OT, FIGHTER ACE a online flight sim

[Hard Sarge]

I belong or did belong, still belong to a online flight sim, called Fighter Ace

decent, not the detail of IL-2, but much better feel while in the air and the people are pretty good

while waiting on something, I had some time to go try out some flying, in there open beta room

some things I can't talk about, but the screens should show what is going on

was making some attacks on a SU Airfield, with a P-38 but wasn't doing much, so went and got a Do-217 E (it is a beta room, two sides, so each side has plane types from more then one nation)

[Hard Sarge]

I am a much better fighter pilot, fighterbomber pilot then a bomber jockey, and this is one reason, your a sitting duck !!!!

right engine is on fire, do some tricks and get the fire out, and watch some of my 500 pounders take out some fuel and AA guns, turn around and say, ahh, do what you know how to do, and put my nose down

[Hard Sarge]

got some more AA guns, and dang if my right engine isn't on fire again,

[Hard Sarge]

hmmm, not going like I wanted, but I got my target, of course the blast and smoke is blocking the target to show it

left engine on fire too

not going to be my day

[Hard Sarge]

wow, lost a lot of speed trying to put out them fires, but got lucky, put out 3 fires in the same mission, most of timed it pretty tight, once the fire has a chance to gain, it don't go out most times
 
but the smoke from the target looks to be worth it
 
of course, I didn't do much major damage, only like 18-20%, need much more to get a trigger, oh well, time to land this pig and get something I know what to do with it
 
 

[Hard Sarge]

LOL, when I do films, I have a habit of doing a victory roll as I leave the target
 
found out the HARD way, the Do-217 does not roll too well, lost about 2500 feet in the roll, and was only 2600 up
 
(and it was more of a half roll, half fall, pulled out going about 90% from where I went into it)
 
 

[Hard Sarge]

get me a F4u4, loaded up for bear, two 1000 pounders and some rockets, only trouble is a Bomb Raid is coming in

Lizards, and a lot of them ! you can see some of the Ships in the water

[Hard Sarge]

my bad, when setting up the snap, i had the ships in view, but then angled it some more, so you can't see any ships
 
top of the screen, you see the read out, I just took off, am low and slow, got my WEP on and climbing
 
bottom of the screen, you see the dials showing the same info
 
 

[Hard Sarge]

tail end charlie, Lizards got a good bomb load, but a weak plane

I have bent a lot of props trying to make short landings in this bird, one trouble with the film, you stop the film, you lose alot of the little stuff going on, there are alot of flak burst going off and the props are spinning

and there are the ships (just in case, you do sit and see from the cockpit, I just playing with some of the outside views)

[Hard Sarge]

tail end charlie got hit with flak, so I go for his partner

good burst, right in the wing root, good by Lizard

[Hard Sarge]

view from the cockpit

I pretty slow to be trying to cut in and out of a bomber formation, not a really smart thing to do

[Hard Sarge]

KILL

roll and turn back towards the rear or the formation, and the counter roll back into it, get a raking run across the body of the Lizard and tear the tail off (angle is much better then the view shows

[Hard Sarge]

pull the nose up and do the best zoom climb my poor speed lets me, get to the top of the climb roll and do a invited roll back into the formation, spot a straggler, and will make my run on him, this way only got to face off vs one bomber guns

[Hard Sarge]

and another kill

even better, now I got my speed back, now I can zoom and pick out my targets

again, the angle from trying to show what is going on, is not that good for showing the gun run

[Hard Sarge]

3 more kills and the raid is over, much better victory roll this time around
 
and just in case, we do have ammo limits
 
Lizards are weak, if those were B-17s or Pe-8s, I would of been lucky to knock down 3 (if I had got away from the guns)
 
 

[Hard Sarge]

now a little more interesting

still a low level raid, but I see at least 36 bombers (not all in view)

but the TA 152 can climb, but it has no where close to the same ammo load that the F4u does, but it does carry a 30mm

[Hard Sarge]

dead Lizard

good gun run, but take a hit to the engine by the return fire, not a good thing

got good speed built up, so I can still climb and dive back in for at least another run, but once I run out of energy and alt, I am out of luck

[TSCofield]

I flew FA for a while.  I like Aces High a lot better but I am more of a stickler for realism.  There is no out of cockpit flying in AHII.
 
If you really like flying you should talk to the folks at Matrix and get yourself a staff pass for WW2OL (Battleground Europe).  You may really like that game.

[Hard Sarge]

well, remember, most of the time you should be in the cockpit view, I was in the reply films, so was able to get outside to try and get a better showing of what is going on
 
I think I give Aces High a lookover when it first came out, maybe it has grown more since then (I think it was the team/side set up I didn't like)
 
 

[Hard Sarge]

Been talking to some of my Squadron mates, they saying I should get back into the swing of things, had a little time on my hands this morning, so took up a few planes for a little spin

the Il-10 wouldn't take off from the short fields I was on, so got a A-20, little better, then fly a transport for a while, got bore, got into a La-7, 3 20mms are nasty, found me a bad guy, so went to work

I am rusty, very rusty

after I bit, I decide to go back to one of the planes I am used to, the Yak 3, I can dance in a 3, but it got weak guns and little ammo, to get a kill, you need to be on target and aim good, since I am rusty, that is what I need, to force myself to do things right