I took the plunge and finally started to teach myself how to use the MiG-21bis. This is an aircraft I have had for some time but barely touched, other than in free flight to play about with it but the amount of switches (all in Russian) just left me scratching my head.
I decided to go through the training mission for a cold start. So many switches, but I can now get it started, though I might not flip all of the switches in the right order. So I can now start it, taxy it, take off and land(ish) If you think the Spitfire is tough to land the MiG takes things to another level, has to be at high speed, you can not see the runway at all, you have to keep the nose up and the power on or you just drop like a stone.
Now I’ve just got to work out how to turn on the gunsight, use the radar (which only has enough coolant for 10 minutes use!), fire the weapons, and actually fly it. I have to say though the cockpit is still the best that I have seen, it’s superbly detailed. From the videos I have seen on YouTube it seems that to have any chance of winning in multiplayer against F-15s etc you have to stay low in among the hills and then use zoom climb abilities to hit them from below with the missiles, it’s the same against the F-5, which can out turn the MiG but can not get close in the climb.
I know we don’t really go in for the ‘modern’ stuff, but I really like the variety in DCS and while my BoX is still messed up I’m taking the little bits of time I have at the moment to learn a few new bits 