F-4E (Late) one piece windshield?

[Omega417]

I didnt realize the F-4G in the USAF Museum had the single piece windshield.

[Bananabrai]

On 2/24/2023 at 11:36 AM, Jojothebox said:

there’d have to be a secondary flight model

Not sure if the swapped windshield would really require another FM.

[G.J.S]

10 hours ago, Bananabrai said:

Not sure if the swapped windshield would really require another FM.

It won’t - just differing resistance to bird strike.

[79Au]

Guys this is the real deal and I'd notice it right away if someone changed the windshield without adjusting the FM. My day would be ruined and I'd request a refund. We're all REAL fighter pilots aren't we. And DCS is a military grade flight SHIMILAYDER!!! Haha, oh Jesus who let this guy off his leash.

[Omega417]

On 3/3/2023 at 3:43 PM, 79Au said:

Guys this is the real deal and I'd notice it right away if someone changed the windshield without adjusting the FM. My day would be ruined and I'd request a refund. We're all REAL fighter pilots aren't we. And DCS is a military grade flight SHIMILAYDER!!! Haha, oh Jesus who let this guy off his leash.

Im not sure there was a reason for you to comment.

[Nickelmouse]

As far as this whole simulator debate goes, I just wanted to point out that only 18 or 19 single-seat KA-50 Black Sharks were ever manufactured instead favouring the two-crew KA-52 Alligator at over 196 examples produced.

That didn’t stop ED from making it, or people from enjoying it.

[Jojothebox]

On 3/3/2023 at 3:26 AM, Bananabrai said:

Not sure if the swapped windshield would really require another FM.

from what ive been led to understand even things like the JF-17's fuel probe removal required a different flight model, so would the F-14 without its fuel probe. i could be wrong but it'd be nice if it didnt

On 3/4/2023 at 6:52 PM, Nickelmouse said:

As far as this whole simulator debate goes, I just wanted to point out that only 18 or 19 single-seat KA-50 Black Sharks were ever manufactured instead favouring the two-crew KA-52 Alligator at over 196 examples produced.

That didn’t stop ED from making it, or people from enjoying it.

i thought that was also because more information on it was available than the KA-52, especially in 2008 when the KA-50 first released in-game mainly since it was a tech demonstrator 

[Stackup]

8 hours ago, Jojothebox said:

from what ive been led to understand even things like the JF-17's fuel probe removal required a different flight model, so would the F-14 without its fuel probe. i could be wrong but it'd be nice if it didnt

The F-14's fuel probe is retractable and the door removal is just cosmetic at this point and I doubt HB is going to make a new flight model simply to reflect the door being removed since it's not a major change like the pheonix pylons.  Not sure about the JF-17, but those are external drag producers and change the airflow around the fuselage.  The one piece windshield would not change the external shape of the canopy enough to warrant a new flight model since the drag and weight changes are minimal. 

If anything, it's just a modifier to change the FM inputs like they do for the various loadout options, not a completely separate FM.

If we want to get really technical and crunch the numbers, if you removed even a single antenna from an airplane you need a new flight model because the drag and weight distibution is different.  The majority of pilots won't notice that slight difference in performance unless they are specifically looking for it, even irl, so in my opinion it's not really worth the extra development time to make a different FM for minor external changes that are essentially visual only.

[Aussie_Mantis]

Hi guys!

Regarding the windshield, I was actually doing some searching on the internet a few months ago on this very topic!

They appear to be from McDonnell Douglas, installed purely as upgrades to preexisting Phantoms- mostly ANG F-4Es or F-4G Wild Weasel squadrons. From what I've heard from its pilots the increased visibility is almost like a godsend.

There was a bit of a debate as to whether they were ripped off F/A-18 Hornets due to the similarity but I think that's probably unlikely.

They were never implemented fleet-wide because F-4 production was ramping down at the time (really late 70s-early/mid 80s) and most phantoms have the older windshield design since rolling out what was seen as a non-essential upgrade to an already obsolete (F-4 was thought of as obsolete in the early-mid-60s for all intents and purposes due to the existence of TFX/VFX, though this was pushed back due to dismal performance in A2A and later became Eagle/F-14, and by the eighties, well... self-explanatory. Try dogfighting a MiG-29 in an F-4E.)

Some of these single-piece windshield phantoms were later sold from Boneyard stocks to Turkey and Greece, which is why you see both countries owning small quantities (less than 10) of these each.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Aussie_Mantis