For this second preview article, I’m focused on making things go boom with the Grinnelli Design’s DCS: F-100D Super Sabre. I’ve got three scenarios that I setup for myself to test out the various systems and I’m reporting back on how successful I was in these initial efforts.

The Bear hunt

A classic Cold War scenario involving the Tu-95 Bear seemed like a fitting way to get my first air to air action in the F-100 so I setup a little scenario over northern Syria involving two Tu-95s and me in my F-100 on an intercept course.

I’m armed with four AIM-9J Sidewinders, the best that the F-100 can fit, and of course I have four M39A1 20mm cannons with 200 rounds per gun firing at 1,500 rpm.

Closing in at altitude, the F-100D does best with a little afterburner help so I advanced the throttle, clicked the burner button, and now we’re in full burner gaining speed, a little altitude, and gaining on the Tu-95s off to my 2 o’clock.

Now closer and with the pylons with my AIM-9s now energized its time to close in for a shot. The first Tu-95 doesn’t really make any evasive moves so I try for a “long range” shot. Fox-2!

The AIM-9J holds steady, tracks, and successfully hits the Tu-95 sending it spiralling down. That works! Now… let’s get a little closer.

The second bomber is now evasive, dropping flares, and preparing for a missile attack so I uncage the gunsight and close in for the shot with cannons. Cannons in the F-100 need to be armed on a toggle up at the front of the cockpit just under the gunsight (and a little out of the way, you’re going to want to bind those!).

With all guns armed, I pull the trigger and unleash a volley of cannons…. that falls short.

No matter! I close in and get in much tighter holding the Tu-95s angle and getting a better shot. Fire and hit! A bunch of rounds impact the Bear and it once again goes tumbling.

Jungle attack

In this next scenario, I made use of the Marianas Islands map once again to setup a little jungle outpost at an airstrip with a row of targets on either side of the open field. Parked trucks, supplies, and helicopters seemed like a suitable arrangement.

In various runs I tried out a series of different armament options including six M117 750lb bombs, a mix of Mk 82 500lb and FFAR Mark 5 HEAT rockets, Snakeyes high drag loadouts, and the 20mm cannons. The F-100D is armed with even more options than that including laser guided BOLT-117 bombs and CBU-52 cluster warheads.

The F-100D does have a reticle depression system so you can, when flying a specific speed and angle, drop with some degree of accuracy. I don’t have the table handy for these early flights so I was just eyeballing it with reasonably good accuracy for the larger bombs. I’m not yet at the point where I can pinpoint a target but I certainly can get them in the right vicinity.

The 20mm cannons are reasonably easy to strafe if you manage to get a good angle and keep the nose steady. The F-100 does like to rock around a bit and so keeping the aim point under your target and letting it come to you as you approach is often the best method. Not an unfamiliar one certainly.

Meanwhile, my rocket attacks were the least successful with the FFAR Mark 5 HEAT tending to spray with more dispersion. Still, with an area target you can certainly make a good impression on the whole area.

In this role I expect I will spend most of my time while flying the F-100D. My style of combat flying has certainly shifted from the dogfights to more strike oriented missions, at least in the online scenarios, and here I think the F-100D is going to do quite well. Its got the firepower, it has good speed, and its just agile enough to make effective work on target areas. I’ll certainly be ready to load it up into Contention or Heatblur’s Cold War and give it a go!

SEAD over Cold War Germany

The most challenging mission profile I flew in these tests were the SEAD mission. Here I set myself up with an SA-2 site and a pair of AGM-45A Shrike missiles. The Shrike, as in other modules, needs to be pre-configured with the correct seeker type for the correct SAM.

In the target area, you need to arm the Shrike on the weapon selector. After that you look at your CDI to try and center the emitting radar. It’s crude but effective means of pointing the weapon at its target. Range and profile are a bit more of a guessing game here than in more modern aircraft but that’s all part of the charm. Do it right and you can unleash a pair of Shrikes at the emitting radar with some success. Do it wrong and you may take a SA-2 (or some other SAM) to the face.

Unsurprisingly, I found a low altitude ingress into the threat area is often the best method. Guided by the RWR, you can work your way in towards the radar and then estimate the target distance and pop-up before delivering the missile directly. Its risky but doable and I was able to get the radar in about 50% of my test runs of the scenario. That’s not to say that the Shrike is 50% effective and some of the challenge remains with my own inexperience.

As challenging as this mission profile is, its great to see the option on the F-100D. It gives us another platform to operate the Shrike from and allows for those harrowing anti-SAM missions even if its the two-seat F-100F that flew the more famous Wild Weasel sorties.

Next preview in the works

My third and probably final preview will be an overview of the jet and my general thoughts on it as we head in towards release. I can tell you already that I’m having a lot of fun and I suspect this will become a well liked jet… despite or because of its quirks.