You keep adding things to my to-do-list!
I started the Hind “Revanche” campaign last night…but I’ve been reading these Gazelle updates and feel the pull to hop in that little thing too. I’m like a kid in a candy shop.
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Well there is a Skill slider in the mission editor for the gunners of Helicopter’crew…
Probably is set to 100% 
which I totally support
That’s interesting actually. I chased a Mi-28. My gunner would simply NOT lead his shots. Finally, in what had to be the most ridiculous air battle I’ve ever been in, I was broadside to broadside with the Mi-28, one hundred feet apart and each doing maybe 20 knots, and although my gunner was still lagging the shots badly, he finally hit the tail-rotor.
Actually you were the reason for this post. I was going to put it on the Hind thread where I knew you would see it but that seemed…messy. So, glad it worked anyway!
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Appreciate it! Flying around at tree top level in the Gazelle with the door gunner sounds exactly like the kind of shenanigans I like to get up to…and I actually just listened to Casmo’s Low Level Hell podcast where they interviewed Col (ret) Hugh Mills, who is the Low Level Hell book author, yesterday! I should re-read that book, too.
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As I mentioned, check in the mission editor the skill slider for gunners.
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I just tried her out last night - just some hovering and a bit of time in the circuit.
Feels very different (in a good way) to how it handled when I last tried, before the FM updates. It is pretty awesome how quickly you can slow down and turn…it clearly weighs a lot less than all the other helicopters in DCS (Kiowa might come close but I don’t have it). I imagine it’ll be a riot to fly once one gets used to it!
I checked out the Rotorheads ping, which was actually okay, so took a Hind up there and ATGM-plinked some BMPs to check things out (can’t start the Gazelle yet so couldn’t do your minigun weaving).
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I thought I was safe…I wasn’t… 
I heard some thumps and scooted away from the first pilot. Thought it was far enough that I could quickly pick up the second pilot instead…but the BMP-1 and his ATGM thought otherwise 
A little bit before the first hit, you can actually hear the ‘woosh’ of the missile motor and a ‘pop-pop’ of me firing flares, mistakenly thinking that it was a SAM. Obviously didn’t help one bit.
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You inspired me to drop my minigun cheat and grab a SA342M (HOT3). Well actually I did start with a minigun which was helpful in that I was able to fly over Azoz and ID everyone within the town as friendly. I pushed my luck chasing a BRDM around some buildings at a village to the west of Azoz and was hit by a missile from an unseen (until too late) BMP. I crashed alive. I then grabbed an -M and flew three sorties that just checked all the boxes. This game can be so bloody great! I took out a T-90, 2 BTMs (both moving fast), 2 BRDMs a Truck and a few more un-ID’d technicals plus some Infantry for a total of 19. Plus saved 2 downed pilots. Two more were running towards me but I started taking AK rounds so I had to leave 'em behind. No room for them anyway. So, so many close calls! Got shaved but unhit by several SAMs. One of those I was head-on and translating left as fast as the Gazelle could go, flaring the whole way. The missile loudly flew a meter or two to my right but didn’t detonate. In real life I would have soiled myself while crying for mom.
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Did you do that all alone or did you have a copilot/gunner?
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Alone. I’ve never flown with a human CPG. I should try it. The -M Gazelle is nice because I can fly from the pilot’s seat and easily manipulate the TV sight. The -L uses close-in sight and you need to fly from the left seat to use it. Doable but I like the -M better.
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That’s a great post - such good times!
I’m stoked about having a short lull period at work and life - I managed to add the Hind and the Gazelle in my repertoire - and rediscover Rotorheads too (I tried out the server years ago before upgrading my PC but it ran slow for me).
There’s a few things that I really love about flying the Gazelle in combat. One is that, like you said, you start to quickly fly it in a way that really uses the terrain for survival - and it works! She is so little and nimble that cover is everywhere once you start looking. I actually think it is beneficial for flying other helicopters too - in just a few flights, I’ve started to think about masking differently.
The other fun thing about the minigun version is the soundscape (no doors). I didn’t expect it, but I realised that I was reacting to sounds a lot more, and quicker. Great for immersion too.
Ages ago, I ejected from a jet and got to experience a dogfight between two other fighters as a spectator on my way down - and the sounds were amazing: afterburners, guns, explosions. It made me think it’s a bit of a shame that normally, sitting in the cockpit, it is all very clinical and you don’t get to experience the noise. Well, the Gazelle is the opposite - it’s all near misses and booms and dakkadakkas and wooshes!
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Wow, I’m impressed!
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I shouid try out Rotorheads too. And the minigun Gazelle. I’m a bit busy this week though. Hopefully next week.
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