Do any of you ever manage to get kills with sparrows? I find them useless because Jester never manages to get a lock on anything! Paint me frustrated. I had to do the swirly with four frogfeet because those big white bastiges on my belly were so fook’n useless. Of course, without a lock, gunnery was a matter of luck, and I ran out before I could get all four.
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Now I want a hardwinged Phantom just for the departures! 
I have gotten a few shots off with Sparrows, but Jester seems very picky about it. I’ve had more success using the wheel than the context key.
On the subject of Bombing, I kind of expected the preference to be for direct. Just due to the G and the foot to mil at the greater release range, I would have expected it to be a toss up (no pun intended) between DT computed and old fashioned straight path Iron Sight for accuracy.
I wonder how they really compared?
One thing that you guys need to try some time, as it appears to be supported, is night flare aided bombing.
One guy pooping out parachute flares over the target to provide some good angular illum and the rest of the flight shellacking the target in the new midnight sun.
Super fun!
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Cage button on the throttle puts the radar in boresight where it will automatically lock anything under the gunsight, and from that mode pressing the NWS button puts it in Vertical Scan.
You can even yell “my radar!” when you hit the cage button for added realism (not that Jester actually cares 
)
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Plenty of Sparrow kills for me already.
Do you know how to use the jester action key?
Just in case:
- Short press: track target/next target
- Long press: lock target
- Double press: return to regular scan
That’s it. If the target is at a higher altitude he’ll have an easier time acquiring a lock, especially against small targets like the MiG-21 or MiG-19 but it’s very easy to get a lock on larger aircraft like Su-24, MiG-23 etc. at a sufficient distance for a Sparrow kill, even in a head-on
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That is hilarious.
Wheels
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Not disapointed.
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Casmo does a good job explaining it.
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I haven’t tried combat yet, but Jester won’t even lock up big fat KC-135s for me, so I don’t have much confidence in Sparrows.
Back to the nose having a tendency to drop, I do remember back when the F1 came out it had the same problem, which was eventually tuned down with some FM updates.
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In regular scan Jester automatically scans for contacts and interrogates them. If he gets positive IFF returns he won’t lock the contact. So if that KC-135 was friendly he won’t bother locking it even if you command him to do so.
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A nice touch on HB’s part; built-in shortcut for those ‘I need this now’ things. Works on the D-Toss bombing scenario too IIRC.
Yeah, here it is:
Brilliant.
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Yeah the new Jester interaction is amazing. I can’t wait until it gets ported over to the Tomcat. The one thing I haven’t figured out is how to get him to stop with the fuel checks. They’re great in flight, but once you’re in the pattern it’s a distraction.
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I think this is exactly why I’m enjoying the Phantom so much, more than any aircraft we have other than maybe the Viggen this plane is very much its own thing.
Well that’s obvious just by looking around the cockpit. Most missions I look like this trying to reach every button and switch!
’
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I dove into Palace Cobra again. Published in 2006, it’s largely about Ed Rasimus’ second tour at Korat (1972), this time in the F-4E. His first time over was in the Thud (1966) detailed in When Thunder Rolled, so it makes for an interesting comparison of the aircraft, their tactics, and one vs two pilot philosophies. Initially he is not impressed with the Phantom, but warms to it gradually and becomes appreciative of having a WSO and of the aircraft’s modern systems.
He spends almost a whole chapter on his skepticism of the Dive Toss method, even though his wing at Korat had worked hard perfecting its use. When he finally agreed to try it on a “suspected track park” mission, he went out of his way to confuse the WRCS, including using out of parameter dive angles and release altitudes. Failing all, he finally conceded that he could be beaten by the machine and agreed that it was superior to the manual method, no matter the pilot.
If you want to read a well written and entertaining book about the F-4E by a fighter pilot who flew it in combat, this is a fine choice. He doesn’t spare the reader the technical details.
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On this day in aviation history: May 27th, 1958; A legend was born. The Double Ugly, Lead Sled, Flying Anvil, St. Louis Slugger, Flying Brick, Snoopy, Rhino, Old Smokey, the triumph of thrust over aerodynamics, and “World’s Leading Distributor of MiG Parts” more simply known as the Phantom; made its maiden flight on 27 May 1958 with Robert C. Little at the controls. There were proposals to name the F4H “Satan” and “Mithras”, the Persian god of light. In the end, the aircraft was given the less controversial name “Phantom II”.
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JFC, Satan goes really hard tho.
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Tried some dogfights with some budies in the Phantom and MiG-21. She is hard to fight even when utilizing the vertical and maintaining speed. With the massive delay between squeezing the trigger and a Sidewinder leaving the rails, it’s almost impossible to get a shot off before the bandit blows past me or I have to maneuver out of a firing solution to prevent myself from blowing past him. My friend got a couple AIM-9Ps off but they bleed all their energy in the first mile and are practically useless, so good old guns it was.
I also keep having some kind of controller issue with the gear up/down command. The gear lever will move as expected, but the gear itself will not, requiring a second press that actuates the gear without moving the lever.
Had to dig that one up again, from my Kindle collection. I had no need to store that info in my pea-sized brain when I first read it. Cool to re-read it now; did a search on the term dive toss in the book and a really good [re]read. Thanks!
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On the other hand, I’m finding that a clean, lightly loaded Phantom with AIM-9 Limas or Mikes, is a pretty formidable opponent. I bet the F-4S with its slats, gun-free nose, and smokeless engines with AIM-9Ms would be a beast.
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Sounds similar to the thoughts expressed by the pilots from 50+ years ago.
This was another area I wondered about: how will people handle the frustration from the ‘magic’ missiles (that weren’t).
Now, I’ve no idea who is responsible for the missile code in DCS, ED or the module dev (I’ve heard both to some degree), or how accurate the performance is - I’ve never tried to use the earlier gen one myself.
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Usually generic weaponry is ED stuff, unless there’s specific airframe-related weapon systems…
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