BlackLion213 Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 (edited) Hello, One of the most famous members of the Tomcat community was a RIO named "Bio" Baranek. He served with VF-24 in the early 80s and became an instructor at Top Gun (while the movie "Top Gun" was being made - he also assisted with parts of the production). He would later serve with VF-2 on two cruises in the later 80s, including some Earnest Will missions with VF-2 in the Strait of Hormuz in 1987. Next he became the XO/CO of VF-211 during their transition to LANTIRN and missions in support of "Southern Watch" in the Persian Gulf. He also wrote an excellent book, Top Gun Days And several very well written articles on the Tomcat. He is a talented writer, able to effectively balance the small and big details of being a RIO without getting bogged down. You can learn a lot from reading his work and it's a "good read" as well! In addition to all this prose, he took a lot of awesome photographs. In fact, if you see a beautiful Tomcat picture from the 1980's, there is a good chance he took it. (or CJ "Heater" Heatley who also took a lot of amazing pictures - he also published a photo book that I highly recommend, but is out of print) Here are a few of "Bio's" pictures: Did anyone notice a theme...;) Finally, he has a website and a youtube channel. The website has some great stories, lots of pictures, and a few "vintage" videos. Taking in cockpit video was a bit tougher in the 1980s, when a camcorder was about as portable as a bowling ball. http://www.topgunbio.com/ Also, he recently produced this video discussing mission planning and ACM: [ame] [/ame] The description says it was created for the DCS community, it seems clear that "Bio" is aware of the DCS Tomcat project. Perhaps an SME....:D In any case, his youtube channel also has some videos, shared with the website: https://www.youtube.com/user/dandlb/videos I hope you enjoy the miscellaneous media as much as I have. :) -Nick Edited January 21, 2016 by BlackLion213
Cobra847 Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 David's book is fantastic and made last years' vacation so much more enjoyable for me. We are drawing upon it as much as possible to make sure the terminology for JESTER AI is correct. We're in touch with David and we're very glad he's so enthusiastic about the simulation community. It just makes it that much more important to make sure we get the F-14 just right. :) Nicholas Dackard Founder & Lead Artist Heatblur Simulations https://www.facebook.com/heatblur/
jester_ Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Also, he recently produced this video discussing mission planning and ACM: The description says it was created for the DCS community, it seems clear that "Bio" is aware of the DCS Tomcat project. Perhaps an SME....:D In any case, his youtube channel also has some videos, shared with the website: https://www.youtube.com/user/dandlb/videos I hope you enjoy the miscellaneous media as much as I have. :) -Nick I was a part of that team! Mr. Baranek is a great guy, and phenomenal to work with! Looking forward to the Tomcat.
Aginor Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I enjoyed his book, so I will definitely check out his channel! :) DCSW weapons cheat sheet speed cheat sheet
Grundar Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 David's book is fantastic and made last years' vacation so much more enjoyable for me. We are drawing upon it as much as possible to make sure the terminology for JESTER AI is correct. We're in touch with David and we're very glad he's so enthusiastic about the simulation community. It just makes it that much more important to make sure we get the F-14 just right. :) Best avatar! Seriously Cobra if you guys are putting a UN Spacy skin together for F-14.... :thumbup: Macross/Robotech so wonderful and given that those craft are practically F-14's - highly appropriate! Also Dave Baranek is a great guy, loved his Top Gun Days book, chock full of interesting information, humour and respect for those he worked with. Has a good website too. I listened to him on a podcast with Aviation Xtended and he was great.
BlackLion213 Posted January 21, 2016 Author Posted January 21, 2016 David's book is fantastic and made last years' vacation so much more enjoyable for me. We are drawing upon it as much as possible to make sure the terminology for JESTER AI is correct. We're in touch with David and we're very glad he's so enthusiastic about the simulation community. It just makes it that much more important to make sure we get the F-14 just right. :) That sounds great, he seems like a great resource and very enthusiastic about his work. Every time you discuss the F-14 module or mention new features, it sounds better and better. I have a really good feeling about your module....thinking it will be very right. :D I was a part of that team! Mr. Baranek is a great guy, and phenomenal to work with! Looking forward to the Tomcat. Thank you for creating it! It was fun to watch and "Bio" Baranek seems surprisingly accessible in the video. I hear he is writing 2 more books, hopefully out soon. -Nick
Drag0nWIng Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 (edited) Thanks for sharing! and the behind topgun scenes series on youtube had been deleted for no reason... Edited January 22, 2016 by Drag0nWIng
badaboom Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Here's a link to his podcast done in April of last year http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=141689&highlight=Podcast [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
BlackLion213 Posted January 23, 2016 Author Posted January 23, 2016 Here's a link to his podcast done in April of last year http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=141689&highlight=Podcast That was awesome, thanks for sharing. I love "Bio's" addictive enthusiasm for the F-14 and the Naval Aviation in general. We are fortunate that he is so active with writing and media in general. -Nick
badaboom Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 That was awesome, thanks for sharing. I love "Bio's" addictive enthusiasm for the F-14 and the Naval Aviation in general. We are fortunate that he is so active with writing and media in general. -Nick :thumbup:Thank You Nick,It's fantastic that "Bio" will be lending his expertise To The LNS TomCat Project.:thumbup: [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Grundar Posted January 29, 2016 Posted January 29, 2016 [ame] [/ame] Is a great video of Dave talking about his F-14 training and TopGun.
Cougar12dk Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 Thanks for that, Grundar :) I enjoyed hearing him talk about the things he's done in his career as a RIO and instructor.
bernp Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 He lived the dream. Thanks for the video. Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk
hvymtal Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 holy crap bio has a youtube channel!?!?!?!? Love his stuff. I hope that he contributes to the DCS F-14 Tomcat he'd be fantastic My Logitech Extreme3D Pro "Essentials" Profiles for FC3 and 25T: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/599930/ Thrustmaster T.16000M, TWCS FC3, F-5E, M2000C, AJS-37, C-101, F-14, NTTR
BTTW-DratsaB Posted February 5, 2016 Posted February 5, 2016 Thanks for this, looks like a very interesting channel. Specs: GA-Z87X-UD3H, i7-4770k, 16GB, RTX2060, SB AE-5, 750watt Corsair PSU, X52, Track IR4, Win10x64. Sim Settings: Textures: ? | Scenes: ? |Water: ? | Visibility Range: ? | Heat Blur: ? | Shadows: ? | Res: 1680x1050 | Aspect: 16:10 | Monitors: 1 Screen | MSAA: ? | Tree Visibility: ? | Vsync: On | Mirrors: ? | Civ Traffic: High | Res Of Cockpit Disp: 512 | Clutter: ? | Fullscreen: On
Donut Posted February 5, 2016 Posted February 5, 2016 Great stuff! I am reading his book now and enjoying it very much. I am in the process of learning all things Tomcat and he has a lot of detailed info to share. I really hope LNS is utilizing his extensive knowledge. Wouldn't it be great if they got him to be the voice actor for the Jester A.I. RIO?! i5 7600K @4.8GHz | 1080 Ti | 32GB 3200MHz | SSD | DCS SETTINGS | "COCKPIT"
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