17 December 2004 - Alexandre Cadel has released version 3 of his VFR Scenery for the Island of Corsica. As before this release includes villages and other VFR references and is a nice complement to the the "mesh" sceneries of Thierry Pignot or Nanucq. Be sure to backup or to remove the files "Sofitel.bgl" and "Sofitel_A16N.bgl" to avoid a conflict. You can read more about this version and Project LandCorse in the Forum at Francesim.com. 27 November 2004 - Warwick Carter of Australia has released an updated version of his Mirage IIIO. New in this update are minor visual fixes, a pilot ejection sequence, an animated drag chute, an improved flight model, new xml gauges, and some other "cool animations". Four configurations are included: clean, long range tanks, supersonic tanks, and air-to-air.
26 November 2004 - Jean-Jacques Herve has updated his scenery of Lorient Lann-Bihou� (LFRH) for FS2004. Visit his website for details and to download this latest version. Alexandre Cadel has released version 2 of his VFR Scenery for Corsica. This is a significant update and Alex recommends removing any previous versions before installation. It is recommended for use with the Corsica Sardaigne mesh scenery by Thierry Pignot. There is a compatibility discussion in the Forum at Francesim.com. 20 November 2004 - Siegfried Vlaminck (Arrow) has taken on the task of correcting the display problem with the left screen of the instrument panel of the Rafale by Cyril Pioffet. The result is a real working solution. Installation is very easy. If you are a fan of the Rafale by Cyril Pioffet (and who isn't), this update is a must. 18 November 2004 - Pierre Marchadier of FSFrance.com has completed his series of Mirage repaints. Included are the Mirage IIIC (six schemes) and IIIB (five schemes) based on the versions from Alphasim, the Mirage 5F (five schemes) and Mirage IIIR (five schemes) based on the versions by Denis and Daniel da Silva Oliveira, and the Mirage F1C (six schemes) and the Mirage F1B (three schemes) based on the versions by Kirk Olsson. Each set includes sound and instrument panel files and has been tested in FS2002 and FS2004.
17 November 2004 - Pierre Lheureux of Belgium sent a copy of his last of three repaints for the Alphasim Mirage IV. This one is of the bare metal IVA version. The brightness of the metal is toned down for a more weathered look. Thank you Pierre for this series of repaints. 13 November 2004 - Jean-Marc Mangiavacca has been very busy. In addition to the new textures below for the Mirage III of Carter Warwick he has also painted a bare metal texture for a Mirage IIIE in the early markings of EC 2/4 "La Fayette". Jean-Marc has also painted five new (fictitious) schemes for the Rafale C of Cyril Pioffet. The Arm�e de l'Air units represented include "Corse", "Lafayette", "Alsace", "Normandie-Niemen", and a special "Tigermeet 2012" scheme. The textures are available for exclusive download from Virtual Cors'Air. 12 November 2004 - Sometime last night, or maybe yesterday, this website had its 300,000th visitor. Thank you all very much for visiting as often as you do and please continue to do so. There are several Mirage projects underway and I will continue to share whatever I find as I find it. 8 November 2004 - Jean-Marc Mangiavacca, who gave us some nice repaints of the Super Myst�re B2, has released two new repaints of the Mirage III of Warwick Carter. Both are in the Swiss Air Force markings of J-2201 (actually a Mirage IIIC in real life) used for various test programs by the Swiss. The first is in the original bare metal scheme (below) and the second aircraft is the very brightly colored scheme (sunflower on fuselage underside) it worn at the end of its operational career.
22 October 2004 - Cyril Pioffet (Gator) has posted new images of his Mirage 2000 project on his website. The images now show three texture schemes so I think we may be getting close to a release. One is for an aircraft in the operational markings of EC 1/2 "Cigognes". Two new texture schemes are of aircraft in special Tigermeet 2004 colors. The first is of a Mirage 2000C (12-YT) of EC 1/12 "Cambr�sis". The second new scheme represents a Mirage 2000-5F (330-AX) of EC 5/33 "C�te d'Argent".
19 October 2004 - Pierre Lheureux of Belgium has repainted the Nuclear Strike and Reconnaissance versions of Alpha Simulations' Mirage IVP in a weathered camouflage scheme. The results give a weathered look to the factory fresh finish applied to the original release. 10 October 2004 - The update to FS2004 (FS9.1) that was announced at the Avsim Convention (see 20 September below for a description) is now available from download from the Microsoft website. The download is 27MB in size. My system also required an update to the latest version of FSUIPC. You can download version 3.40 from Peter Dowson's website. 7 October 2004 - My friend Pierre Marchadier of FSFrance.com has been working on several projects that will be of interest to Mirage enthusiasts. The first to be announced is a series of Mirage repaints. Pierre has just posted images on the Forum at FSFrance. Included will be the Mirage IIIB and IIIC from Alpha Simulations. Next is the Mirage F1B and F1C from Kirk Olsson. And finally the Mirage IIIR and 5F of Denis and Daniel da Silva Oliveira. When completed, the aircraft will be available here and at the FSFrance.com website.
30 September 2004 - Gary Smith has created a commemorative scheme for the Mirage IIIO of Warwick Carter. The new scheme was created on behalf of the International FlightSim Convention being held in June 2005 in Blackpool, UK. I've added a link to their FS2004 download page. 28 September 2004 - Toni Agramont has released a new scenery package for the Island of Corsica. This package has taken a different approach to that of Alexandre Cadel (see 23 September below) with a wider variety of more detailed buildings. But not without a cost in framerate. It is designed for use with the scenery mesh file of Jean Gabriel Laurent and requires the texture files from FSNova. Pablo Fernandez de Bobadilla is working on a new scenery package for Los Llanos AB in Albecete, Spain. He has sent several screen shots and the scenery will be very detailed. 23 September 2004 - I came across a VFR scenery package for Corsica that adds well over 100 cities, towns, and landmarks to the scenery. The package is by Alexandre Cadel, who lives in Ajaccio on the Island of Corsica. This is one of Alexandre's contributions to an ongoing project named LandCorse. You can find more information about the project in the Forum at Francesim.com.
20 September 2004 - I have been visiting my
hometown in Colorado. This past weekend I attended the
AVSIM Convention in Denver.
I was also able to tour the United Airlines Training Facility and fly in their Level D Simulators.
Needless to say, it was an incredible experience. Also at the conference
Microsoft announced that they will be releasing a
"
patch" for FS2004 within the next three weeks. The update will... 11 September 2004 - A day of remembrance. Never forget. 9 September 2004 - Jens Voigt of Denmark sent a link to a very interesting streaming video (WMV format) of the Swiss Mirage IIIS. The 16-minute film includes a high altitude interception mission and dog fights with Swiss F-18s and F-5Es. The Mirage wins easily. There is also plenty of tree-top, wave-top and mountain-top flying in two-, three-, and four-aircraft formations. Mirage III fans will truely appreciate this. 5 September 2004 - I've come across another scenery file. This time an FS2002 version of Strasbourg-Entzheim AB (LFST) by Denis Albisser. Thinus Pretorius of South Africa is working on a new MD450 Ouragan using Gmax. It will include a Virtual Cockpit and should be available later this month. 27 August 2004 - A few scenery updates this time. Fabien Prevost has updated his scenery of Koksidje AB (EFBN). He has also issued new graphic images to update his scenery of Cambrai-Epinoy AB (LFQI) and Reims-Champagne AB (LFSR) for FS2004. 21 August 2004 - Philippe Jacquot has updated his scenery of Base ALAT d'Etain-Rouvres (LFQE) for FS2004. It is available for download exclusively from FAVFrance.net. I have added a link to the scenery page. And in my wanderings of the Internet I found a website by Gilles Herbin from France for French military AI called Trafic AI Militaire. Gilles has so far posted files for adding AI traffic to Base ALAT d'Etain-Rouvres (LFQE) and Toulon-Hy�res BAN (LFTH).
Note: This aircraft set is payware. I was not involved in this project other than to help the designer with some background research and cockpit/instrument panel translations so I have nothing to gain from the successful sale of this aircraft. I think it is just very well made and wanted to let my Mirage friends know about it.
10 August 2004 - This website is getting pretty big so I added a Site Map to hopefully make it easier for new and old visitors to find things. Summer is usually slow in the FS world and this year is no exception. But there are several new projects in the works so be sure to check back in for updates. 31 July 2004 - Kirk Olsson has been working on converting his Mirage F1CR to Gmax format to make it more compatible with FS2004. He is almost finished and has been sending preview images as the work progresses. His latest progress update included images of the Virtual Cockpit and a list of improvements. There are a few areas Kirk wants to work on before releasing the aircraft, but in the meantime here are some screen shots that may interest you.
20 July 2004 - I have been working with a new freeware HUD gauge by DSB Design. The display adds a few new items (including ILS glide slope and localizer bars) but is overall "less busy" than the HUD designed by Eric Marciano for the Mirage 4000 and Super Etendard of Romain Lucas. I have reworked the panel.cfg files for the Super Etendard and Mirage 4000 if you would like to try it for yourself. I am working on a repaint of the Super Etendard in a desert camouflage. It will be finished soon. Here is preview. 10 July 2004 - David Bushell sent another preview video clip of the upcoming Alpha Simulations Mirage IV. This short video demonstrates the touchdown, dragchute deployment and release. You can view it on the Mirage IV preview page. Cyril Pioffet (Gator) has been working on the Virtual Cockpit of his Mirage 2000. In a conversation in the Forum at Francesim.com this week he has included some new images. It is looking better all of the time.
8 July 2004 - Alain, webmaster of
L'escadrille, gave a nice mention to this website. If the article has
rotated off the main page you can read it
here. In addition to offering French aircraft for Flight Simulator and CFS,
L'escadrille also tracks new releases for X-Plane, Strike Fighter, Falcon, and
LockOn. You'll also find articles, a thorough reference library catalog, forums,
and much more. Be sure to pay a visit and add it to your Favorites.
28 June 2004 - David Bushell continues work on the upcoming Alpha Simulations Mirage IV. David sent a short video clip of the RATO (JATO?) launch effect along with a screenshot of the partially completed Virtual Cockpit and an image of a bare metal finish he is testing. Where did I put my sunglasses? You can view all on the Mirage IV preview page. 24 June 2004 - Vasco Ferreira of South Africa has made a new Mirage F1CZ. Two versions are included: original South Africa Air Force delivery camouflage scheme and a low visibility gray scheme. An instrument panel, designed by Thinus Pretorius (also of South Africa), with new XML gauges is also included. This version is compatible with FS2004. 20 June 2004 - Happy Father's Day. I have finished a repaint of the Super Etendard modernis� by Romain Lucas in the 80th Anniversary markings of the 11F Flotille, A�ronavale Francaise.
14 June 2004 - It must be summer time. Email has dropped off and there has been very little activity in the area of Mirage add-ons for Flight Simulator. I have a couple of Super Etendard repaints that I will finish up and release. Alpha Simulations recently released their HMS Hermes Falklands Battle Group scenery for CFS2 as freeware. Two versions are included: a static version and a moving version. Support ships and static aircraft are included along with complete installation instructions. After installing the scenery in CFS2, load a couple of iron bombs and maximum fuel on a Dagger or hang an Exocet anti-shipping missile on a Super Etendard and go hunting. 2 June 2004 - Craig Verit of South Africa sent some images of the Denel Cheetah C and Cheetah D assigned to the South Africa Air Force (SAAF) Test Flight Development Centre (TFDC) at Bredasdorp, South Africa. Over the years Craig has provided feedback to myself (while I worked with Colin Norwood on the Alpha Simulations' Mirage series) and to Jason Ashworth as Jason worked on the flight models for his numerous Mirage F1, Mirage III, and Cheetah aircraft. Enjoy these in-flight images.
The third instrument panel modification is from Chris Coarse (visit his Railrunner C130 website). This modification is also to the Super Etendard Modernis� and adds a GPS but removes the previously non-working radar. Since the radar is now functional again, see 30 April below, this entire modification may not be useful. However, Chris has also written a review of the Super Etendard. 13 May 2004 - The link on the Virtual Cors'Air website to the "lite" version of the BA126 Solenzara scenery by Christian Santoni has been fixed. That file is now available here as well. This "lite" version does not include the static aircraft and vehicles so there is little or no effect on frame rates compared to the default FS9 scenery. You will still need to install the two updates mentioned on 7 February below to correct some display issues and allow ATC to direct you to parking. There is also a new Traffic file for Solenzara and other airports on Corsica. Follow the "A.I." link on the "Nos Vols" page of the Virtual Cors'Air website. 8 May 2004 - Since the initial release last March, Gary Smith has painted several new texture sets for the Mirage IIIO by Warwick Carter. The majority are in fictitious Police schemes complete with a new visual model with "party hat" (rotating police lights). There are also textures for a Pakistani Mirage III and a Mirage III in US Air Force colors. Dassault did propose that the USAF operate the Mirage III with the designation of Mirage IIIW ("W" for Wichita, Kansas where they would have been built under license). The textures are available for download from Gary's website. 5 May 2004 - Daniel Borrego has again painted the Mirage 50DV of Denis and Daniel da Silva Oliveira in the colors of the Fuerza A�rea Venezolana. This version includes updated textures and the special tail markings for the 30th Aniversary of Grupo Aereo de Caza N�11 Diablos flying the Mirage. I have included only the aircraft and textures here. A version with sounds and panel is available at simviation.com (9.5MB download). 30 April 2004 - Working interceptor radar for FS9! In an announcement in his support forum at The simFlight Network, Pete Dowson has started releasing the necessary access codes so that certain freeware gauges that use his FSUIPC.DLL software will function as they do in FS2002. Included in the list are three gauges by Eric Marciano that are very important to Mirage flyers. The gauges (and the Freeware access keys) are:
· M4000.gau (KEY = UDSV JEI1 NK29) Somehow I've been able to get the radar to work since I added the FSUIPC.DLL file included in the Carrier Operation Package but a "legal" method is always better. 27 April 2004 - I found a scenery add-on by Sonny, of la Royale French Navy, to add Arrestor Cables to runway 14/32 of BAN Toulon Hy�res (LFTH). Flotillas 17F and l'Escadrille 59S operated the Super Etendard from Hy�res. This add-on requires the payware ArrestorCables program from the Flight Deck 3 program. Of course with the new Carrier Operation Package this is no longer a requirement. (See my Super Etendard instrument panel adaptation on 31 March below for more information.) 21 April 2004 - Mathieu Bilquey has painted another version of the Super Myst�re B2 by Wim Regeer. The new textures represent an SMB2 of the Israel Air Force in early camouflage markings.
On the subject of the Mirage IV, David Bushell has sent additional images of his Mirage IVP to Alpha Simulations. The model now includes a unique Rocket Assisted Takeoff (RATO) effect that actually provides increased thrust. Additional images are available on the Previews page of the Alpha Simulations website. 16 April 2004 - About two years ago Phil Perrott of Alpha Simulations hired me to paint textures for their Mirage IIIC and Mirage IIIB being designed by Colin Norwood. The aircraft were available as payware downloads and I painted additional texture sets for each that were available a free downloads. Now the two aircraft, sans instrument panels, are available as freeware. You can download them here or at the Alpha Simulations website. 15 April 2004 - Thank you all! Today this website officially had it's 250,000th visitor. I'm sure it is more because a lot of folks link directly to individual pages in the Forums. :-) On this occasion I am adding a new page -- Early Dassault Fighers. I have been receiving requests since this website began over four years ago for Ouragon and Myst�re aicraft. Earlier this month Wim Regeer released a new Super Myst�re B2. There have been several updates released in addition to repaints by Mathieu Bilquey and Jean-Marc Mangiavacca. Mathieu Bilquey has also adapted the aircraft for use with CFS2. 13 April 2004 - I have been moving to a new house this past week. I've been very busy with that and have not had much time for anything else. While I was "away", Christian Santoni wrote to tell me of a new AFCAD file for his BA126 Solenzara scenery. In addition to making it possible to now taxi to parking there is also AI traffic (Image by Gerard Finalt�ri) that will add four Mirage 2000 taking off and landing. If, like myself, you are a fan of Corsica there are two websites that you should visit. The first is Virtual Cors'Air by Gerard "corsair" Finalt�ri. The website offers scenery and aircraft for the island. The second website is Project LandCorse. This project was begun last year to enhance the default FS2004 scenery of Corsica through the use of Mesh and new Landclass scenery. The results are really an awesome improvement over the default FS2004 scenery. 4 April 2004 - In a message to the Forum at Francesim.com, Cyril "Gator" Pioffet has posted several images of the Virtual Cockpit of his Mirage 2000. Cyril stated that there are 114 animated gauges of the left and right hand consoles. So far there are 364 texture files for the animation and 39 XML files. This level of detail has required a rebuild of the Virtual Cockpit. Cyril is also adding details to the external model.
I found a pair of Mirage 2000 painted in fictitious Fuerza A�rea Argentina markings released last month by Javier Montes. The FAA does not operate the Mirage 2000 but have considered it as a replacement for their Mirage IIIEA fleet. 31 March 2004 - Last month a new gauge package was released to simulate a catapult takeoff and an arrestor cable landing without the need for the payware Arrestor Cables package. I have adapted this package to the Super Etendard panel by Romain Lucas. The gauge provides a HUD landing aid and ILS. 24 March 2004 - Mathieu "Jaegermeister" Bilquey, who has been providing French translations of the What's News page lately, has released a Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 for CFS2 based on the Mirage 2000B airframe by Oxyd / Denis and Daniel da Silva Oliveira. The package makes use of several weapons packages for CFS2. See the readme file for links to find them, most are available here.
The repaints of the Mirage IIIO for FS2004 have begun. Jean Marc Mangiavacca has released two textures sets. One represents a Mirage IIIC of EC 2/10 "Seine" in the blue-gray air superiority scheme and the second is a Mirage IIIE of EC 3/3 "Ardennes" in 50th Anniversary (1993) scheme. 13 March 2004 - The new Mirage IIIO for FS2004 by Warwick Carter is now available. As described in the preview the aircraft includes a photo-quality 2D panel and a very complete Virtual Cockpit. The aircraft is available in three configurations: 1) clean, 2) with a pair of long range fuel tanks, and 3) fully armed with an R530 missile, two Sidewinders and two supersonic fuel tanks. The aircraft comes with one set of textures but additional sets (12 at last count) are available from Garry Smith's website. I had a look at the aircraft at the beginning of the month and reported a couple of items needing correction to Warwick. He was thankful for the feedback and made the changes right away.
6 March 2004 - Bill Holker of central Queensland, Australia has sent a series of photos taken during a live fire exercise of the Matra R530 air-to-air missile at RAAF Base Butterworth in Malaysia in June 1981. Bill's images and informative commentary provides for very interesting reading. Bill has also been working on new scenery for FS2004 of the Butterworth base back in the late 60's when he did his first tour of duty there. It will be released soon. 1 March 2004 - I have painted a Kfir C2 in the colors of the Sri Lanka Air Force using the Kfir model by Denis and Daniel da Silva Oliveira and a flight model by Alpha Simulations. The Sri Lanka Kfir's were supposedly re-engined with the SNECMA Atar 9K-50.
24 February 2004 - Leigh Jackson of South Africa has shared some of his images of the Vlaggie (Flag) Cheetah C. They compare very well with the Vlaggie repaint by Jens-Ole Kjølberg using the new Cheetah C by Jason Ashworth. The aircraft is available on the Other "Mirage" page. 18 February 2004 - In August 2001, Major (Retired) Guillermo Posadas of the Fuerza A�rea Argentina released an IAI Dagger with panel and sounds using the only Mirage V available at that time. Now Major Posadas has released a new version using the IAI Dagger by Denis and Daniel da Silva Oliveira. He has updated the panel using newly available gauges, adjusted the AIR file to more accurately fly like the Dagger, and includes new sounds by Aaron Swindle. Warwick Carter has teamed with Garry Smith (both of Australia) to build a new Mirage IIIO for FS9. The aircraft will have a new instrument panel and a Virtual Cockpit. Nine paint schemes are planned so far. Based on an email interview with Warwick and Garry I have I've put together a Preview with screen shots. 14 February 2004 - Jason Ashworth of South Africa has released a fourth version of his Cheetah C for use with FS2002. This latest version comes in a clean configuration with no external stores or pylons. This clean configuration was especically made to use a new set of textures of the Vlaggie (Flag) Cheetah C made by Jens-Ole Kjølberg of Norway. This clean configuration may also be on interest to CFS2 users when combined with the weapons sets released last year by Ernest Laverdure, Chuck Dyer and Alpha Simulations.
Roland Laborie has begun work on his next Mirage IV release. This one will be an IVA in bare metal. A discussion with screen shots is ongoing at the Francesim forum. 2 February 2004 - The Mirage IV has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. In addition to the version being designed by David Bushell for Alpha Simulations (see Preview here), a new Mirage IVP was released this morning by Roland Laborie with flight model by Mathieu Dussart. The aircraft wears the insignia of Escadron de Bombardement (EB) 1/91 "Gascogne" stationed at Mont de Marsan. And another freeware Mirage IV project was also announced this past week by Guillaume. The designer's goal is realism. A website has been established to promote interest and show progress. Have a look. 24 January 2004 - I have finished a repaint of the Super Etendard by Romain Lucas in the colors of the Iraqi Air Force (IQAF). The IQAF operated five Super Etendard from late 1983 through the summer of 1985.
Alpha Simulations continually comes up with nice surprises in their choice of subjects and the quality of their product improves with each new release. Their upcoming Mirage IV designed by David Bushell is no exception. I have had a preview of this one and it is coming along nicely. I have put together a Preview page which I'll update as I am sent new versions to test. 12 January 2004 - I have added several new (to this website at least) scenery files covering French Armée de l'Air, A�ronavale, and joint military/civilian air bases. These were all designed by Fred Holst. Included are: Chateaubernard AB (LFBG), Chateauroux-Deols AB (LFLX), Chateaudun AB (LFOC), Cherbourg (LFRC), Toulon-Hy�res BAN (LFTH), and N�mes BAN (LFTW). I have also added two air bases in Israel for you to fly the Mirage IIICJ, Nesher, and Kfir from. These include Ramat David AB (LLRD) and Tel Noff AB (LLEK), both designed by Ido Rosenthal. Jean-Fran�ois Eloir has painted the Super Etendard of Romain Lucas in the special tiger markings worn by n�38 of Flotille 11F as seen at the 2003 Tiger Meet held at Base A�rienne 103 - Cambrai. 5 January 2004 - Roland Laborie (Rollus13 in the Francesim Forum) has released two new Mirage 2000C. The aircraft were created for FS2004 using GMax. The two original Armée de l'Air Mirage 2000 units from Dijon-Longvic AB (LFSD) are represented, EC 1/2 "Cigognes" and EC 3/2 "Alsace". The aircraft are available exclusively from the Force A�rienne Virtuelle France website.
Header photograph Copyright Avions M.Dassault. |
