BluBear

Hi Dave, I have a room, currently on my own... need a bed?

Howdy gents, I'm going to have to give tonight a miss I'm afraid. Got Sarah's family round to watch the football and after driving back from Ireland last night, (+ foolishly working today) all I think I can muster is collapsing on the sofa with one eye on a lacklustre England performance. Should be good for Sunday though!

I've certainly seen worse... (ahem red tails)

Going to have to give this one a miss gents, sorry. Heading to Ireland first thing in the morning so will need my beauty sleep. Give em hell!

Should be okay for this

Unreal amount of wing flex there when rolling through the canyons, watching the pylons twist and bobble. Man I need to get the Viper when it's on sale next, that visibility is unmatched.

Yes!

Took the Tiffie up for a spin today and I have to say, I rather like it. Feels sturdy, turns better than expected and expededly makes a right mess of tanks and trains and shift. Roll rate is terrible, but I did manage to shoot down a 109 on my first sortie. Definitely my favourite early access aircraft from BoN so far.

Okay, I've cancelled my Red Lion booking and subsequently rebooked, saving £70! (Thanks Nick). Currently for Fri and Sat nights as before, but as I will probably cancel my annual leave for Friday now I'll no doubt whittle this down to just Saturday night depending on what happens.

Great stuff Gary. p.s. I'll have you know at a spritely and *ahem* energetic 37, I'm one of the few around here keeping the average age as low as it is! 😁 Memory is awful though... now where did I leave my joystick...

Aha, that's in the pre-mission setup screen of the aircraft, where you configure your ammo, skin etc. Next tab along I think from memory?

Silly question, are 'Mods on' in the actual game settings?

Best I've seen. Thanks mate!

Welcome Gary! I find the P-38 is a breeze to fly and operate compared to some of the 'less complex' single engine fighters. Tricycle u/c = taxi like a demon, no ground looping or losing wing tips in this baby Counter rotating props = no torque, she flies on rails Massive fowler flaps = lands nice and slow, just make sure you round out and settle on the mains first This might help:

Personally, as I only get one or two evenings a week free I tend to focus on what I'm enjoying the most, which has been the P-38 campaign and DCS on a Thursday for a good a while now. I had considered switching to every Tuesday to get the best of both GBS-worlds, as I do miss the variety and the banter with co-ops. Then my arm was twisted to lead the 402nd, so there is an obligation to stick with the campaign nights, especially as it is still seeing decent numbers attend. PS. Col - sorry to hear that mate, I agree with Mick in that you are not alone with this. I too have struggled, this year more than last year, especially with Spring being such a washout and plans being cancelled etc.

Just a thought, although tickets have not yet been released, is it worth considering this? https://www.iwm.org.uk/airshows/duxford-summer-air-show It could of course also be cancelled, judging by the trajectory of current covid cases.

That's a shame Skidly, could you be tempted to return to the fork tailed devil?

I'll be there

The airfield will still be open as well, with a small museum and guaranteed activity from the resident aircraft. Could still be worth a gander

We could hold out hope for the Duxford September show? Just a thought. They haven't released tickets yet. Other than that, some kind of dogz meet up would be a grand idea.

Forfuckingfuckssakefucketyfuuuuck!* (*Sorry FT)

402nd FS Combat Report - 17/12 - Attack armour near Duren Both the 402 and 485 had the same target today, so it made sense to fly as a group. Unfortunately it didn't get off to a great start, the 402 had an aircraft go U/S due to control linkage failure before take-off reducing them to a trio and as documented by Lt Nailed, the 485 also lost an aircraft on the taxiway due to peculiar enemy clandestine activity. After forming up over Florennes, Capt Rea who was leading the group seconded one of his lot to fly as our Red 4 in order to balance the squads. With an initial grimace, we accepted Capt Payne into our formation as he nestled up snugly to Lt Vanderweit's wing and proceeded to chew our ears off for the entire ingress to target, with tall tales and blue jokes aplenty. Armour was spotted in the fields to the west of Duren transiting towards the cover of a wooded area, flak was light to medium. 402 were ordered to cover high whilst the 485th made their attack runs. Frustratingly, the sizeable escort cover we were offered managed to spend most of the time putting their big fat P-47s uncomfortably in our way; how there wasn't a collision Lord only knows. We subsequently made our own attack runs, but our 1000lb'ers scarcely made a dent today. With the group out of bombs, Zenith leader called us to investigate targets of opportunity at Kelz airfield SE of Duren. Trailing the 485th by about 5-10km we observed AAA coming up at them, but despite swift warning calls it became evident Capt Rea had been hit by a hot shot barrage and had to bug out West badly knocked about with a buggered P-38. Get well soon Capt! Understandably, we decided to steer clear of Kelz and quickly found targets of opportunity to the South, consisting of artillery and AAA guns. Sadly, on the first strafing run, 2nd Lt James Hendley (AKA Scrounger) flying as Red 2 was observed to lawn-dart quite spectacularly. Whether it was dive-brake failure, a stuck throttle or just misjudgement we'll never know. A regrettable loss to the squadron nonetheless. We'll miss his sublime oil can drum solos with a pilfered pair of ground crew's favourite wrenches. The rest of the mission went comparatively smoothly, with Red 3 and 4 working as a highly effective fighting pair as I flew as spotter and decoy, picking off targets along the way. A respectable haul of enemy hardware destroyed and an effective display of teamwork. Well done gents! That Capt Payne actually turned out to be alright in the end, all things considered.

Brems on the wing.

Regarding prospect of selling out, a contact based at Sywell posted this on the UKAR forums: Sywell is also a smaller venue than Duxford.

Sure, why not!