Wing Commander 5

Dec 31, 1998  For Wing Commander: Prophecy Gold on the PC, GameFAQs has 10 cheat codes and secrets.

Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissionedrank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical British influence, including many Commonwealth countries but not including Canada (since Unification) and South Africa. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. It ranks immediately above squadron leader and immediately below group captain.^[1]It has a NATO ranking code of OF-4, and is equivalent to commander in the Royal Navy and to lieutenant colonel in the British Army, the Royal Marines, and the US Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968), and Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was wing officer. The equivalent rank in the Royal Observer Corps (until 1995) was observer commander which had a similar rank insignia.

Origins[edit]

With the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps adopting the name of Royal Naval Air Service on 1 July 1914, the Naval Air Service adopted appointments in addition to the naval ranks. Pilots wore insignia according to the appointment, not their rank. One of the appointments was wing commander, holding the rank of commander.^[2]

On 1 April 1918, the newly created British Royal Air Force did not initially adopt a new rank structure, with personnel continuing their prior services' rank and uniform. There were some changes in ranks but it was inconstant. In 1920, the RAF began using the rank of wing commander.^[3]

Usage[edit]

In the early years of the RAF, a wing commander commanded a flying wing, typically a group of three or four aircraft squadrons. In current usage a wing commander is more likely to command a wing which is an administrative sub-division of an RAF station. A flying squadron is normally commanded by a wing commander but is occasionally commanded by a squadron leader for small units. In the Air Training Corps, a wing commander is usually the officer commanding of a wing.^{[citation needed]}

Insignia and command flag[edit]

The rank insignia is based on the three gold bands of commanders in the Royal Navy and consists of three narrow light blue bands over slightly wider black bands. This is worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulder of the flying suit or the casual uniform.

The command pennant is two triangular command pennants used in the RAF. Two thin red lines differentiate this one from the other.

During 1941-45 RAF Fighter Command's wing leaders (of wing commander rank) were also allowed to use their own initials as aircraft identification letters on their personal aircraft, e.g., Wing Commander Roland Beamont's personal Hawker Tempest, JN751, was coded 'R-B', Wing Commander John Robert Baldwin's personal Hawker Typhoon was coded 'J-B'.

• An RAF wing commander's sleeve/shoulder insignia

• An RAF wing commander's sleeve mess insignia

  Gungrave action figure. The Art work and paint job on the figure are amazing. The figure came with three heads and two guns and one Coffin used as a weapon. The only problem with me in this figure it came a little stiff on the joints of arms and I am afraid to snap it out so I deal with it carefully.

• An RAF wing commander's sleeve on No. 1 service dress uniform

Other air forces[edit]

The rank of wing commander is also used in a number of the air forces in the Commonwealth, including the Bangladesh Air Force, Ghana Air Force, Nigerian Air Force, Indian Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the Sri Lankan Air Force.^{[citation needed]} It is also used in the Egyptian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Royal Air Force of Oman and the Royal Thai Air Force. The Royal Malaysian Air Force used the rank until it was retitled as that of lieutenant colonel in 1973, with the same rank insignia.^{[citation needed]}

• An RAAF wing commander's sleeve/shoulder insignia

• An RNZAF wing commander's sleeve/shoulder insignia

• A Hellenic Air Force antisminarchos (wing commander's) rank insignia

• An Indian Air Force wing commander's rank insignia

• An RTAF wing commander's rank insignia

Royal Canadian Air Force[edit]

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) used the rank until the unification of the Canadian Forces (CF) in 1968, when army-type rank titles were adopted. A Canadian wing commander then became a lieutenant colonel. In official French Canadian usage, a wing commander's rank title was lieutenant-colonel d'aviation. The rank of wing commander continues to be used as a cadet rank at the Royal Military College of Canada.

In the 1990s, the Canadian Forces Air Command (the post-1968 RCAF) altered the structure of those bases under its control, redesignating them as wings. The commander of such an establishment was re-designated as the 'wing commander' (or 'Wg Comd'). Like the United States Air Force usage, the term 'wing commander' (as used in the modern Canadian Forces) is an appointment, not a rank. A wing commander usually holds the rank of colonel.

United States Air Force[edit]

In the United States Air Force (USAF) wing commander is a duty title, not a rank. The equivalent USAF rank is lieutenant colonel who typically has command of a squadron. Because USAF wings are larger formations than RAF wings, the commander of a wing must hold at least the rank of colonel, and is typically a colonel or a brigadier general. The one exception to this is the commander of the 59th Medical Wing (Wilford Hall Medical Center) who is customarily a major general.

Civil Air Patrol (United States Air Force Auxiliary)[edit]

The Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer auxiliary of the USAF, follows the USAF rank structure. The CAP divides the nation into 52 wings (each corresponding to a state, territory, and District of Columbia). Each wing is headed by a CAP colonel, who holds the position of wing commander.

Notable wing commanders[edit]

• Douglas Bader – World War II fighter pilot and double amputee, was the first commander to lead formations of three or more squadrons during the Battle of Britain
• Roland Beamont – World War II fighter pilot and post-war test pilot
• Abdel Latif Boghdadi – pilot in the Egyptian Air Force turned politician
• Pierre Clostermann – World War II fighter pilot and author of The Big Show
• Linda Corbould – first woman to command a RAAF flying squadron
• Roald Dahl – World War II fighter pilot, and famous novelist. His record of five aerial victories has been confirmed by post-war research and cross-referenced in Axis records. (He ended the war with the temporary rank of wing commander; substantive rank was squadron leader)
• Roly Falk – test pilot on the maiden flight of the Avro Vulcan
• Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane – top ranking RAF World War II ace with 32 kills. A native of Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland (who emigrated to Britain with his family in 1936), he is the youngest wing commander in the history of the RAF. He was promoted to the rank in 1942 at age 21 and was shot down and killed shortly thereafter
• Preller Geldenhuys – combat pilot in the Rhodesian Air Force, survivor of the Rhodesian War and author of Rhodesian Air Force Operations^[4]
• Guy Gibson – commanding officer of 617 Squadron and leader of the 'Dam Busters' raid
• Andy Green – current holder of the land speed record and first person to break the sound barrier on land
• M. Hamidullah Khan – commander - Sector 11, Bangladesh Forces, War of Independence 1971, first provost marshal and commander of Ground Defense Command of the Bangladesh Air Force. After retirement in 1979, joined the BNP and embarked on a political career. Remained active until death on 30 December 2011
• Humphrey de Verd Leigh – inventor of the Leigh light which was developed to spotlight U-boats as they surfaced at night. The Leigh light is reputed^[who?] to have changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II
• Mervyn Middlecoat – fighter pilot who belonged to Pakistan Air Force
• Nouman Ali Khan – Wing Commander of the Pakistan Air Force who downed an Indian Air Force jet Mig-21 Bison piloted by Abhinandan Varthamanand and crashed in Pakistan administered Kashmir on 27 February 2019. He conferred with Sitar-e-Jurat for his bravery^[5]

• Abhinandan Varthaman – Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force. In the 2019 India-Pakistan standoff. His aircraft was shot down in an aerial dogfight and he was held captive for 60 hours in Pakistan.^[6]

• Ken Wallis – World War II fighter pilot, aircraft engineer, and multiple world record holder in autogyro aircraft flight
• Adrian Warburton – legendary for his role as a reconnaissance aviator in the defence of Malta; shot down over Germany on 12 April 1944, aged 26. It was only in 2002 that his remains were found in the wreckage of his plane
• Dennis Wheatley – the popular historical novelist and thriller writer was granted a commission and brought into Whitehall's World War II Joint Planning Staff

See also[edit]

• Wing Commander, a popular computer game series

References[edit]

1. ^'Military ranks'. BBC Academy. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
2. ^'Fleet Air Arm, Naval Aviation, Royal Navy Air Service History- 1914 - 1 July: Royal Naval Air Service is formed'. www.fleetairarmoa.org. Fleet Air Arm Officers Association. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
3. ^'Fleet Air Arm, Naval Aviation, Royal Navy Air Service History- 1918 - 1 April: RNAS and RFC amalgamated to create RAF'. www.fleetairarmoa.org. Fleet Air Arm Officers Association. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
4. ^Geldenhuys, Preller (2007). Rhodesian Air Force Operations with Air Strike Log. Durban, South Africa: Just Done Productions Publishing (published 13 July 2007). ISBN978-1-920169-61-9.
5. ^'Pakistan to give top military awards to two pilots for downing Indian jet'. indiatoday.in.
6. ^Manu Pubby. 'Abhinandan Varthaman's MiG21 locked in Pakistan's F16'. Retrieved 15 January 2020.

Wing Commander: Prophecy is the fifth installment in the Wing Commanderscience fictionspace combat simulator franchise of computer games. The game was released in 1997, produced by Origin Systems and Italy-based Raylight Studios for the GBA, and distributed by Electronic Arts.

The game features a new game engine (the VISION Engine), new spacecraft, characters and story elements. The events depicted in Prophecy are set over a decade after Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and, rather than the Kilrathi, the player must deal with a new alien threat, an insectoid race codenamed Nephilim that has invaded the human galaxy through a wormhole. Prophecy was the first main-line Wing Commander game in which the player did not take on the role of Christopher Blair, instead being introduced to a new player character, Lance Casey. Some of the characters and actors from previous games return in Prophecy, where they rub elbows with an entirely new cast of Confederation pilots and personnel.

A standalone expansion pack, Secret Operations, was released by Origin in 1998 solely over the Internet and for no charge. The large initial file challenged the dial-up connections of that day. Secret Operations was later released for sale in combination with Prophecy in the Wing Commander: Prophecy – Gold package. A Game Boy Advance port of Prophecy with added multiplayer was released in 2003^[2].

Gameplay[edit]

Controls are available in two modes: basic, catering for new and casual players, and advanced, aiming to give a more realistic feeling of space combat. The two modes leverage the same flight dynamics engine but in basic mode turning the ship around is assisting the player by coupling pitch, yaw, and roll (emulating airplane flight dynamics), while in advanced mode each axis is made independent for more complex but increased control, especially when using a HOTAS setup. There is also the possibility to temporarily disable the coupling system that assists the player in keeping thrust forward as the player pivots along the axes as if the spacecraft was an airplane: when this assisting system is disabled it is therefore possible to tilt the spacecraft using thrusters while keeping movement constant through inertia, as is realistic in space, and allowing for advanced offensive and defensive maneuvers, such as drifting sideways alongside a capital ship while shooting at it or quickly pivoting 180 degrees around and shooting at a chasing fighter.

Although, you'll also run into mini-puzzles, where you'll need to use bombs and balls to overcome barriers. It just might save your whole game.Among the pitfalls and difficulties encountered while playing are the ever-present 'skewers'. Silly sausage doggy dessert level 46.

Missions are played in sequence, and while the core scenario is constant, it is possible to fail missions and keep going forward in the game. Subsequent missions may become increasingly harder as the enemy gains an upper hand on the operational theater. As is traditional for the Wing Commander franchise, the player is placed in command of a flight of fighters, piloted by various non-player characters. Some of them may be killed during missions, resulting in a KIA in the leaderboard; however, others are plot-critical and will make use of their ejection seat to escape an exploding craft.

In between missions, the player may explore the TCS Midway, the carrier vehicle upon which they are stationed, and engage various characters in conversation. These conversations were filmed in full motion video, with Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson, Ginger Lynn Allen and others reprising their roles from prior games.

Synopsis[edit]

Lt. Casey is assigned to the TCS Midway during her shakedown cruise. The brainchild of Commodore Christopher Blair, who is in command. As the ship is put through her paces, the crew encounter destroyed Kilrathi vessels and evidence that a threat foretold by their prophecies, the 'Nephilim,' have returned. Casey, alongside the rest of the Midway pilots, must fight through their forces to the wormhole through which they have emerged, and attempt to stifle their threat.

Development[edit]

Wing Commander: Prophecy was the first Wing Commander game made after series creator Chris Roberts left Origin, though the game engine was taken from Roberts' last project with Origin, the unfinished game 'Silverheart'.^[3]

Reception[edit]

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that 'Wing Commander Prophecy offers enough solid gameplay and eye-catching graphics to satisfy even the most demanding space combat fan.'^[7]

PC Data, which tracked computer game sales in the United States, reported that Wing Commander: Prophecy earned $6.7 million and sold roughly 195,000 copies by October 1999. Its revenue in the country represented a drop from Wing Commander IV.^[9]

Wing Commander: Prophecy was nominated in the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' first annual Interactive Achievement Awards in the category 'Computer Action Game of the Year'.^[10]

The editors of Computer Games Strategy Plus named Wing Commander: Prophecy the best 'Sci-Fi Simulation' of 1997.^[11]

References[edit]

1. ^Staff (December 11, 1997). 'Now Shipping'. PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 18, 1998. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
   'Origin's Wing Commander Prophecy is now officially in stores..'
2. ^'Wing Commander: Prophecy for Game Boy Advance - Series Background - Wing Commander CIC'. www.wcnews.com. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
3. ^'NG Alphas: Wing Commander Prophecy'. Next Generation. No. 34. Imagine Media. October 1997. p. 129.
4. ^'Wing Commander: Prophecy for PC - GameRankings'. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
5. ^'Wing Commander: Prophecy for Game Boy Advanced - GameRankings'. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
6. ^'Wing Commander: Prophecy for Game Boy Advanced'. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
7. ^ ^ab'Finals'. Next Generation. No. 40. Imagine Media. April 1998. p. 106.
8. ^'PC Gamer Online'. pcgamer.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2000. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
9. ^Asher, Mark (October 29, 1999). 'Game Spin: Crunching Numbers'. CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on October 15, 2000.
10. ^'1998 1st Interactive Achievement Awards'. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. 1998. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
11. ^Staff (January 19, 1998). 'The winners of the 1997 Computer Games Awards'. Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on February 6, 2005.

External links[edit]

• Wing Commander: Prophecy at MobyGames
• Wing Commander: Prophecy at PCGamingWiki
• Wing Commander: Prophecy at Wing Commander Combat Information Center