One of the iconic aircraft of the modern era has been General Dynamics and then Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Fighting Falcon or Viper depending on what you want to call it. The F-16 first flew 50 years ago today and over the last 30 plus years has been the subject of multiple simulations. Those include the venerable Falcon series from MicroProse and more recently DCS World. Let’s have a quick look at the real F-16 and the sim one too!

First flight

The prototype YF-16, with test pilot Phil Oestricher at the controls, had an unexpected first flight on January 20, 1974. As the video above and interview with Phil attests, he had always intended to gain a tiny bit of altitude to test the roll response, however, the controls moved violently left and right. With loss of the airplane a distinct possibility, full throttle was applied and the aircraft took to the skies, awkwardly, for the first time. And then landed successfully.

The loss of the prototype could have been disastrous for the program (not to mention Phil!) but the F-16 would end up soaring into history. As of 2018, there had been 4,604 F-16s built and with the production lines still open on modern variants such as the Block 70 that bring modern sensors and equipment to the airplane it seems likely that the F-16’s history will continue for quite some time to come.

Falcon BMS celebrates

The focus of four generations of the Falcon series, Falcon 4.0 has lived a far longer life than I’m sure its creators intended. Falcon lives on with the Falcon BMS modification that has become part of a small collection of modern combat sims. Though the original Falcon 4.0 is now 26 years old, Falcon BMS receives updates to this day.

The video above celebrates the aircraft and the sim so do check it out!

DCS World’s F-16C

Regular readers here will know that I’ve put quite a few hours into the DCS: F-16C. Though released in shaky condition early on, not unlike the prototype aircraft, the most recent updates to DCS: F-16C Viper have made it into one of the sim’s most popular jets and a top contender in online battles, squadron duels, and co-op campaigns.

Released four years ago, DCS: F-16C Viper continues to evolve and over the next year we’re bound to see some updates that further refine the experience.

Some of the most fun you can have with the jet are with some of the community created scenarios. While we wait for a full length campaign (Baltic Dragon’s The Gamblers is on its way for later this year) you can also check out fun and popular missions such as the F-16C Red Flag Mission 01 and Mission 02 by SELDO, the F-16C edition of Eastern Friendship also by SEDLO, Training missions by AVADII or the Syria Scenario pack by Kaba.

I also celebrated with a little sightseeing tour on the northern sectors of the DCS: Syria map and I even produced a couple of YouTube shorts (a new thing I’m trying) that you can watch here (ideally on your phone).