Virtual Snowbirds Invitation

Aviation & Simulation Topics
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USAF_Soldier
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Virtual Snowbirds Invitation

Post by USAF_Soldier » Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:31 pm

Hello Fellow Virtual Thunderbirds, The Virtual Snowbirds would like to invite you to our forums at www.virtualsnowbirds.com it would be a pleasure to have the birds and blue at out forums it would mean alot to us Thank you.


Sinceraly
Virtual Snowbird#1 Team Lead- Maverick
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Post by USAF_Soldier » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:13 pm

if you have any trouble entering the site email me at soilder79936@yahoo.com
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Burner
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Post by Burner » Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:04 am

Congrats on the new Forum, its a big first step for every team.

What Planes are you planning on using for your mod? FM and Exterior Shape?

From my experience if you want to get 9 planes into formation a basically empty A10 or Su25 would be your best bet. Keeping the speed low would make those huge formations with lots of formation changes that much easier. Only problem with these planes is in doing loops, the slow speed requires more pull to get over the top quickly- but its no harder than doing the maneuver with more speed and less pull in a fighter.

As far as exterior shape the Su25 and A10 are the only planes with straight wings in this game that I know of. Perhaps look back through the history of the SnowBirds- see if they ever flew anything that looks close to what's available in LOMAC.

Looking forward to seeing some 9 ship formations :)
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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:58 am

The Snowbirds History

The team held a competition at the Base Elementary School to name the new demonstration team. The name "Snowbirds" was the eventual winner. The Snowbirds, using seven aircraft, flew their first official demonstration on July 11, 1971 at the 1971 Saskatchewan Homecoming Airshow. They also flew at major airshows across Canada, including Abbotsford and the CNE in Toronto, as well as at military bases. In 1972 two solo aircraft were added to the team. They flew 25 shows that year. In 1973 the Snowbirds expanded their show to include aerobatic formation maneuvers, but formation changes during these maneuvers was still disallowed. The team was cleared to fly a fully aerobatic formation display in 1974. They also adopted the paint scheme that is still used today that same year. The Snowbirds flew 80 shows in 1974. The Snowbirds performed an unusual show in 1975 on May 11 at Inuvik when they flew their performance at midnight. In 1977 the team was made a permanent unit and was designated the Canadian Forces Air Demonstration Team (CFADT). On April 1, 1978 the Snowbirds were given squadron status and were designated 431 Air Demonstration Squadron. In 1986 the team performed numerous times at Expo 86, including opening day and closing day. Also in 1986, Major D.F. (Yogi) Huyghebaert led an historic five plane flypast at the Abbotsford Airshow. The other aircraft came from the U.S., Italy, France, and Brazil.

The Snowbirds performed at the opening ceremonies for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. 1990 was the 20th Anniversary of the Snowbirds, and the team used red and white smoke to mark the occasion. They also flew their 1000th demonstration in 1990. In 1991 they performed at the Disney 20th Anniversary Celebrations. 1993 marked the first performance outside of Canada and the U.S. when the team flew three shows at Guadalajara, Mexico. Also in 1993, team lead Major Dean Rainkie flew a rare formation with an Su-27 of the Russian Knights at the Abbotsford Airshow. Another rare flypast involving a Snowbird was at Abbotsford in 1995 when team lead Major Steve Hill lead a formation with aircraft from the Brazilian Esquadrilha da Fumaca, the Chilean Halcones, and the Northern Lights.

Aircraft Flown

The Canadian Forces 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, is the product of a proud history of military aerobatic demonstration teams. The Canadian team, the Siskins, flew air displays between 1929 and 1932 with five Siskin IIA biplanes. From 1959 to 1963 their successors, the Golden Hawks, few seven gold painted F-86 Sabre jets across the skies of North America. Another team the Golden Centennaires, flying nine Canadian built CT-114 Tutor aircraft along with a spectacular duet involving the supersonic CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo, the RCAF's famed Red Knight and two Avro 504K biplanes, helped to celebrate Canada's 1967 Centennial.

The Snowbirds, were formed in 1971 at CFB Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan where they still call home today.
Just reading their history and seeing what's available as models in Lock-On. There's not a match, but looking at the options to exchange flight models and visual model I'd definitely go with the SU-25 AFM or the A-10 FM and right off the top of my head use one of the following skins: The Su-25; no need to change anything but the paintscheme here, straight-wing, fairly small, but too much "junk" hanging under the wings. The F-5; small, would look good in the Snowbird paintscheme and reminiscent of the CT-114 Tutor in some ways. The F-5 is quite possibly my favorite. The S-3 Viking; in reality too big, but also has a stright wing and it's clean (very few pylons). Has tandem seating and for a new team a bigger airframe with the SU-25 AFM cobination could be an easier way to start out flying formation, especially in those big numbers! My two cents...

LD


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Jonnyb
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Post by Jonnyb » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:58 pm

Hey soldier

Dont forget the IAT team.

www.iat-aerobatic.com

Our website isnt fully finished yet so if you want screens just go to the forums. :D :D :D

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Post by Rotorblade » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:57 pm

We are doing research and development on some test aircraft and hopefully will have something in the future to work with.
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Toast
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A10 roll problems

Post by Toast » Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:53 am

Hey guys Toast here,

Just wondering if there was any solution found to the roll trouble we had with the A10 when we were testing it out initially as a suitable alternative to the Tutor? As I recall it had a bizarre tendency to drift away from lead as you passed through inverted, regardless of rudder or even significant roll inputs?

Just remembering this behaviour I can't recall whether we found a fix or not?

T
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