posted 03-24- 05:53 PM               

This is an amphibious version of the A6m2-n 'Rufe' seaplane fighter. Despite primarily operating in 'real' water from it's tender it can also fly off and on carriers or conventional airfields.

In the sea operations you start off suspended from the launching crane of your seaplane tender, then you're lowered into the water and take off. After your mission you can return to your ship, land by it and be winched back on board. The 'Rufe' has been modified so it floats in 'real' water, so you get splashes, wave noise and motion.

Fortunately around the seaplane tender is a 5000' x 5000' landing plate (below the water) which helps prevent the planes destruction. If other planes / objects land over this plate they hit the dreaded water first and are destroyed. Also if you make poor water landing in the 'Rufe' you can sustain damage or break up!

The advantage of having a seaplane tender as a landing area is that it can be placed anywhere on a terrain map. The aircraft also operates successfully from correctly scaled carriers like the Ark Royal and 'dirt' airfields. In the download there is a comprehensive guide on how to operate the 'Rufe' from the Mogami (seaplane tender) and eight training missions (for Pacific or Africa terrains).

Special thanks to Razer for his excellent A6m2-n 'Rufe' float fighter model (based on mposis' outstanding 'Zero'). New A6m2-n features include:

*Incorporated a retractable undercarriage
*De-rated the A6m2-n's performance slightly to account for it's floats
*Moving control stick added
*Choice of non reflective or reflective canopies
*Pilot whose head tracks enemy targets added
*Pilot's arm moves to open canopy
*New Japanese pilot head & body .tifs added
*Added proper bomb hard points
*Adopted online standard for gunWeight / Warhead in loadout file
*Moving float rudder and antenna wire added
*Added a new description, cutaway and stats file

'Water' OPS has only been tested on SDOE with patch 1.5.1 and like the original A6m series, some users may experience screen freezes. Please read the AmphibOps.rtf guide and training mission notes.

You will need Nations v2.0 and if training mission notes do not appear, please refer to the readme file in the media\aircraft\a6m2-n folder. Some training missions require the klaxon, Nat's excellent Ark Royal (from plane pack 6.0) and Jedi's superb new F4u1a (available at www.simfiles.com).

cheers mace

A6m2-n 'Rufe' seaplane fighter download (1363k) at:
http://members.nbci.com/sdoe_mace/rufe.zip