Thrustmaster FCS pro and WCS Mark II

Some months ago I aquired a vintage flightstick/throttle combo  from Thrustmaster at eBay. Both, the stick and throttle came in perfect (not to say unused) condition, complete with original box, manual driver disk and everything else that came with it back in the early 90s. The invoice dates the items August 1993.

The FCS was one of Thrustmaster's earliest flightsticks. It was a recreation of a stick one would find in older US-Fighter planes like the F-4 Phantom, even it was reduced somewhat in size. The stick was completely made of plastic, but the Pro version had a metal base that gave the stick a solid base on your desktop.

The WCS Mark II (Weapon Control System)  was a fully programmable throttle. I had the WCS Mark I which was not programmable, but rather had some hardwired settings for the most popular sims at that time.

Anyway here are some pictures:

FCS pro & WCS Mark II

FCS pro backside of box

WCS backside of box. Notice the old school screen and the gameport connector) 

FCS in all it's beauty!

Plaque at the base of the stick.

... and the throttle.

Finally the manuals, ads and driver disk. Notice the F-22 on the WCS manual. When the manuals were printed, the maiden flight of the  YF-22 was three years ago in August 1990. 

And finally the original invocie for the stuff ...

 

I'm not sure why the guy (who sold it on eBay some time ago) bought 2(!) of every item, stick, throttle and the pedals. Anyway, stick and throttle went for DM 343 (about 437 $US back in 1993).

Looks like "Aces over Europe" was included as a free gift.

I got them for EUR4,50 each a few month ago at eBay and will keep them. I still have an old Pentium I machine (with gameport) down in the basement. One day (when I'm retired) I will build a retro machine and set it up with the FCS/WCS combo ...

F-19 Stealth Fighter #4 - Got it on Ebay!

A few days ago I bought a used copy of the Atari ST version of F-19 Stealth Fighter. Got it for a few Euros and the p&p wasn't that much as well. I'm pretty happy about it, since I only had the C-64 version of it. Thinking about collecting some more old Microprose titles and put them on display in the living room.

Along with F-19 came a copy of F-15 Strike Eagle II

Everything was wrapped up very carfuly 

I still play F-19 every now and then. Played the C-64 version last week, but have to admit, that I consider it very hard to play. It's strange, the Commodore version of Gunship was really playable after all these years, but F-19? Ugh, I prefer the DOS version a lot ...

Jens

F-19 Stealth Fighter #3 - Maps

All versions of F-19 Stealth Fighter came with maps for all the theater of operations. The 8bit versions were different from the 16bit versions.

Back in the 80s I had my own maps wrapped in a plastic cover and made notes and remarks (e.g. on what type of enemy SAM sites I had to expect in certain areas) with a wax pencil. :-)

8bit version Libya map

Same region on the 16bit version map

... and Central Europe in the 8bit version

Finally 16bit version of the CE map 

F-19 Stealth Fighter #3 - Manual Drawings

Cover

The manuals from the classic Microprose sims got better with every simulation they released. "Hellcate Ace" came with a 8 pages typewriter written booklet that showed the user the basics he had to know. Over the years the manuals grew in the number of pages as well as in their quality.

One thing I always liked about the Microprose manuals were the pencil drawings at the beginning of every chapter.   Today I'll show you all the drawings from the manual of the 8bit versions. They're really nice to look at, as they show how the public thought what this new Stealth Fighter might look like, before the Air Force made it public.

Add caption

Operation Instructions

Tutorial

Equipment & Tactics

Regional briefings

Common military aircraft

Appendix

F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 at GOG.com

Those who might want to replay a old Microprose classic without setting up a vintage 1990 DOS machine, might head over to the guys of GOG.com.

Since a few days they got F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0 for sale. It comes (as most of GOGs retro titles) completely preconfigured with a DOSBox and is really easy to setup.

For $5.99 you get a lot of fun and the really great manual as a PDF-file,

BTW: The also have some other Microprose classics on their list.

F-19 Stealth Fighter #2 - Mission report

Today I have a little mission review. The mission takes place over Libya.

This time the enemy is Libya

F-19 Stealth Fighter let you fly in four  different regions or conflicts. Ranging from rather easy missions against Muammar Gaddafi's Libya to a all out World War III scenario in central Europe, you will find a wide variety of missions. In the Persian Gulf scenario you will face the Iranian Air Force. The North Cape will depict the northern front in a conflict with the former Soviet Union.

In addition the the region, you can choose how good your enemies will be trained, the level of conflict (cold, limited or conventional war) and some difficult setting (e.g. no crashes, easy landings).

All these settings result in a overall difficulty level, which determines your score after the mission.

Mission Briefing

Before you take off, you'll get a rather detailed mission briefing which tells you what your primary and secondary objectives are. This time we have to destroy an enemy camp and take some pictures of an enemy HQ.

Radars, Missile sites, enemy Airbases ... uhh  

In addition to the mission briefing you get some detailed info on known missile sites, radar installations etc.

Arming your plane

Beside the normal arsenal of missiles and bombs, you can equip your plane with special equipment like a camera, additional fuel or even a crate of Stinger missiles (which you have to deliver to a group of insurgents).

Just one last nap of your coffee and off we go ...

F-19 cockpit

Ok, let's take a little tour around the cockpit. On the left side we start with the throttle and the lights for gear and autopilot. Two MFDs are in the center of the cockpit and between these screens we have a blue bar, which shows us how much we are exposed to enemy radar by ourselves as well as how much enemy radars are searching for us.

On the top is a usual HUD with all the typical information. Several warning lights on the right side complete the cockpit.

The two modes of the left MFD is a navigational map and a tactical map. The tactical map has a lot of infos on the position of enemy planes, radar installations, boats and stationary targets like bridges, air bases etc.

The right MFD has even more infos on various systems and weapons. First and foremost the built in camera, which shows selected targets and identifies them for you. Furthermore you have screens for damage reports, waypoint management and weapon systems.

Enemy contact

Shortly after take off, we make the first enemy contact in form of a libyan missile boat. As we are on a low level conflict mission, we're not to engage other targets than the primary and secondary and leave the boat alone.

Primary target

After a while we spot the primary target. Until now, the mission was rather uneventful. Only one hit by an enemy SAM.

Maverick away!

... and target destroyed!

Our attack woke up several alert crews of the surrounding air bases. The Libyans scrambled several fighter patrols. We drop down to 200 feet and keep a low profile until we're near the secondary target.

Smile!

Just a few miles before our secondary target, we pop up to 1.5000 ft and activate the camera. We take a few pictures, close the weapon bay and drop down to 200 ft again. Time to go home.

On final

On my way back I took some hits by enemy SAM, but was able to make it back to Suda Bay AB.

16bit era graphics - nice!

In the After-Action-Report you can review your mission. All important events can be reviewed in a chronological order.

Still Major ...

After a successful mission, all the pilots gather in the officers club. If you're promoted or receive a medal, the room gets more and more crowded.

Well, that's it for today guys.

F-19 Stealth Fighter #1 - Overview

The design of a "Stealth Fighter" started in the early 70s at the "Lockheed Advanced Development Projects Unit" or Skunk Works as they were called. The first prototype (a little bit smaller in size than the later production units) took of in 1977. The first production unit flew in 1981.

But it was only in 1988 than the US military affirmed it's existence. The F-117A as it was called by the Air Force saw it's first combat experience in december 1989 when six airplanes dropped their ordnance on a mission in Operation Just Cause in Panama.

In January 1991 it was F-117A fighters who opened the bombardment of Operation Desert Storm (well, the first shots were actually fired the the Apaches of Task Force Normandy).

Until today the only active Squadron is the 29th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

One year before the Air Force admitted the existence of the Stealth Fighter, Microprose released their first Stealth simulation called "Project: Stealth Fighter" for all of the major 8bit Homecomputers of that era. 

Left side: Box of my original 80s PSF
Right side: Another copy I bought at a flea market in London

In 1990 "Project: Stealth Fighter" saw a rerelease for the upcoming 16bit machines Atari ST, Amiga as well as MS-DOS PCs.

Throughout Project Stealth Fighter, the plane isn't called F-177A, but rather "F-19". The graphical representation doesn't depict the real world F-117A, although you could change some of the graphical libraries at your DOS prompt to get the real Stealth Fighter in game. Microprose F-19 was a formidable dogfighter (you can choose between Strike- and Air-to-Air missions.

Shortly after the 1991 Gulf War Microprose released another version called "F-177A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0" for MS-DOS and the Amiga. Graphics saw a major update and a Desert Storm campaign was added. 

What's inside the box?

As usual for Microprose sims of that period, the box contained a keyboard overlay, some technical instructions, a superb manual and some maps of the theater of operations.

F-19 box content

Well, it's about time to climb into the cockpit and fly some missions. I already flew six successful missions, rather easy ones I have to admit, but already got promoted to captain.

Rooster

As you might have recognized by the screenshot, I will not play the C-64 version this time, but rather the MS.DOS version.

I will be back some time this week with a mission report and some stuff the gameplay.

Gunship #2 - Mission: Ground Support

So, we're at our FARP somewhere in Central America. Our orders are to support friendly ground troops. If the friendlies are save, we are to destroy an enemy HQ.

Mission briefing

Every briefing gives you a primary and a secondary objective. Missions can be either night or day missions and even the weather plays a role.

Mission mao

The mission map gives you a certain feeling what to expect. Of course the map doesn't reveal everything. In the planning stage you can see only US installations (HQs, FARPS and bases) and the primary and secondary objective.

Intel

G-2 gives you his estimation on what to expect from the enemy side. We take a special note on what AA-threats we will be up against. And most important: There will be Hinds operating in the area!!

Weapons

Before we take off, we will talk with the crew chief about how we will arm the help for this mission. In most cases I will take the standard layout. Note that there are AIM-9 Sidewinders on our wingtips!

Yep, I will. Loading times on the C-64 were terrifying.

Ready for Take off ...

A few moments later we will find ourselves in the cockpit. Pressing the 1 and 2 keys starts up our engines and a quick press on 3 engages our rotor. The raise collective with the F1 key and we're airborne.

Hinds! And we're not even airborne. Great ...

Friendly APC ahead. Good thing the computer identifies the targets for us. Not sure if I could have IDed that thing.

Enemy infantry!

After a few minutes we make contact with enemy troops. We dispatch a few infantry with our 30mm cannon. Below the CRT you can see the actual active weapon.

• 60 Rounds 30mm cannon
• 2 AIM-9 Sidewinder
• 19 FFAR rockets
• 8 AGM-114 Hellfire
• 10 Chaff/Flares

Ahh, piece of cake ...

There he is: the Mi-24 Hind. Shortly after the picture was take it was downed by one of my Sidewinders.

Badly damaged.

When I attacked the secondary target we got beaten up pretty badly by the bad guys. So I decided to abort the attack and head home. You can see the damage on the upper part of the cockpit.

Password challenge

Every time you return to base you're challenged with the password of the day. You have to look up the correct answer in the manual. No, it's not a copy protection! All in the sake of base security.

If you fail to give the correct answer you're shot down by your own AA.

Mission results

Purple Heart awarded

Leugengroot's service record 

Well, I think I'm going to take some days for extended R&R and recover a little bit. Overall Gunship is still a lot of fun after all these years. I had way more fun than with DI's F-16 Combat Pilot. I think I will keep on flying for some more days just for pure entertainment. Next time I will take a look at the manual.

cu

Jens

BTW: Thanks for all the nice words for the blog so far. It would be great if you guys could fill the comments on the blog directly a little bit.