Who Is Your Longest Surviving Pilot So Far?

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Greetings All,

 

So then, I am wondering, (after Creaghorn's Ace of Aces came to his most unfortunate end), what is your longest surviving pilot in OFF? Please note the settings you use and any other relevant information.

 

Mine is Leutnant Paul von Blum, currently with 288.1 flying hours, 149 missions, and 23 confirmed kills. He has been serving for nine months and was out of action for five of those months due to a near-ender that severely wounded him and killed his gunner/obs. I fly with everything cranked up on the RSS settings, and use Roll of the Dice for crash outcomes, (I personally find this more realistic than the DiD setting). I use no aids when flying, and no Warp, and navigate by "paper" map.

 

 

 

 

 

Who else has an "old timer" in the sim that they would be so kind to share the particulars of. IMHO, it will be a very long time before any of us comes close to Creaghorn's acomplishment, but I'd like to see just how far along folks are. So please, post your heros' records here.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

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[MikeDixonUK 5]

That's a lot of flying hours!

 

My current DiD Campaign Pilot is my longest surviving so far:

 

 

I haven't been flying him constantly between November 1916 and April 1918, as with the DiD Campaign being matched to the current date (ie November 1916 was November 2009 - April 1918 is April 2011) I missed a while when I wasn't playing, for example I think I missed between March and September 1917, and have only flown three or so sorties in 1918 (Squadron transfered to England in December 1917 and returned in February 1918).

 

Also most of the flight time was in a Sopwith Triplane between around January 1917 and December 1917, so you could call that easy mode.

 

Started in RNAS-2 on Sopwith Strutters, then Transfered to RNAS-1 in January 1917 and flew a few sorties in Nieuport 16s before they re-equipped with Sopwith Triplanes, then the Tripe until December 1917 when they transfered to the Sopwith Camel - now I've only just transfered from RNAS-1 (or 201 RAF as it is now) to RFC-56 (56 RAF) to fly SE5s, now that we're all one big happy Royal Air Force!

 

Only got promoted to Captain after the last sortie, interestingly it was the same sortie that my main wingman has gone missing (he's been with me since mid-1917 I think, is an Ace himself and I transfered him from RNAS-1 to RFC-56 with me) Interesting because he happens to be a Captain - so seemingly I got promoted to replace him, which is a bit of a bitter sweet moment it must be said! Although hopefully Captain Roberts will return unharmed...

 

Reminds me, I need to update my Signature.

 

As far as danger is concerned, I've been shot down and crashed once I think in February 1917 - got damaged and then an Albatros came in behind me and drilled me full of holes, which resulted in me side slipping into the ground next to one of our Army Camps - seemingly got away unhurt though - must have been muddy I guess!

 

Other than that I've had one mid-air collision which ripped off the tip of one of my bottom wings and had my engine or fuel tank knocked out more times than I can remember, but have managed to make safe landings.

Edited April 14, 2011 by MikeDixonUK

[Burning Beard 14]

LOL I think my longest surviving pilot had maybe 25 hrs. And I've been playing this since the beginning of Phase 1.

 

Beard

[Hasse Wind 46]

I have one really promising pilot currently, but I don't want to jinx his career by describing it too carefully. I'll let you know if he turns out to be a real success story.

 

I lost my previous great pilots when my hard drive crashed last year.

[Javito1986 14]

Joyce here joined the Flying Corps in February 1917. Served in the Battle of Arras, now active over Passchendaele. Started out as a rookie, green as grass, couldn't even make my SE5 stay on an enemy fighter's tail and was shot down on his very first mission. Now he's a flight leader!

 

One in-sim month until his RFC tour of duty ends, though it'll possibly be extended if the current battle doesn't go well.

 

 

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Javito, well done. Captain Joyce is doing quite fine so far.

 

Hasse Wind, I can appreciate not wanting to throw the bad mojo on your flyer. We pilots are a superstitious lot you know, (touch wood, rub the rabbit's foot, kiss the cross, etc).

 

BB, with only a handful of exceptions, nearly all of my OFF aviators expired or were captured within 25 to 30 hours, or less.

 

Mike, impressive run Sir, very impressive. Also, you should download my updated medals pack, (as I see Javito has done), and then you could assign your pilot a more historically accurate grouping. Something along the lines of the following would be very fitting, and leave you room for one more trinket later on, (the British DFC after 3 June 1918 would be quite apropos, or the Légion d'Honneur perhaps).

 

 

 

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[Javito1986 14]

I've had my fair share of close shaves with Joyce too now that I think of it. Shot down on the first mission like I said, it took me about two in-game weeks to get used to flying the SE5 and about a month to fly it well.

 

So I've been shot down I think... twice. The first I mentioned, the second when I just wasn't looking and got 'bounced', ended in a hospitalization (didn't last even a week though). Have been hit by flak that stopped my engine over No Man's Land and had to make a hasty landing behind British trenches. Have had a fuel leak over German lines but was at high enough altitude I coasted back across the front and landed in a cozy field near Ypres.

 

Yep, good times

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Oh yes, I too have had some close shaves. Apart from the five-month-long stint of recovery, training, and PR tour endured by Paul, he's also had to force land at least half-a-dozen times due to damage sustained in aerial combat. A couple of hard landings as well. All of which tends to get us much closer to what our RL counterparts went through during the course of their time at the front.

 

BTW Javito, to your medals. You need only show the MC with Bar as that denotes two awards of the same honour. And you might want to consider either the French or Belgian CdG as an award to your flyer as well, if he has been involved in any of the jointly fought battles in the AO he currently serves in.

 

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[RAF_Louvert 101]

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It must be awfully slow these days in the old OFF skies. I was sure more folks would chime in on this topic. Ah well, c'est la guerre.

 

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[Creaghorn 10]

as posted before this is my so far best pilot. although i do warp mainly because of tactical reasons to regroup my squad again. but warping was almost no option since 1918 anyway since there are always enemies nearby.

 

 

 

now i started a two seater career in 1915 the other day. not much airactivity but that's not the point in this period anyway. doing recon jobs etc. is important to help the leaders fighting the war on the ground. i think now it's a bit like in bbc's wings (although i didn't watch it yet), or aces high where there are other problems than just growing your victorylist.

to add immersion and to know my near area i after missions sometimes jump to QC and take a ride with the bike to the nearby airfields and villages and to the group of soldiers which are sitting and chatting sometimes. of course those times are no part of any flight stats.

next thing i'll do is to develop characters to my following mates. i think bletchley's wingman profile tutorial will help me with it, didn't try it yet. but IMO the main life is on the ground and not in the air, so some kind of roleplay things for the times inbetween flights would be great. maybe something for P4? to have more roleplay elements off the cockpit for yourself and your mates, which would make campaigns much more precious.

[carrick58 23]

All of mine have been " Gone down the Tubes"

[Olham 164]

Did you really expect more resonance, Lou? I didn't, because I always felt, that most pilots here never last very long.

 

I didn't save the log shots of my best pilots, cause they were still not good enough.

 

I'll come back, when I lasted at least for a whole year. Although I doubt that will ever happen.

 

It's just not my style, to fly very carefully. I mostly search each and every fight I can get into.

 

I think I still have to let all the steam off, that you guys have let off in "Red Baron" or even earlier sims,

 

before I can enjoy the quieter bits.

Edited April 15, 2011 by Olham

[Javito1986 14]

I enjoy the quiet bits. Actually I love me a good, quiet patrol. I'm very happy if I make it home with no enemy contact, that's like a freebie for me. Seeing Albatros D.Vas swooping down on you, their elongated wings giving them the look of birds of prey... that is the part I don't like! It's a different sim once you survive past the 17hr mark, you really don't want to die and learn to deplore all the things on the Western Front trying to kill you. I feel like Yossarian sometimes.

[themightysrc 5]

Hi Lou,

 

"It must be awfully slow these days in the old OFF skies. I was sure more folks would chime in on this topic. Ah well, c'est la guerre."

 

I would beg to differ! The reason I've not been trumpeting Major Timm is because I've simply got little time to fly OFF, due to my current trajectory. Without looking, I'm guessing that he's amassed about 100 hours in the air and more than 100 missions, solely in the BE2c and RE8. I think that that's a pretty good show. I'll try and paste up a screenshot in support of this madness.

 

Cheers,

Si

[TaillyHo 2]

Well I wasn't going to contribute to this thread for I felt I was not worthy

No seriously, I still go everywhere with my TAC security-blanket . . . although apart from that, my workshop settings are very RSS-compliant.

I intend to wean myself off TAC when I install HiTR - which is just sitting there waiting for my two current pilots - this guy and my 20 hour B.E2 pilot - to meet their demise).

 

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[Javito1986 14]

Hi Lou,

 

"It must be awfully slow these days in the old OFF skies. I was sure more folks would chime in on this topic. Ah well, c'est la guerre."

 

I would beg to differ! The reason I've not been trumpeting Major Timm is because I've simply got little time to fly OFF, due to my current trajectory. Without looking, I'm guessing that he's amassed about 100 hours in the air and more than 100 missions, solely in the BE2c and RE8. I think that that's a pretty good show. I'll try and paste up a screenshot in support of this madness.

 

Cheers,

Si

 

 

 

 

 

100 missions in those monstrosities? You need a medal

[Wayfarer 5]

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It must be awfully slow these days in the old OFF skies. I was sure more folks would chime in on this topic. Ah well, c'est la guerre.

 

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I also don't feel any of my three pilots have really come up to the mark. My first pilot lasted 60 odd missions (can' t get to check his log at the moment) but the next two only lasted 7 between them!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Nice to see a few more folks weighing in here with their veteran OFF flyers. Well done Gents. And really, IMHO, anyone who has cracked the 50-mission and/or 100-hour mark flying with the RSS settings, as either a DiD or Roll of the Dice pilot, deserves to brag a bit. It is very tough, even with the use of the TAC screen.

 

I say, drinks all around for you lot. My treat!

 

 

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