Got to love Photoshop...

[cowboy40]

....got bored last night, so i just got to playing around..

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Not shabby.
I always wondered what it was like being the gunner in a Dauntless during a dive.

[cowboy40]

That bird is actually a Vought SB2U-3 Vindicator that was shortly withdrawn from front line service shortly after the Battle of Midway. It wasn't withdrawn because it was a bad airplane, but because there was a lack of replacement aircraft that followed that battle. These planes in Marine hands actually kept the Japanese escort ships busy during the attack on the carriers...

The Marine and Navy pilots, who flew the SB2U,lovingly called it the Vibrator...look at her carefully and you can see why!!!!

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Wait... I was wrong about an airplane? he-he... Cool! I'll have to do some research into that one.
Still had to be a heck of a ride in the back seat!

[starcruiser]

Well - be fair to yourself - the Vindicator is not that well known. It had a very short active service-life.

[cowboy40]

A variation on the theme...this time the Japanese...

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But I'm an aeronerd... Granted I lean more towards Army Aircraft, but still... (LOL)

Aichi D3 "Val"?

[cowboy40]

D3A1 Val, yes..

Don't worry about not recognizing the Vindicator, Even the ediets at FOX, tried to play models of it off as Douglas SBD Dauntless in the made for TV movie MIDWAY

[cowboy40]

Ironnerd....did one just for you....here is the Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless

[cowboy40]

I can't tell you what that ride was like in either seat of the Dauntless but i can describe the procedure used in the attack.

First the attacking squadron would be approaching the target at between 10,000 ft ASL to about 12,000 Ft, then they would pass over the target to establish the axis of attack and then they would then set the set the their engines to max rpm on the props and then they would invert and cut their throttles and nose into a 75 to 80 degree dive on the axis of attack diving toward the target with full flaps and dive brakes extended, once they reached about 1,500 ft ASL, they would release the bomb and pull back on the stick bringing the nose back to level and slam the throttle to the firewall and make the egress with turns and constant changes of altitudes to dodge the AA guns, and once they were out of gun range they would then head for home.

[Deleted]

I think the "Screaming" part of the "Screaming Dive" was the guy in the back.

In this case, the Prop is actually a speed brake. At Max RPM, prop pitch is very flat and creates a lot of drag. It is also CLIMB pitch which they need to get accelerate as quickly as possible away form all those angry Japanese sailors. Think of it as 1st gear (which is actually really good analogy).

So... side story, since we're talking SBD's and SB2's. When the Navy and Marines were attacking the Musashi (Yamato's twin), two bombers hit their targets. One hit Musahi and the bomb bounced tight off the thick armor. The other hit a little destroyer, and went all they way through, exploding (mostly) harmlessly under the ship. When I read that, I could just imagine the Japanese sailors looking through the column holes through every deck and the hull asking each other "Did that shit just happen?"

[cowboy40]

Jul 21, 2017 3:42:25 GMT -7 @ironnerd said:

I think the "Screaming" part of the "Screaming Dive" was the guy in the back.

In this case, the Prop is actually a speed brake. At Max RPM, prop pitch is very flat and creates a lot of drag. It is also CLIMB pitch which they need to get accelerate as quickly as possible away form all those angry Japanese sailors. Think of it as 1st gear (which is actually really good analogy).

So... side story, since we're talking SBD's and SB2's. When the Navy and Marines were attacking the Musashi (Yamato's twin), two bombers hit their targets. One hit Musahi and the bomb bounced tight off the thick armor. The other hit a little destroyer, and went all they way through, exploding (mostly) harmlessly under the ship. When I read that, I could just imagine the Japanese sailors looking through the column holes through every deck and the hull asking each other "Did that shit just happen?"

The attack on Mussashi was carried out in 1945, the planes that hit her included SBD-5 Dauntless and Curtiss SB2C Hilldiver bombers. Both Yamato and Mussashi took a pounding before they died and it was probably more likely the killing blows came from Grumman TBF/General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers with the good old Mk. 13...

[cowboy40]

There were two other type USN bombers that fought at Midway. One of my favorites were the Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bomber. Again it was a good airplane,that found itself in a very bad situation. By nature of the attacks carried out by these planes it required these birds to fly low and slow to line up the torpedo, and this makes them an easy target. In these event, when the torpedo squadrons tried to hit the target there were no fighters to protect them, therefore it became a slaughter.

That said, when the plane had its proper protection the Devastator lived up to its name. During the early 1942 carrier Pacific raids, many Japanese ships were hit by torpedoes dropped from the TBD. It also performed well at the Battle of the Coral Sea! The difference was in those early battles the raids were coordinated attacks with torpedo bombers, dive bombers and fighters...it all worked right!!!

[cowboy40]

I hope you guys enjoy these screens as much as i enjoy making them. I have a fascination with World War II airplanes. I am around 50 years old and as far back as i can remember in my childhood, i have always enjoyed these machines. it was an interesting era..even in the civilian planes...

Notes on what i have done here..

I generally take screen shots from within Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator II suing either the print screen key or using FRAPS capture software when i am to busy to hit that print Screen. Then I take that raw image into Adobe Photoshop (I am still using CS6, because i refuse to pay monthly fee for software i already own) and using various layers i age the screenshot. I think it makes the final result look less of a computer generated image. CFS2 traded good graphics for a wonderful ability to generate a lovely physics engine for combat. you have to remember this program came out around 20 years ago, back then you couldn't really have everything, they compromised and well i think it worked.

I enjoy flying in that sim to this day still...

[cowboy40]

Same process as i talked about above but using a sim with better graphics, in this case Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight (better known to the community as FS2004 of FS9).

I also fly in Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Accelerated.

Problem is even though these three are all great sims, they are showing their age...it was hard to get them all to work in Win10, but with workarounds and with Microsoft realizing people still using them and working out the compatibility issues...they still work.

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ooohhhh..... Saber... Sweet old jet. Sexy as heck too. A real gunfighter.

I don't suppose you have a F-8 Crusader or OV-1 Mohawk?

[cowboy40]

I have them both in my collections of aircraft...

[Deleted]

I used to work on Mohawks. Goofy plane, but fun to fly around it.

[cowboy40]

Another for ironnerd...the last of the true gunfighters....this is a Marine F-8J Crusader depicted over Vietnam. I applied the aging techniques to this picture, but to a lessor extent thin I did with the World War II birds or the Sabre from Korea.

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The F-8 was dead sexy, and a true fighter. Nice work. I baffled one of my instructors an A&P school. He said you can't change the angle of incidence on a wing (only angle of attack). I told him the F-8 did it

Some serious Slide-Rule engineering went into that old beast.

[cowboy40]

Very true...The F-8 has to be considered a work of art. it really is

[cowboy40]

Thinking of my own airplane (this is not her...), so i thought i would do up a Piper PA-27 TriPacer...simply because i love flying it even in the sim...such an easy airplane to balance in flight

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What a sweet little plane. I had the PA-27 on ACOF. It was just a pleasure to fly. One day I hope to sample the real deal, but there aren't any on my field (so I can't trade Maint for Flight time - my normal fee). Lately, I've been kind of working for free just because I like being around Lil' Planes. Just the smell of them is wonderful.

[cowboy40]

The first time i took my wife up in my Tri-Pacer i scared the hell out of her...she didn't fly with me for a couple of months after that. I wanted to show her just how balanced a PA-27 can be...once i had her trimmed out, i took my hands of the yoke and took my feet off the rudder...she turned white until she noticed we were still in level flight...This airplane is so easy to fly...I loved taking my late wife up in her...my Pepper loved when we flew VFR...it is the perfect airplane to fly in and enjoy the sights at 80 mph...

[cowboy40]

My old girl shares hanger space with a couple of Cessna birds...Those guys in the Cessna keep wanting to trade time in their Cessna 170's, but I don't like Cessnas that well...the only one i have really liked was an O-1 Birddog that i traded flight time for...