DCS: THE RIGHT STUFF - Short Film (2022) 

*This film has been made using in-game footage from DCS WORLD by Eagle Dynamics. Original soundtrack, sound and visual effects have been added for historical accuracy and dramatic purposes.* Hello everyone! DCS: THE RIGHT STUFF (12 minutes) took me 2 years and 210 shots to complete, and is made in memory of the great Chuck Yeager. It's also dedicated to the entire DCS World community. As The Right Stuff original feature film from 1983 is one of my favorite movie of all time, I always wanted to know what really happened to Yeager during his zoom climb attempt with the NF-104A 56-762 on December 10, 1963... 59 years ago today!!! As an editor/director IRL, and with the powerful graphics and camera tools from DCS World, I saw a great opportunity to deliver a story that could make you, the audience, understand a little bit better what was the feeling of being a test pilot during the 60s. With quite a lot of historical research, and with the precious help from the VSN team, we managed to deliver a nice NF-104A Mod with accurate skins for DCS :) Again, I can't thank you enough for your precious support , it means a lot to me. Special thanks go to the mighty VSN team and all my cast and crew. And with the icing on the cake, the movie is narrated by the great Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello from The Fighter Pilot Podcast. Have a good time, guys. Hope you'll enjoy. Fly safe, fly Metal. Cheers from France ++ 00:00:00 : Prologue 00:01:00 : The NF-104A 00:01:55 : Taxi 00:02:38 : Take-Off 00:03:20 : In-Flight 00:04:11 : Mach 1 00:04:49 : Mach 2 00:05:17 : Zoom Climb Part.1 00:06:22 : Zoom Climb Part.2 00:07:20 : Reentry 00:08:09 : Flat Spin 00:09:09 : Drag Chute & Ejection 00:10:18 : Epilogue 00:11:30 : Credits Directed & Edited by J.P. FERRE Narrated by VINCENT "Jell-O" AIELLO from The Fighter Pilot Podcast - www.fighterpilotpodcast.com Chuck Yeager: JAMES "Firehouse" TAYLOR Ground Control: JOSEPH "Buccaneer" GIESE Bud Anderson: TIMOTHY "Emerald" FRERKING Edwards ATC: RAPTOR DAD GAMING - www.youtube.com/@RaptorDad Music composed by ALEXIS MAINGAUD - www.alexismaingaud.com/ "The Right Stuff" original theme by BILL CONTI Color Grading by EDOUARD POTIER Visual Effects by J.P. FERRE - IIW STUDIO Sound Mix by LIONEL GUENOUN - VEGA PROD NF-104A Mod provided by VSN NF-104A liveries created by JOCKO417 Special thanks to CDPKOBRA, PEEJOTT17 and RAZO+R VSN Discord "Century Series": discord.gg/DW5fpPRXac VSN Discord "Flyable Mods": discord.gg/WTne76umfn DCS World by Eagle Dynamics: www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/ LUX Studio: luxstudio.fr IIW STUDIO: www.iiwstudio.fr VEGA PROD: www.vega-prod.com Thank you for watching. Like, share & subscribe. Visit: www.jp-ferre.com

Outstanding!

It’s honestly astonishing that General Yeager lived as long as he did. He served in so much combat, in so many different frames, tested so many different dangerous experimentals, and pulled so many stunts that he truly was a statistical anomaly of the most extreme variety.

This, this is how you make a film. It captures everything: the speed, the anxiety, the adrenaline, the thrill. Incredible.

What an amazing film. This needs an award. Still can't get enough of the scene with the sonic boom 😍

I had the great good fortune to be stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in 1966 and 67, and I actually had an opportunity to get up close and personal to the nf-104. While I was walking to my shop one morning, it was just sitting there between the hangers and I had to walk right past it. Of course I had to stop and look at it, and do a walk-around. I always thought that the f-104 was one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built, but this thing was so impressive with its reaction nozzles on the wings and in the nose, and the rocket installed above the exhaust pipe was just incredible. Your video was one of the best recreations of how the nf-104 operated. Thank you very much, for bringing back that memory.

Thank you J.P. For creating this beautiful tribute to Chuck Yeager and all the test pilots who flew in those early days of space flight. You've given us both the look and feel of a small piece of not only American History but global history, without those amazingly skilled pilots back then space flight we know today would not be possible. Thank you also for showing us not only with this but all your DCS Movies what truly can be done in DCS World if we give it our passion and support. I can't wait to see your next video production you are an amazing independent producer/director who makes content that inspires and fulfils the dreams of virtual pilots everywhere.

I was astonished when told by a flight line engineer attached to the NF-104 project that the flat spin was actually part of the planned, normal mission profile. The idea was to take the aircraft up to max altitude and speed on the engine until it flamed out and then ignite the rocket engine and climb until the fuel exhausted. The reaction control jets were never intended to do more than minor adjustments to pitch, roll and yaw at max altitude. I believe that they only put out about 100-200 newtons of force. By comparison, punching someone as hard and fast as you can with your bare hand creates several thousand newtons. After rocket fuel was exhausted, the pilot was expected to take the NF-104A into a flat spin and attempt to relight the jet engine once the altitude was down to around 30,000 feet or so. That left basically seconds of safety margin if the engine did not relight, and the normal F-104s J-79 engines were known to have engine relight “challenges”. F-104s tend to fall like a rock when thrust is lost. It does not really glide. Thrust keeps it aloft. It takes the steady hand of an expert pilot to keep them in the air. The same engineer told me that the first time they tried this, they found that the tail feathers of the engine and the aft fuselage had been crushed like a beer can into a cone shape. The NF-104A must have almost looked like it had two nose cones. One in the front, one under the tail. Support structures had to be reworked to prevent it from happening again. Three NF-104As were created. One crashed, one had an engine explosion but still landed safely. No one dared to take the third up much more after that, because of all rather obvious the “holes” in the flight performance envelope. Extremely dangerous in all respects, even for a planned, normal mission, but it was the best semi-out-of-the-box tech solution we had at the time to explore high altitude aircraft performance until other dedicated aircraft could be designed and created.

The cows hearing the sonic boom makes this stand out and kudos for the accuracy. I totally enjoyed this and in fact I'm going to watch it again. Right now.

The F-104 is one of the prettiest jets. Especially when flying without the payload.

This was and is utterly brilliant - real life is infinitely more thrilling than any movie. I was delighted to hear the opening bars of Debussy's 'Claire de Lune' at 6:29 when the moon comes into view - a very stylish touch indeed ! This short film is a masterpiece, and JP is to be congratulated on such stunningly fine work.

There's a reason why The Right Stuff won an Oscar for best original score.

That's an absolute masterpiece of a short film and one hell of a story. Incredible work, you should be proud of this!

Спасибо за фильм.❤❤❤ Чак легенда.

Rode dirt bikes out to where chuck had crashed the 104 trainer. Father in law lived at Landers Ca, outside of Yukka Valley. Simple gps and map fix, and we were there. Dad was a private pilot for 48 years. Went to every airshow imaginable, including Paris. Met Chuck on several occasions. Ironically, he passed away on Dec 7, Pearl Harbor Day. My birthday. I have a hand carved high detail Normandy Invasion P-51 with all the stores on the wings, signed by Chuck. letter from him, in his handwriting, for authenticity. He had signed the wing of the P-51. It was his second flight that day with the trainer. The first one before breakfast went great. Bad probs on the second of the day. RIP Chuck.

I did not realise that the NF-104 had Reaction Control Systems installed like that! Thank you for a gripping short story. I remember watching the scene in "The Right Stuff", and you could have easily inserted this sequence in there to markedly improve the original movie. Well done. Well done indeed.

You truly captured the legacy of the movie and honoured Philip Kaufman with this amazing work! I was just a little kid when I went with my father to watch “The right stuff” at the theatre. I remained thrilled by the movie and then I decided to become an aerospace engineer due to that movie. All my life has been influenced by that experience. Actually watching this movie again and again reconnects me now with the loving memory of my father and the man I am now. When the first notes of the Yaeger theme started I had chills. Thank you for this superb work.

I just read Yeager's autobiography, in which he wrote about this incident. I very much recommend reading the book, as it goes through Yeager's entire life as a West Virginian, fighter pilot, test pilot, and general. Yeager was truly an American Hero!

This is beautiful - beauty in complexity and detail. It’s what makes pushing the limits so incredible.

DCS has really attracted the finest and most talented videographers! What a stunning work, JP!

We need more short film like that ! Great work to everyone involved!

A wonderful tribute to an amazing pilot, fantastic work. Anyone who loves the history of flight should read his autobiography, just a very down to earth plain speaking guy with an unbelievable natural talent for flying anything and everything. He was truly made of the Right Stuff.

Both my Uncles were F-104 Instructors. Brave Pilots indeed.

This film, although short, deserves all the respect it gets

Thanks for putting this together. I still get chills and adrenaline shots watching and listening to the music. They played that soundtrack at my son's Eagle Scout Ceremony in '85. I was at USCG AIR DETACHMENT KODIAK when that still SECRET mission was flown . Some days later, we hosted a USAF pilot with his F-104 out of Elmendorf AFB at the NAS. We had never seen anything like it; razor thin wings, all engine. Just after he took off, he swung around, came in low overhead, hit the AFTERBURNER and climbed almost straight up and out of sight !

I loved the movie since childhood - love this movie! Great work!

This is the first time I ever felt emotional while watching a DCS cinematic. Thanks for creating this master piece!

My favorite line from the whole movie... "Look! Is that a man?" ... "Yeah, you damn right it is!"

2- words,"OUTSTANDING"... "Thanks" for sharing this with us, makes me want to build a model of an F-104 now.

The attention to detail you've put into this movie is beyond what anyone would ever expect, outstanding work!

Impossible not to watch the film (not a video but a film) until the end! Fantastic. And instructive which is rare!

This is hands down the best short film created in DCS. Wow! Congratulations man! Very very well done!

This gave me chills, so realistic!!! Incredible. Thank you so much for all the great work!!!

Nice. This is how I felt when I made my first solo in a Cessna 152. Without the sonic boom. Or the rocket. Or the afterburner, or...

So cool. “N” in NF-104 is post-1955 code for “permanent special test”. In the movie “The Right Stuff” they used a regular F-104 with no attempt to modify - and made it worse by having the tower crew saying “what kind of plane is that!?” - even worse then have Yeager fire his rocket with no explanation of why there isn’t one.

Kudos for making a scenic factual piece by J.P.Ferre Salam and Respect to Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager from Pakistan. Rest in Peace Sir Yeager.

Fantastic work! You and your team captured a level of suspense and awe that I certainly wasn't expecting. Kudos, and thank you for all of the effort, hours, and coordination this must have taken to accomplish.

Masterwork. Thank you J.P.

One of your best videos yet absolutely incredible

I love the First Man inspirations in shots and dialogue. Truly puts gravity to the event and the scenes with the thrusters are heavenly! Amazing work!

Truely astonishing!! You have my biggest respect for the amount of work that has been put in this masterpiece! This is some high class movie scripting

What a movie ! What a piece of art ! So clear , so brilliant, so simple but so complete ! Congrats!!!!

I have no words to describe how amazing this is! Thank you so much for making this!

I absolutely love the cinematography and how you mixed the original sounds from the movie with yours. Perfect, 10/10.

Well done. I thought that sounded like Vincent doing the narration. I had no idea about this. The F104 will always be a beautiful plane. Thanks!

Well done, that was excellent.

I know how hard this is to make, to this level, across all of the technical and creative challenges, from the animation, lighting decisions, sound design, grading, all of it, and it’s a truly astonishing accomplishment, notwithstanding its a beautiful film capturing an incredible part of aviation history. The way you portray the challenges of this flight and the engineering behind it whilst capturing the inherent peril and drama test pilots, like the legendary Yeager we’re put through, is masterfully done. You really love this history, as do we, and it really shines through. Thank you.

Awesome flim as always, great job mate))

This was a true "Starfighter"! never knew it was equipped with manoeuvring nozzles in the wings and the nose!

Marvellous! Thank you JP.

I owned the 2 part VHS as a kid, and I probably watched it with my dad at least 5 times. Great movie, and great job with your DCS short film!

Amazing work! well done, the part where he couldn't get the nose down and someone said deploy the chute was pure gold, those guys really did have the right stuff

I don´t even want to imagine how much time was spent making this masterpiece. That´s crazy. Well done!

Fantastic ; thanks very much JP for this outstanding video and for the tribute to those heroes

This is incredible! WOW ... What a wonderful piece of work. I am speechless!! Thank you so much for this!

Doesn't get much better than this! Great job!

Thanks a lot for this tribute to this legendary flight, this incredible plane, to DCS and of course to Chuck ! Merci pour ton partage de ce chef d œuvre ! 🇫🇷 🤙

Piece of art! Thanks man!

Excellent!!! Great job! Thanks for furthering the reach of DCS as an aviation art form, and an educational one!

I loved the movie "The Right Stuff" and to me is still one of the best movies about the early space program and those crazy mad men who dared.

What a great, and informative vid! Ive loved 'the right stuff' literally forever...the soundtrack is just awesome, and the narration is brilliant. Your vid really really captured that, and educated me more! And then I burst into tears... December 20, 1971... the last flight of the NF104, is the day i was born.

Chuck, you blue suit badass, you, rest in peace. You make me proud to have worn that blue suit.

Simply brilliant. Great editing.

Your work is a huge inspiration to me, and I'm sure many others. Thank you for sharing. Excellent as ever! o7

Supremely Superb movie J.P. Nothing short of EPIC. A masterpiece of storytelling and visual aid(s) to help us understand the events on that day. Congratulations to you and all who participated. We know the amount of effort put into this is colossal. Stand Tall and Walk Proud! This is a great success for us all. The first 5 rounds are on me!

This was done amazing!! Beautiful

Dude that’s amazing!!

Really great production, using DCS. Good job you guys!

Absolutely exceptional ! You should submit this to short film awards and festivals ! Well done :)

what an amazing piece of art, can’t thank you enough!

This was the best DCS short film i've ever watched! Thank you for this art

Absolutely insane, i want your patience and creativity

Fantastic stuff 🙏🏻thank you for this outstanding production. Superb. Thank you for all your passion, support and commitment to DCS. Kind regards Nick

Wow...a worthy homage to Chuck Yeager. Very well done.

Very well done keeping his memory alive!! So many would be proud to have seen this, what they did back then with pure courage and love for thier country and aviation. Heroes growing up for alot of us. Thanks again, Godspeed.

What a remaquable work, a realization worthy of this great film "the right stuff" Bravo and bravo again ... 👋👋👋👋

Very well done. Chuck Yeager was the most famous test pilot from the United States. I remember this scene from the movie. Somehow, I think this is a more realistic dipiction of that event. They didn't use an NF-104 in the movie. Really good stuff! 👍

OK, on vient clairement de passer un step dans le videomaking sur DCS !!! Clairement au top de ce qui peut se faire sur DCS !! Incroyable ce que tu arrives à faire sur chacune de tes vidéos et en particulier celle ci. Merci pour cet incroyable moment. Merci de nous faire vivre ces incroyables histoires aéronautiques et la légende d'hommes et de femmes au courage hors du commun.

Fantastic piece of film making. Thank you!

That was really good. Thanks for your time and effort. Nice job

Gets my vote for DCS movie of the year! 👍

Pretty damn impressive, great work

Génial, comme à chaque fois! Bravo JP!

This was absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for making this film. I love that movie, and the history of the test pilots and the beginning of the US space program. This was so good!

Wow! That was really well done JP!!!

Col. Yeager he defiantly had the right stuff. A rare breed, I think he would have proud if he saw this. Great job and the event timings, in the move it made him look like a cowboy out for a joy ride, because he was Chuck, but I see now it was a official test flight. I know this took you sometime to put this together, and sir it was worth the wait. Love it. I salute you.

Wow...just wow! That was amazing!

Absolutely masterful. Well done.

Ok now that’s how a film has to be made and of course only you, JP can make such a great film. Rest in peace Colonel Yeager. Hey JP and I also wanted ask how do you make the sound design like the RCS and the engine and like the aircraft being stressed, the flat spin etc. I just love it. Keep making these. You’ve raised the bar for DCS cinematic!

What an amazing Job, historically accurate, good communications, nice songs and well explained. You make us feel the pressure and the stress induced by this kind of intense test flight, that's a 5 out of 5 Perfect ! A big thanks to VSN team for aircraft models hard work, JP what you have done with your short film is The Right Stuff, well done ! 💪😉

This scene in the movie was so dramatic......it depicted flight in all its majesty...

Very good recreation. Much more accurate than most I have seen. Yeager's autobiography indicates that the rocket was not ignited until after the 70 degree pitch up maneuver, and his initial zoom run to Mach 2 was run on jet power at 37,000 feet. But everything else looks right on. FYI, Chuck's chase pilot that day was Bud Anderson in a T-33, but Bud was already in the air on another assignment when the planned chase plane had to abort for mechanical problems, so Bud volunteered and took over.

Pour une raison obscure, je ne découvre ta chaîne que maintenant, avec ce film qui sort des sentiers battus en prenant un angle historique (ce qui est déjà une très belle surprise). Comment appeler ça ? Une claque ? Un uppercut ? Qu'il s'agisse de la direction artistique qui est soignée, des plans de caméra sublimes ou du son (purée t'as dû y passer des semaines rien que pour ça), le résultat est immersif à souhait ! Une performance proprement splendide de ta part car DCS a beau être permissif, chaque détail parsemé durant ton film prouve que tu n'as pas choisi la facilité. Bravo et surtout merci pour cet hommage à une facette de l'Aéronautique trop peu mise en avant. Fly safe !

I'd watch a film like this. Absolute masterpiece

Absolutely fabulous ! Good job bro !

Ohhh god you're a legend! I enjoyed every single moment of the film.

Wow!! I didn't know how this story ended, so you had me on the edge of my seat nearly yelling at the screen! I was like "get out of there, you're so much more important than the plane, noOOO!!!" 😆

This was an absolutely beautiful tribute to Col. Yeager and the people involved in this project. Thank you SO much for bringing us this magnum opus. I'm surprised Col. Yeager made it safely to the ground - especially when considering the strain put on that parachute by his huge brass balls!!😂Seriously though, my sincere gratitude to you - this made my already good day even better! Thanks!

This was well put together!

Amazingly well done, congratulations and thank you! I literally held my breath!