Comments for Dusty and I have some interesting email exchanges...

Dusty and I have some interesting email exchanges...

2004-09-29T11:50:45Z

We were discussing the time I shot down some Air Force guys in sim (I always thought it was a fluke - Dusty's analysis took what little wind was in them sails completely out!) and we got into aesthetics. Not a whole lotta context here, but a little insight into Jonah's Military Guy and Airpower Guy and some talk for you airplane buffs who visit.

> --- Instapilot: Did you know the Hurricane was covered in fabric (vs. Monococ--stressed sheet metal--construction) aft of the cockpit? If you're gonna buy a Brit WW II fighter, the only one to buy is the Spitfire. Amazing airplane and one of the most difficult wing shapes to manufacture (oval) but aerodynamically a brilliant design. BTW, I attended the 60th reunion of BoB [Battle of Britain. ed.] vets while at RAF Mildenhall. We arranged for a two-ship flyby--F-15 and Spit. What surprises many is how small fighters were back then and how big they are now. I think the F-4 is only a few feet shorter than the B-17 and carrier several times the explosive load. Gotta love those J79s! Cheers, Dusty

The Armorer responds:

Yeah, I know about the construction of the Hurri. I just like 'em, they're pugnacious, kinda like the A-10, vice the Metrosexual look of the Spit. The Typhoon's even better. Since I don't fly except in sim, I'm all about the aesthetic... The one fighter that kind of goes against the bigger better bit is the F-16 (gee, John Boyd's bird... whodathunk?) which doesn't quit overshadow the WWII birds as much. One F4 can carry the load of 10 B-17s... then there's the BUFF and the BONE... which are almost Thousand Plane Raids by their lonesomes. Much has changed. Far fewer people at risk (on the delivery side *and* the target side... at least in terms of collaterals - but no one ever gives us credit for that. Nor for the risks we take personally to avoid the collateral casualties. /rant
John

Instapilot:

Here's something I didn't know...you know why the BONE is still flying? Aside from the fact that it's less than half the BUFF's age, it can carry more than the venerable B-52, internally at least. I didn't believe it until I stood under the weapons bay and looked up. You could hoist a bus up in there.
Aside from the most beautiful piston-driven fighter ever built...

There�s the toughest...

...and my jet�s namesake. The biggest, heaviest single-engine fighter ever built and, besides being called the �Jug� (about as bad as �Hog�), it was known as �The Unbreakable.� This was brought home to me when I was working at Langley and a colleague told me about his dad having engine trouble while he was ferrying his new airplane back to the ETO...crash landed in the trees in New York somewhere. They got the airplane out, dropped the gear, banged out the dents on the wing leading edges, fixed the engine problem and he was on his way.

Look closely at the above picture and compare the size of the cockpit/pilot with the engine cowling. This was a BIG motor. That�s one thing we didn�t get in the Hog, but that may change as they retire a few to upgrade the rest.

As far as bombing goes, I�m sure you are aware of the air attack paradigm shift with the advent of JDAM: Curtis LeMay had to calculate the number of planes required per target. Now his successors calculate the number of targets per plane�16 for the B-2.

I'll post the Instapilot's ego-crushing AAR of my flight of fancy some other time!

Comment from Ambulance Girl on 2004-11-26

2004-11-26T21:14:31Z

The picture is breathtaking :))

Comment from Geoffrey on 2004-09-30

2004-09-30T17:07:14Z

I played Aces High for a few years. I'm into WWII OL now because of the complexity. Great game.

Comment from Mike Lech on 2004-09-30

2004-09-30T05:33:00Z

I was gonna mention "Jane's WW2 Fighters" as my favorite flight sim too but I was afraid of the mocking I'd receive for still enjoying a game that old.....I still play it online at Gamespy.com but that lobby is usually deader then Kerry's campaign. As far as ugly fighters? How about the Brewster Buffalo? Described as a "barrel with 2x10s for wings". And to think that many a poor soul met his fate trying to fly it against Zeroes and Zekes...

Comment from spaceCADETzoom on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T23:38:23Z

Myself, one of my favorite games (flight sim or otherwise) was 1942: Pacific Air War. If That upcoming Pacific Fighters can deliver anything close to torpedo bombing in an Avenger that 1942 did, boy oh boy I'll buy it the second it hits shelves. George HW Bush tops my list of favorite presidents not because of anything he ever did in the white house (I'm rather indifferent to his role as president)...my admiration of the guy is solely on his merits as an Avenger pilot. :) My flight sim with the most longevity for me though, is still Jane's WWII Fighers. I still can't find anything that tops the "feel" it had...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T23:37:56Z

Hmmm, I dunno. The Barracuda was a pretty spugly bird. The Gannet looks like a pregnant guppy... Hmmmmm. I sense a post here.

Comment from Justthisguy on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T22:59:23Z

Ah, but which is yer favorite ugly fighter? Fairey Flycatcher's my favorite, there. Looks that only a mother could love, flying qualities loved by all who flew it, easily taken apart into conveniently stowable chunks.

Comment from Heartless Libertarian on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T20:56:07Z

If you want to talk pretty fighters, you have to include the Grumman F8F Bearcat in there as well. Didn't see service in time for WWII, but it was pretty...the original plane of the Blue Angels.

Comment from J.M. Heinrichs on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T16:03:31Z

de Haviland Mosquito! On a mission against Berlin, the bomber arient carried the same bombload as the B17- 4000lbs; one of the fighter versions topped out at 425mph ... ... and I have a copy of "633 Squadron". (For your sim pleasure!) Cheers JMH

Comment from Mike Lech on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T14:47:21Z

I'd replace the picture of the P-51B with a P-51D then you have a good fighter...My grandfather was an armorer in the South Pacific during WW2 and he raved about Marines and their F4U Corsairs. Then when I was 5-6 years old out came "Black Sheep Squadron" and I was really hooked on Corsairs... If you like P-51s then you should really like P-82s... http://www.boeing.com/history/bna/p82.htm I really enjoy your site & blah, blah, blah (my Kerry impression)

Comment from Russ on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T13:18:37Z

Pacific Fighters is coming out in November.... The anticipation is killing me.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T13:09:21Z

There's another level to that answer... the sim where I shot down an AF pilot was an Air Force cockpit simulator. I was working on a distributed joint sim back in the early 90's that could link virtual and constructive sims distributed geographically. As part of the test we were running sims from the Navy facility at San Diego, the Air Force facility in Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, and the AF simcenter in the Pentagon. We didn't have any pilots at the Pentagon available to fly, so a AF civilian and I flew a mission in the F-15 sims at the Pentagon, bombing some constructive entities running in the Army sim, dodging some missiles from the Navy sim, and then getting bounced by guys from Kirtland. I shot down one of the Kirtland guys, apparently because I was so stupid I stunned him to immobility and got a gun shot on him. Most of the team he was just eating my exhaust and I was just barely staying out of lock. Y'know, basically the kind of sim we flight simmers wish we REALLY had...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T13:02:02Z

My current fave is Il-2, and I'm getting interested in Lock On, just haven't had the time to get into it. I'm looking forward to the Pacific expansion to Il-2.

Comment from Geoffrey on 2004-09-29

2004-09-29T12:46:13Z

What flight sim do you fly?