Forewords

The Korean Air War mods (KAW) are a series of community addons for Thirdwire's Strike Fighters 2 released at combatace.com. After making them into an all in one pack install I've been trotting up and down the dreaded Mig Alley ever since. Due to a competent AI, turn based dynamic campaign engine and jet oriented flight modelling, the SF series handle the guns only early 50s era surprisingly well. Granted it doesn't have the complex systems modeling of DCS or a full blown real time DC of Falcon4.0, but it is IMO that you don't need a pilot training simulator for the air force to make a good game, and the flying experience for me in SF2 Korea has been quite fun and immersive.

The currently ongoing campaign of mine has been progressed for 2 in-game years, some 50 missions in, dated Nov. 1952. I'm in 335th FIS, 4th FIW, who deployed to Korea early in October 1950. The squadron has gone through 2 aircraft upgrades, first from the F-86A to F-86E, then from the E to the F-2 Gunval sabre. Historically only 8 of the Gunval variant went into service in Korea, but to see them in some campaign action and to rise up from the dismay of the M3 50-cal machine gun or, "pea shooter of the 20th century", I've opted to retrofit an entire squadron.

Before we begin, I'd like to thank the modders at Combatace, who labored tireless to present us with these beautiful mods for free. Due to the low amount of stock aircraft in this theater, Korean Air War addon would not be possible were not for your sacrifice and commitment to modding this game. Hats off to you gents!



Mission for today: 4-ship Fighter Sweep over Pyongyang


I call up the briefing map, upon which one can see the cluster of Mig-15 squadrons located at manchuria, just across the Yalu river. (Historically, that patch of sky south of the river is called Mig Alley, it should be pretty obvious as to why looking at this map. Do not cross into Manchuria? Bah! Never mind the sabre pilots, I can feel the heart knawing and scratching temptations those AF generals felt to just level those runways.. because heck.. I want to) Another two Yak-9 squadrons are based off from NK airbases but their strength is severely depleted from previous fights. Initially some Il-10s and another Yak-9 squad also operated out of NKorea bases, but as their strength and supply depletes, they're either moved further back into Chinese airbases or completely deleted by the campaign engine.
Our squadron, the 335th, along with other 4th FIW squads are based at Kimpo. Another F-86 wing the 51st is based at Suwon. Other Skorea bases like Pusan, Kunsan, Osan, Pyongtek, Taegu are all populated by various USAF/Marines squads. The Navy/Marines and the Royal Navy also have 4 carrier groups in this campaign.


The squadron roster, where the player can assign pilots to slots in flight. Note the ratings of individual pilots, they're tracked along campaign progression and affect AI performance, so it is the player's job to preserve wingies (v)lives much as possible. Not content with slot assignments by the campaign engine I manually changed it based on the ratings.


Good weather, loadout set, TOT at noon, checked my HOTAS and TIR, and we're lined up on the runway ready to roll.


And up, with wingies in tow behind me. They're using the formation takeoff mod, as with default thirdwire Tof routine it takes way too long.


Engine roars prompt me to look up and a large strike package passes in front. Immediately above are four F2H-2 Banshees.


Meanwhile radio chatter is already heating up indicating action up front. Pressing the F12 action cam key, a flight of F9F Panther jets are shooting up hapless Yak-9s the North Korean still dared to send up.



And various propeller driven strike aircrafts are enroute to their targets.



And a flight of Mig-15s in what appears to be a diving attack on one of the strikers.


... And sister squadron Sabres passing IP... And.. and.... The campaign engine TK constructed is so atmospheric that there're too many things going on all around. Although basically 10+ years old it is constantly improved until this point and the charm isn't lost on me at all.


Busy filming all this, I didn't realize we were overflying some low altitude Migs. Elected not to engage them and maintain altitude, it would be proven to be the right choice in just a few seconds...


...as GCI informed me of a new air group, apparently coming at us from high altitude, which mostly likely would be our mission objective.


Meanwhile, more things are going on around us. A pair of Mig-15Bis on the takeoff roll, bombers dropping their loads, and flaks have ample targets to shoot at. Thankfully we're high enough to be let alone by them, never been shot down by AAA in this theater as mainly flying A2A, but those burst clouds are nothing but annoying to begin with.





Hey, primary objective targeted! Flight, drop tanks, we're committing!



Leader of the Mig flight, ace pilot Major Voldemort, eh... Major Valdemar turns around and engage. Since I have both speed and altitude advantage, instead of going for a head on merge I go straight up just as him, he will naturally follow and runs out of energy, an obvious trick I didn't realize until flying the Mig-15 on the red side a while back - the Mig feels so full of thrust, if you're not going up it doesn't feel right. Back to the current case, truthfully had I been flying an -86E the choice would be going down for the merge. I'd lose some energy advantage, but that would set the fight up at a lower altitude which would better suit the Sabre or in this case... a little less worse, as I leveled out the loop in the F-86F-2 somewhat stationary at 44,000ft. Mig Alley, high altitude dogfight they say. (Note the contrails marked in the background, to this day for me still a "wohhh" moment.)



Luckily as the AI has very little idea of flying energy efficiently in the vertical plus my initial advantage, it wasn't too hard to setup on the good Major's high six:


And gave him a burst. My rounds went a bit to the right, which seemed to do little damage to the wing...


..but as I flew by he initiated a little pull up and the outer wing section was torn off. Score 1 for 20 mike mike (and TK's damage modelling! Did I hear BoS also models this?..).


I quickly start maneuvering for another Mig. Initial energy advantage neutralized somewhat, my first gun pass ended in vain, unable to bring my nose up into a firing position as the Mig pulls into a defensive turn..



But second time is the charm as I stood my aircraft on its tail using whatever energy left, came back down again and caught the Mig in a left descending spiral. In the meantime my AI wingies to my surprise have successfully destroyed a 3rd Mig and disabled the 4th (lost a stabilizer and in RTB mode). Mission success and.. Great Balls of Fiyah!


Although tbh, it feels like the Sabre do not like this low energy state fight. Being a typical American aircraft he likes it fast, and performs best when doing so. And it has been obvious to me that in contrast, above 22,000ft, especially above 25,000, the Mig-15 is right at home. OTOH if the Mig is caught at low altitude by the Sabre, he is then in trouble, which apparently is even historically correct. But I digress. Having completed the primary objective, more fights await Tampa flight.

To be continued....

I just reinstalled SF2, will have to check out this mod for sure. Looks like it requires several SF2 games to be installed, however, so the price of admission may be a little steep. But considering all the other great addon campaigns for the series, it may well be worth the investment. I adored the campaign in Rowan's Mig Alley, and the Thirdwire sims are about the only thing that come close these days.

Continued...

Looks like from this point on, it largely becomes the wingies' show. And it may become a bit technical. I know that Thirdwire sims are usually considered "Sim Lite", but there appears to be quite a lot of goodies under the hood if one gives it a good look.

So, in the aftermath of the previous engagement, No.3 in the flight, Dave, seems to have gotten himself in a bit of a pickle. He is going after the lead Mig of a 2-ship flight, but Mig wingman is right behind him. It appears to have become a matter of who catches up to whom first - The fight is heading away from me and there's no way I can help in time.


Dave comes out on top! He dispatches Mig lead in 3 short bursts, and I immediately issue a flight break command so he can start defending himself, while targeting No.2 on the remaining Mig.


...Scratch another by No.2. The 20mm is so effective. Used to be that a sabre would sit on a Mig's tail for an eternity before scoring a killing blow.. if it doesn't overshoot and becomes the prey himself that is, since low speed handling goes to the Mig all the way.




With the remaining Migs in RTB mode the area west of Pyongyang is clear. But remember a pair of Mig-15Bis on the roll when the action started? Yep they're now up at altitude and approaching from the northeast to play. Interesting to note that since the SF series roots in the Vietnam era, AI migs are coded to do luftberry circles whenever engaged, a tactic commonly adopted by the VPAF (but ofc it's just my deduction). The way they deploy, leaders come in hot, wingmen drag a little behind and turn in later to clear his leader's six. The tactic is extremely effective whenever the player has insufficient energy to boom and zoom in and out of the circle, because whenever you're glued to one Mig's six, the other is just behind. I know that coz I've been a victim of this tactic many times... While the Vietnam era Phantom has a pair of afterburning J79 rock-propelling engines to get itself outta dodge from the Mig-17's gun range, the F-86 simply doesn't have this luxury.

And so we witness the same tactic here. Mig lead prompty turns toward us from up high at 32,000ft. We're at 25 but running rather hot at .96 so basically equal energy state. His wingman starts extending and holds altitude. However in this engagement we have a decisive advantage, which is numbers, it's a 4 v 2 after all. And so I target my 2 and 3 on Mig lead and myself goes after the wingman. As Mig lead turns into my six, he automatically exposes his tail to my 2 and 3. The key here is for me to dispatch Mig wingman fast enough so that he doesn't have the time to come around and harm my wingies.
Anyway, it's a good theory.



Mig lead behind me, marking. But goes on the defensive because of my wingies attacking.


Turn and burn.. mother.... Did I mention the Mig's good up high? He's not flying energy efficiently at all but it takes forever to catch up.


They say theories come apart when faced with reality, and so comes the dreaded messeage:


And the dreaded new guy:


Obviously Mig 3 was always there, but I was so target fixated that failed to notice him completely. My mind draws blank at this point... In hindsight, it'd be a wise choice to target No.4 on Mig 3, as 4's on a head on with the Mig, and I could be close enough to directly padlock the Mig to issue targeting commands. But this did not come to me had I not written this AAR so the solution is pretty much far fetched for me at that moment.

But, as rarely as it happens in aviation, this time two minuses yields a positive!... With No.3 Dave running dry, combat responsibility may have automatically transferred to No.4, since he calls out "bandits" and goes on the offensive. This is also only discovered after watching my recorded video.. TK's AI surprises me yet again. And so we end up with 3 Migs all on the defensive, which couldn't have worked out better.


Finally caught up with Mig wingman on my end. The range is still a bit far, but since it is time critical I decided to take a shot. The Mig lost its vertical tail and went down smoking.



From this on it is just a matter of mopping up. The last victim of the day is the damaged Mig lead, having ran thru the gauntlet of No.2 and 3's cannon shells. He dived down low and started jinking like a madman, the last maneuver being a barrel roll, but promptly entered the unrecoverable flat spin. The pilot ejected to fight another day...




Back at Kimpo safe and sound:


Mission debrief. The wingies did extremely well for a change, compared to the usual only 2-kills-among-them-all mission..:



In closing:

For the mission itself, luck definitely played a hand in its outcome. In fact I've been losing wingman for quite a few missions in a row until the number of Migs appear to have thinned down in this one. The Redfor deployment in this theater is unique, as squadrons rotate in and out of theater in turns. The PLAAF and NKPAF considered Korea an "air combat university", for them it is a training tool so everyone gets a taste. In SF campaign terms, targets will never run dry, and so the A2A aspect is a constant ongoing affair until 1953 campaign end. In some way it reminds me of the "wall of Migs" in Falcon4.0 campaign:p, but this wall spans into 3 years instead of ... 3 hours. It then becomes a matter of, while facing unfavorable odds, keeping wingmen alive so they can have a chance to accumulate good skills in order to be potent in the air, or at least last long enough until replacements arrive, as once the squadron roster loses too many pilots a campaign loss automatically results.

For the Sabre v Mig performance in this addon, both can dominate the other when flown properly in players hands. They're pretty equally matched as in real life, but I always prefered the Sabre myself as it's the better "aviator" - the aircraft just wants to go and go fast, without the kinks of the Mig-15 like the yaw-roll coupling and the lack of elevator response once it hits mach .9 down low thus limiting its use especially in campaign tactical situations. For the gunval Sabre, I guess it is not fetching to say it is a bit.. in online gaming terms "overpowered". However since the game is offline only, I doubt the AI Sabres and Migs will dream of electric sheep. But while it is invigorating to take the 20mm into use occasionally, there's something very fulfilling about destroying a Mig with a concentrated 50cal burst.

For the Thirdwire series, seems that it has always stayed in the shadows of the big boys like DCS, Falcon4, FSX and others. But it also makes thirdwire an underrated gem. Personally I've always liked underrated gems, and am hopping on the ride for sure. I'm late on the scene since TK has stopped development of the PC platform and focusing on mobile. If it means the beginning of the end, then I'd wager it could be a long end since the series are so mod friendly and it's a good time to start modding. Which takes us to the next part..

For the Korea addon, suffice to say I've got a relative interest in this theater. Before settling in Strike Fighters 2 I sampled Jetwar in IL2 1946, Rowan's Mig Alley, and Korea addon for CFS3. Personally SF came out as the best platform (I don't think anyone would still fly MA regularly as the visuals are so outdated..). Been on the fence of DCS' Sabre/Mig duo for a while now but the sterileness always turned me off.

Anyways better stop now. Liked writing the AAR myself, haven't done this for a long long time, last time IIRC was just a quickie for F4AF on frugalsworld oh boy. Hope you liked it as well:)

Johan, agree here as the campaign engine is actually awesome in SF and the main reason I chose it. However if they have personalities I suppose SF's CE is an introvert among them so one's gotta peel the onion:D

Very nice!!! I've seen Korea mods for the SF/WO* 1 series. but I don't know if anyone has made a similar "one stop shopping" Korea package for the SF/WO* 1 series. I am guessing the the campaign engine may not be as good in the 1 series.

I would be happy to live with the MiG Alley graphics if I could get them to work at all. Since a particular NVIDIA driver update, the 3D world won't render at all without lots of distortion

hiya Recluse. I still got the installers for MA here, so might give it a whirl again sometime. Tbh my only gripe with MA's visuals are the aircraft 3D models. The weather and terrain stuff one can live with I suppose, it's even got a distinct Jane's feel to it but.. might be due to contemporary puter tech(?). Otoh BOBII has garnered much community dev interest afterwards, it could be Korea really is the forgotten war of forgotten wars.

About Korea all in one pack, I did put one together and it's up for download at combatace, so minimal "mods fumbling" to get started, although as Johan says it does require having 5 of the SF2 games as a base.

Thanks. I was wondering about a Korea pack for SF 1 rather than SF2. Currently don't own any of the SF2 series and I don't think I will get all 5 for this purpose. TEMPTING...but....

With regard to Mig Alley graphics, one picture is worth 1000 words and is in this thread:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ub...ies#Post3460223

Recluse... wow that is a severely torn up cockpit.
Suppose you can always try a vintage gfx driver or dual XP boot.. depends on how much you're willing to bother i guess.

ah and for SF1 Korea there's an all in one as well, but it's quite old 2006/7ish.

Yes! That is always the question. My current machine IS an XP machine. I suppose I should try MiG Alley on the Win7 machine I have just to see if it makes a difference, but the NVIDIA card and driver are even newer. Been resisting moving my Cougar setup over to the new machine since most of the flight sims live on the XP machine.



Thanks! I will check COMBATACE for it. Through the years I have downloaded a lot of individual Korea type mods (Sabre and MiG packages etc...)

Recluse I found them for ya:D as i'm grabbing them myself for modding references.
http://combatace.com/files/file/1494-korean-air-war-complete-mod/
http://combatace.com/files/file/3329-korean-war-mod-update/
and
http://combatace.com/files/file/1902-red-falcon-korean-war-add-on/

never tried SF1 myself but discovering more and more goodies hidden in the gen1 DL section.

Great AAR post. Thank you and more, please.

Wow! Thanks for the legwork! I peruse the CombatAce downloads periodically as I get interested in certain aircraft/time periods or theaters. Sad to admit I do more downloading and installing than actual flying

Very good AAR! Most enjoyable.

I'll add my support for the AAR. Detailed and accurate.

Hey glad you liked it gents, appreciate it.

Awesome!

Good read

Excellent read and a excellent AAR, as yourself I'm a fan of TK sims and really enjoy anything up to '82, after that year the lack of proper A-G radars put the game at a disadvantage.

Thanks for the AAR. They can be a lot of work.

I really need to get back in the cockpit one of these days.

Hey Stratos and arthur I'm familiar with your names at CA and good to see ya pop around. And arthur666 plz do maybe another one of your fun campaigns can emerge from it:D