What it was to be Ernest Gann

[Geofa 108]

My favorite book of all times "Fate is the Hunter"-I've read it 6 times and never get tired of it.In the avsim files-fsx mission "Air Transport Command flight from Goose Bay to Greenland based on the book "Fate is the Hunter" by Ernest K. Gann"This is one of the ways fsx shines-sweat pouring down my face as I just relived a real flight from one of my heros-hard to believe this one happened for real!Thank you "Owen Graham " for this free mission. Maybe next the takeoff into the Taj Mahal!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

[Guest wcs33]

Geofa,We must be peas in a pod (except I don't have my own airplane!)...I share many of your thoughts about FSX and recently installed TrackerIR4 on your recommendation and have really fallen in love with flying the GA aircraft and the DC-3!Gann is also one of my most favorite authors (I assume you've read his auto-biography, which is also excellent)...and I'm looking forward to reading the Valhalla chapter again then flying the mission...I sure hope the mission editor gets good feedback to do other missions of Gann's.When the DC-3's with the "quadrant-band" radio-navs can be imported into FSX...some of those early-day stories of navigating in poor weather and poor "reception'" areas would be fun too.Another great aviation author who has some stories that could "missioned" in FSX is Guy Murchie (Song of the Sky)...FSX opens so many cool possibilities, and just gets better each week with the help of the members of this community!BillKBDLwww.flyelectra.com

[DadJokeCinema 145]

For our milsim buffs (pun intended), Dale Brown would be a great source for some out there missions, starting with the nearly blind flight to Russia from "Flight of the Old Dog"

[Guest Rick Baldwin]

Wow, Ernest Gann...I remember watching 'The High and the Mighty' when I was a kid, I thought it was the coolest film, and John Wayne was of course John Wayne.It was a shame that the Wayne estate kept 'The High and the Mighty' locked away from public availability for so long. They finally released it about a year ago and of course I watched it again as soon as it became available. While there is a strong element of nostalgia and definite enjoyment in seeing it again, today it appears dated. Sad that the Wayne estate, in my opinion, has let the optimum time for release pass long ago. I doubt that 'The High and the Mighty' will ever greatly appeal to a new generation. Let that be a lesson to others who are hoarding great movies for a possible future release: Strike while the iron is hot! -Rick----------- My System -----------P4 @ 2.53 GHz / 1GB RAM / NVIDIA GeForce 6800XT, 256MB / Windows XP Home

[Mike T 208]

Flight of the Old Dog is a great book and so were the follow-ups, Megafortress, etc.For the record, does anyone know if Dale Brown and Dan Brown (of The DaVinci Code) are brothers? The sure do look alike.

[DadJokeCinema 145]

>Flight of the Old Dog is a great book and so were the>follow-ups, Megafortress, etc.>>For the record, does anyone know if Dale Brown and Dan Brown>(of The DaVinci Code) are brothers? The sure do look alike.I'm not sure, but I can't count the amount of times when I told someone about Dale Brown and they immediately reply "OH THE DAVINCI CODE GUY??? I LOVE HIS BOOKS"There's a certain Jack Ryan characteristic to Patrick McLanahan, although, once he stopped being the Han Solo of navigators and rose through the ranks, it lost some appeal to me. I'm going to really set myself apart as a young guy here, but I was around 14 or so when I read Flight of the Old Dog, Day of the Cheetah and Night of the Hawk, all in about a week.Of course, referencing his wiki page didn't mention any relation to Dan Brown, but does show some tax fraud info I didn't know about. You have to think he was already making enough from his books, right?

[Mace 1,902]

>Geofa,>>We must be peas in a pod (except I don't have my own>airplane!)...I share many of your thoughts about FSX and>recently installed TrackerIR4 on your recommendation and have>really fallen in love with flying the GA aircraft and the>DC-3!>>Gann is also one of my most favorite authors (I assume you've>read his auto-biography, which is also excellent)...and I'm>looking forward to reading the Valhalla chapter again then>flying the mission...I sure hope the mission editor gets good>feedback to do other missions of Gann's.>>When the DC-3's with the "quadrant-band" radio-navs can be>imported into FSX...some of those early-day stories of>navigating in poor weather and poor "reception'" areas would>be fun too.>>Another great aviation author who has some stories that could>"missioned" in FSX is Guy Murchie (Song of the Sky)...What about the TWO John Wayne movies about aviation? In the one rarely shown, John Wayne gets stranded in remote northern Canada. In the other, more widely shown, John Wayne is a DC-4 pilot. Robert Stack is the co-pilot. I think it's name is, "The High and the Mighty".Neat missions could be made out of those two scenarios. I am not sure, but those movies might have been based on books, too.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[Guest archtx]

>My favorite book of all times "Fate is the Hunter"-I've read>it 6 times and never get tired of it.>>In the avsim files-fsx mission "Air Transport Command flight>from Goose Bay to Greenland based on the book "Fate is the>Hunter" by Ernest K. Gann">>This is one of the ways fsx shines-sweat pouring down my face>as I just relived a real flight from one of my heros-hard to>believe this one happened for real!>Thank you "Owen Graham " for this free mission. Maybe next>the takeoff into the Taj Mahal!So glad you enjoyed it, Geofa! I love every flight in that whole book; Gann is a terrific writer. He really puts you in the cockpit. I like that episode with the Taj Mahal also...but not sure I could make an interesting mission from it...I'll re-read it. I was also considering the one where he delivered the Lockheed to Brasil, or maybe one on flying the "Hump". I'm certainly open to any suggestions.Best wishes,Owen

[Guest archtx]

>What about the TWO John Wayne movies about aviation? In the>one rarely shown, John Wayne gets stranded in remote northern>Canada. In the other, more widely shown, John Wayne is a DC-4>pilot. Robert Stack is the co-pilot. I think it's name is,>"The High and the Mighty".>>Neat missions could be made out of those two scenarios. I am>not sure, but those movies might have been based on books,>too.>>>RhettYep, Rhett....both of those were Ernest Gann books. "Island in the Sky" was based on a real incident in the Air Transport Command which is also a chapter in "Fate is the Hunter". While "The High and the Mighty" was more fiction, it also had a basis in an event in Gann's life.

[DadJokeCinema 145]

In regards to Dale Brown, has anyone done a EB-52 Megafortress for FS yet?

[Tony G 0]

>There's a certain Jack Ryan characteristic to Patrick>McLanahan, although, once he stopped being the Han Solo of>navigators and rose through the ranks, it lost some appeal to>me. I'm going to really set myself apart as a young guy here,>but I was around 14 or so when I read Flight of the Old Dog,>Day of the Cheetah and Night of the Hawk, all in about a>week.I tend to agree about McLanahan, I prefer the books when Brad Elliot was running Dreamland. Day of the Cheetah was a book I had a hard time putting down.It would also be neat if someone modeled Dreamstar...

[Howiefly13 30]

I REALLY enjoyed this mission. It was the first time I truly felt immersed in the scenario.Thank you,

[vgbaron 3,504]

Boy Geofa - you sure know how to bring back old memories! That was also my favorite book and thye movie with Glenn Ford was another favorite!Glad to find out about that mission from Owen - I'll d/l it asap!VicVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/

[Mace 1,902]

>In regards to Dale Brown, has anyone done a EB-52>Megafortress for FS yet?What in the world is an "EB-52 Megafortress?" :)I had a game from about 1991 or 92, that featured an all-black fantasy modded B-52 in it. It was a neat combat sim for the time. Can't remember the name of that sim though.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

[DadJokeCinema 145]

>>In regards to Dale Brown, has anyone done a EB-52>>Megafortress for FS yet?>>What in the world is an "EB-52 Megafortress?" :)>>I had a game from about 1991 or 92, that featured an all-black>fantasy modded B-52 in it. It was a neat combat sim for the>time. Can't remember the name of that sim though.>>Rhett>>AMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS>A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig>7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster PraetorianDale Brown in a former navigator-bombardier in B-52s who retired and started writing futuristic hi-tech military thrillers. The real star of his first book "Flight of the Old Dog" is a completely updated and modernized, ultra-top-secret B-52 with stealth capacity, increased air defense and massive ground attack ability. The designation of this odd mix of old and new is the EB-52 Megafortress.Here's a pretty complete look at the aircraft he made up and the real world counterparts for some of them:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_Air...le_Brown_NovelsHe gets a little crazy later on with plasma yield weapons and stuff like that, but I love that BUFF.4 turbofans, SST style nose, split V tail.