F-14A on the 19th? *wink, wink, nudge nudge*

[USAFMTL]

I think we need to start a new thread called Scotch and whisky or whiskey.....

[Alphabet_Ghost]

oh skin wise, you will still get some nice early paints... we don't suck that hard hahaha

 

Can HB make a wing airbag seal animation?That must be cool.

[IronMike]

Can HB make a wing airbag seal animation?That must be cool.

 

 

 

 

EZPZ, 5 minutes. :D

[Alphabet_Ghost]

EZPZ, 5 minutes. :D

 

Be sure to add it when the -A is released.:pilotfly::thumbup:

Edited August 26, 2020 by Alphabet_Ghost

[eatthis]

will the a have lantirn?

[WolfHound009]

will the a have lantirn?

 

yes

[LanceCriminal86]

Something else Ive noticed: air bag colors. The B models we see here all seem to have a nice, dark black airbag, but a lot of the A models I see have a more gray colored one:

 

Fresh off the showroom VF-201:

 

VF-202, whose birds mostly went to VF-201 after they disbanded.

 

And VF-201 A models seemed to retain the light grayish bags all the way through 1998 when they transitioned.

[Swordsman422]

The bag color isn't universal regardless of model. Here are a couple examples, an F-14D from VF-2 and an F-14B from VF-32, with light gull grey bags.

[Victory205]

Something else Ive noticed: air bag colors. The B models we see here all seem to have a nice, dark black airbag, but a lot of the A models I see have a more gray colored one:

 

Fresh off the showroom VF-201:

 

VF-202, whose birds mostly went to VF-201 after they disbanded.

 

And VF-201 A models seemed to retain the light grayish bags all the way through 1998 when they transitioned.

 

Just to be sure, the top image is VF201, the bottom is VF202. Hunters and Superheats. I served in VF201 for four years and flew that aircraft. The airbags got darker from hydraulic fluid, jet fuel exhaust from flight leads etc over time, especially where the underside of the wings rubbed the bags.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Victory205

[LanceCriminal86]

Just to be sure, the top image is VF201, the bottom is VF202. Hunters and Superheats. I served in VF201 for four years and flew that aircraft. The airbags got darker from hydraulic fluid, jet fuel exhaust from flight leads etc over time, especially where the underside of the wings rubbed the bags.

 

 

Yes, that top one was one of the last As produced, as was one or two of 202s. They got the last of the Block 140 A models and the rest of theirs were early As that were rebuilt to 140 standards. In fact the bird in the pic and above was the first serious Tomcat skin I made, AF104 and then AF103 from 1986 or 1987 before they were swapped to AF101 and AF100 respectively. It was later I found out that 104 was the airframe LCDR Segars was lost in 1993, and found out there was an internal squadron award named after him thereafter. And, after reading about him Im hoping to be able to do The JimBob Express as best justice as I can:

 

 

 

201 has become one of my favorite squadrons after I got to do ground school in their hangar at Carswell in around 2001 or so. They already had transitioned to Hornets by then but Dave Baraneks F-14 from VF-211 was out in the grass behind the flight line. When the Heatblur Tomcat came about that particular plane popped into my head and I began digging again to try and identify it, which led me to VF-201s Facebook page, and ultimately to Bio after they told me she was actually a VF-211 bird. But after that point I became focused on making sure VF-201, and then 202 as well, get proper representation in DCS. Ive downlaoded every single photograph I can find and have been in contact with a few guys from the page who were in charge of paint. In fact, one of them told me about the high-vis scheme he had wanted to do for the 101 somewhere in the early 90s but ultimately they chose a more subdued scheme. Its hearkens to VF-114 a bit but I had a ton of fun bringing it to DCS:

 

[Redliner7]

 

 

 

Yes, that top one was one of the last As produced, as was one or two of 202s. They got the last of the Block 140 A models and the rest of theirs were early As that were rebuilt to 140 standards. In fact the bird in the pic and above was the first serious Tomcat skin I made, AF104 and then AF103 from 1986 or 1987 before they were swapped to AF101 and AF100 respectively. It was later I found out that 104 was the airframe LCDR Segars was lost in 1993, and found out there was an internal squadron award named after him thereafter. And, after reading about him Im hoping to be able to do The JimBob Express as best justice as I can:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

201 has become one of my favorite squadrons after I got to do ground school in their hangar at Carswell in around 2001 or so. They already had transitioned to Hornets by then but Dave Baraneks F-14 from VF-211 was out in the grass behind the flight line. When the Heatblur Tomcat came about that particular plane popped into my head and I began digging again to try and identify it, which led me to VF-201s Facebook page, and ultimately to Bio after they told me she was actually a VF-211 bird. But after that point I became focused on making sure VF-201, and then 202 as well, get proper representation in DCS. Ive downlaoded every single photograph I can find and have been in contact with a few guys from the page who were in charge of paint. In fact, one of them told me about the high-vis scheme he had wanted to do for the 101 somewhere in the early 90s but ultimately they chose a more subdued scheme. Its hearkens to VF-114 a bit but I had a ton of fun bringing it to DCS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's awesome, I'm in DFW - I'd love to fly these skins!

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[draconus]

\ F8 F2 F1, \ F8 F5 F1 :)

[Victory205]

If memory serves, Jim Segars was lost just before Christmas in 1992. A flat spin, pilot survived.

 

Jim Bob was an inveterate photographer, and I got a Photo Christmas Card from him a few days after he was killed. It's sitting in my office about three feet from where I'm typing this. He had come from the Marine F4 squadron across the ramp, and was a colorful character.

 

I can imagine what seeing the "Jim Bob Express" logo was like for the pilot in the mishap. He is a friend and a great guy. He was a mess for a long time in the aftermath.

 

Pretty sure that each squadron got two Block 140 jets, sort of spreading the wealth strategy. Those two aircraft were delivered with shiny paint, and often ended up as aircraft "00" and "01", painted in high visibility CAG and squadron CO schemes.

 

All of the reserve Tomcat squadrons merged into a single squadron, which ended up being VF201. Things got much, much better, because they took the creme de la creme in terms of personnel and aircraft, including all of the block 140's from the four existing Tomcat units.

 

Eventually they transitioned to Hornets, were called up for a Combat Cruise in 2003 for the second invasion of Iraq, did a great job, and returned home. They were disbanded a few months later.

 

Amazing at how the Navy works.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Victory205

[LanceCriminal86]

If memory serves, Jim Segars was lost just before Christmas in 1992. A flat spin, pilot survived.

 

Jim Bob was an inveterate photographer, and I got a Photo Christmas Card from him a few days after he was killed. It's sitting in my office about three feet from where I'm typing this. He had come from the Marine F4 squadron across the ramp, and was a colorful character.

 

I can imagine what seeing the "Jim Bob Express" logo was like for the pilot in the mishap. He is a friend and a great guy. He was a mess for a long time in the aftermath.

 

Pretty sure that each squadron got two Block 140 jets, sort of spreading the wealth strategy. Those two aircraft were delivered with shiny paint, and often ended up as aircraft "00" and "01", painted in high visibility CAG and squadron CO schemes.

 

All of the reserve Tomcat squadrons merged into a single squadron, which ended up being VF201. Things got much, much better, because they took the creme de la creme in terms of personnel and aircraft, including all of the block 140's from the four existing Tomcat units.

 

Eventually they transitioned to Hornets, were called up for a Combat Cruise in 2003 for the second invasion of Iraq, did a great job, and returned home. They were disbanded a few months later.

 

Amazing at how the Navy works.

 

And were it not for the DCS Tomcat I would have never gone looking to join the VF-201 Facebook page, and never learned about LCDR Segars. Reading about the folks that responded to the scene still having a hard time with the memories, I decided it best not to paint up that AF101 he was in, rather I am skipping over it. I may not release that shiny new AF104 since it was the same airframe. I know most of the folks from the squadron are probably not doing DCS but it just didn't seem appropriate to me.

 

Whenever I can get the JimBob Express as complete as I can, probably minus all of the signatures, I want to make sure its posted with a biography of some kind for LCDR Segars. So dont be surprised if you see DCS screens over in the 201 FB page whenever Im done.

[IronMike]

And were it not for the DCS Tomcat I would have never gone looking to join the VF-201 Facebook page, and never learned about LCDR Segars. Reading about the folks that responded to the scene still having a hard time with the memories, I decided it best not to paint up that AF101 he was in, rather I am skipping over it. I may not release that shiny new AF104 since it was the same airframe. I know most of the folks from the squadron are probably not doing DCS but it just didn't seem appropriate to me.

 

Whenever I can get the JimBob Express as complete as I can, probably minus all of the signatures, I want to make sure its posted with a biography of some kind for LCDR Segars. So dont be surprised if you see DCS screens over in the 201 FB page whenever Im done.

 

 

 

 

If done respectfully, and as a hommage to him, there is nothing wrong with it. Preserving history and telling the stories of those who we lost, serves them more than anything in my opinion. That our Tomcat is capable of connecting stories and people, because all stories are ultimately connected to people, if only for needing them to be told, is something that makes me proud more than anything. What warms my heart even more, is that slowly the fighter/ aviation community and the sim community are growing together. They will never mix entirely, for good reasons, but the overlap, while still small atm, is getting bigger. And imo it is a good thing for both sides: the aviation sector profits from young people being inspired into persuing an aviation career themselves, and the avid simmer profits from the real world inspiration aviation can give.

[Victory205]

Whenever I can get the JimBob Express as complete as I can, probably minus all of the signatures, I want to make sure its posted with a biography of some kind for LCDR Segars. So dont be surprised if you see DCS screens over in the 201 FB page whenever Im done.

 

You made us all remember Jim Bob. I'm sure the guys on the VF201 page appreciate it.

 

Trust me, Jim Bob was a hoot. A high school computer science teacher by day, and a wild fighter RIO by night.

 

We used to talk computers all the time. He was an Apple fan, long before Apple made it's amazing comeback. He'd have been amazed to see what transpired.

 

That's a big reason that I became involved in the sim. It preserves the legacy, the history and the humanity of the F14.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Victory205

[eatthis]

dare i ask what happened?

[sublime]

lets have a lil poll

when the A is released

and some of us play as Iran

Aim54s yes or no

roleplay the Iranians got he HAWK to work as an AIM54 wannabe, or AIm 7s and 9s only?

[sublime]

If memory serves, Jim Segars was lost just before Christmas in 1992. A flat spin, pilot survived.

 

Jim Bob was an inveterate photographer, and I got a Photo Christmas Card from him a few days after he was killed. It's sitting in my office about three feet from where I'm typing this. He had come from the Marine F4 squadron across the ramp, and was a colorful character.

 

I can imagine what seeing the "Jim Bob Express" logo was like for the pilot in the mishap. He is a friend and a great guy. He was a mess for a long time in the aftermath.

 

Pretty sure that each squadron got two Block 140 jets, sort of spreading the wealth strategy. Those two aircraft were delivered with shiny paint, and often ended up as aircraft "00" and "01", painted in high visibility CAG and squadron CO schemes.

 

All of the reserve Tomcat squadrons merged into a single squadron, which ended up being VF201. Things got much, much better, because they took the creme de la creme in terms of personnel and aircraft, including all of the block 140's from the four existing Tomcat units.

 

Eventually they transitioned to Hornets, were called up for a Combat Cruise in 2003 for the second invasion of Iraq, did a great job, and returned home. They were disbanded a few months later.

 

Amazing at how the Navy works.

 

thanks for this story

[LanceCriminal86]

dare i ask what happened?

 

As I understand it, he was the RIO on a BFM hop against one of the other reserve squadrons out of NAS Dallas, maybe VA-203 Blue Dolphins?

 

The pilot overdid a maneuver and the jet entered an unrecoverable spin. Unfortunately LCDR Segars did not make it out of the jet. It sounded like the ejection seat did fire but something went wrong.

 

Basically, a certain scene from Top Gun which I have not been able to see the same way again.

 

I do believe LCDR Segars was a Top Gun graduate himself, so I'd assume he was in the back giving instruction or pointers, maybe Victory can correct me on that.

[LanceCriminal86]

No, Jim Bob wasn't a Topgun grad. Having come from USMC F4's across the ramp, he was fairly new to the F14 and inexperienced because the reserves had what I would call an inferior checkout program.

 

They got a few sims, a few hops in the jet, and were sent home by the RAG to do sort of an OJT type program. The Guard sent their transition pilots to the entire course as if they were UPT grad showing up at the RTU for the first time.

 

We desperately needed RIO's, and the Phantoms were scheduled to be replaced by Hornets, meaning their RIO's were all going to lose jobs. That's why Jim came over. Normally, when a pilot made O5, he was finished flying, promoted out. RIO's, because they were in short supply, could fly for years as an O5, we had several.

 

The pilot was quite sharp, conservative and safety minded. Good guy, just one of those things where the aircraft departed on him. I don't recall what the maneuver state was. They were fighting 1v1 with a NAS Dallas A4M. We had three A4'a on the base flown by the station TAR's.

 

They jettisoned the canopy once the spin was confirmed, using command eject to initiate the ejection. The aft seat never left the aircraft. Because of the rotation, it was possible that the canopy hit the seat back and damaged the plumbing to the rocket initiator. There is a manual bailout procedure, but for whatever reason, Jim Bob rode the aircraft all the way to the ground.

 

There were a couple thousand people at Jim's funeral because he interacted with so many students.

 

This all happened a few months after I left the squadron, I was involved in a very tangential manner for a number of reasons that I won't disclose.

 

Understood, I had thought one of the discussions or biographies mentioned Top Gun.

 

I've taken the whole thing as a sobering reminder that flying Tomcats, and Naval Aviation in general, was a dangerous business. I remember how cool it was listening to "Bug" Roach talk that A-6 in on a Youtube video, immediately going out to find info about this apparently legendary LSO and pilot, and finding out what happened to him.

 

 

And like I said, it is my goal that The Jim Bob Express will ride again, at least digitally. I won't be able to replicate all the crew signatures but maybe I can at least get in the ones we have photos of, maybe folks can remember names from their teams/departments there at least. I'm doing the jet as it was for ~1998- Jan 1999 when the changeover happened. Right now the pain in the ass is the stencils, getting the lettering and alignments right, and the intake warning stencils.

 

And when I'm happy with 201, 202 will follow for certain. And if I could find more photos, I'd really like to do some more of those reserve A-4 adversary jets as I believe it was either VA-203 or 204, but I've found photos from VA-203 and VFA-203 very hard to come by from a digital jet painting perspective.

 

 

EDIT: not the squadrons I thought, but I found the plane(s). I guess there were 4 of them assigned to NAS Dallas. One of them is actually at the JRB in Fort Worth and apparently was the A-4M from the incident.

Edited August 30, 2020 by LanceCriminal86

[Southernbear]

At this point I don't care when our F-14A is I just want to know if it'll get access to AIM-7Es and early AIM-9J/Ns as it has been stated before from Cobra that they were looking into it.

[Fangs Out]

Navy didn't really used J/Ns. They used the Golf, Hotel, Lima and Mike on the Tomcat

[Top Jockey]

Navy didn't really used J/Ns. They used the Golf, Hotel, Lima and Mike on the Tomcat

 

I believe so, also being the 'G' version the one which introduced the SEAM concept...

[Redliner7]

Great insight, thank you.

 

Came across this photo on FB - is this your old steed @Victory205 ?

 

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