First Warbird Ride and Air to Air Shoot (and only so far)
In the late 1990’s I was working as an editor for computer gaming magazines and, no surprise, flight sims were my favorite titles. My favorite of all time is Microprose’s Pacific Air War, which came out around 1995. Why am I telling you this? Read on….
Microprose made a sequel, European Air War, which came out in 1998. To kick off the launch, Microprose rented out the Chino Air Museum to show off the game to various “game journalists”. I was out of the biz but one of the PR folks that put on the show was a friend and invited me down to take part in the fun—since I had been bugging her for years about the game during its development. How could I refuse?
The game was showcased on several networked machines in the main hangar, surrounded by vintage WWII warbirds – awesome! A dogfight contest was held and the winner was to receive a ride in a P-51! I put on my virtual goggles and gave it my best effort but was bested in the end by a guy that ran a dedicated flight sim magazine – go figure! Alas, all was not lost: the rest of us got to go up in the B-25 “Photo Fanny”. As the second runner up I called “nose” and got to take off behind the .50 cal. I got to climb all over the bomber during our 20 minute ride, and I ended up landing in the tail (not much in the way of creature comforts there, mind you).
It was one of my greatest thrills, and to date remains my only in-air warbird experience and “photo shoot”. I nabbed these shots with an automatic 35mm something or other – and inadvertently got some decent prop blur! The guy that rode in the ‘Stang told me later that he kind of wished he lost, as his ride was a bit “dull”. Huh?
Anyhow, enjoy these vintage pics from my warbird-chasing archives.
Read MoreMicroprose made a sequel, European Air War, which came out in 1998. To kick off the launch, Microprose rented out the Chino Air Museum to show off the game to various “game journalists”. I was out of the biz but one of the PR folks that put on the show was a friend and invited me down to take part in the fun—since I had been bugging her for years about the game during its development. How could I refuse?
The game was showcased on several networked machines in the main hangar, surrounded by vintage WWII warbirds – awesome! A dogfight contest was held and the winner was to receive a ride in a P-51! I put on my virtual goggles and gave it my best effort but was bested in the end by a guy that ran a dedicated flight sim magazine – go figure! Alas, all was not lost: the rest of us got to go up in the B-25 “Photo Fanny”. As the second runner up I called “nose” and got to take off behind the .50 cal. I got to climb all over the bomber during our 20 minute ride, and I ended up landing in the tail (not much in the way of creature comforts there, mind you).
It was one of my greatest thrills, and to date remains my only in-air warbird experience and “photo shoot”. I nabbed these shots with an automatic 35mm something or other – and inadvertently got some decent prop blur! The guy that rode in the ‘Stang told me later that he kind of wished he lost, as his ride was a bit “dull”. Huh?
Anyhow, enjoy these vintage pics from my warbird-chasing archives.
