Combat Sim Aircraft Vote

Basically, I'm only one person so I'm probably gonna go with selecting one aircraft for my sim. I want to keep it a straight gunnery sim so please no aircraft that can fire missiles. I'm looking for your favorite gun only airplane and maybe what you like about it. It can be an attack bomber also. Just no missiles. Keep in mind that the player will only be able to fly this one airplane so if you have some interesting views on it please add them also.

1. aircraft name
2. why you like it

Well, if its a jet and can't have missiles then your choices are limited to the f-86 sabre or mig17.

Nah it doesn't have to be a jet. Feel free to get exotic, but I'd like for it at least to be a production aircraft that saw combat.

JU-88 Stuka, great WW2 plane created by the Germans in the early years of the war. It was the final touch on Hitler's "Blitzkrieg" tactics and it achieved amazing results. It's said that when the plane dived to attack against the ground, the engine would send a shrill shreak through the ground that sparked fear in the ground troops.

1. Mig 3
2. a completely overlooked Soviet fighter, which was more than a match to german fighters of the day.


Andy

I suppose Spitfire is too obvious right?

I'd like to see a de Havilland Venom. Something about that aircraft really gets to me. I love modern fighters, and old tech marvels like the SR-71, but the Venom is the plane I always hope to see when I go to an air show.

I don't feel like hotlinking or re-hosting someone else's images, but you can find lots of pictures through the Google Image Search and/or Wikipedia.

SpaceAce

I agree with Andy for the Mig 3, or maybe the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik also Russian. Also worth looking at the American F8F Bearcat.

1. Mustang P-51
2. Well... fast, deadly, beautiful... done to death already in sims, so that's bad about it.

I like prop planes more than modern jets because you can fly low and slow and take your time to admire the scenery... ground support missions are always my favourite. Trains, docks, ships, airfields, oil refineries, v-1 sites... all good targets to blast.

Another prop plane with ground support role (and less fame and sim exposure) would be:

1. Douglas A-1H Skyraider
2. Rarely done sim plane, brute looking, Vietnam era: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-1_Skyraider

Another interesting one:

1. B-25 Mitchell (medium bomber)
2. Those guys in the Pacific flew those like figter planes - armed with *14* 50. cal guns in some cases... pretty plane, nice paint schemes. Just love that plane, got load s of books and good set of drawings for that too. http://www.acepilots.com/planes/b25.html

Drawings on the net:

http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw/a1.html

http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw/b25.html
http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw/b25mitchellsol.html
http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw/b25c.html
http://www.airwar.ru/other/draw/b25j.html

1) Hawker Hunter.

2) Not a key plane in any popular sim AFAIK; jet engined but only armed with guns and plain rockets (which you can probably just treat like guns, sim-wise); well-loved for its looks; saw quite a lot of combat in the Mid/Far East.

1. Another vote for the Spitfire.
2. Because it's bloody gorgeous! And sounds bloody gorgeous, too!

Here it is again, in make-believe mode. :P

F86 or Mig-15. Not many sims on those two planes, and they were evenly matched. (only one sime I actually know of for them, and I can't remember the name)

Mig Alley? http://www.remaininplay.com/showgame/MiG%20Alley/

A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog/Tank-Killer).

They do put Air-to-Ground missiles on it, but it has a huge gun on the front and can carry bombs. I am guessing by saying no missiles, you mean no Air-to-Air missiles... They do occasionally put Sidewinder Air-to-Air missiles on it, but it is not a normal weapon for it...

Info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Thunderbolt_II

F4U Corsair

- 11 to 1 kill ratio versus Japanese (highest of any pacific arena aircraft).
- Nicknamed "Whistling death" by the Japanese for the howling sound resonating from it's wing based intercoolers.
- turbocharged Pratt and witney double wasp engine (2000+hp).
- Capable of 400+ mph in level flight.
- 2,300 rounds of amunition.
- Extremely well armored (kick the crap out of it)
- Longest production run of any piston-engined fighter history (1940 - 1953).
- Used in service until 1960.
- Land on a boat, fold it up and stash it in the corner somewhere.

for more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F4U_Corsair




Gnu

> Mig Alley?

That is the one.

I'm with taskmaster... A10 Warthog. Never has there been an uglier plane that's just so damn badass. :)

Of course my second vote would have to be with the P51.

What about a lancaster bomber (British) or/and a b17 flying fortress(USA) sim, you could have multiplayer or AI to control the extra turrets :D

I still say the Stuka, and I'm stickin with it =P

This thread inspired me to model my stuka idea, currently untextured..



edit.. /end thread hijack

Chroma,

I'd like to suggest one tpe of campaign - protect the hero aircraft, and have variations of planes to protect in formations such as Mosquito, or Airforce One or whatever.

You are still only shooting but you have to stop the enemy aircraft shooting down the 'hero' aircraft rather than jsut shoot as many as you can. This allows you to have other aircraft types involved without ruining your preference for a just shooting game.

IPete2.

Well, even tho the F-117A is one that is more modern, but it's meant to be more of a stealth BOMBER, and not a stealth FIGHTER jet. So, you can use that as a gunning craft, because of that...

Come to think of it, there WAS a flight sim that had that as the feature airplane, which you fly, but that was almost 15 - 20 years ago since that was made. The company that was behind that game was bought out by Infogrames/Atari, IIRC. Wasn't that MicroProse that made those combat games way back when?

Lots of great ideas guys.

IPete2: That sounds just like a bomber escort mission or maybe protecting the transport of a top military general to another base. I like it.

So far the ones that look pretty cool are the hawker hunter, skyraider, and venom. What I'm trying to avoid is using an airplane that already has a sim covering it. I'd like to offer something new and exciting. Kind of like the forgotten hero aircraft (underdog) that kicked butt but was overlooked and didn't receive due praise. It doens't have to be that drastic but you get the general idea.

Here's a cool site: http://www.militaryfactory.com/

North American Mustang P-51D. There's no other plane which is so fun to fly and looks so beautiful in the air, when taking off and especially when landing. I just love it when it speeds across the runway on 2 wheels with the tail still in the air.

Would be cool to have those chrome textures also, perhaps made with cubemaps:


@Gnu: I like the F4U Corsair a lot too

> Wasn't that MicroProse that made those combat games way back when?

Yes, I think it was released under the other name for the F117. A quick google show it as F-19 Stealth Fighter released in 1987

I just updated my work log. I made a major break-through by fixing the lift vector calculation. The plane flies very well now.

I'm off to Disney World for a week in the morning. See you guys in a bit! I'll make my plane decision upon returning so please keep the ideas coming. :)

As long as the plane doesn't end up looking like this:

Sorry Chroma, I dont know much about just turret action. All my planes, carry some kind of missle. You could use a commercial Boeing plane with something, someone on the wing (jk) How about creating your own plane. Call it....the Chroma :)

Spitfire XII gets my vote :)

What about the WWI ones, not many good WWI sims around (or maybe, there are but I haven't found them). Some nice ones here http://www.greatwarflyingmuseum.com/aircraft/aircraft.html

This thread grew a lot since I last checked. Did you make a decision, yet? There are a lot of good suggestions in here, but most of them have been done over and over. I still want to see my Venom :)

SpaceAce

I just got back a couple hours ago. Yep, I made my decision on the 14 hour drive from florida. It's gonna be a highly modified P-51D Mustang. Imagine a P-51D and F-86 hybrid. It will be recognizable though with its signature features intact. It will also fit in perfectly with the story-line. I'm not sure what to designate it as though.

What does ya think?

1. P-51E
2. P-51X
3. P-71A Mustang II
4. F-51A Mustang II
5. XF-51A
6. ?

6 F-68 Mustang II (51+86/2)

F prefix came after WWII meaning (F)ighter, so that would be correct for post-war game.

Ok I have the initial design and I made a mock-up top down view from existing P-51 drawings. Please check it out and lemme know what you think. Keep in mind that the game takes place in 1946-47. And yep, she won't be a tail-dragger this time around. Are you surprised it's doesn't have a jet engine? hehe

EDIT: It's going through some more modifications...

Introducing the F-68 Mustang II:

Basically, I wanna take a P-51D and cross it with a Do-335. But have the second prop be directly behind the cockpit as in the picture above. I think I need to beef up the airframe a bit too and take off some of the sweep on the wings. Any input or comments are welcome.

Looks pretty good from my perspective.

Only thing I would worry about is the angle of the propellers behind the cockpit. It is my experience that propellers have a slight tilt towards them to create air thrust forwards instead of backwards. It may just be the picture or me missing something but if you are going for Ultra-High Graphics, some air-sim nut will point that out.

BTW, is that a real plane, the F-68 or did you come up with it on your own? Pretty cool imo =)

Ok what about this design?

Nah it's not a real plane. I'm just trying to do something unique but something familiar. I bought a model while on vacation of the trainer version of the Do-335. I really like that plane. But that one's been done too so if I could just combine a P-51 and a Do-335... hehe.

Pretty cool, went to bed right after post, sorry for delay =)

I personally like the first Prototype better. Both are good, but I can picture the first one better, that might have been why I thought it was possibly a real plane!

Dont let my ideas psuede you, in the end it is your choice.

Chad

Would that abomination even fly? Looks like a push-me-pull-you plane. :P

Do-335 did fly just fine... actually better than fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_335
http://www.nasm.si.edu/aircraft/dornier_do335.htm





I like the first design more... how about twin fuselage Mustang, modified? (Yes, I know they built and even twin fuselage Mustangs).

Actually, what I'd personally do might be a copy of the Dornier layout and design, using P-51 shapes and engines etc. Nose would be sleeker than 335's and you could use non-bubble canopy instead of D-version bubble... although that might work too. I'll do some quick PS-hacks and post my design here (might take a day or so, weekends are so busy for me).

Right after WW2 they flew a Do-335 escorted by two P-51s. The 335 easily out-distanced the P-51s and landed 45 minutes before them. While on vacation I picked up a Tamiya Do-335 trainer version model kit. I don't even want to open it lol. I want to get the regular and armored versions too.

Yep, I think a Dornier layout using P-51 designs would be really cool.

I'm a bit anxious to see what you come up with.

This dude (actually my brother) has some excellent airplane models from WW2. The Typhoon is a particularly good model and you dont see it often in computer games, a genuine unsung hero of WW2 the Typhoon was fast, typically flown low level in a primarily ground attack role but also saw air combat.

http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Index.cfm?FuseAction=ProcessSearch&intStartRow=1&istSearchKey=Nickigoe&intMediaType=2&Submit.x=24&Submit.y=12

There are other planes there too which might help bulk your collection out a little for the game.

Good luck with it anyway :)

Thanks Banshee. I found a really cool Do-335 model on turbosquid, but I'm sure it's far to geom to use.

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/314828

But, it does look NICE. This is the type of quality I want to match. But keep the plane in the 2.5k poly range.

The game is set in a fictional continued WW2 scenario. Hitler isn't dead (it was a double) and just faked out the allies and moved to a new heavily fortified base. He stockpiled massive new technologies while the Allies thought they captured everything. We're talking all the secret planes etc. Oh, and giant robots and maybe even some crude laser weapons. So the player can't fly a normal plane. The plane will have pylon attach points to mount all these cool weapons. It has to be a modified model with cool guns and a few new weapons that get added to the plane along the way. Think a 1946-47 version of Airwolf but it's an airplane.

I'm leaning toward 1947 because of the IL-2 1946 expansion. I'll just say Hitler went into hiding for a year and kept developing technology and building stuff. Then a surprise attack somewhere alerts the world of his presence.

The first mission could have you escorting a top general in early 1947 and suddenly two Me-262s come from no where and blow up his plane. Your wingman does all the "OMG, it can't be..." type dialog. Then the newspaper headlines etc etc.

It's not a "fly 20 minutes to the enemy" type game. All engagements will be within 2 minutes of flying. Maps are about the size of BF1942 maps or maybe slightly larger.

EDIT: Actually, is anyone interested in helping create a game as described above? Maybe ckob or that one guy that was making a flight sim.