News for the year 2000 Ordered by Date ExhibitTitle Comments Year Thumb Pacific Air War " One strange thing about the F4F Wildcat was that Grumman decided to save weight and complexity by having the gear retract manually (they dropped by gravity). There was a small crank on the left side of the cockpit, on or near the floor. It required something like 20 turns on a VERY stiff crank to get them up.. " 14-Jul-2000 Trouble in the Solomos Islands Yes - that's not a typo - the "Solomos Islands". One of the most exciting sims around in 1990 F-29 Retaliator set new standards in blazing speed. 14-Jul-2000 Team Yankee A classic tank sim based on the book by Harold Coyle. 14-Jul-2000 Proflight Stjepan Pejic spent some time in Proflight and I've added his reminiscences. 14-Jul-2000 Operation Harrier - or Tomcat?   14-Jul-2000 The first Tornado sim? Proflight was one of the first flight sims I saw on a personal computer. I had an Atari ST - bought strictly for business use mind you - and I believe Proflight even ran on the Atari Monochrome monitor. In fact I'm sure it did - high res - 600 x 400 pixels ? Pretty amazing for the time. 14-Jul-2000 Mark Berent Mark Berent - what's he up to these days? Mark Berent spent over 20 years in the USAF, logging over 4,350 hours, more than 1,000 in combat. During his three tours in the war, Berent earned the Silver Star, two DFCs, over two dozen Air Medals, A Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Legion of Merit. His first four books concentrate on the F-4 Phantom aviation in the Vietnam conflict, to which he obviously brings a wealth of personal experience. There are also great descriptions of FAC missions, Wild Weasel and Special Ops on the ground. 14-Jul-2000   Microcosmic God A reminiscence about Command and Conquer - which has taken up too much of my time over the years! Also a walkthrough of GDI Mission 15. 14-Jul-2000 Nostalgia Jukebox Hear the Midi files or download them - these tunes bring a tear to the eye of any veteran combat-flight-simmer. - Falcon 3.0 soundtrack. 14-Jul-2000 T.F.X. Len "Viking 1" Hjalmarson remembers Tactical Fighter Experimental - TFX by Digital Image Design. 21-Jul-2000 Eurofighter Sims Eurofighter Sims, TFX, All Hot Air: Hot Air Balloon sim, Shake that thang!: Body Shakers, Free the B-17!: The original B-17 Flying Fortress sim, Strike Eagle in action: F-15 Strike Eagle I 21-Jul-2000 Strike Eagle in action The 1985 sim by Microprose F-15 Strike Eagle I. 21-Jul-2000 Free the B-17 ! The original B-17 Flying Fortress sim - B17 Flying Fortress - is available for free at www.bombs-away.net 21-Jul-2000 Hot Air Balloon sim Ian Marshall from The Retro Computer Gallery kindly supplied a scan from the Hot Air Balloon sim manual. He remembers: "From my memory as a 12 year old lad I was slightly disappointed with this game as It made itself out to be a realistic simulation of flight. It isn’t any more than a moving horizon backed by numbers." 21-Jul-2000 Eurofighter sims Len "Viking 1" Hjalmarson from www.simcombat.com continues his overview of Digital Image Design sims leading up to the release of Eurofighter Typhoon. 21-Jul-2000 Shake that thang! Mark Schimmer recently hooked a set of so called "Body Shakers" to his hifi rig. "These are low frequency transducers (28 to 55 Hertz) which normally induce vibrations on walls or other large objects. They give a great tactile feeling, expecially on sounds like piston engines, slow firing guns, afterburner rumble and .... incoming fire (makes me almost leap out of the seat)." 21-Jul-2000 Classic Air Combat Guides SimTech's EF2000 guide - This is probably the best strategy guide ever, for one of the best sims ever. SImTech's EF2000 guide is a Classic Air Combat Guide - still a good read today, and essential if you have. Falcon 3 Official guide (1994) Art of the Kill: AOTK is not as much a sim strategy guide as it is a brief introduction to BFM and ACM. 28-Jul-2000 News Archives Created I have created a system of archiving the news week by week. To read the old news just click here - News Archives. 28-Jul-2000 Hot Harrier Ralph Clark found a copy of Microprose's Classic Harrier Jump Jet and kindly sent in some scans. 28-Jul-2000 FREE Keyboard Control Cover Cockpit Collections is pleased to offer the chance to win a FREE Keyboard Control Cover for MiG Alley. We will be giving away one per week from August through October. 28-Jul-2000 When is a flight sim not a flight sim? Chino shows us how he occupies his time in motel rooms on road trips.. With Flight Commander 2 of course! 28-Jul-2000 Cockpits Galore It was about time I swept the broom through the Cockpit section. - home built cockpits and more at the Hardware Gallery. 28-Jul-2000 RAM pack madness Julian "Gremlin" Sallows earned his nickname from the owner of the Spectrum Shop according to local folklore! 28-Jul-2000 Cockpits Galore Cockpits Galore, Keeping the Skies Safe in 1995: Combat Air Patrol, News Archives, FREE FREE FREE: Cockpit Collections, Hot Harrier: Harrier Jump Jet, To sim or not to sim - that is the question: Flight Commander 2, RAM pack madness: ZX-81 Spectrum, Guides, Sim packaging: Enemy Engaged - Comanche vs Hokum, It's All Hot Air!: Sinclair ZX-81 28-Jul-2000 Sim Packaging Box artwork and package contents for Enemy Engaged - Comanche vs Hokum 28-Jul-2000 Keeping the Skies Safe in 1995 Vincent Jamart takes us on Combat Air Patrol with Psygnosis in 1995. 28-Jul-2000   It's All Hot Air! Gareth "Goon" Evans painted a sobering picture of days gone by with this screenshot of Hot Air Ballooning on the Sinclair ZX-81. 28-Jul-2000 Jetfighter Platinum Jet Fighter Platinum, A10 Tank Killer2 - Silent Thunder, Crimson Skies, Dark Reign 2, Visitor's Book revamped 04-Aug-2000 Platinum Somebody asked whether Jetfighter Platinum had been released - well, yes, in 1997! My Jetfighter 3 guide was one of the first I wrote - way before this website began. What a pain it was to get those DOS screenshots! Anyway JF3 ran really well on my old 486 and you can still get it today. 04-Aug-2000 Silent Thunder remains true to name A10 Tank Killer2 - Silent Thunder. ran in Windows 95. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to run in Windows 98! If you know how to solve this problem please let me know. 04-Aug-2000 A-10 Tank Killer Way back in 1989 Sierra released A10 Tank Killer. You can get it now in the Sierra Aces Collection - which I'll be writing more about soon - but it's crude and ugly by today's standards.... just like the Warthog in fact! 04-Aug-2000 Unlimited fun Vincent Jamart remembers Flight Unlimited. Don't forget to check out Flight Unlimited II as well. 04-Aug-2000   Rapt in flight simming Vincent Jamart provided this brief look back at an F-22 Lightning sim - F22 Lightning II. 04-Aug-2000 The Skies are Red! Crimson Skies is from the makers of MechCommander - so that alone makes it worth a look in my opinion. Actually it may be just the thing to bring a lot of fresh "blood" into flight simming. 04-Aug-2000 Visitor's Book revamped I've still got the virtual broom out and have swept through the Visitor's Book. I don't print all the mail - just a representative sample. See if your name is there! 04-Aug-2000     Dark Reign 2 is out and I'll be looking at it soon, so I jumped back through the vortex for a quick look at the original release. 04-Aug-2000 Dinosaurs in a Flight Sim ? ! Yes, BlackJack found a specimen of living electronic fossil grazing peacefully in Team Apache. What did he do? Naturally he took pictures -- then blew it up! 11-Aug-2000 Dinosaurs in a Flight Sim Dinosaurs in Team Apache, Heavy Metal and Heavy Water at Peenemunde, Son of Thunder by J. D. Wetterling, Fleet Defender, Passenger lands plane, RAAF revives Vietnam era tactics. 11-Aug-2000 Heavy Metal and Heavy Water Mark Schimmer took the cure at Peenemunde - MiG 21, MiG 23 and MiG-17 - modern Heavy Metal at the home of the Flying Bomb. MiGs at Peenemunde. 11-Aug-2000 Fleet Defender I gave the Fleet Defender museum exhibit a quick makeover. There will be SuperGeek info coming soon on the personalities behind this flight sim masterpiece. 11-Aug-2000 Passenger lands plane Ok, we've seen it often enough in the movies and have probably thought it was very unlikely. This cool customer in Florida took over when the pilot collapsed was talked down to a successful landing. - www.cnn.com - Dad lands aircraft in Florida, saves family, after pilot suffers fatal collapse 11-Aug-2000   RAAF revives Vietnam era tactics Apparently early Sidewinder missiles could lock on to exhaust heat from trucks - however this incident involved a radar guided AIM-7 Sparrow.. .. and a dummy one at that! www.abc.gov.au - ABC news reports a RAAF F/A-18 Hornet takes out a Land Rover. 11-Aug-2000   Son of Thunder J. D. Wetterling's air combat novel "Son of Thunder" turned out to be a good read. It's populated by flesh and blood characters and contains enough "switchology" to keep this die-hard air combat fan thoroughly absorbed. - Son of Thunder. 11-Aug-2000 Top Gun MiG The elusive MiG-28 was "shot" by Chino at the Greater New England Air Show. 18-Aug-2000 Janes F/A-18 F/A-18 by Janes gets a belated but caring exhibit of it's own in the Flight Sim Museum. 18-Aug-2000 Aircraft in Action Aircraft in Action gets a new index and new material. 18-Aug-2000 B-24 Liberator Lt. Charles H. Cook flew a B-24D named "Cookie" with the 90th Bombardment Group in the southwest Pacific in 1942-1943. At that time, Allied forces were greatly outnumbered, and Japanese invasion of New Guinea and Australia was a very real threat (the 90th BG became known as the "Jolly Rogers" later in the war). Charlie is now 80 years of age, and over the next couple of months we will be presenting material based on a 3 hour interview with him, plus reams of photographs and newspaper clippings we have unearthed relating to his flying career. 18-Aug-2000 Can I learn to fly in a flight sim? Chino found out and lived to tell the tale! Follow the saga as he learns to fly at night, in bad weather and as his first solo flight! - Can I learn to fly in a flight sim? 18-Aug-2000 More Dinosaurs! Following last week's story about the Bronto-burger in Team Apache I was directed towards several more Easter Eggs at The Easter Egg Archive - www.eeggs.com 18-Aug-2000   Battle of the Bulge P.C. has submitted his first after-action report and it's full of useful goodies like "how to take out a tank with a bazooka team", avoiding unnecessary casualties and calling in artillery strikes! 18-Aug-2000 Can I Learn to Fly in a flight sim? Can I Learn to Fly in a flight sim?, B-24 Liberator and Lt. Charles H. Cook, Aircraft in Action gets a new index and new material, F/A-18 by Janes gets an exhibit, Top Gun MiG, You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog!: AGM-28 Hound Dog missile, Battle of the Bulge: Close Combat 4 - Battle of the Bulge, More Dinosaurs!: Easter Eggs 18-Aug-2000 You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog! Yeah yeah yeah enough of that! But believe it or not the Elvis Presley recording WAS the "inspiration" for the name of the AGM-28 Hound Dog missile. 18-Aug-2000   Calculating the Odds Graphics don't come any simpler than this! Chino describes playing astronaut on a Texas Instruments calculator ! Calculator sims 25-Aug-2000 Flying Nightmares Flying Nightmares, Calculating the Odds, The Great State of Maine Air Show 1997, Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck, Women in Aviation: Daughter of the Air by Rob Simbeck 25-Aug-2000 Women in Aviation 'Daughter of the Air' by Rob Simbeck: " Having experienced this attack first-hand, Cornelia was anxious to serve her country. There were no opportunities for women as military pilots, but programs were soon established to enlist women in auxiliary roles, mainly ferrying aircraft between factories and military bases, freeing more male pilots for combat duties. " 25-Aug-2000 The Great State of Maine Air Show 1997 The Great State of Maine Air Show 1997 was held on July 19 & 20 at Brunswick Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine. It was a great day for an air show, with blue skies and plenty of warm sunshine... and what's more the Blue Angels were in town! 25-Aug-2000 Flying Nightmares Niko Airaksinen set me straight on my report on the MAC version .. .. .. apparently it WAS pretty good! 25-Aug-2000 Flight of Passage They decided to fix up the family Cub, and then fly it from their home in New Jersey all the way to Los Angeles, California. This was quite a challenge given that the Cub could not fly very fast or high, had no radio, lights, or heat, and could hold virtually no luggage in its tiny two-place cockpit! 25-Aug-2000 A quiet week at the MiG-Base It was a quiet week as the MiGBase prepares to move to another secret location! ... physical location that is, the web address will remain the same! There is plenty of good stuff in the pipeline however so hang in there! 01-Sep-2000   Supergeek Humour I was steered to this site by a newsgroup story and when I got there I laughed till I stopped! - www.codebloat.com >> 2004 update - web page is gone << 01-Sep-2000   Wedgetail Shot Down Government this week put the "Wedgetail" project into an indefinite holding pattern. The Australian's (daily newspaper) so-called "Defense Correspondent" continues to describe the AWACS aircraft to the readers as "Spy Planes" - which certainly doesn't clarify the issue! Perhaps Boeing should have invested in subway advertising similar to what Chino found in Washington recently for the F-22 Lightning. 01-Sep-2000   Resume of a Supergeek Chino's professional background in Optical Science and Engineering neatly complements his aviation enthusiasms. - Bruce Irving - BFM - a virtual fighter pilot's lament - Chino's Zero 08-Sep-2000 Combat Flight Sim 2 Combat Flight Sim 2 Beta version, Todd Wikel's World War 2 cockpit, Enemy Engaged - Apache vs. Havoc: Ka-29 Helix-B, Mi-24 Hind, Mi-28 Havoc, Scenery from 5,000 feet, Charity Auction 08-Sep-2000   MiGMan has a fly in the beta version of the soon - to - be - released Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2. 08-Sep-2000 Todd Wikel's World War 2 cockpit Todd "Rogue" Wikel sent me these snaps some time back and I'm trying to track him down for more details - if you know his whereabouts please ask him to contact me. 08-Sep-2000 Attic cleaning While cleaning up the hard drive in preparation to moving - dont ask me why, it doesn't alter the weight of the drive... or the physical space it takes up - I found some old snaps which were worth preserving. 1- The Ka-29 Helix-B from Enemy Engaged - Apache vs. Havoc 2 - The Mi-24 Hind from Enemy Engaged - Apache vs. Havoc 3 - The Mi-28 Havoc from Enemy Engaged - Apache vs. Havoc 4 - Scenery from 5,000 feet in Glideslope Software's North West England Scenery 08-Sep-2000   Charity Auction Microsoft Australia has 2 gaming packages on ebay Australia, with the proceeds going to Here for Lifea charity dedicated to helping prevent youth suicide through education, awareness and research. The charity auction is running until September 7. Package 1 - Microsoft SideWinder GameVoice and Asheron’s Call. Package 2 - Microsoft SideWinder Precision 2 and StarLancer. 08-Sep-2000   Sidewinder Precision 2 Aptly named "Precision" - I found just that. With this Microsoft joystick. My snap rolls had never been so snappy! Sidewinder Precision 2 joystick. 15-Oct-2000 A Citizen Soldier in the Air By Bruce Irving Lt. Charles H. Cook flew a B-24D named "Cookie" with the 90th Bombardment Group in the southwest Pacific in 1942-1943. At that time, Allied forces were greatly outnumbered, and Japanese invasion of New Guinea and Australia was a very real threat. 15-Oct-2000 Chuck Yeager Audio Chuck Yeager was the first person to break the sound barrier and a virtuoso pilot as well as a Fighter Ace who flew in World War 2, Korea and Vietnam. Do you remember a 1980's flight sim called Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer ? Probably not. Anyway the sim featured a 1 hour cassette of the man himself recounting tales from the workd of flight testing and giving tips on flying in general. Listen to it here - Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 15-Oct-2000 B-17 previews More screenshots and details of the new heavy bomber sim - B-17 Flying Fortress 2. 15-Oct-2000 Marathon pics I got my Men's Marathon pics back from the developer. I got some nice snaps too - especially considering the price of the camera - $AUD 10.00 including the film ! Read how a hardened MiG-cynic became a MiG-believer - Sydney Olympics 2000. 15-Oct-2000 European Air War Hasbro Australia asked me to host a command sheet for European Air War. 15-Oct-2000 F-111 Dump 'n' Burn I thought I'd better draw attention to this great video of the RAAF F-111 doing a dump'n'burn over the stadium at the Olympics closing ceremony. This video is worth the download! - 4.1 meg. 15-Oct-2000 Sidewinder Precision 2 Sidewinder Precision 2 joystick, F-111 Dump 'n' Burn, European Air War, Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Marathon pics, details of the new heavy bomber sim - B-17 Flying Fortress 2, Chuck Yeager audio, A Citizen Soldier in the Air By Bruce Irving 15-Oct-2000 F-111 Dump 'n' Burn Andrew Rogencamp reports: "I thought you might be interested in this photo I took of the F-111 at the Gold Coast (Brisbane, Queensland) indy car race on the weekend. (14th October 2000). I was on the 30th floor of an apartment building and the fly by was at eye level. Awesome!" Note that in this image you can actually see the fuel dump streaming into the afterburner. 23-Oct-2000   B-17 Flying Fortress 2 New screenshots of B-17 Flying Fortress 2 which show the amazing amount of detail on the ground and in the aircraft. 23-Oct-2000 New B-24 book B-24 Liberator Units of the Fifteenth Air Force by Robert F. Dorr 23-Oct-2000 Fair Go Mate! On usage - About MiGMan's Flight Sim Museum 23-Oct-2000   Lynx Howard Jones remembers these classic sims - 1 - Combat Lynx 2 - Flightsim by Psion for the Sinclair Spectrum 23-Oct-2000 Flight of the Foxbat TJ was kind enough to point out to me that Viktor Belenko's famous flight to freedom took place in 1976 - not in 1972 as I had stated. Here is an interview with Viktor Belenko www.fullcontext.org/people/belenko.htm >> 2004 update - web page is gone << 23-Oct-2000   Cold War Warriors Cold War Warriors, B-17 Flying Fortress 2, Rolling Thunder, Attention Southern Hemisphere!: PC Pilot Magazine, Back to Baghdad, Air Force One, Amiga Interceptor, Flight of the Foxbat, Combat Lynx, Flightsim by Psion for the Sinclair Spectrum, Fair Go Mate!: on usage - About MiGMan's Flight Sim Museum, F-111 Dump 'n' Burn, New B-24 book 23-Oct-2000 Amiga Interceptor F/A-18 Interceptor: Greg Stewart remembers the reverse thrust and track view - very popular with budding Spielbergs! 23-Oct-2000 Air Force One Bob "De Janitor" Roberts took some great snaps of Air Force One arriving at Boeing Field. http://www. sim-arena.com /editorials/ airforce1/ airforce1.html > 2004 update - web page is gone < 23-Oct-2000   Back to Baghdad Fritz Gunter has made his graphics upgrade to Back to Baghdad available again with good before and after shots of the modified F-16 cockpit here Back to Baghdad. Download it here - http://atroxgraphics.8m .com/portfolio/ b2baghdad.html > 2004 update - web page is gone < 23-Oct-2000 Attention Southern Hemisphere! MiGMan and PC Pilot Magazine have teamed up to bring you this special offer : PC Pilot Magazine - PC PILOT GOES DOWN UNDER! - >> 2004 update - offer no longer valid << - but the magazine is still available and essential reading for the flight sim fan in my opinion. 23-Oct-2000 Rolling Thunder Not the Vietnam War bombing campaign but a book covering the history of jet combat. - Rolling Thunder : Jet Combat from World War II to the Gulf War by Ivan Rendall 23-Oct-2000 Cold War Warriors Gordon Permann's site www.web-birds.com/permann/permann.html has pictures and stories from the Cold War - specifically his encounters with Russian Aviators at sea - great reading! 23-Oct-2000   New Carrier for Oz? Earlier this year the navy prepared a report on a ship that would be a combined troop transport, tanker, supply vessel, command centre and hospital - with a flat deck that could carry helicopters and possibly F/A-18 fighters !!! 03-Nov-2000 Crimson Arena Julian "Gremlin" Sallows wrested the PC away from his kids just long enough to have a go at Crimson Skies - http://crimson. sim-arena.com/ review/ review.html > 2004 update - web page is gone < 03-Nov-2000   Euro Typhoon The sequel to EF 2000 by Digital Image Design is due out soon and www.sim-arena.com >> 2004 update - web page is gone << have translated a French interview with Rage Games. Read the translated interview at http://typhoon.sim-arena.com/interview/interview.html >> 2004 update - web page is gone << 03-Nov-2000 WW 2 Fighter Pilot online From Rick Knight at www.microteck.com/odfp - The Official Database for Pilots >> 2004 update - web page is gone << " We are pleased to announce Colonel James B. Morehead as our next Guest Speaker, coming to the Officer's Club at ODFP on Saturday November 18th at 4PM PST. During WWII, Colonel Morehead flew the P-40 Warhawk in the Pacific Theater and the P-38 in Europe. " More details at www.microteck.com/odfp - The Official Database for Pilots >> 2004 update - web page is gone << 03-Nov-2000   Packaging Combat sims Added Artwork and Packaging for Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 03-Nov-2000 MSCFS2 Artwork and Packaging   03-Nov-2000 Tom Clancy's Hornets Jarmo Lindberg from Fighter Squadron 21 in Finland and Fighter Tactics Academy met the guy who flew the Hornet in the movie of Tom Clancy 's Novel "Clear and Present Danger" and told us what happened during fliming. 03-Nov-2000 3d glasses by 3-Qubed Chris Hahn from 3-Qbed alerted me to their 3d glasses. 03-Nov-2000 Albanian MiGs Giorgio sent more pics of the Albanian Air Force - or what was left of it in 1997 anyway: - IL-28 Beagle - MiG-17 - MiG-19 03-Nov-2000 New Carrier for Oz? "Earlier this year the navy prepared a report on a ship that would be a combined troop transport, tanker, supply vessel, command centre and hospital - with a flat deck that could carry helicopters and possibly F/A-18 fighters!!! Naval planners call the vessel a littoral support ship." 03-Nov-2000 The Paralympics have just finished and Sydney is still buzzing! Albert - aka Recker - Yung of the 389th Thunderbolt VFS, Sydney Australia spots the F-111. 03-Nov-2000   Australia's computer generated carrier A bit of investigating by PC revealed the "Aircraft Carrier" reported on October 24th to be a concept ship designed for amphibious transport and supply. Known as the "Multi Role Auxiliary (MRA)", it exists at the moment only in computer generated images. 03-Nov-2000 F-111 at Sydney Paralympics 2000 Albert - aka Recker - Yung of the 389th Thunderbolt VFS, Sydney Australia spots the F-111 03-Nov-2000   Review of Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 www.sim-arena.com > 2004 update - web page is gone < have posted a review of Microsoft's new World War 2 combat flight sim Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 at http://cfs.sim-arena.com/review/review.html > 2004 update - web page is gone < 03-Nov-2000   B-17 Manual excerpt: Free Download Added some FREE excerpts from the B-17 Flying Fortress 2 manual - courtesy of Microprose Australia. 03-Nov-2000   Australia's computer generated carrier A bit of investigating by PC revealed the "Aircraft Carrier" reported on October 24th to be a concept ship designed for amphibious transport and supply. Known as the "Multi Role Auxiliary (MRA)", it exists at the moment only in computer generated images. 03-Nov-2000 MiGMan goes to Hollywood MiGMan goes to Hollywood in Crimson Skies from Microsoft and rescues the damsel in distress ! 03-Nov-2000 Fly your own F-111 This F-111 radio controlled model was built by a former Wing Commander... I'm not sure if the Dump 'n' burn technology has been implemented 'tho'! David de Botton says : "Finally I can send a few photos. This is a 1/10th scale ducted fan R/C flying model of a F-111A built by a retired RAAF Wing Commander. It is my job to produce a light weight production version.The master plug for the mould will be ready soon.You suggested some time ago I get in touch with Federation of American Scientists at www.fas.org for more detailed information on the F-111. Thanks for the great Website." Regards, David de Botton 03-Nov-2000 Drive your Graphics card It's a good idea to update your graphics card drivers periodically - these links should be helpful: graphics card manufacturers. 20-Nov-2000   F.A.Q.s I get a LOT of mail and it falls into two main categories: 1 - emails which give me information and feedback 2 - emails which ask for games, information and answers to questions 20-Nov-2000   Xmas is coming Emails, Sidewinder Force Feedback 2, World War 2 Pilots website, Free F/A-18 missions, Drive your Graphics card 20-Nov-2000   Free F/A-18 missions   20-Nov-2000 Feel the Force! A young Jedi named PC finds the force with the Sidewinder Force Feedback 2. 20-Nov-2000 World War 2 Pilots I found a good site based in San Francisco: www.worldwar2pilots.com From the website: The Group is informal and there are only two rules: 1 - You must have been an Allied or Axis pilot or co-pilot during World War II. 2 - If you die at lunch, you get kicked out of the organization. Thats it. Pretty simple rules don't you think? Well we have among us a tank driver… 20-Nov-2000   Per Ardua ad Astra Rowan's previous Battle of Britain flight sim: Reach for the Skies, Pacific War, Flying and Fighting the - Gameboy !, Speed up your jet, Cover story: FS 1 24-Nov-2000 Cover story Don Schaaf found the original manual and sent in a scan for the Flight Simulator 1 manual. 24-Nov-2000 Speed up your Jet Getting faster graphics in Jet - hey, better late than never! Jet was developed by Charles Guy using Bruce Artwick's technology. He adapted it for the IBM-PC. 24-Nov-2000 Flying and Fighting the Gameboy! Haven't heard of this sim? You won't unless you have a Colour Gameboy in the house! - FA18 Thunderstrike 24-Nov-2000 Per Ardua ad Astra With Battle of Britain due for release shortly it's worth a look back at Rowan's previous Battle of Britain flight sim - Reach for the Skies. 24-Nov-2000 Zero landings! Zero landings! That's my tally so far - Zero landings! Not one landing on a flat-top - but it's a hoot trying! My take-off tally is only marginally better : Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2. 24-Nov-2000 Ace Europe Added box art to Aces Over Europe. 30-Nov-2000 One Fortress, Flying Added the box art for the original 1992 release of B-17 Flying Fortress by Microprose (1992). 30-Nov-2000 Ace the Pacific An earlier WW2 Pacific air combat classic : Pacific Air War. Len "Viking 1" Hjalmarson unearthed a magazine advertisement which pushed the feature of being able to fly the historic battles from both sides. 30-Nov-2000 On Dawn Patrol in DOS Running the older sims in DOS can be tricky or near impossible! Here are a few hints from Dave Whiteside at Rowan Software on getting Dawn Patrol up and running on newer PC's. 30-Nov-2000 Fly and Fight in the US Navy Ah... those were the days! I had just built my cockpit and the partnering of Janes and Electronic Arts to form Janes Combat Simulations seemed about to usher in a whole new era of flight simming fidelity. Heady days in US Navy Fighters. 30-Nov-2000 Defend the Fleet at 320x200 resolution! Added a new screenshot - Taking off in the F-14 Tomcat. The programmers packed as much detail as was possible into the VGA resolution. The next year Super-VGA cards hit the market and at 640 x 400 resolution there was no looking back! 30-Nov-2000 One Mac-Hornet to go, thanks F/A-18 3.0 - Those were the days when Macs were actually useful for something! ; < ) Graphic Simulations Corporation's F/A-18 series first saw light of day on the Apple Macintosh series of computers and developed into a stunning sim on the PC - F/A-18 3.0. 30-Nov-2000 Get the feeling with WW2 style artwork The 1998 Magazine adverts for European Air War had a period feel about them. 30-Nov-2000 Fly with a friend Hind by Digital Integration was one of the very few sims to allow you and a friend to fly in the same aircraft. 30-Nov-2000 Fight the Falcon The F16 Fighting Falcon by Digital Integration exhibit opens . 30-Nov-2000 Go Full Burner With JetFighter 4 on the shelves it's worth a look back at the previous incarnations of the Jetfighter series by Mission Studios: Jetfighter 1 Jetfighter 2 Jetfighter 2 - Advanced Mission Disk Jetfighter 3 Jetfighter Full Burn JetFighter 4 JetFighter 5 30-Nov-2000 Ace it with 1992 Hardware Aces of the Pacific Hardware requirements included a full 2 MEG OF RAM !!! 30-Nov-2000 MechCommander Gold MechCommander Gold significantly upgrades the first release by adding a mission editor, more features and generally speeding things up. 08-Dec-2000 Thrusting through the sky Thrustmaster was the first "hard core" flight sim gear. It was modelled -partly - on the real joysticks and throttles found in military jets. Here is an overview of the Thrustmaster legacy. 08-Dec-2000 Take Command! The new Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander is one of the most user-friendly devices I've laid my hands on. Although designed with Land Combat Sims in mind I have a feeling it will adapt quite nicely to Flight Sims - acting as a programmable throttle and MFD controller. 08-Dec-2000   Chino keeps returning to Wewak to recreate Charles H. Cook's WW2 career exploits. Sort of "virtual history by doing. 08-Dec-2000 MiG Alley Keyboard Control overlay winners MiGMan's Combat Diary in conjunction with Cockpit Collections gave a way a FREE Keyboard Control Cover for MiG Alley each week from August through October 2000. 08-Dec-2000 Museum Renovations and new server MiGMan's Combat Diary is moving to a new server so parts of the site may not be available until December 3rd. I'm uploading the "What's New" Museum entries first. 08-Dec-2000   JetFighter II He he he - I remember this one well. At the time I had an Atari ST and used to play this on a friend's PC - I believe he had a 386. Heaps of fun - I remember he (who shall remain nameless) had no luck at all catching enemy fighters until I showed him my 'special' manoeuver ..... the "Immelman"... !! !!! 08-Dec-2000 I spy with my little eye .. .. .. Donald A. Thomas, Jr worked at Atari in the 1980's and has an insider's knwloedge of the industry. His site is a Museum of video gaming - www.icwhen.com 08-Dec-2000   Mech my Day punk! To mis-quote the great Clint Eastwood from "Dirty Harry". PC and I spent an enjoyable day playing MechWarrior 4: Vengeance on 16 networked PC's courtesy of Microsoft. The graphics were awesome and the game wasn't running on a ninja machine either! Despite his professed ' lack of time to play games ' I have been unable to wrest the software from PC's Windows 2000 system. 08-Dec-2000 B-24 activities Read the Charles H. Cook story. Then build a B-24 scale model with the aid of a B-24 Liberator book, and then play B-17 Flying Fortress 2 ...hey it's close enough! Or if you can't stand the sight of a B-24 Liberator by this time, hop into Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 and shoot one down! - (With apologies to the vets). 08-Dec-2000 Searching for Snakes Thomas C Crouson VMF(AW)-323, Tinbender, 62-64, Webmaster of the 323 Death Rattlers web site is gathering a list of snakes from WW II to the present VMFA-323 at Miramar. Contact him if you know of any Marines who should be on the list. 08-Dec-2000   Chino's Zero Chino sent in these pics of his paperweight .. .. .. every home should have one! 08-Dec-2000 B-17 Flying Fortress Chino took some nice pics of a B-17 Flying Fortress: "While it's rugged looking, it sure isn't as big as I once imagined it, and it's not built for comfort either... especially at 30,000 feet with those big, open waist gun ports letting in all that frigid air. Keep your thermal underwear and oxygen hoses plugged in and free of ice, boys!" 08-Dec-2000 Graphic Language warning If you fancy upgrading your graphics card before Xmas check out these : 3DFX 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 AGP 2D/3D Graphics Accelerator 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 PCI 2D/3D Graphics Accelerator 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP 2D/3D Graphics Accelerator 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI 2D/3D Graphics Accelerator These cards will all run your normal Windows applications (2D) and 3D accelerated games - meaning ALL games released in the past couple of years. I don't think you can go past 3Dfx cards for compatability. My old Banshee 2D/3D Graphics Accelerator Card still serves me well. 08-Dec-2000 Museum Shop opens MiGMan has teamed up with reliable sources of books, games and related products to bring you products that will enhance your gaming in MiGMan's Flight Sim Shop. Every purchase made through these links helps us in our mission - About MiGMan's Flight Sim Museum. 15-Dec-2000 Evasive Action Take Evasive Action! That was the clarion cry back in the early 1990's and the enticing box art of this sim beckoned my wallet on many occasions. I always rationalised not buying - "I have enough sims already - not enough time anyway.. .. ..". Anyway Francisco J. Campos bought it and after a struggle (remember the days of DOS conifgurations with EMS, EMM, GMT, PMT, IOU etc) he got it running. .. .. .. he ended up playing it twice ! 15-Dec-2000 A major facelift No no - not for me!! For the site! 15-Dec-2000   F.A.Q. I've cleaned up the Frequently Asked Questions - that's "Frequently Asked Questions". 15-Dec-2000   Fly a B-17 Collings also has a flying B-24J) and the National Warplane Museum in Horseheads, NY (" Fuddy Duddy")." 15-Dec-2000 Media Watch I call on all faithful readers to PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you see mention of www.migman.com in the printed press or online. I've started a page for this: MiGMan in the Press. Thanks. 19-Dec-2000   Wright Brothers Chino reported: "As I write this on December 17, 2000, it is 97 years to the day that this whole airplane thing started with a 12 second flight in gusty winds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina." 19-Dec-2000 Virtual Top Gun by Jack Morrison This CDROM is an excellent introduction to computer air combat. Perhaps an ideal gift for a friend who is getting into the genre? The ACM Visualisation Tool ( which plays much more smoothly than my animation above) is worth the price of admission alone as you can replay essential combat manoeuvers over and over from different perspectives. 19-Dec-2000 Merry Xmas to all ! In 2001 The Flight Sim Museum enters it's 3rd year - I feel the best is yet to come! Thanks to all for your support - be safe on the roads and in the air and have some quality time with your loved ones ! 22-Dec-2000   Dudley Henriques Dudley Henriques Dudley Henriques has flown at least seventy different types of airplanes, including experimental, prototype, and fighters, both jet and propeller. Some of the great stories here include: On airshow flying - F-14 hop - Flying the P-51 Mustang with CHECKLISTS INCLUDED ! 22-Dec-2000 Back to the December 2007 WIP indexes
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