Reading this sure took me back. Back to the days of playing "gunship" on an old PC. You always wanted to go with the hellfires when you were arming up your apache...the sidewinders, while good for hitting fast moving aircraft, were simply too expensive and useless for ground targets, and the default rockets were unguided with not enough punch to take out any heavily armored vehicles. Hellfires hit the sweet spot, and with clear skies you could lock onto multiple targets that were near each other, fire several hellfires (with a few seconds delay between each shot) and as each target was hit, switch the next missile to the next target. Four shots, four kills.

The Longbox even let you perform the neat trick of hiding behind a hill, using the top mounted radar dome (which sits above the rotors) to track targets. So you can fire multiple shots and then move 90% of the helicopter to a secure space, with only the radar dome exposed. (The massive engines are also hidden, helping confuse any incoming IR guided missiles). Boom. Boom. Boom.

I can only imagine that, some ten years from now, I'll be reading about the new advanced "Comanche" helicopters which are revolutionizing warfare. That game was fun as well, with better graphics...