Caution.. this thread contains Sea Vixens!

[DaveB]

Hi Paul

I have the Razbam Corsair and don't really care for it's FD much. It's good on frames as all Razbam models are but it flies a little odd.. to me anyway. If I remember right, it has a dirty great reflection of the HUD gubbins on the windshield too which looks kinda quaint but makes it a cow to see out of Good luck with it
ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

I haven't flown it much, and haven't had it installed since moving to P3D. Ah well, maybe Rob Richardson's Gannet would be a suitable substitute.

[FlyTexas]

Rob's Gannet would be a great choice, Paul. Dave steered me toward her and I'm having huge fun flying her. I'm even beginning to think...she's rather pretty.

Brian

[Paul K]

Rob's Gannet would be a great choice, Paul. Dave steered me toward her and I'm having huge fun flying her.

Thanks Brian, yes I think I might give her a try. I haven't got many add-ons of any type installed in P3D at the moment because of the ongoing development and possible issues, but I like Rob's aircraft, so the Gannet will go in!

I'm even beginning to think...she's rather pretty.

Now steady on, get a grip.

[dfarrow]

Bootiful Boi , not the kind of thing I could see off the Naarfick coast as a Boi . Did you get all 5 a/c to '' trap '' successfully ? Dave , I guess it was B4 your time but is this how the Beira patrol would have been ? Was your time Phantoms or Shars, and did you get to see action such as your shots ?
Thanks for showing us what is possible in expert hands .
rgds dave f .

[DaveB]

Hi Dave

You can't get AI to trap I'm afraid though you can land them all I remember Beira Patrol though never had to do one. First ship (loan draft) was Hermes and the second was Blake.. both far too big for Beira Always loved the Sea Vixen but they were before my time I'm afraid. In my era, it was Phantoms, Buccs and Gannets followed later by Shars. HMS Eagle paid off the year before I joined up leaving Ark Royal IV as our single fixed wing carrier with Hermes and Bulwark (both reduced to helicopter carrying roles). I have Janes Fighting Ships for the year I joined up and a number of now famous types are shown as artist impressions Certainly, the Invincible class and Type42 destroyers (Sheffield) are shown this way and 2 now long gone types (Type21 Amazon class) are shown launching

During normal steaming.. ships dispositions would be much more spread out than they are in that screenshot. They'd only move close for a specific evolution. I've since made a few more formations for AICarrier and have spread them out a lot more. In fact.. I sailed from Penzance to the IoS this afternoon with a NATO group I made. The only thing with AICarriers is that the ships don't 'wheel' as real formations do so when you turn them either left or right.. the ships turn on their axis. Whatever manoeuvre you make in one direction, you have to do the same in the opposite direction to get the formation back. I was actually flying with them until the Dirty Dozen started again so landed my Gannet on Foch for the most part I brought the formation to a stop off St Marys so I could take a shot from the tower but FSX spit out a visualfx.dll error so that was that

Formation when I did 2 Gulf trips (Iran/Iraq war) were similar.. all the merchant ships in the middle with us providing front and rear cover.. while wishing they'd all go faster

ATB
DaveB

[dfarrow]

Dave , thanks for the excellent scene setting . Can now have some understanding of the complexity of Naval manoeuvres . Autumn's arrived with declining workloads , daylight and more days of '' Harry Clampers '' . So have some time and energy for FS and CBFS , after the most hectic and busy summer of the last 5 at Compton Abbas .
If this 'pooter' blows up I guess it's replacement will be able to run the ' dark side ' and beyond ; so I'll have to do a long slow conversion from fs9 and hopefully be able to drive ships ! Rest assured it won't be a sim tractor !

brgds dave f .

[dfarrow]

Dave , just re-reading your post and empathizing. 'Cos It's a bit odd when you realise all the types you've been on are scrapped or in museums .

'' Formation when I did 2 Gulf trips (Iran/Iraq war) were similar.. all the merchant ships in the middle with us providing front and rear cover.. while wishing they'd all go faster :worried ''

Seems nothing has changed since the sub threat from WW1 onwards , except not only were you sweating torpedoes , but ground to ship missiles and an air threat .
A very hard way to earn a living .. thanks.

rgds dave f .

[DaveB]

Indeed mate. Our not so friendly adversaries were using 'rigid raders'.. hard bottomed boats with inflatable sides that do around 40kts.. and they carried Russian anti-tank weapons. Very difficult to nail something so small and so fast. On our last convoy out, we were illuminated with Styx fire control radar.. on the end of which would have been a Russian-type Exocet. A bit unnerving as my off watch action station was I/C Seawolf magazine What I know about Seawolf systems can be written many times on a pin head but that's how things work Our American cousins had just blown the cr@p out of one of the Iranian oil platforms which obviously wound the Iranians up. Whether the Yanks realised we'd be transitting the Straights of Hormuz with a convoy at that very time is anyones guess

ATB
DaveB

[J0hn]

Well DCS are releasing a Straits of Hormuz map later this year, Dave, so you can relive it all