Re: Level of Detail?

[damocles@nostromo.gate.net (Randy Vice)]

On Mon 14-Apr-1997  1:13p, ElevenMike@aol.com wrote:
El> Damocles-

El>    Then give the teams an ultralight.  Or check out a Popular Mechanics
El> (or P
El> Science) from last summer.  Autigyros are coming back.  I didn't say
El> completely silent.  I said comparatively stealthy.  So it doesn't look
El> like it breaks down.  I'm no engineer.  I couldn't design one.

IMHO, whoever came up with this, watched too many James Bond movies with
Little Nell.

El>    As regarding the attack described.  If you do it at night, it works. 
El> Try
El> if with a friend as "referee".  Even parachutes and hang gliders make
El> SOME
El> noise.  

True, the make *some* noise, depending on how fast they are traveling.

By using fusion engines, you reduce the eminated noise level.  

No matter what you do, moving airfoils make noise, verticle airfoils are
projecting sideways so it travels very well.  Atleast the horizonal makes more
limited footprint since it's going below you.  

By
El> the
El> time you're heard (if the bad guys are even listening - lots to be said
El> for
El> poorly trained privates that don't act because they're not sure what to
El> do -
El> happens in the real world), you are in rocket range.

And your going to have to be damn close to use it since as you wrote below,
guidance is nonexistant.

El>    As the sergeant of the guard is getting this 18-yr old on the phone
El> (and
El> the kid may not be making any sense - very common in our Army), the
El> rockets
El> are being triggered.  The Free State has never has an AIR threat, except
El> for
El> maybe WWI rattletraps the Confederates may be flying.  (And yes, even
El> those
El> can shoot down the AirScout.)  Pearl Harbor syndrome comes to mind.  The
El> planes parked in neat little rows (the military is in love with neat
El> little
El> rows).  Even if in hangars, the aircraft on the ground are vunerable.    

Depends on how well designed the hangars are. Sadam did a pretty good job in
harden hangars.

El> The
El> AirScout isn't an A-10.  To get use of it's limited combat abilities,
El> you've
El> really got to work.  2.75" FFARs are NOT very accurate.  So only shoot at
El> big
El> things with them.

At close range....

  Massed infantry, convoys, aircraft parked but not
El> dispersed, buildings.  The 2.75" pods on helos and fixed wing aircraft of
El> the US Army, Marines, Navy, & Air Force can be rippled or single shot.

Right, the ripple effect you can "walk" them to the target.

El>    I understand the limitations of the aircraft.  Most people that play
El> with
El> me UNDERUTILSE the AirScout.  But it still remains an effective
El> scout/reconnisance aircraft for field teams.  

It is extremely limited, but it's is better then nothing, I'll agree with you
there.

To replace it you'd need
El> the
El> OV-10 Bronco, or a WWI two-seat observation plane.  

No. You can do alot with general avaition aircraft, you just have to modify
them. I point to the Cessna 336 SkyMaster which in military version a decent
COIN aircraft. I've flown a civilian version with STOL kit, it's pretty easy
to fly for any general aviation pilot.  

I'll also point to CAP in WW II which used general aviation aircraft for ASW
(three kills, 80 combat sorties, and one dead whale, oops....).

Niether one can be
El> broken
El> down into the bed of a one-ton trailer.  

Almost all your four placed, single engine general aircraft are about ~1800#s.
Hughs 300C helicopter is 1,100#s and Robinson R-22 is 824#s and these are REAL
aircraft. :P

That's what I use to carry
El> AirScouts, thier ammo, and repair parts.  I require 30 minutes of
El> maintenance
El> for every 90 minutes in the air.  That might be too much, I'm not sure.

An unbelievable amount of time for maintence. I sure wouldn't to fly anything
like that in real life that requires after 90 minutes a half hour scheduled
maintence.  

There is no substitute for helicopters for ground support.  Give them fusion
(electric) engines, and they are fantastic.

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