1916(3) MOD

[Bletchley 8]

1916(3) OFF MOD, covering the period September - December 1916 now up :)

 

http://combatace.com/files/category/353-maps-missions-and-campaigns/

 

New mission files. In late August the German air service is reorganised and the small scout sections are brought together into the first Jasta units. Boelcke returns, having recruited more pilots to form a new crop of fighter pilots, amongst them Manfred von Richthofen, and new scout types start to arrive at the front (starting with Halberstadts in the last weeks of August). This leads to a more aggressive attitude from September onwards, with flight or Jasta strength patrols starting to contest Allied domination of the sky over the battlefield. The British are still patrolling aggressively, despite the now inferior machines, with a policy of deep offensive patrols, long recon., and now frequent bombing missions to strategic railway junctions, airfields, and lines of communication. The photographing and detailed mapping of opposing trench systems also continues, with art.obs. and photorecon. by both sides. The German air service continues to send their solo photorecon. missions far into Allied airspace, but they need to fly ever higher as Allied flak becomes more effective, with the switch from Shrapnel to HE shells and development of better targetting doctrine and technology. By the end of the year the stage is now set for 'Bloody April' 1917, with the Allies struggling to push the German scouts back from their Front sectors where increasingly vulnerable Allied art.obs. and photorecon. machines are going about the daily task of registering the artillery, counterbattery, and photography...

 

Bletchley

[Olham 164]

Bletchley, the German Wikipedia says, the Halberstadt D.II appeared at the front beginning in June.

What is correct?

[Bletchley 8]

I don't know, but in OFF it appears at the end of August (or at least, I think so...)

 

Bletchley :)

[shredward 12]

Yes, and yes.

The first Halbs appeared at the Front in June, reaching a max of 104 machines in December. They were very well received: Boelcke raved about it, and Jacobs kept his long past when the other members of his Staffel were flying the Tros.

P3 doesn't get it until August because the OoB for each unit has to reflect the bulk of the equipment. That limitation will not be an issue in the future.

Cheers,

shredward

[Hasse Wind 46]

P4 will have multiple types of aircraft available at the same time for each squadron? Nice. Very nice.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

B-

 

These 1915-1916 mods are really coming together! I have steered away from this period of the war until now, but your mod has made it a whole heck of a lot more interesting. I can't wait to see your mod work with the extra planes (hopefully early war) promised in P4!

[Bletchley 8]

I don't think it will work with P4 - a little bird tells me the mission structure is all changed for P4 :)

 

Bletchley

[Olham 164]

P4 will have multiple types of aircraft available at the same time for each squadron? Nice. Very nice.

Indeed, Hasse Wind, indeed!

Bletchley, you won't have done all the work for nothing - P4 may still be some time away.

I surely will continue my campaign with FA 62 and change to the fighters in June.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I don't know about you guys, but these mods have breathed a new life into my OFF experience. Now don't get me wrong - even without these latests mods I've been greatly enjoying my OFF sessions - but with the mods enabled the experience is even better. Historical immersion is very important to me, so Bletchley's mods are more than welcome.

 

I also use Creaghorn's and HPW's mods and haven't had any problems with all of them together.

 

It's great to be a WW1 sim fan these days!

[Bletchley 8]

Thank you Hasse Wind :)

 

1917(1) will cover the period from January through to April 1917 : the withdrawal of the German army to the Hindenburg Line, the diversionary Battle of Arras and Nivelle's great offensive in the Champaign. It was a period in which an Allied numerical superiority in the air was pitted against a technologically superior and increasingly well organised but still outnumbered German opposition, as the expansion in the RFC and RNAS saw hundreds of older machines and under-trained air crew flooding into France. In the first months of 1917 the German army took the strategic initiative, following a period of poor weather that hindered the Allied recon. activity, with a well planned 'scorched earth' withdrawl to a prepared defensive line. British recon. and photo recon. resources were stretched to the limit, with scouts being drafted in to take on some of the work, as they desperately photographed and mapped the new German trench systems, whilst other two-seater units covered the advancing troops with low level contact missions. The advance was harassed in many places by German two-seater aircraft doing the same, and by aggressive but sporadic attacks by the German Jastas (although many of these were now in the south, to cover French preparations in the Champagn region). So much British effort was going in to recon., and on escorting the recon. aircraft, that Allied bombing switched to night bombing, of rail and communication centres, with little in the way of day bombing. The British then launched their attack on the Arras front at the beginning of April. The Art.Obs., particularly counter-battery work, now had the highest priority, along with tactical recon. and photo recon. missions along the front, with some scouts once again being drafted in to do some of the recon. work and also to attack the balloon line. Heavily escorted day bombing now resumed, mostly against rail centres, to try and stop the Germans bringing forward reinforcements. As the British threatened to break through at Arras the Germans drew in air resources from the south of the region, and the now numerically stronger German fighter force (including new types such as the Albatros D.III) started to take a heavy toll on the British Corps machines, bombers, long recon., and their escorting scouts. On 14th April the French launched Nivelle's long awaited offensive in the Champagne, but the Germans had advance knowledge of the detailed planning for this and it ground to a halt, after very heavy losses that tore the heart out of the French army. By the end of April the French were back on the defensive and fighting at Arras was winding down. But new British aircraft types such as the SE5 and the Bristol Fighter, deployed too little and too late to have a significant impact, were already in France, and others such as the Camel and the DH4 were on the way...the pendulum was about to swing again as the British, having survived 'Bloody April' with the offensive doctrine intact, despite heavy losses in the air, prepared for a major offensive in the north.

 

Bletchley

[Olham 164]

It's great to be a WW1 sim fan these days!

I would like to say: it is great to belong to the early discoverers of "Over Flanders Fields".

This is the greatest of all games & sims I have ever been able to put my hands on!

[Olham 164]

I have just made my first flight with Bletchley's 1916 (III) Mod with my Jasta 2 pilot.

I will make an exception and post the screenshots here once.

As the "Battle of the Somme" is raging in that sector, I put "Active Sector" into JSGME.

Here my report:

 

We first encountered 5 BE2c and were about to attack them, when their escort

of 3 Strutter appeared. We decided to let them go, as we had not reached our

patrol sector at "Neuve Chapelle".

Arriving at our patrol area, we came out of huge, thick grey clouds and found

our 1. Kette, which was led by Leutnant Böhme, circling with 4 British Nieuport

17. When we arrived, Böhme's 5 Halberstadt, plus my 5 craft, vastly outnumbered

the Tommies. When they realised that, they made good use of the dense clouds.

I found it impossible to bring the one down, which I was chasing. I fired all

my rounds after him, but he escaped me - although quite sieved through.

 

Böhme's flight was luckier - I saw one Nupe going down, pulling a dark vertical

line of thick smoke. Leutnant Bahr and Vizefeldwebel Holland from my flight could

bring down another craft. The Nieuport exploded and fell to earth, burning.

 

I collected my men and turned round to fly home, as some of us must have fired

most of their ammo. On returning, we sighted Flak, and then 3 FE2b travelling

along the line southwards, low. When we approached them, they turned west and ran

over to their lines. We let them go and traveled on.

 

Half way home, we sighted a flight of Roland "Walfisch" lower, flying in the same

direction. We joined them for a part of the way, until they turned west.

All our men returned to base unharmed and well.

I found Creaghorn's tracers, as modded by Elephant, very good for even more realism,

cause they are hardly visible and made it very hard to hit my opponent. This was a fine sortie!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2011 by Olham

[Adger 87]

fantastic work olham,really excellent stuff,i now really cant wait for OFF 3 to come in the post,im also getting quite addicted to this forum

ps have u used creaghorns hdr and bloom at all,if so would you be so kind as to relay your thoughts thanks, Adger over and out.

pps i really cant wait to start providing some stories of my own

Edited March 31, 2011 by Adger1971

[Olham 164]

Yep, this was made using that mod from Creaghorn.

[Adger 87]

thank you screenshots look incredible