Enemy Engaged Apache vs. Havoc
MiGMan's Combat Diary, 1999
The AH-64 Apache is a perennial favourite in flight-sim land, going back to Gunship (1987), and in the late 1990's one of the first 3-D accelerated flight sims Team Apache (1998) by Simis.
And let us not forget the hight fidelity Longbow by Janes Combat Simulations.
The AH-64 Apache Longbow is modelled in amazing detail in this sim.
This is a panoramic view which I stitched together, showing frontview, full pan to the left and full pan to the right.
Starting from the top - the rotors tilt according to joystick deflection - and they droop and turn in the breeze after engine shutdown! Also note the aerial atop the doughnut shaped Longbow radar.
The bullet-proof (resisitant to 20mm cannon shells!) cockpit glazing is transparent in the sim. Weapons loadouts even show empty rocket canisters after firing.
The widely spaced exhausts have bulky Infra-Red supressors fitted.
Detailed undercarriage and tail-vane
These images were taken in 1998 using a Creative 3D Blaster Banshee graphics card.
Mi-28N Havoc
The Mi-28 was my preferred steed in Apache vs Havoc due to it's relatively simple avionics.
A swarm of Russian gunships buzz the countryside like angry hornets
The Mi-28 cockpit is excellent with fairly clear instruments and very nice
lighting effects. The Heads up display and map (toggle with Enter) provides enough information for most of the situations.
Mi-28N cockpit
Mi-28N Havoc cockpit under night lighting settings
Mi-28N cockpit: Primary flight instruments
Day
Night
Day
Night
This is a panoramic view which I stitched together, showing frontview, full pan to the left and full pan to the right.
HUD
The Mi-28N Havoc cockpit features working windscreen wipers!
This sim has hours of fun in it before you even take off! Those windscreen wipers aren't just "window dressing" either. As I jumped around using F6 and F7 ... to check out the game objects... the weather changed. A rain squall actually swept across and enveloped the carrier, visibility was reduced, the lighting changed... incredible. The red lights on the superstructure cast an eerie glow as the rain swept in.
After I'd finished playing with the wipers - which have two modes by the way - standard (Y) and intermittent (Alt-Y to switch modes), I looked around the cockpit.... wait... who's this guy?
Oh, it's only me! Very neat! It's nice too that the interior colour scheme seems accurate... blue panelling and amber screens are Standard Soviet, sorry I mean Russian issue.
The Soviets were big on standardisation so you'll see this Radar Warning Receiver in MiGs, Sukhois and Attack Helos! Very handy and it must help speed up cockpit familiarisation too.
Mi-28N on the Carrier Deck
These images were taken in 1998 using a Creative 3D Blaster Banshee graphics card.