As an FYI for those who haven't seen this one hour documentary, it is being shown one more time Oct 28th at 2PM on the Discovery High Definition Theater channel.

Filmed in 2005 I believe, it depicts the two week exercise mainly through the eyes of a _Blue 4_ F-15E Captain and his WSO. The quality of the video was outstanding, esp on a high def plasma screen, and there were a number of external views of Aggressor F-16s with a host of pilot interviews.

Saw it at an IMax. Was really cool but I was sorely disappointed by the lack of action. Even at the Imax I was thinking to myself "F4AF gives me a far better feeling of what goes on than this show does."

One thing I did walk away with though, was the knowledge of exactly how many international contenders there are.

After seeing this, I thought that this idea (I know it was in Falcon 3) should be the de facto theme in any next flight combat sim. It is perfect. So many different aircraft you cannot have any arguments over the accuracy of squadrons engaging each other or nations participating AND you are not limited to one side simply invading another. You could have any level of action without fear that it would seem old hat or inaccurate 5 years down the road.

Yep, bought it at the military exchange last month on DVD. Great film.

Heh, last time I saw Red Flag in High Def, 1982

@Crash - I know what you mean. Would've been nice for it to have been a 3 or 4 part series with 2 hour segments which covered it in more detail, but they provided a pretty good summary and a sense of the stress these blue guys must go through in those two weeks. Wouldn't have wanted to be the ones that were sent home early for those flight rule violations... And interesting how much emphasis they stressed to the pilots to hit their waypoint times on the money. That seems to be something LP stressed in the F4AF training segments and which I've always aimed for.

@Grif - is that a longer version, or is it also just one hour? If longer, I may try to buy it online somewhere.

@Ghost - those must be some good memories. Having only been to Vegas once for a meeting, I never knew the base was so close to the city. For some reason I thought Nellis was in the middle of nowhere, but the views from the end of the runway during the takeoff segments made the strip look only a few miles away... Interesting, too, how they have a _safety day_ the day following the night on the town for everyone. Too many crashes and close-calls from the partying I think they said. Any truth to that, Ghost?

Memories? Huh? Wha? Oh yeah, I remember... College Dart, Black Flag, EW CASS, WTI, and Top Gun were fun DETs too This DET not fun. 102 days on Gonzo

It is 2 disks. One for standard DVD playbeack (like in the front room with the TV) and the other is HD for the PC. That one is nice, and is at least one hour. Paid $15 US.

I was stationed at George AFB (F-4G WW) for 12 years. RED FLAG and GREEN FLAG (ECM) TDY's at Nellis were my home away from home.

@Ghost - I was never in the mil, but read as much as I could on Eagle Claw around that time (from what one could get in the papers and mags that is). Sorry to hear you were caught up in that... Re: the Naval Landing Party - I must've heard the AF version. A former colleague occ flew as a backseater in Thuds during the Viet Nam conflict. He had alot of praise for the pilots and flight crews he worked with and indicated when it came time to unwind, they really knew how... They'd move the chairs and barstools to clear a path on the floor, and, well, pretty much the same after that. Had never heard the Naval version, though, which I suspect would lead to quite a few missed traps and more potential for broken gear...

@ Grif - thanks, I'll check it out.

I checked on GlobeExplorer for some satellite pics of Nellis and Vegas. The camera crew must've been hanging out at the end of 21R from what I can tell. And it really does point right downtown. Guess all of the pics/vid I'd previously seen from Nellis must've been pointed in the opposite direction. Thanks for the replies.

Are you guys talking about this?

http://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Pilot-Oper...4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

I own that but, if you are talking about something else, I'd love to see it but, I do not have DiscoveryHD. I checked Normal Discovery and its not playing.

If anyone with Windows MCE/Tivo/DVR could make me a DVD, I'd pay you for it

@UTR - not sure. Kinda looks like what Grif was describing, but the title is different than mine?

Here's the link to the Discovery HD Theater to show you what I watched:

http://dhd.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=108544&gid=0&channel=DHD

Yeah, that's the one I thought they were talking about. Saw it at IMAX. The story is from the viewpoint of a Singleseater Eagle driver, though. No WSO is involved in that one. Was there another one?
Ya' just gotta see this one on a large screen, especially the part where Hogs go down and take out a bunch ground targets. Man! Y'a just know you wouldn't stand a chance of surviving that.

Also, looks like the Mil Channel will be carrying it in November (but prob not HD):

http://military.discovery.com/tvlistings/series.jsp?series=108544&gid=0&channel=MIL

I saw the making of and that was all hollywood pyrotechnics timed to go off with the A-10 fly-over

Go to Vegas during the airshow weekend November 10-11 and catch fighter pilot in IMAX at the luxor hotel. Makes for a nice weekend.

<3 the Luxor

I've seen it on Mil Chan.

Been there, too. Flew out of March AFB providing tanker support. I lived for the next RF TDY. One to two dozen fighters behind us all wanting their gas yesterday.

Yep, that's the one.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

@Pooch - if the IMAX version, Grif's version, and UTR's version is following an F-15C pilot, then we must be watching two different vids. This is clearly an -E variant, and this Blue Four Captain and his WSO apparently nailed all of the modalities over the 14 days, and ended up taking out an aggressor when his lead was shot down as they were called upon to cover an egress of a downed pilot... It was good to see the teamwork and you really felt a part of it.

Oh, and @Boom, they did take some license with this documentary, as they were talking about the Blue four main character needing to refuel, and then it looked like they spliced in an older vid of some Hornets? I gotta watch it again... I'd pay to be a fly on the wall at that gathering...

I think it is different. The one I saw and the others are speaking of were definately a C.

http://www.fighterpilotfilm.com/

There was a part about rescue of a downed pilot, but it was the main guy who got to play downed pilot for that exercise. That was one part I definately enjoyed... as much as it was on the ground and there were no aircraft other than some gruesome looking blackhawks it was amazing to see "the hunt" and how much is involved in a rescue from ground level.

I apologize I read too quickly to see the part about "WSO" and quickly assumed it was the same one I saw at the Imax.