Ludwig

Something finally hit me in the head and I remembered that I could uninstall - reinstall.... so I tried that and it worked fine. Thanks all for helping. I am getting old and stupid and I don't remember the ins and outs of this business.

I tried deleting the UPDATE folder and it does start loading again... but does the exact same thing... it loads about 2/3rds of the program and stops. I have tried this three times but get the same result each time. Britch... yes... Great Battles... .sorry I forget that this is more than one sim in one area.

IL-2 Sturmovik I have not run in months... so when I attempted to start it I expected that there would be a large update... there was and it failed to complete. Got about 70% and just stopped there (for many hours) I tried it again with no response and then just left it and came back this morning and it is again about 70% and this time says FAILED TO UPDATE on the red bar. Any ideas?

I hate to ask because I am pretty sure I am not going to like the answer... but trying to bring IL-2 back to life.... it loaded about 60% and stopped... now it does nothing. I have always been really fortunate with this program I have not had the problems I read about. Well.. I guess I am in the hopper now. Any suggestions on how to get this thing to complete loading what ever it is loading??? Thanks,

Pocket watches are amazing... you have a real find there Raz. I love it in the movies, they make such a statement when the flip it open... look bemused and snap it shut and say.... nothing. All you need is a good cigar.... Good for you mate.....

I wear a Breitling Chronomat Longitude which is a wonderful watch. Mechanical with the "rotor" which is kinda fun when it goes off once a day. My "old dog" is a Heuer Autavia, the only left-handed chronograph I have ever seen. It was $300 brand new when my girlfriend bought it for me Christmas 1981. They are over $4,000 now because they are so collectible. Mine has been around the world somewhere around 28 times. When I got the Breitling I quit wearing it. (note the pic of the Autavia, the stem is on the LEFT side of the case) perfect for us lefties and it is well known that all natural pilots are left-handed Back in the old days when I would ferry new planes from ICT they would have no radios... no instruments. It was one step lower than partial panel and flying "no gyro" IMC was a real test of your abilities. Today... HAH! not a chance. The new owner was going to put those in when he took possession and took the plane to be painted and finished. The watches or time pieces as they are... these days are all global accurate... GPS updates them 25 times a second, you can't possibly be wrong. My "daily driver is a Seiko Chronomat with the A-2 movement. It is DEADLY accurate. I can start the sweep-second hand and check it 30 days later and it is exactly correct. I have NEVER seen a watch this accurate. The guy I was flying with when we went to Hong Kong at Christmas time had received a Rolex aviator from his wife for Christmas... just this side of $10,000 and his dad really liked it. Dick thought he would get a replica (fake) Rolex in Hong Kong for $250 and give it to his day. Well.. we went to the market and within 20 minutes had it. He wore one on each wrist coming back and the "fake" watch with the Seiko movement was absolutely perfectly accurate when we checked against our GPS. SO!! Once again... I have come across an auction this very evening... (the coincidence!) for a Naval Aviator that flew the A-6 in SEA... and there are two watches of his that are up for grabs. If you are interested... this is the REAL DEAL guys.... First... can't say... maybe Jake, errr Gordon, errr.. Snaggle.. yeah that's it... can you say??? looks almost as if it were issued.... Second is a Omega.... not my style... but this was the late 60's early 70's. I didn't get my Breitling until the 80s. You can also get the poor guys wings and uniforms. If you are interested... PM me and I will forward the link. **NOTE... that is a HEUER Autavia... before they went down to TAG HEUER

Spot on... quite correct. Shielding is a pain and killed many a repair. Point to point is what you surgeon would recommend and it works the same with wires. It's a tricky bit, watch the temp on your iron and use as little as possible to avoid melting some plastic... that would be the voice of experience speaking. Then time to start putting away some secret cash for some Crosswind pedals. Good-Oh !

Well.. I bet I speak for all the chaps here that know you and some that don't that you are a well disciplined and talented young man and we are all happy to see your progress back to happier times. Good for you old man... stiff upper and all that rot, what! Glad you posted your ascension back to where you wish to be.

How funny.... I just came home from Hobby Lobby... I had an old version of "Assi" Hahn's airplane re-framed. I got it at Love field back in the 70's when I was just a private pilot as they had an aviation art gallery there in the terminal. I think that it is still there, I have not been over there in years. I have been collecting "Robert Taylor" prints for over 30 years and I own almost all of his works involving the Bf-109, about 16 prints so far. You can see "Abbeville Boys" over the mantle. I only have a couple on the walls because this house was painted by a moron... a MAROON wall... eegads.... Anyway... still sorting out the order and placement but they will all get up and out one of these days. My "She who must be obeyed" gets her due... but she also knows after "dating" for 36 years (we were married Nov 2019) that nothing gets in the way of my career and the ancillary paths it takes. Still... be fair here... she gets 3 rooms for her stuff. SO... I found that I have this old Nicolas Trudgian pencil drawing #295 out of #300 of Spitfires... and I only enjoy seeing Spitfires in my sights in front of me so if anyone wants this drawing they are welcome to it. You can see from the picture that it did not receive the same loving care as the prints, but it was part of a packaged deal that came with something I did want. SO... first come first gets. I will be happy to send it to you. Also in the pic is an autographed picture from one of my Mentors Brig. Gen. David Lee "Tex" Hill. He gave that to me in his study, in his house on Burr Rd. in San Antonio, Texas in 1972. He was instrumental in my career and took me as his guest to the American Fighter Aces convention that year as he was the president. Great guy, I actually was able to fly him in a King Air 30 years later to a pigeon shoot on a ranch out in West Texas. Spent a couple of days with him there and he could still put away the scotch... don't you doubt it. Great guy, great stories. <Edit> The Spit print can be framed/matted and those creases won't show

WOW... never thought I would see this. I am much more pleased with DCS than I ever was with RoF.

Whistling bass and a banjo can't go wrong... (41) The Dead South - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company [Official Music Video] - YouTube

This is a REALLY old subject and the same thing I said 30+ years ago still holds... how many folks want to play an event on Pearl Harbor or the Alamo? You know how it is going to turn out.... and you can play for points but that doesn't seem to hold the attention of most guys. It can be worked.... sure.... of course numbers can go a long way to making the balance. Imagine being the Cactus airforce and having the Japanese come over with 3-1 or 4-1 advantage.

For me it was not about the maneuverability of the Japanese fighters... it was about their flammable nature. If you hit them, they are gone. The maneuver aspect is no different than a Dr.I and a Spad. You just don't need cannon to bring down a machine with no armor what so ever... no self-sealing fuel tanks. This is why fighters were comfortable with rifle caliber guns, they were fine against soft targets. Six .50 caliber machine guns were overkill against the Oscar and the Zeke.

I am really surprised here... about a lot of things. Everyone seems to be in love with the Corsair (it was a hydraulic NIGHTMARE) and all agree that early Allied planes were slaughtered by the AGM2 and on.... but not ONE mention of the F6F which arguably was the best fighter of the war.... period. Absolutely NOT my favorite by any stretch... but you know... if I had to go... it would be very difficult to make a case for not wanting to be in that machine. If you have not made a serious inquiry into the performance of this aircraft, it would behoove you to do so.... it is amazingly capable. The P-38 was in there as well as the P-47.... otherwise.... I totally agree that the "sides" are wonky... you could do a scenario... that would work. Have one sides carrier planes attack ships while the other side defends. Now... if you took the old AH Game Midway... or even better (albeit longer and more detailed) AH FLAT TOP (even has the image of Takahiro Tamura the actor that played Fuchida on the cover) and have a team(of our guys) play out the search part of the board game and then take the assets that were allotted to each strike and apply them against the assets that were left to defend and NOW you have something. Again... play it out as a scenario. Talk about a playable "event" that would be pretty studly (IMHO) Combine the SEARCH phase of the board game with the live action of the Flight sim. Both sides had radar and knew the strikes were in the air, you still have to find the ships to attack them but you could start them within 10 minutes of the ships easily enough and limit fuel to represent the flight back to the carrier.. not having to deal with: Night The #@$ ship moved The double #$% ship changed course and is not where they SAID it would be. The challenge of getting aboard. My mentor growing up was Gen. David Lee "Tex" Hill and I spent a LOT of evenings with him talking about the fighting in the CBI theatre. You would not like it as an "event." The AVG/CATF was well warned of the attacks coming in and were in position when they arrived. They dove through the formation and made one (1) pass and kept going. If you got something... GOOD for you... if not... you could extend away (back side) of the target and climb up an repeat maybe a second pass... three times was really rare because you were out of ammo. They just hosed as they went through. There was NO maneuvering... zero, nada, nuttin honey. They regretted the Chinese targets being bombed. They tried really hard to prevent their own fields from being bombed, but the bottom line was they could not afford to lose ANY pilots or planes. Frustration enough for all involved.

Snaggle and I go back to "AIRWARRIOR" days when online flight sim was .... ouch... painful. The Dx 486 was a stud machine... and internet connection was 99% of your game enjoyment. We actually got in an "event" and the only open slots were on the Japanese side. They called the Betty Bombers "Zippos" and the plan was for the good guys that ran the thing to attack our formation with Spitfires. Our Zeros could turn like crazy but were about 50kts slower than the Spitfires. They wiped out the entire 12 ship formation in two passes. Yeah, that was fun.

Man... I can't imagine trying to fly Japanese assets against American. Yeah, they got better... but man.. I sure would not want to do it.

Yeeeeouch..... I never did drugs... maybe this is what it feels like when you get some bad stuff..... Now... for me... personally... I am a big (resisted saying Huge) fan of Yuga Wang... and really enjoy her playing... and the outfits she wears... OH MY GOODINESS..... 7" heels were made to go with a Bosendorfer.... OH what would Victor Borge have said???? (21) Crazy encore with Yuja Wang, Ray Chen, Roberto González-Monjas, Andreas Ottensamer and José Gallardo - YouTube Now.... Lola Astanova is pretty good.... but .... not quite to the level of Yuja Wang.

WELL.... she's a REDhead.... so I earn it... believe me... I earn it. DANGER, FIRE, EXPLOSIVE, HARZARDOUS, CORROSIVE, FLAMMABLE, TOXIC, POISON, HIGH VOLTAGE They all have one thing in common...... (she got a wagon for Christmas and loves it)

For some reason my wife decided that she was having allergy problems with the tree so it had to come down immediately after Christmas which was kinda sad for me. It really smelled like a pine tree which is I guess part of the problem. Fortunately she knows that all I really want for Christmas (or birthday or any holiday) is a model airplane so she goes crazy and covers the spread.

Merry Christmas to all.... and praying for strength and guidance in the New Year while thankful all here have stayed healthy.

"Hey whatcha doinMan..... "I'm just watchin TV man.... Watchin TV...??? whatya watchin Man? I don't know.....it's a movie about indians but it's really boring.... Hey Man....that's not a movie Man....that's a TEST PATTERN..... Hey.... far out.......

HAH.... we saw this every night at 11:00 PM when KENS CHANNEL 5 went OFF THE AIR..... and they would play the Star Spangled Banner and then read the poem "High Flight" while showing film of a 104 zooming and rolling through the clouds. Kids today don't know what "going off the air" means.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGj6deaINxM

I see the wolf from Tex Avery.... another favorite....

I just saw a youtube video showing the Garmin nav setup with the Auto pilot for a C-172.... my ..... goodness... I simply can not imagine. I was ferrying them from ICT with holes in the panels because the new owners would put in their own instruments and radios.... I feel so old... I can only assume that the Garmin is more expensive than the cost of the airplanes I was ferrying back in the 70's. I teach the Garmin 1000 and 3000 and we are up to the software 2.xx load on the 3000... which has the ROAAS, and the EDM which are the two big features (sorry.. ROAAS is Runway Overrun Awareness and Advisory System, and the EDM is the Emergency Descent Mode) The ROAAS is a big deal and a really hot topic with the FAA, and something that they are pounding really hard due to the number of overrun incidents. The EDM is the first step towards the automation with auto-throttles coming right behind it because no more mechanical connection to the engines through the power levers measured in PLAs. We are not allowed to call them "throttles" any more and believe me... it is akin to calling someone you have known your whole life by a different name. Now you can learn the Garmin on the MSFS... maybe it will make my job easier... HAH! I have to fail that stuff to make them fly the jet.... everything is done in automation. I was a Guinea pig in the 737 MAX (ooops... we can't call it that any more... now it is the 737-8) a couple of weeks ago... that's another story.

Exactly correct, to get a 172 or 152 to spin you must hold it in the spin. The moment you release the controls it will come out. Remember the washout in the wingtip incidence... that was a BIG deal when the plane was produced early on. Spin training was something we all thought SHOULD be taught, just in and of itself.... but it was rare 50 years ago and non-existent now.