Howdy,
We Buccaneers visited the SEA last night, not for the purpose of fighting in a no-icon environment, but more to find a place where we could practice flying our P-38s using the official P-38 manuals/procedures. Having friendly collisions turned on was a side-benefit that we did not expect, but thoroughly enjoyed. Our mission was to simulate the ferrying of P-38s to Morroco using B-26 as nav-ships and having each flight form up on a nav-ship as we went. We observed pre-flight, takeoff, cruise, pre-landing, and shutdown checklists (right out of the book) during the flight. BTW, HiTech, the maximum RPM for the P-38L is 3000, per the manual, not 2750 or whatever is currently shown.
The flight to "Morroco" was pretty interesting and enlightening. Cruising at 35 MP and 2300 RPMs and trying to keep formation with a B-26 AND not run into each other was quite a challenge. We only lost one ship on the way due to collision (sorry delta).
Our plan was to fly overhead breaks from eschelon formation when we arrived at our destination. Interesting concept. Imagine 12+ ships diving on a field hell-bent on landing AND trying to avoid each other. It was hillarious and for the most part we were successful. One ship washed out its gear as it touched down and two ships collided on the runway shortly after touch down and I washed out my port engine by turning too hard during my taxi to the hangar. Not bad for beginners. The bottom line is that we had a blast and discovered that friendly collisions add a LOT of pucker factor to most everything you do :EEK:
One thing we did observe, however, is that without friendly icons (we turned them off for about 1 second) we could not have done what we did. Whenever we fly as a squad, we always fly in assigned flights/elements and use this as the basis for all of our tactics. With icons turned off, there is no way to tell your lead's P-38 from your wingman's.
Distance numbers we could probably do without, but when it comes to picking out your flight in a gaggle of fighters lined up next to the runway or rejoining after an intense fight, with the limitations of the technology available it cannot be done (acceptably) without at least ID. Perhaps ID out to a certain range is all a squad would need to fly disciplined formations, but some kind of ID is required, IMHO.
Enemy icons? Bah, who needs em!
buhdman, out
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Walt (buhdman) Barrow
(formerly lt-buhd-lite)
The Buccaneers - "Return with Honor"
home.earthlink.net/~wjbarrow
[This message has been edited by buhdman (edited 05-18-2000).]
