Community A-4E-C v2.3 (May 2025)

[Joe1978]

I've been reading some articles about the A4 and I've seen that some pilots did something called "wet start".

It appears that this starter produced a large flare in the engine exhaust. Does anyone know what it was or if it can be played on our A4?

[Helles Belle]

 

1 hour ago, Joe1978 said:

I've been reading some articles about the A4 and I've seen that some pilots did something called "wet start".

It appears that this starter produced a large flare in the engine exhaust. Does anyone know what it was or if it can be played on our A4?

I assume you mean this….

https://pilotswhoaskwhy.com/2022/04/03/the-most-common-turbine-engine-starting-failures/

If so it’s something you want to avoid. Not sure if it would add much ‘realism’ the game or what it would achieve.

[Joe1978]

Yes, but in the case of A4 it seems that it was a "deliberate" way of starting by adding fuel before ignition. 

[Helles Belle]

It sounds like something the pilots would do to ‘show off’, I doubt it was SOP’s.

It would be impressive especially at night, but not something I’d want to be caught doing by the boss.

Our guys used to do a ‘dump & burn’ in the F-111, lighting up the dumped gas in a big long flame.
I remember the Americans saying ‘you Aussies are f…king nuts’.

[Helles Belle]

 

[Hiob]

8 minutes ago, Helles Belle said:

 

Great Show!

[Gianky]

1 hour ago, Helles Belle said:

It sounds like something the pilots would do to ‘show off’, I doubt it was SOP’s.

Indeed; as a curiosity, some time ago some people tried to blame the USS Forrestal fire on John McCain, saying that he was doing a wet start of his A-4:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/aug/07/blog-posting/posts-blame-john-mccain-deadly-1967-fire-aboard-us/

The claim is, of course, totally false, the incident was caused by a Zuni rocket accidentaly fired from a parked F-4; Mooch recently posted a video about it:

 

 

[Gianky]

On 7/9/2022 at 3:57 PM, Skunk Cabbage said:

You have made a very unique and fun aircraft. One of my favorites to fly. But, unless I can join the Cold War Servers with it, I have  "a nice looking dog that cannot hunt".  It's now "Hanger Candy." 

Hey @Skunk Cabbage, The Early Cold War servers have a dedicated A-4E Vietnam War themed server with various missions set in historical moments of the conflict; here's the link to the forum thread, you can find the link to their Discord in there

Not very populated, at least in EU early evening hours (say around 19-21 GMT), usually 3-4 players, but it's a PVE with AI friendly aircrafts, so you can play even by yourself, if you can't find anyone.

As you can see above, another server that host a mission with the A-4E is Alpenwolf Cold War 1947-1991 server; here's the link to the releavant forum thread:

And here's a link to the Arab - Israeli war mission that Alpenwolf runs:

I don't know of any other multiplayer content using the A-4E, if anyone knows any other server/mission using the mod, I'd appreciate it if you guys could point us to it.

As for single player, there's a mini (seven missions) Vietnam campaign in the User Files section of the website:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3317148/

It's short, you have to pretend a lot (it's set in Caucasus, and there's basically no era correct assets around), but it's fun and does what it can to immerse you in the mood (there's even a "soundtrack" with '60s/'70s songs).

Beside it, there are Sidekick's mission, they're single ones, but well done and engaging (IMHO, of course)

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/filter/user-is-sidekick65/apply/

You can see some of them - don't remember if it's all of them - on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/IainChristie/featured

There are other single missions of the User File section, but I haven't tried them.

That's all I got; again, if someone has other suggestions, please post them!

Edited July 13, 2022 by Gianky
Corrected punctuation and wording

[Joe1978]

hace 11 horas, Gianky dijo:

Indeed; as a curiosity, some time ago some people tried to blame the USS Forrestal fire on John McCain, saying that he was doing a wet start of his A-4:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/aug/07/blog-posting/posts-blame-john-mccain-deadly-1967-fire-aboard-us/

The claim is, of course, totally false, the incident was caused by a Zuni rocket accidentaly fired from a parked F-4; Mooch recently posted a video about it:

 

 

 

Correct, I saw Mooch's video and from his comment it seemed to me that it was something "usual" in A4 crews, perhaps it was an alternative procedure in case of misfire for example or maybe it's a "mischief" as Helles Belles comments, more related to a testosterone attack.  

 

 

 

[One Eyed Ross]

Say, has anyone else been having issues with Autopilot?  When I use it, about 1/3 of the time the aircraft loses all sense of trim...even when disengaged, it still wants to roll uncontrollably.  Any ideas?

Edited July 15, 2022 by One Eyed Ross

[JNelson]

1 hour ago, Skunk Cabbage said:

Which older Build is best?   I want the best older build that does not have the latest nose wheel steering.  I love this aircraft. I want to fly it. I want to use it all the time. But I am tired of dealing with the taxi issue.  I was hoping for a ingame option to use it or not.  I guess it's not coming.   Which older build should I use?   

I thought it was hanger candy?

On 7/9/2022 at 2:57 PM, Skunk Cabbage said:

You have made a very unique and fun aircraft. One of my favorites to fly. But, unless I can join the Cold War Servers with it, I have  "a nice looking dog that cannot hunt".  It's now "Hanger Candy." 

[JNelson]

1 minute ago, Skunk Cabbage said:

I love this aircraft and Mod. But, I am very frustrated with two aspects of it. After 3 months of practicing, I still can't taxi it. Also, the limited Cold War Servers available to it.  I don't want to give this aircraft up. I am looking for solutions. That's why I am asking about a older build .   I am also looking at using it as a single player in Liberation 5.0.  I want solutions. Not snide remarks. 

 

I think having spent hundreds of hours making something for free I think a little humour is not amiss. 

[Rudel_chw]

13 minutes ago, JNelson said:

I think having spent hundreds of hours making something for free I think a little humour is not amiss. 

 I enjoyed your bit of humour …. And for what’s worth, I can taxi it just fine with the help of the controls overlay 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Rudel_chw

[Ithronwise]

I also can taxi perfectly by using the left and right braking function of my Saitek/Logitech Rudder Pedals, even on the carrier deck. It's less precisely as the nosewheel steering of modern jets, but hey, it's an old little bird, and with some training and patience it is manageable. This mod is just great work. 

[Montykoro]

Any Roadmap? Or "when is done" list of system to be implmented? or  the A4 Mod is at top features whitout the SDK from EA?

 

Thanks for the EPIC mod!

 

[WinterH]

13 minutes ago, Montykoro said:

Any Roadmap? Or "when is done" list of system to be implmented?

Check the "issues" page on mod's github page.

[CarbonFox]

Didn't take long to get used to the taxiing.

Also, I would love to use the A-4 in the main Cold War servers. Would actually feel a tad safer in it than flying the lumbering A-10 as hard as that is to believe.

[RaptorFighter]

It is not clear to me that throughout the 21 pages of discussion and bright exultation towards the developer, I cannot find a single mention of the conflict of this mod with the Ch-47 helicopter mod.

Edited July 28, 2022 by RaptorFighter

[ElvisDaKang]

I have stayed the hell away from both of those mods. If I ran them I would only use one at a time and make sure my joystick config files only contained the one I am using at the time. After you set them up for one - save them for use but never have both aboard at one time. Sequester them/back them up.  Of these 2 - I thing the 47 is more problem free.  That said others may know a bit more then I do on the current state of these two. I just do remember hearing a while back their could be incompatibility - as you are seeing. Back before it got some serious reworking the CH-53 once configured would cause setting for other aircraft to be altered.  

[=Skywarp=]

9 hours ago, RaptorFighter said:

It is not clear to me that throughout the 21 pages of discussion and bright exultation towards the developer, I cannot find a single mention of the conflict of this mod with the Ch-47 helicopter mod.

 

It is a known bug.

If not mentioned here, try the helicopter's thread... or their Discord.

[JNelson]

On 7/28/2022 at 11:55 AM, RaptorFighter said:

It is not clear to me that throughout the 21 pages of discussion and bright exultation towards the developer, I cannot find a single mention of the conflict of this mod with the Ch-47 helicopter mod.

 

It's a well documented bug on the github. There are specific configurations of mods which cause memory corruption, the AH-6 demo mod has one such configuration as such all mods that inherit from it without fixing this issue will present the same bug. The CH-47 and CH-53 fall into this category.

[captain_dalan]

Hey guys, i'm making a carrier quals mission for me and my buddies, and i want to include the A-4 as well. Is there a way i can preset the TACAN to match the carrier in the mission editor so people can start in ready jets, either hot in the air or on the deck, and not need worry about setting it up after mission start? 

[skypickle]

I have a question about which controls are embedded in the flight model. I use the streamdeck plugin by cuttlefish and a DCSexports script to allow me to make buttons on a streamdeck to control switches in the cockpit. I ran into a weird problem with the A4E.

Pushing the streamdeck button changes the position of the switch in the cockpit but the radar does not turn on.

For example

Instant action ->: ground attack bomb truckin mission-> RDR already in standby->take off->RDR PLAN

Detail, Gain,Brillianceall turned clockwise max

RDR to SRCH or A/G

No scan line. Nothing green at all.

 

If I click the control in the cockpit, the radar works.

 

An explanation posted here:   

 
indicated that the radar mode control was embedded in the FM and so required either clicks or keybinds. Is this the case? How does a control being embedded in the flight model prevent it from being activated through an API?

[Rudel_chw]

13 hours ago, captain_dalan said:

Hey guys, i'm making a carrier quals mission for me and my buddies, and i want to include the A-4 as well. Is there a way i can preset the TACAN to match the carrier in the mission editor so people can start in ready jets, either hot in the air or on the deck, and not need worry about setting it up after mission start? 

 

Maybe you can use the X:SET COMMAND or SET COMMAND WITH VALUE, to interact with the Tacan controls. For the A-4 they are:

 

TACAN Mode Switch CCW  :   10086

TACAN Mode Switch CW  :    10085

TACAN Channel tens - Increase  :  10087

TACAN Channel units - Increase   : 10089

 

I have not interacted with the TACAN, but I do use these triggers to setup the cockpit to my liking, like this:

 

[captain_dalan]

On 7/30/2022 at 5:33 PM, Rudel_chw said:

 

Maybe you can use the X:SET COMMAND or SET COMMAND WITH VALUE, to interact with the Tacan controls. For the A-4 they are:

 

TACAN Mode Switch CCW  :   10086

TACAN Mode Switch CW  :    10085

TACAN Channel tens - Increase  :  10087

TACAN Channel units - Increase   : 10089

 

I have not interacted with the TACAN, but I do use these triggers to setup the cockpit to my liking, like this:

 

Thanks mate, i may try that !