Dreaming of a future sim...

[JG27_PapaFly]

I'd love to see Oleg et al. creating a sim that models futuristic prop-driven planes. Planes that have never existed, but that COULD be built if we were to develop new prop-driven fighters with today's technology.

We've all heard that WWII warbids represent the peak of piston-engined planes. I think that's not true. If we would build new high-performance prop-driven fighters and bombers today, using state-of-the art technology, those planes would really represent the apex. What would they look like? What weapons would they use? What would their performance spectrum be?

The thing is, i LOVE prop-driven planes, I just think their evolution was somehow prematurely ended by the onset of the jet era. There are many things - especially in terms of maneuverability - that jets just can't possibly do (just think of gyroscopic maneuvers, the mainstay of high-performance aerobatics). Imagine a modern prop-driven fighter, reaching high subsonic speeds, featuring fly-by-wire technology coupled with an aerodynamically unstable layout, a low-weight carbon-fibre structure, laminar wings with flaperons and moving leading edges, all-moving control surfaces, advanced avionics, a cockpit offering the visibility of an F16......

Interestingly, the current conflicts in afghanistan and iraq show that the high-performace jets developed during the cold war are not well suited for such scenarios, and far too expensive to build and operate. That's also why the USAF kept using their douglas invaders from 1944 to the vietnam war. Cheaper to build, fuel efficient, did the job.

I know it's a dream...but still...doesn't have to be your next project, but it would be cool to see this someday....

S!