Flying warbirds in FS9 - why?

[Killebrew1]

My two favorite computer games, er, sims, are FS9 and IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles.

But I like them for different reason. FS9 to fly GA aircraft VFR as realistically as possible. IL-2 to fly really cool WWII fighters and blast other really cool WWII fighters from the sky. Both experiences are equally enjoyable, yet quite distinct.

My question is why people fly would want to fly a warbird in FS9 when you can do it in IL-2 in an environment where they're meant to be flied - air combat?

Just wondering as I've never had any desire to download an FS9 for FS9, yet I know they're popular...

[Trev]

I quite agree with you. I do have 2 or 3 warbirds in FS9 and mainly the reason I have them is to see if they have good engines sounds. RR Merlin Mustang, Spitfire, Bristol Hercules in the Hawker Sea Fury etc. When I fly them I just fly them from tower view and zoom back and forth just to here the engine sound.

Trevor:)

[JSPuonti]

One reason might be that these days many warbirds of old are flown in air shows rather than live combat. You don't need the guns for displaying formation flight and maneuvers :)

[Bruce]

why do people go to air shows featuring war planes than more than they do to airport to watch civil and GA aircraft. when an airshow comes along they allways have War planes and allways treated as family days out, being attended and enjoyed by all generations, yet the only people that go to airports specifically to watch civil and GA planes are anoraks.

[Zevious Zoquis]

This question was asked recently (at this or the Avsim forums, can't remember). The answer seems fairly obvious to me. Are Warplanes not planes? Do they not feature some of the most impressive and interesting flying characteristics (totally seperate from the weapons systems) of any planes? I mean, if you like flying GA, why wouldn't you enjoy flying a Spitfire or Hurricane?

[aigean]

"Flying warbirds in FS9 - why?"

because when I'm flying a warbird in fs9, im pretending im a rich guy taking his P51 out for a spin around the bay on a nice weekend afternoon, maybe buzz the old neighborhood or the beach goers. take off at the local airport, fly up the coast, then come back.

when im flying comabt sims its a completely different fantasy.

[aigean]

>>I mean, if you like flying GA, why wouldn't you enjoy flying a Spitfire or Hurricane?

exactly. and in fs9 you can do it in a real-world setting, rather than be limited to a war theater.

[jboweruk]

I use the warbirds to re-create airshows. I love nothing better than to let my hair down away from the restrictions of flying with a VA carrying Virtual passengers. One of my favourite shows is to fly the Just Flight Memphis Belle with 'Moonlight Serenade' playing in the background. When it's airshows I fly the whole day from start to finish, one plane at a time until the show's over.

[prowler3]

I wouldn't. I'm still waiting for the next "Jane's Navy Fighters"...or it's equivalent. I'm not flying some "sissy" F-15 off of a huge airfield! Wimps!

Give me the Super-Rhino or Tomcat(sadly to be decomissioned) from that tilting carrier deck. Yeah...you can shoot and kill stuff...but can you GET HOME!?

I can't understand why a newer version of this combat flight type can't be found. I don't want "all around" combat flight...and certainly not in FS9...with no guns!

I want a Navy only, carrier ops flight sim!

S-I-G-H...guess I'll keep hoping.

[Tony G]

> I want a Navy only, carrier ops flight sim!

Well it may not be 'new', but Janes Fa-18 is pretty awesome still.

I love flying warbirds in the sim, both combat sims, USAF was and still is my fav, but the problem if you just want to fly around in the best planes in the world with those games, you are restricted to a few airfields. I live in Vancouver and saw an CF-18 on final to CYVR, I would assume flying in from CFB Comox. I like the fact I can fly the best planes in the world around my home, where they fly for real. Neat to be 50,000' above my house, and dive down and land at my home airport, can't do that with any combat sim's. My 2 cents(cdn)...
Tony

[shp4man]

I must confess to chasing AI planes in FS9 and wishing the guns would work.:) Warbird lovers check out the new Hurricane- it WILL blow you away! The detail in the VC is amazing.

[gdavis101]

I like the old relics, and I just enjoy flying around my favorite airports sight seeing. One of my favs is flying out of Tillamook NAS in Oregon, from the Air Museum. Using FSSE I have decorated my airport to give it a more realistic flair and flying in out of that area in an old warbird is fitting.

In the last three weeks, from the beach in the community I live in, I have seen a Kaydet Stearman and a P-51. These planes are probably flying out east of here, but its kind of fun taking a P51, or the new and beautiful Hawker on similiar flights in FS9.

Now, I am impaitiently waiting for Wings Of Power, OH BABY! Can't wait!

IL 2 is great and I use that quite often, but when I want to sight see I use FS9. No one shoots me down!

[alastairmonk]

For myself I like the increased performance of the "warbirds" that I have - mostly WW2 or early post-war piston engine examples - and the extra range of skills needed to fly them.

As commented earlier, if you like flying planes, any planes, then there's no reason not to fly these. I challenge anyone not to have as much fun flying the MAAM-Sim B-25 as any Cessna, Piper or Boeing !

Significantly the Combat FS range of simulators that MS produces apparently have a fraction of the sales of the "civil" ones. I have no information about the sales of the non-MS products, however these seem to appeal more to the "shoot-em-up" gamers than "proper" pilots like us !

Cheers,

Alastair

[robyoung]

"if you like flying GA, why wouldn't you enjoy flying a Spitfire or Hurricane"

Precisely, Hence:

Spitfire Mark XIV, scheduled for October release at www.realairsimulations.com


Kind Regards,

Rob Young

[sclincoln]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that combat flight sims appeal more to "shoot-em-up" gamers than proper pilots. "Shoot-em-up" gamers play Doom and Unreal Tournament. Most of the popular combat flight sims have just as steep a learning curve as FS9. They tend to skimp a bit on navigation skills I've noticed but dogfighting or dropping bombs on target are serious piloting skills just the same. I'm no combat sim expert by any means. When I've spent some time flying the combat sims I can generally take out the AI aircraft but flying online I spend more time plowing up fields than flying. So, I have a healthy respect for our brothers in arms and I would never slight them by saying they aren't just as serious about their flying as us "proper pilots". All of us have our own preferences and many of us have more than one preference. Every type of flying we can try will teach us new skills and isn't that what this hobby is really all about?

[Top_Gun]

I bought this sim just to fly modern military aircraft. I never fly the default or civilian aircraft because they bore me.

I work and live near a ANG base and have grown up attending military airshows since I was a little kid. I spend more time creating military AI to populate the air and military bases that MS was so nice to leave out.

Why MS instead of Lomac or Falcon4? Because I can fly into all the real airports that I've been to and see all the real units that are stationed there. Lomac has such a small area and I've never been there so I wouldn't know if it's right or wrong.






AFCAD military base producer
http://www.x-plane.org/users/topgun/Personnel/TomcatFS.jpg
JetNet Photos
[link:http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=8782|Here]

Airshow Photos
[link:http://community.webshots.com/user/topgunusaf|Here]

[Zevious Zoquis]

Yep, very much looking forward to adding your Spitfire to my hanger (and checking out those smooth VC guages ;) ). Can't wait. :)

[DK8290]

"Flying warbirds in FS9 - why?"

I think for me it's partially because I can do more extreme flying manuevers and not feel strange about it. For some reason I get a feeling like I should fly relatively straight in most GA planes (or with mild adjustments , ie ... not loops and rolls LOL) . But in a WW2 bird or a military jet, acrobatic flying just feels more "correct" to me.

Right now I'm in the middle of an addiction to mostly modern military jets (mostly European and Russian) and going low at like 1000 knots over water is really amazing sense of speed.going from water level to 30000 feet and passing through the clouds and high above the terrain is such a neat thing to see even if it's just a simulation.

I don't really miss the fighting aspect of military planes (although months ago I had asked if there was an addon for FS2004 that made it into a combat sim) as that was the thing I really got bored with in combat flight sims (like CFS3).

I'll probably get back to GA planes eventually but that's what's so great about flight sim ; when you get bored of one thing you can go onto another quite different aspect of flying.

[Killebrew1]

>"Early to bed, early to rise means you're wasting valuable evening hours when you could be flying."

LOL!

:-lol

[prowler3]

I will agree with you there. "Sightseeing" in an F-14D is quite a bit different from launching off the carrier on Alert5 because some Russian Floggers are coming at you...with L-O-N-G range anti-ship missiles! In the Jane's Navy Fighters Gold (in this one mission) you barely got off before you launched your long range AA (AIM-54's, Phoenix's). And the SIMS I'm talking about are not "shoot 'em ups"...you better know how to fly the plane (in a sim world, of course), it will stall, it will only turn so fast at certain speeds and you better understand "energy"...or the MIG's following the Floggers will kill you. And...you still had to pilot a high speed combat aircraft onto a moving carrier deck...and catch a wire! (Or be ready with full power for the Navy equivalent of a "Go around"!).

Say what you will...there have been some extremely realistic combat sims made. I'm going to have to check out Jane's f-18 because...it's Janes! I have never found a better "Combat Sim" designer than Jane's...with one exception...submarine warfare. Sonalysts is, by far, the best.

It ain't "Combat flying" unless someone else is shooting at you!

Vic

[rservice]

Whats the opinion on purely handling charateristics, and FPS between FS9,FS2k2,CFS, and IL sturmovik?I was going to download the demo version of IL sturmovik, but it is around 150 megs on a slow server.
Also, do they have a version with modern military aircraft?
Ron

[JSPuonti]

>Also, do they have a version with modern military aircraft?
>Ron

Yes, there is a modern combat sim out by the makers of IL2 Sturmovik (I think they were the same people, anyway). It's called Lock-On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC for short). You can find more information about it from here:

http://www.lo-mac.com/

[JimmiG]

I see two reasons to fly warbirds in FS9:

1. They are manuevrable, fast, sleek, sexy etc. If you don't enjoy flying in a straight line for 4.5 hours in a spamcan with wings, you can take a Spitfire for a spin and just mess around or pretend you're at an airshow. The same can be said for aerobatic aircraft (Extra, Pitts, Decathlon etc.). The new RIAT Fairford Air Tattoo Scenery from Visual Flight is proof that this kind of flying is actually quite popular among simmers.

2. Not all warbirds are flown in combat - some rich guys actually own a Spitfire or Mustang or other warbird and fly it just for fun. So, it's not unrealistic at all to fly a warbird the same way in FS.

That said, I don't enjoy flying warbirds, not in FS, nor in any combat sim. I just get pissed off at combat sims because I keep getting shot down :-lol and in FS9, I prefer to fly small planes like the Cub, C152, Katana etc. over detailed VFR sceneries. To each his own :)

[ladamson]

>That said, I don't enjoy flying warbirds, not in FS, nor in
>any combat sim. I just get pissed off at combat sims because
>I keep getting shot down :-lol and in FS9, I prefer to fly
>small planes like the Cub, C152, Katana etc. over detailed
>VFR sceneries. To each his own :)

My plane of choice for VFR scenery is actually a warbird. Kirk Olsson's F-16 Viper which gets me to altitude quickly over vast areas of western U.S. mesh (FSGenesis).

With it's excellent view out the canopy in VC mode, and between 25,000 & 30,000' msl, the view is outstanding! I also prefer the "fall" season, about Nov. 4th for textures.

Just fly out of KSLC or Hill AFB, and head east!

Ladamson