Hi, You dont know me... I came across your site while doing my usual webearch of anything Redtail. I saw your site linked to the TAI L.A. chapter home page so I figured I'd drop you a line.

My name is Barry Knotts and I am an avid fan of The Airmen and their accomplishments. I am the leader of a Virtual Redtail Squadron in a WW2 simulator called IL2 Sturmovik Forgotten battles.

http://www.geocities.com/rt_bearcat

Basically we are a group of 14 active and 2 inactive members. We range in age from 26 to 56, most of us are in our 40s though with wives, children, jobs etc. A few of us are veterans and one member is an active duty Colonel in the Trinidadian Airforce who flies helos, another is an active duty Marine.

We come from all over the US and the Carribean from L.A. to Jamaica, Detroit... and I live in Northern Virginia. I have been doing this for 4 years now.

I am writing you this email just to let you know that there are many avenues and arenas where the accomplishments and legacy of The Airmen are being heralded and this, the arena of flight sims is one of them. I liked your P-51 page, saw you were a modeller..... This particular flight sim community is quite active with squadrons from all over the world. There are squads from all the major combatants in WW2 and several American ones like the 325th Checkertails, VMF-25, The 361st FG and many many others.

I have always had a love of history and airplanes, WW2 era warbirds in particular. As a child I remember my mother telling me about The Airmen when I would be making my models. I grew up, discovered girls, joined the Navy etc. etc. etc. and all that took a backseat to life. I am in my second marriage now.. for 16 years.... I have an 8 year old son and a 15 yearold daughter still with me.... and as I grew older and got settled again my love of the history and the planes was rekindled.

I started this squadron in 2002 after leaving a Redtail Squadron in Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator and coming to this sim. While still a computer simulation the flight models, damage models and graphics are quite stunning. We do mostly cooperative missions where a group of guys get together sometimes against live pilots sometimes against AI on bomber escort missions, ground attack, ship and troop support etc. We write most of our own missions and I do most of the painting of the Aircraft. We have a lot of fun and get
to interact with people from all around the globe. It's a gas and I have a ball.

The link to our website is posted above. I have enclosed a few screenshots from the sim too just to give you an idea of how it looks. it flies great. I have a pretty decent rig... I've got the pedals, the HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) , the Track IR.. the works... we communicate through a program called Teamspeak. After seeing your site I just wanted to give a brother a holler ya know.... Take care... and GREAT SITE!!

I like the Tesla stuff too..... What a fascinating guy HE was..... I read about him in my teens.... (I'll be hitting the big 50 this August... sometimes I cant believe I made it..LOL..) If you have any questions feel free to drop me an email at anytime. I have also been in touch with Dwayne Holt.. the brother from Ebony Wings.... good man. Anyway.. I have to run.. take care bruh...