the box than the toy present that was in the box!!

Beauty....

Oh, my mistake!

I think the FC3 Fulcrum is more for fun that raw realism... but ED recently confirmed they are working on a true "Full Fidelity Fulcrum", which I expect to be every bit as realistic and quality as any of their other impressive modules! I'm no expert, but I think they are aiming to replicate a 9.13 variant, which I believe is the early version that was widely exported... so very representative of most Fulcrums in use since they first appeared!

Wow, gonna have to fly this birdie when I get some free time!!

Wow, impressive results!!!