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Now with added music, selected and arranged by @Friar:

Salute, Having been speaking to a few people I have slightly been taken by surprise as to how many people were looking forward to driving a tank in this event. This had me worried that I had not planned enough in the mission for them to do. To this end after many hours previously working on the scenario I have today come up with a new scenario which I think will work really well (cough, "we will be the judge of that Friar". Signed DDz). I have created a completely new scenario by building the map myself rather than using the Syn_Vander generated mission. We have now moved to the town of Veghel on the Rhineland map. The scenario will be "Capture the flag". We will run it for a maximum of 90 minutes (unless by popular demand people want to keep going or shorter if people have had enough!). The flag (which is quite clever in that when a player is within the required range of 75 meters will change to the applicable country and then raise up the flag pole.) Should the "occupier" be killed and his place taken by the opposition the flag will come down and go back up with their colours. Slight issue. There is only 1 bridge that leads to the area you need to be in to "capture the flag". (Don't be fooled by the map, I have removed the other bridge which could have been used ) Tanks will spawn to the north west and north east respectively of the town and will have to fight their way across it to get to the bridge. The flag location is shown by the yellow dot. Pilots and those who do not wish to drive a tank. Don't think I have forgotten you. There are two air fields where you will start on the runway with engines running. Flight time for both sides is approximately 2 minutes. You will have a part to play in assisting to spot the ground movements through the town and also to try and take the enemy out. But beware. I have added an available fighter to each side as well. Can you gain air superiority to assist your ground forces in getting to the flag? There are no AI planes or tanks in this scenario but I may add some static targets to keep you on your toes and perhaps some light AAA as well. Friar.

Some rare footage of Miss Behavin' with both engines running there...

Whoopsie-daisy! Just been handed this footage by a member of the USAAF 9th AF film crew who had a narrow escape filming P-38s of the 370th FG land after an early November sortie on the frontline. Pleased to say no injuries reported and only two aircraft written off for spares. We've had a word with his commanding officer, totally irresponsible of him to be out there distracting our pilots whilst busy landing. Their minds are already overloaded by deciding on what to drink that evening.

If the square heads wish to reveal their intentions here please don't let me stop them! Since it's your birthday, I'll let you into one of our BIG secrets; I'll be wearing a Marge Simpson wig on the night. Look out for a Sherman with this driving it.

Maybe we should say if you are going to be mainly Tank or plane. Tank for me

It was also what made me change my mind about the way forward for our event..

Says it all really

@Delta - I did not want the pilots saying they are spending too long away from the action. So I am going to pack the airfields with high intensity AAA and also protect their route into the area. We could also say No Vulching! The aim of this mission is for the tanks to capture the flag. If you are camped over an airfield you are not helping your ground forces achieve this goal. I will think about about adding other airfields if the pilots think that is the right thing to do.

Fun but I died a lot

This was a surprise birthday present, I had no idea that a random village near Zagreb hosts "one of Europe's most modern" helicopter simulators. The instructor was this great young guy who told me to "forget what I've experienced in games, this is a whole new level". To be honest, it was easier to fly this thing in this simulator with the big, long stick and pedals that trim properly, than it was to fly it in DCS on my stunted Saitek twisty stick. Of course, the "wow" mostly comes from the 6-dof hydraulics the whole thing is on, and although I haven't flown in a helicopter, given my experience in small planes I'd say the hydraulics simulate the whole inertia feel of flying quite well, but with a noticeable difference. The instructor's assistant set the winds for 30m/s for our first landing as a prank 🙄 . Also got to land on the Kuznetsov and nearly crash into the sea immediately after taking off again as I turned way too early and lost speed, the instructor bailed us out with probably centimeters to spare. These guys get crews from all over the world coming to train with them, they opened a bit earlier in the morning so they could fit me into their schedule. It's 130 euros for 30 minutes, but we stayed 45 due to the whole wind pranks and the instructor being a good guy. I need to make friends with these people so I can come here at 3 AM and fly for free. Does anyone know if DCS makes these maps for simulators like this?

I've been putting this together today (should have been working) but this is more important. lol Still a work in progress buts shes coming along nicely. I cant get that skins app to work btw, may need a hand with that, and also had no luck locating any decent skin templates either. 😕

My landing was going well, I called out to Artie that I was about to turn left then bang