I think my instructor in tech school had been stationed on the Midway in the 80s, but I might be remembering wrong. It could have been the Ranger instead. Anyways, that’s how I remember the whole “kept F-4 in service” (which I don’t know if it’s true or not) thing being told to me. That, and how much he hated being on the carrier, to the point he stayed in the service for a couple more years if they’d let him off of a carrier.
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We will be continuing to iterate upon our new engine framework through the development of other similar jet engines, such as the P&W TF30
F111 confirmed.!!!
I am actually happy that certain engine damage modelling is coming to dcs. It reminds me of what accusim did for fsx which breathed a whole new life into that sim. Looking forward to this.
Still going to buy it and not fly it just to hear @nearblinds dismay.
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Oil Leaks
Oil leaks can occur one of two primary ways:
That statement concerning F-14s is only partially correct. Oil leaks (and hydraulic leaks for that matter) are caused in a third way…because the oil is in an F-14 to begin with.
One of the duties of Squadron Duty officer ashore, was to walk the flight line in the early evening, and rearrange the drip pans (big aluminum pans…about 3’ x 5’) under the individual F-14’s so as to catch as much/many of the leaks as possible overnight.
…they are probably not going to simulate that.
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That reminds me of a story my brother told me:
He was visiting a friend who was working on an airbase, Tornado maintenance.
My brother said: Hey, look, one of those Tornados is leaking oil!
The mechanic answered: oh, that’s good. If it is leaking that means there is still oil in it.
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My son said something similar about the V22 Osprey. There’s some kind of inside joke regarding Ospreys and leaks.
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Could be a good sign…
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My Dad was a POL officer in the USAF, and when I little he was stationed at Kadena. The SR-71 among other AC was based there. I remember as a kid being able to go visit the hangars (this was the early 80’s so the Blackbird, or Habu as the locals called it, wasn’t classified anymore) with my dad. Those things didn’t leak in the hangar, as they simply let them drain on the apron before they pulled them into the hangar.
According to my dad, gassing them up was a matter of putting enough fuel in fast enough that it wouldn’t leak out before it had a chance to take off and tank. Once that was done it could get up speed so that the airframe heated up from friction at high speed. Once it got up to operating temp everything expanded from the heat and sealed up. There was an actual percentage of the fuel offload that was specifically there to take account for what was going to leak out before operating temps were reached.
Once they landed the reverse happened apparently, and minor leaks turned into gushers as things cooled and everything shrunk.
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A couple of buddies of mine are engineers who work on them at Cherry Point - I’ve heard the same thing.
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I was a passenger in a Navy CH-53 along with some Marines. As we are getting ready to take off, a hydraulic line above one of the Marines suddenly leaks for a few seconds, right onto his lap.
The Marine, concerned about the air worthiness of the helicopter, as we all were, gets the Crew Chief’s attention and shows him where the leak came from and the size of the spot on his trousers as testament to how much leaked.
The Crew Chief answered (in that shouting kind of way you do when inside a noisy military aircraft), “Don’t worry. It comes right out in the wash.”
…and then went on his preflight way. Yep. 
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Not sure if it’s still offered, but UCLA apparently offered a graduate level Aerospace Engineering course that was literally a semester long design study of the Blackbird, its design challenges, and how they overcame them.
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Yup, the SR-71 and it’s A-12 predecessor were specifically built to leak so that they’d have integrity at speed.
In an odd bit of historical coincidence, I saw my first A-12 in 1991 before I knew they existed, as their existence was declassified only just before they were released for museum duty. It was sitting in the parking lot of the missile center in Huntsville, AL, the place that has one of the last 2 Saturn Vs (CCAFS is the other). The engines of course were not installed, but otherwise here was this Blackbird (that wasn’t really as it was an A-12) with sitting in the parking lot (literally taking up spaces) with only temporary fencing like they use for crowds during parades and such around it, so you could easily touch it. Of course, it was not leaking fuel as it likely hadn’t had any since 1968 or so.
Reminds me of that old post-flight complaint sheet that’s been circulating the net since forever. The one where the pilot writes notes about things to be fixed and then gets the reply?
Things like “something loose in cockpit” answered with “something tightened in cockpit” and “engine missing” with “after brief search, engine located on wing.”
I remember one being “engine 1 has seepage” answered with “engine 2 lacks normal seepage, corrected”.
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I witnessed fist hand the same behaviour. 
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Cobra8472
Heatblur Simulations
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1 hour ago
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edited 51 minutes ago
I’m not sure how to succintly square away the logical inconsistencies between our (very high) monthly expenditure (presently very much in the red, mind you) and painfully long workdays with a need or desire to troll and sit on a fully completed Tomcat. Life isn’t very pleasant for some of us right now.
Could we suddenly stop our work, and launch the Tomcat on extremely short notice if we wanted to? Sure. Would it be a superior business move? Probably - the market is changing and so is the definition of an EA module. It wouldn’t be bad, but it just wouldn’t be what we set out to do with the F-14.
We’re truly trying to break some new ground here, try not to be too harsh on us for being ambitious. We’ve been on your side of the fence. I spent plenty of time refreshing the banana forums, eager for any snippet of news on CloD. Trust me when I say - it’s even more frustrating on this side of the aisle.
That said, expect some exciting reveals to happen in August. Things are coming together now and it’s glorious to see.
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He could be talking about the CE II, La-9, or the Yak-52, but he could also mean the Tomcat.
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This
For context Cobra was responding to this post on Reddit [link] which, although it seems like it contains something a Heatblur perspective, doesn’t?
Anyhoo. Good news to hear that progress is still being made. Looking forward to giving the ole 'Cat some learning time.
Progress continues to be made until such time as it isn’t.
That said, I disagree with the phrase “superior business move”. If it was “superior”, then there would be no question and they would do that as by definition the plan they’re working from instead is inferior.
I believe the word should be “satisfactory”. They COULD do it and it WOULD make them money now but it wouldn’t be the ideal way forward. The rest of the statement then works better.