Ssssooo, who do you fly or sail for?
 

From all the ripping I got in my Sarah thread I thought it would be interesting to find out who flies or sails what, and for whom. I won't bore, you off the bat with me but, I will chime in with some of my virtual exploits. I think I'll get some stick time in Pacific Fighter an see if I can get the FU-4 on the carrier without killing myself. Have fun.

Fly for

USAAF - Jane's World War II Fighters
USAAF - B-17: The Might Eighth
Luftwaffe - Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3
Self (currently) / American Eagle Airlines (formerly) - Real Life

Sail For

Kriegsmarine - SHIII
U.S. Navy - SHIV

i assume thats what you meant :06:

love the corsair :) Along with the airacobra it's one of my fav planes in PF:yeah:
On the Japanese side, I love the J2M for its sturdiness and firepower while maintaining decent speed and maneauvrability, though I like taking both the N1K2 and the Zero for a ride as well.
On the Russian side I like the Lavochkins, on the German side I mainly fly Bf-109s (can't stand the ****e Wulf, it spins out on me every chance it gets)


EDIT: lol subsim cencors the Fw190:haha:

impressive guys, well I flew didn't get shot down, f4-u f me on carrier landing ripped the gear off , well they say any landing you can walk away from. Real life worked at Military Sealift Command here in Port Canaveral Fla. Tore Harleys down, clean toilets now.

USN, Russian/Soviet Navy, PLAN, IRIN in Dangerous Waters.

Occasional when I fire up IL-2 (just don't have time to sit down and learn it all) I'll fly the P-38 or Spitfire.

When I played Wings over Europe I was partial to the F-100, F-104, F-16, F-4, and A-7 (All USAF).

While we are on the topic of combat flight sims, can anyone tell me if there are any educational combat simulators out there?

Even though I was a private pilot with a few hundred hours, I totally stynk at combat flight sims. I even went to Sky Warriors where I learned the High Yo Yo while flying a T-34 but I can't for the life of me get that to work in a sim. :88).

I guess I have a problem keeping 3D SA in a 2D computer game. Do any of the combat flight simulators have any actual combat maneuver training instead of flight control training?

I would really like to get in to combat flight sims (especially WWI) but every one I have, I totally stynk.

Platapus you should try CFS 2
 

it's flight model is pretty good, tatical display helps, you don't have to scroll all over the place to find targets, though the virtual cockpit is not mouse panable, I pan right and left with hat switches on joystick. Until Castout got me hooked on Pacific Fighters, CFS-2 was my favorite flight sim. CFS-2 has pretty good tuturial missions and walk throughs

In sims I like to fly Su-27 and Hurricanes.

In real life I don't fly, but spend all day telling pilots where to go :)

Platapus... What i learned about air combat maneuvering came from playing Aces of the Pacific (1992) and Janes US Navy Fighters (1994) and Jane's World War Two Fighters

reason being - those sims came at a time when the games came with very detaield, in depth manuals. I discovered later how detailed and accurate these manuals were when i started flight school, and had most of the aerodynamics concepts and terminology down pat because of these games and their manuals. These video game manuals were starting out with the concepts of lift, weight, thrust and drag - flight school 101 stuff... and working their way up through the pages to things like mach number, advanced air combat maneuvering, etc - these were game manuals - and they were awesome... and the manual for USNF even included several pages of navy/fighter pilot jargon and abbreviations.

From the USNF manual alone i learned (among other things)

1. what an immelman turn was and how to execute it
2. What a split-S was and how to execute it
3. What a hammerhead Stall was and how to execute it
4. I learned how to use the barrel roll to prevent overshoot
5. And how to use a high and low Yo-Yo

I practiced these maneuvers in free flight with no targets around from various views until i was proficient with each. then i tried them in "combat" with a lot of success.

as for situational awareness...

I particularly played USNF and WW2 Fighters in the "Player to target view" to overcome the constraints associated with trying to maintain 3D situational awareness in a 2D representation.

the "Player to target" view takes a little getting used to, but once you've got it... you've got it.

also, the player to target view really helped later in life when i got into RC flying.

EDIT:

one thing i particularly liked about Janes World War Two Fighters was the "Museum" feature.... it was great, very in depth and highly informative. i attached a video below for those who are unfamiliar. (recommend some reasonable listening volume)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KckLAmcgQ8


this game has been installed on every computer i have owned since Janes WW2 Fighters was released in 1998

http://www.ww2fighters.org/ you got too check this out before it is gone.....

I downloaded skins for the blue nosed bastards of Bodney once - but i couldnt get them to work. Additionally, i found little support, and no installation instructions.

the whole process of modding WW2 Fighters has been very confusing - so i abandoned any attempts to mod the game.

Im currently playing the November 1998 stock off the shelf version un-patched CD version of the game. God help me if something happens to either the blue or red disc... it will be the end of an era.

the game - even unpatched right off the shelf at best buy was surprisingly bug free.

i cannot think of a single CTD or game killer... i can't even think of one fun spoiling bug at all.

Janes nailed it with WW2 Fighters... just NAILED it right out of the gate.

it is just unfortunate that Janes WW2 Fighters concentrated on the Battle of the Ardennes region, the campaign is not remotely historically accurate... but the graphics were cutting edge for 1998 as were the phenomenal crash physics, damage, sound and overall feel of the game.

I guess what I would like to find is a combat flight sim where I can program in a script for the enemy aircraft to follow so I can practice.

I understand the theories of air combat maneuvers and doing them in a real aircraft is pretty straight forward. I just lose it with a 2d screen and no sense of movement. I find it so hard to judge distance on a computer monitor.

I have MS Combat Flight Simulator 3 both stand alone and a copy with Over Flanders Field. Does CFS 2 have a better tutorial of air combat maneuvers?

I think I will check out Janes. I am not so much impressed with the latest graphics so many times the older games are the ones that appeal to me the best. :yeah:

Have you considered track IR?

its pretty cool... but in my house it was a passing fad in pretty much every genre except regular old Microsoft Flight Simulator

I've only a few hours RL stick time; I almost have more hours in a B25 than I do in a Cessna 150. Actually, I take that back - I DO have more hours in a B25J than in a Cessna.

Haven't flown in a flight sim in I dunno how long. Last I played was probably B17: The Mighty Eighth!

Still sail for the USN in SHIV; my time working on Torsk has spoilt me rotten for the USNs pigboats, and sinking marus and IJN warships interests me more than does sinking Allied ships in SHIII, for no other reason than the US Navy's submarines accomplished against Japan what Germany couldn't against the Allies.

games like falcon 4.0 scare me, I prefer to stick to HAWX