What he said… 
Although I must admit I have no idea where the Rhino monicker came from. True they had to differentiate C’s from E’s when calling the ball, and I’m pretty sure the name cannot be longer than two syllables (Hawkeye, Tomcat, Hornet, Viking, Prowler) for comms brevity, so Super Bug was never going to work…but Rhino?
Anyone?
Um…yeah…that’s about the only way I can get on the boat…what? 
The story I’ve heard repeatedly regarding the F-4 was that looked like a Rhino when on the deck. I’m going to guess that the Super Bug must’ve reminded somebody of a similar characteristic. McAir design again and no more F-4s in the fleet? Similar weight?
Played 4 missions of the mini campaign; it’s fun to put together everything we’ve learned from messing around in the past few months. It’s a good mix of air combat and ground attack and it has a fair set of challenges if one sticks to the 1980s theme. Depending on how one flies it, it will probably take a good 2-3 hours to finish it.
My take on it is that it has to do with the weight of the bird. Phantom was the biggest, heaviest fighter yet to land on the ship, it would come in like a rhino, hence paddles calling them that. The navy being all about tradition and having long phased out the phantastic phantom, re-used the rhino callsign for the new and heavier version of the bug.
Rhino ball, two zillion pounds going at the speed of light.
My thoughts exactly. There is nobody more passionate about carrier ops and naval stuff than Wags. He will never end his quest to make that environment better I feel.
If it is one thing the first mission DCS dropped in for the Hornet has taught me, it’s that I have ZERO ability when it comes to BVR engagements. I simply have the worst SA ever…
You are not alone mon frere.
Unlike the legacy Hornet, the Super Hornet has a raised bump between the radome and the canopy. I don’t recall what it is, but perhaps it looked like a cut off horn to some?
I doubt it means Radar In Name Only.
When my dad flew an Air Force F-4E in the 70’s, he referred to it as either the rhino or big ugly. Or simply, “my Phantom”, or when referring to the gun, “my Vulcan”, as in “I’d saw him in half with my Vulcan.” He loved the gun, nape, and snake. 
I also had/have a hard time adjusting to the Hornet’s avionics in that respect, the HUD RWR is not entirely intuitive to me yet and I noticed to depend quite a bit on the HSD in that other multirole jet. However from what I read, things will get a lot more manageable once the SA DDI page is implemented.
The other piece to keep in mind, is that there really isn’t a comparable experience out there. If there was a competing platform with a more immersive carrier experience, and AI more capable of carrier ops than DCS, it would open more room for criticism.
If they have a Zamboni on the flight deck, I will be happy.
Yeah, Seven-G really crashed and burned. Too bad because it was promising a decade ago. I still have the demo!
It pains me to say it, but BMS 4.33 does a pretty good job, arguably better in some areas than DCS when it comes to carriers.
Just finished the campaign; it’s a good mix of things to do that plays to the Bug’s strengths. Perfect for the free weekend and those curious about it!
Is anyone else getting a failure of the backup horizon and radar altimeter after shutdown? Tried several things to restart both but they remain frozen.
The ATC for carriers require first a rework about all ATC (on progress) and ground / deck traffic procedures and taxi, with the problem of deck movement has yet scripted to the AI. Surely ED need build some kind of “dinamic” ground base / deck management control to maintain safe the aircraft’s, helos, personal and vehicles on “deck” zone.
Personally, my favorite was the WWI air combat section that came with subLogic’s Flight Simulator (before MS bought them out).
For those of you too young to remember (1984 ), it was a square of ground (flat) a couple of kilometers on a side. On two adjacent sides were 2D “mountains” that you couldn’t climb over because…well you were in a WWI biplane of course. All done in 4-color VGA graphics! No expensive video card needed! (or invented yet).
I seem to recall you could choose bombing, dog fighting or both. There was an airfield (two thick crossing lines) where you could land.
Believe it or now, I spent hours flying that combat sim, getting better and better and loving every minute.
Crude graphics, extremely small map, very basic flight dynamics…incredibly fun. Why?
It is amazing what your imagination can “fill in”…to any sim!