With the MiG beta having just been updated, stability has increased greatly and I decided it was time to write a more complete mission report, especially detailing the flight experience and dogfight experience. In general my impressions are overwhelmingly positive.

I spent forty five minutes setting up and then flying this mission in the fifth and latest campaign. I'll describe the mission from an "I was there" perspective. All the actions I describe will be actual actions I took in the mission, including COMMS and aircraft avionics actions.

MiG Alley, by the way, does not support Glide under 3dfx. Rowan has gone completely to Direct3d for this simulation, so all Voodoo boards run via Direct3d. I tested Campaign mode at 1024x768 on both a K6-3 450 system with TNT2 and a PII 400 system with 16 MB Banshee and Logitech Wingman Force. Frame rate was not an issue on either system, even with multiple aircraft in a dogfight.

Mission Report: January, 1951

It's January 15th and I am piloting an F86E Sabre on an air superiority mission flying almost eight hundred miles into North Korea. On this particular mission I am commanding three flights of four aircraft.

MiG Alley Directives

My position as tactical commander, unusual for a squadron leader (VBG) allows me to determine the strategic priorities for this phase of the campaign, and you can see where I placed my emphasis in the screen shot above. While Air Superiority and even Close Air Support are important, they are really secondary to choking the enemies supplies.

Prior to flight we went through the usual briefing. I boned up on the tactical picture as well as checking INTEL for the target area. I knew what SAM and AAA threats to expect and also what airborne threats were likely. Naturally, I also checked the weather and wind conditions! Korea in the winter is hell, by the way.

Weather Report

Now I am on the runway and going through a visual check of my squad mates when I get a call from the tower that I am jamming the runway. I spool up the engine and hear it respond, but nothing happens!

After a few seconds I realize I need to release my wheel brakes, but a punch of the brake toggle (B key) only extends my air brakes. About fifteen seconds later I have a flame out, just as I finally locate the wheel brake toggles! Too many things on my mind this morning.

I restart and throttle to fifty percent. The engine seems fine, so I release brakes and throttle to 100% for take off. In less than a minute I am airborne, and I throttle back to 80% and begin a lazy circle around the base.

On the Runway

Inbound for Seoul

As my squad mates take off we form up and I gradually swing up onto a heading of 360. I check in with Dentist (ground control radar) for a picture and he informs me that there are no bandits anywhere near us. I then asked him for a vector to my patrol area, and he gave me a heading of 324.

As I level off at 20,000 heading on 324, I call to Viper squadron to check in. All my pilots report in, and I notch up my elevator trim for a gradual climb to 30,000 feet.

My Wingie

Notching the Trim

At this point I jumped out to the MAP view to check out the options. MAP view is an interface that allows you to continue to control and communicate with your flight, the tower, or FAC but cheat using time acceleration features. I accelerated to the next waypoint, then jumped back into my aircraft.

MiG Alley MAP Interface

I found myself half way to my target waypoint and at 30,000 feet. My trim adjustment was no longer effective at the altitude I had set and I had to take manual control to level off. I found that the Sabre is a much more twitchy aircraft at 30,000 feet and I induced some nasty shaking before leveling off. I then notched the trim back to obtain level flight around 29,500 feet.

Checking my fuel level I found I could still run on the external tanks. I checked in with AWACS again and discovered a couple of bandits 100 miles north at 1,000 feet. Since they weren't a threat and not in my frag order, I ignored them and continued to target. I was cruising at 85% throttle around 420 knots.

The old bird is beginning to feel familiar, and I'm enjoying the view. I notice that the cloud layer has moved up. Initially we were flying around 15,000 feet over the clouds, but now there are some clouds much higher, around 25,000 feet. This could complicate the scenario in a dogfight since the F86E is already at a disadvantage at high altitude.

No matter, we are still 400 miles from our patrol area and things could change considerably by then. There is hardly a breeze up here and I settle back to enjoy the ride.

Climbing to Altitude

I need to make a slight course correction so I drop my left wing slightly, glancing off my right shoulder to observe my squadron mates. The telltale black trails are more noticeable as the sky grows brighter and the day wears on.

Sabre Squadron

Roughly one hundred miles from our target waypoint I get a call from Dentist that we have bandits at 30,000 feet one hundred miles ahead. I call the squadron to spread out and drop tanks. The tanks are almost exhausted anyway.

Cockpit View

At fifty miles I call for a bearing and begin a tactical manouver, gaining some altitude and changing course to bring us in from the west.

Near the Furball

A minute or two after leveling off on course 295 my wingman calls out, "MiGs at two o'clock!" Not much time to plan now, I give the order to engage, jam the throttle to the wall, roll and break left. My wingman follows as I push the nose down then break high. I'm scanning for bandits and pick up a MiG behind me and at about 30 degrees off my tail crossing my path. Perfect!

Eyes fixed (now in padlock view, a semi cheat view which is now looking across the outside of my aircraft toward my target), I complete my manouver and am down to 250 knots. This isn't much energy at 30,000 feet, but since the bandit is not heading directly away from me I dip my nose and begin to gain on him rapidly.

Outside Padlock View

By the way, did I say I hate the way the views are arranged here? There, I got that out of my system. Having said that, it's only a pain because it's unfamiliar, unless you still happen to play Flying Corps, in which case you will LOVE it. The Rowan viewing system works beautifully once you are familiar with it. You can also preset for snap views or panning views. And since you can program macros to your HOTAS or to your voice command software, you'll find you can configure the system to work for you.

The organization of views is like this. F6 to F10 establish camera viewpoints, with F7 as the cockpit camera. F1 to F5 keys modify the camera views. Hit F1 following F7 and you will have an enemy in view, gazing out from your cockpit. Hit F1 following F6, and you will have an enemy view across a Player Track view. If you have realistic view limits selected, you will lose sight when appropriate.

If you have Auto Padlock selected, you will also move from an internal padlock to external Player to Target view automatically. But this ability to see across your own aircraft to the enemy will also be limited by your peripheral vision settings. Finally, using the "d" key you can choose to place a red target box around your selected target. Now back to the fight.

He hasn't spotted me, and a moment later I am almost in range. It's a waiting game; will hel spot me before I can close the distance?

Closing on Bandit: notice the red box.

Just before I fire my wingman is warning me that there is a bandit closing on my six, but he is on it. A few seconds later tracer fire is arcing over my head, and I hear an impact on my airframe. I dip and jive around a bit, whipping my head back for a quick look. The bandit is now at my five o'clock and breaking high. I turn my attention back to my victim.

External Panning View

I let fly from about two hundred yards and catch a piece of him before he breaks hard left and then rolls to break high. The MiG is more manouverable and I can't stay with him, but in spite of no smoke from the aircraft a moment later I see the pilot eject!

My wingman is celebrating my victory with me. Meanwhile, I am also receiving calls from the rest of the squadron. There have been a few other kills and I may have lost one pilot.

Now my wingman calls a bandit location at my 2 o'clock high and I swing my view in that direction. I have a MiG pulling toward me at about 500 yars and 2,000 feet overhead, but he is hot on the trail of another Sabre.

Scratch Two!

It's a great opportunity, and I am able to pull onto his tail very quickly. This time my rounds have more effect, and he is making smoke as my wingman calls the kill.

I notice that my fuel is getting low, but I have the taste of blood and decide to try for one more kill. I spot a llikely candidate at three o'clock and slightly below me. As I turn to engage I notice a second MiG nearby but decide to ignore him, since I have my wingie for protection.

However, this MiG spots me and begins manouvering. I attempt to stay with him but I make a bad move and find myself in a spin. Whew, this is a nasty one. I finally recover at 11,000 feet. Only now do I notice that I have lost some lift on my left wing as a result of taking slight damage there. Time to call the squadron to disengage and regroup.

SUMMARY

I am immensely impressed by the experience. I had a lot of fun with this mission, and the flight modeling, squadron and ground control comms and view modeling all feels great.

I noticed after this mission that I did not have COMPLEX pilot AI set to ON, which may explain the ease of my kills. My squadron of twelve came up against twelve or more MiGs and we did fairly well. I have a feeling that it will be a lot more difficult next time!