Love the P51....hate all the jets.....

[Fossil Hunter]

Haven't played in a while (almost a year). Decided that the Tomcat/F18 are worthless to me, as is the everything else I got except the Spitfire,P51, and the P47.  Just have never learned to love the jets. But the Spitfire, P51 (my favorite) and the P47 all just have the right feel. 

Well, there is just something about the P51 that fits me, what a great couple of hours - so easy to remember take off /landing. And now that the engine is a bit more steady,  I might as well take the jets off my computer. Will keep the carrier for when the Corsair makes an appearance. Only prop I never warmed up to is the Mosquito bomber (need a single person setting for it to work for me).

But to the P51, with the engine being so much better, I find it a very relaxing plane, and at altitude a killer..... even down low if you handicap the AI a bit it is fun to fight with.  

[Rudel_chw]

You could try the F-86 for free for two weeks (unless you are a Steam user), it is really similar to a P-51, only with much higher power ... and easier to land and take-off thanks to not having the propeller torque.

[Fossil Hunter]

The F18 is easy to fly, it's just the darn systems (radar/missiles) that have way too many settings for my old brain.....

[Mr_sukebe]

Fly what you enjoy, nothing wrong with that

[Slippa]

I have a similar dilemma.

First and foremost I wanted to fly vintage warbirds. Spitfire, Hurricane, Sunderland, Lancaster and anything else for good measure. (See other threads for ‘where’s my Typhoon, Hellcat, Corsair etc)

I’m more into the vintage stuff but the modern stuff, jets and helis are great as well and I wanted to fly em, just not as much. When I got DCS I made sure I had the props sorted first but also bought every jet and heli I wanted too which wasn’t a few, so not cheap. No sense in having trials as I know I want them.

Come the training I spent a lot of time learning just to fly the props and only had quick looks, (air starts for 2 minutes) at the jets before jumping back in the Spit or Jug and carrying on properly. Different modern modules have come out since that I’ve bought and haven’t even set the bindings for. I know I’d want to fly em but here’s the thing, when I load DCS I’m doing it to get in the old musty birds, to fly, with maybe a chance I’ll get a go in my Viper or mess with the carrier (lose it at sea) with something else. I love it when I do get a go but I almost never do. All that faff waiting for the Eagle and when it finally dropped I bought it and put it in the hangar. By the time I get around to it everyone should have ironed out the bugs for me? 

I read someone saying a similar thing on here a while ago. Something like “I wanna use a computer to fly. Not use a computer to use a computer”. I feel the same way a bit. I don’t fly anything before I can cold start it so I more or less learnt the Tomcat and Hornet. I flew em about for a bit but barely started on the systems. It all looks good and flies well but maybe we’re getting a bit of ‘simulation’ we never bargained for? A lot of pilots on the display circuit fly airliners. Pretty much FBW and far removed from anything like a prop driven ‘ol skool’ flying machine. Maybe we’re getting a glimpse of that? Get in a jet, flick all the switches, play with a computer, have a nap, weave around a bit, take off or land, turn off the computer. It isn’t the same feeling as getting in the air and flying the older birds at all.

Instead of my ramblings, maybe I should’ve said ‘You have to fly the props, jets fly themselves’ but it wouldn’t be quite what I mean. There’s something a bit like that though. Now I’ve written all this waffle I fancy making use of some of the money I’ve spent on the modern stuff. To do that, I’ll have to load DCS up and that screen will light up with a big fat Mossie loading page or Spits over the Channel if I load vanilla not OB. I’ll be knackered, in my head I’ll already hear the Merlin phut and growl and that’ll be it. - And what about my helis? 

I was really getting into flying the Huey for a while then it got an update and I didn’t like the way it flew. I’ve barely seen it since and would have to go back to tutorials to cold start it now. Never mind the Apache. I’m gonna have to brush up as I’m gagging to try Tobi and EightBalls OH-6A when it’s ready. Not sure if it’ll come with training missions but it’s looking bleedin marvellous so far. Crackin little assets too.

Then of course, there’s Bomber Commands ‘little’ ongoing project. Scoobies squadron of Lancaster tinkerers and botherers. If that drops all bets are off and I’ll be lucky to get a whiff of a sonic boom this side of sixty. Never mind a downwash from a chopper.

We spent the money on the Jets. We should make the time. Leave the Pony in the stable and look at screens within screens. Afterburners on. Grrrr, I’ll never get a go. 

Like Mr Sukebe says, fly what you enjoy .

Edited January 13, 2024 by Slippa
typo

[Slippa]

12 hours ago, Rudel_chw said:

You could try the F-86 for free for two weeks (unless you are a Steam user), it is really similar to a P-51, only with much higher power ... and easier to land and take-off thanks to not having the propeller torque.

Cheers Rudel, I don’t have the Sabre, now I might have to have a look too. Can anything tempt me out of my props? 

[Rudel_chw]

34 minutes ago, Slippa said:

Cheers Rudel, I don’t have the Sabre, now I might have to have a look too.

I enjoyed her a lot … even flew the campaign that reflected made for it, take a look into it guided by the great Bunyap:

 

 

[Kirk66]

Try the OV-10A mod - simple systems, great visibility, interesting weapons (rockets! lots of rockets! and GUNS!). Even easier to fly than the P-51 (also one of my favorites) since you don't have to worry about the engines.

 

[Fossil Hunter]

I have to fess up. After I wrote this I deleted the Mosquito, F14/15 and flaming cliffs A10. I've spent the last couple of days and can now take off/land and use Tcan and way points on the F18. Having spent the bucks on Super Carrier and the F18 I thought I would give it one more try. And so far I would say the I will end up with the F18/P51/P47/Spitfire. If the Mosquito get's AI Radio/Pilot I will reload it. Finally, I will get one of the two Pacific planes under development. Then I am done. In reality I will mostly fly F18/P51 and one of the Pacific planes, can't really do them all. Since I am retired I'll give the F18 6 months to be really up and flying, for some reason I just found it hard before, things are going good now. The P51 has always been my favorite Warbird. F18 seems to be the widest range of missions (especially with the Super Carrier), and because my deceased dad fought in the Pacific, well one of the new pacific planes calls to me.

 

*************As of 2/20 my computer is now free of all jets, just not for me************************

Edited February 22, 2024 by Fossil Hunter
spelling errors. Got rid of all jets.

[Holbeach]

On 1/13/2024 at 12:31 PM, Slippa said:

Can anything tempt me out of my props? 

The latest brake and Landing Gear updates, might do it.

..

[Talisman_VR]

Maybe try the Huey?

You might be surprised how enjoyable choppers can be.  I am an ex warbird man, but tried the Huey and I am now into choppers big time.  

Cold war servers like Enigma are great for choppers and the cold war era aircraft sets and ground units are more joined up and representative as a complete package than WWII with DCS IMHO.  Good luck.     

Happy landings,

Talisman

[Slippa]

12 hours ago, Holbeach said:

The latest brake and Landing Gear updates, might do it.

..

  cheers, that’s done me. 

[Slippa]

11 hours ago, Talisman_VR said:

Maybe try the Huey?

You might be surprised how enjoyable choppers can be.  I am an ex warbird man, but tried the Huey and I am now into choppers big time.  

Cold war servers like Enigma are great for choppers and the cold war era aircraft sets and ground units are more joined up and representative as a complete package than WWII with DCS IMHO.  Good luck.     

Happy landings,

Talisman

I agree with that about the choppers. I learnt to fly the Huey (still haven’t learnt the weapons) and love it. Waiting for the chopper from Tobi and Eightball and every now and then I check the Polychop thread hoping for the Kiowa. I think they just forgot to release it they’re so busy flying it about all the time. Then of course there’s a whiff of a Chinook, that’d be good too. 

[Talisman_VR]

11 hours ago, Slippa said:

I agree with that about the choppers. I learnt to fly the Huey (still haven’t learnt the weapons) and love it. Waiting for the chopper from Tobi and Eightball and every now and then I check the Polychop thread hoping for the Kiowa. I think they just forgot to release it they’re so busy flying it about all the time. Then of course there’s a whiff of a Chinook, that’d be good too. 

Just pre-ordered the Chinook.  It could be with us by June, along with the AFG map.  Happy days.  

Good luck,

Talisman

[Fossil Hunter]

on one of my last days in Vietnam, I rode a Chinook up to a fire support base to drop off a 105mm at a fire support base below the DMZ. Then a couple of hours later I was at Danang heading to Saigon and then "home".