WWI Wx

[carrick58]

I know in OFF we fly in a lot of bad Weather, But did the Pilots in WWI ? For Example, I have ran into a lot of Rain, Heavy Cloud, and Snow Missions. So I wonder in all that Mud and Muck ( poor Visibility) How did they do it ?

[themightysrc]

"You keep telling yourself that it's just as nasty up there for him, as it is for you"

 

In my measly BE2c, or even the RE8 that I'm currently piloting, I absolutely heart appalling weather for this reason. Apart from anything else, the chances of a roving Jasta seeing through layers of murk, rain, snow or cats and dogs drops dramatically, so as long as you stay in the muck, you're (almost) safe...

[Shiloh]

Perhaps someone else can confirm but I believe it did rain a lot during WWI, at least more than normal. I just read in No Parachute (an excellent book) that they flew in pretty much everything with the exception of fog as they relied so much on visibility and bitter cold as was mentioned if it affected the machinery.

[Slartibartfast]

Bad weather... no such thing but then I am English... and we love it when it Rains etc... Not

[shredward]

Perhaps someone else can confirm but I believe it did rain a lot during WWI, at least more than normal. I just read in No Parachute (an excellent book) that they flew in pretty much everything with the exception of fog as they relied so much on visibility and bitter cold as was mentioned if it affected the machinery.

 

I can confim. The weather Over Flanders Fields is taken from weather records from many sources, and it does mimic the weather on the Western Front, day by day. As we, and I want to thank Bletchley, discover more sources of weather records, it is becoming even more accurate, not better, more accurate. The weather over the Front during the war was appalling much of the time; some even say the guns had something to do with it. I doubt it, but there certainly was more 'weather' than 'normal'.

Cheers,

shredward

Edited May 24, 2011 by shredward

[Olham]

Another area of the whole of OFF, that has been really simulated, instead of being randomly generated.

Beat that, other sims!

[DukeIronHand]

The weather over the Front during the war was appalling much of the time; some even say the guns had something to do with it.

Cheers,

shredward

 

Actually I have heard this before.

 

Something about the smoke and concussion (shock wave) of all the explosions doing something to the atmosphere.

 

I will try to find it. In the end I am not sure if it was just a urban legend, statistical trending, or actual scientific proof behind the article.

[+Polovski]

I think if you could hear the guns above your aircraft engine up that high, it had to be shaking those little water droplets up a bit.

[DukeIronHand]

I think if you could hear the guns above your aircraft engine up that high, it had to be shaking those little water droplets up a bit.

 

I will guess you are correct again plus the water vapor/droplets joining with the dust/smoke/particles of the explosions and burning. I believe the air particles was the main contributor but aided by the concussions - gotta find that study.

[+Polovski]

Good point Duke - making the droplets heavier and also bringing all that dirt back down too :/

[Olham]

This website is giving a lot of detailed research about the weather situation in the Great War.

 

http://climate-ocean...eien/05_11.html

 

.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Olham

[Bletchley]

Weather 'To bad to fly' was a variable concept - it depended on the year, the time of year, the level of activity on the ground, and the mission type. The aircraft of 1914/15 were flimsy and underpowered compared to those of 1918, and weather that would have grounded aircraft in 1915 (even nice bright sunny days, if there was a high wind) would have been regarded as flyable by 1918, and as the war progressed I think there was a gradual growing acceptance of the need to fly in (nearly) all weathers when the situation was felt to be critical. Heavy activity on the ground tended to follow the annual pattern of the seasons, peaking in the late Spring to early Autumn months, and combat flying would have followed the same pattern - bad weather (rain, low overcast, high winds, and very low temperatures at altitude) in winter would generally have grounded or severeley reduced most flights, with the possible exception of important reconnaisance missions. Bad weather in Spring-Summer-Autumn (rain, high wind, fog, overcast or morning mists) would have grounded most flights in the 'quiet' sectors, even in 1918, but not in 'active' sectors. Reconnaisance and phot-recon were dependent on cloud cover and ground haze (or lack of it). High winds at higher altitudes were always a problem for the long recon and deep offensive patrols (and difficult to predict at this time), and may have caused the frequent cancellation or the curtailment of these. By 1918, when called upon to support critical missions, they were grounded only by fog or by very poor visibility (i.e heavy rain and low cloud), or very high winds.

 

I am not sure that the weather 1914-1918 was particularly unusual for that period, but the micro-climates may have been changed by the war (interesting idea). Some parts of the Front were subject to worse weather than others, due to their geography - the river valleys, such as the Somme and Lys, had frequent ground mists along the river (particularly in Autumn and Spring), and the area north of the Ypres salient was subject to high coastal winds and was generally wetter than areas further inland (also wartime flooding of this area might have brought about local changes).

 

A slightly annoying aspect of the weather in OFF (must be a CFS3 thing) is that although there are 3 types of 'good' weather (just varying amounts of fluffy cloud), there are only 2 types of 'bad' weather - you can have (6) heavy overcast with precipitation, or (4) heavy overcast. There is also (5) 'variable' weather, although this is generally very similar to the good weather, just with stronger winds and sometimes haze. Also, once set, the weather type remains the same for the whole Front (and for every Front), and for the whole day (so you can't have morning mist clearing to a fine day - just 'overcast' or 'not overcast' for the whole day.

 

Bletchley