Warbird Information Exchange

Rob - thats the one - I don't know how complete it is - the way it looks one would almost think all you needed was a 220VAC plug!!

It would make a killer "Officers club" resturant ride - dinner and a A-10 ride!!

Tom P.
www.wendoverairbase.com

Rob, of course you'll need an instructor pilot to run the thing...

I've been PC flying ever since I was ten (looooong time ago) and the best you can get is Combat Flight Simulator 3 because you can download thousandss of aircraft, scenery, missions, etc from www.flightsim.com (just make a username and password), it has the whole world instead of a teeny tiny a map, you can design and fly your own aircraft with the included Gmax software, and each individual mission is different (enemy placement, weather, etc) every time you play.

As for controllers, Sidewinder Precision Pro or Force Feedback Pro from Microsoft are what I use. If you want to spend about $300, you can get a set of pedals and a yoke from ch products (they are the best FS gear I've ever flown with)

Another recommedation to get used to flying with CFS3 is that you also get FS2004:A Century of Flight. It has millions of aircraft, scenery, sounds, etc you can download and add on.

Wolverine

This is a bit out of the scope of Mudges original inquiry...but you guys
ended up "running the ball downfield". Well here's a coupla' guys
determined to make a "touchdown"! Read the Intro first please, in order
the get the context of their efforts...

www.simhardware.org

Amazing patience and workmanship !!

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

I'm not a sim or pc game guy BUT a friend of mine has IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 (which combines all the previous versions) on his PC with a 10 ft wide screen and projector and big stereo system and some fancy joysyick with force feedback, it's a lot of fun and a bit addictive.

For aircraft I prefer the P-38 with extra gun pods , Ki-84-L (2x20 and 2x30mm cannon version) and Me-262 (4x20mm) however I usually end up with the 262s engines on fire from debris from the aircraft in friont.

The standard convergence for guns is set at 400yds , I set mine to 180 yds and get close , the usual result is the bogey breaking up in mid air with all that firepower up close.

For the B-17s and other heavy bombers are pretty lethal up close also !

I don't know much about Japanese fighter aircraft and had never heard of a Ki-84 and this plane (if the sim is accurate) is lethal against just about anything including the P-51, P-47, Spitfire and FW190.

Makes me wonder why 4 cannons weren't fitted on more aircraft in WW2.

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

Be careful Mudge....just like anything else you can spend as much as you want going down this road...

http://www.fscockpit.com/

http://homebuilt-cockpit.masternerd.com/

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/1160/

I've been flight simming since...



Now I fly a desk with a Saitek X52 that I bought on sale for $25.

http://www.saitekusa.com/prod/x52.htm

I like the Il-2 series, the flight models can be quite challenging. and the combat is fun.
I liked the Microsoft CFS 2 a lot. CFS3 was ok.

I do fly the MS flight sim X now as well....its a resource hog but still very cool...for desk flying.


Z

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Heck, I'm hooking up an F-84F to pc sims, so you can get a bit crazy with pc flight sims if you have the time and patience.

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F-84F Simulator Project
www.f-84f.org

Mudge., are you looking at getting your 'Drone' Wings????

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S.

Re: cannons vs. .50 cal for US fighters WWII - this was discussed a while back on Tank-Net. IIRC, we didn't have a 20mm cannon that was lightweight, reliable and with good ballistics. Where in comparison, we had lots of good experience with .50 cal. Plus, unlike our enemies, we weren't after many large 4 engine bombers.

The USN was ahead of the USAF in converting to 20mm (e.g. F9F, AD1) but used a European designed gun (Hispano?).

IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 is your best buy. It encompasses all of the IL-2 series on one DVD, and there are very few WWII aircraft left out. An amazing game. It's real strength is in online play, though, so join Hyperlobby and try your luck. Your knowledge of WWII fighter tactics will suddenly become very important, at least in the more sensibly hosted games using realistic settings.

Another great, if slightly dated, game is Battle of Britain 2, a makeover of an older title originally produced by Rowan games. It enables you to fight the entire Battle of Britain on a strategic level, as well as jump into the cockpit of any given combat, and is one of the few sims that actually display the enormous formations of aircraft that filled the skies during those epic battles. It's probably your best bet for offline play.

Rowan also produced Mig Alley, a great sim that is, unfortunately, rather outdated now. I really wish someone would give it the same graphic makeover as the BOB sim, as the dogfights in Mig Alley were intense.

The designers of IL-2 are hard at work on a new Sim based on the Battle of Britain which looks to be eye-popping and will probably run great on a Cray supercomputer.

Until then, there is a (just released) incarnation of IL-2 for the Xbox360 called IL-2 Sturmovik:Birds of Prey. It is the same game streamlined (but not dumbed down..the full sim mode is still available) for console play and with nice graphics. Review is here:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sim/il2 ... es;title;4

Here's a trailer: the graphics were produced from within the game, so what you see is what you get.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sim/il2 ... deos;img;1

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What is red, furry and on your six?

I must have a sadistic streak ... I like to do a strafing run down the runway with about 8 planes on there and then pick them off on take off or initial climb .

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Aussie expat lost in Indonesia

Are there really any "home gym" sims that actually have feel to the pedals and controls? What I flew in PPL school was lame. I never played a racing game that had any feel to it either. To me, that blows it.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php


And a link to the non-f16 part of the forums.

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php?board=66.0

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Robert "JP" Spivey

Nothing can convincingly simulate the feel of riding the wind in a sim, but a variety of things can help give you a decent feeling of immersion, and when they are cleverly combined, the gaming experience can become far more visceral.

One is surround sound with good bass. Another is a robust set of controls with strong springs that offer significant resistance, coupled with a game with good flight dynamics. (Some sims offer excellent visual and aural clues, too...like the wind buffet sound near a stall or sinking into the seat perspective under g load in Il-2) I think CH products make the best HOTAS controls for the money, and the more physical controls you have, the more you feel like you're in the cockpit. TrackIR is a sort of webcam that tracks your head movement and pans the onscreen view appropriately, and can be very immersive. A very wide screen that works its way into your peripheral vision can be effective, too.

I've generally found force feedback controls to be disappointing, but technology keeps marching on in this arena, and there are now chairs and vests that offer tactile response (normally via sound). There are even 2 and 3 axis motion rigs that you can build or buy that probably produce more motion sickness than anything, but then you are entering the preserve of the "pitbuilder", and at that point you may simply be better off buying a kit plane.

Like most experiences, it's what you make it.

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What is red, furry and on your six?

I'm just wondering if Mudge made a decision on a sim and hardware....he's had 5 years since he started this thread!!!!!!!!

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Life's a Pitts