For all our Newbies: The First Dogfighters

[Olham 164]

Enjoy!

 

http://youtu.be/RLXsNHVEdZk

 

http://youtu.be/7zpxOJncVmw

Edited June 3, 2011 by Olham

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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That is a very good bit of video which does a fairly accurate job of showing what it must have been like for our RL Great War counterparts, IMHO.

 

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[DukeIronHand 8]

Nice find Olham.

 

Once I get a drink on RAF_Louvert "4,000th post tab" I will watch them and guzzle.

 

Hmmmm...what to order?

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Duke, I'd recommend today's house special, the bottomless yard of ale.

 

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[Olham 164]

Duke, I'd recommend today's house special, the bottomless yard of ale.

Doesn't sound too pricy for that offer - let me join you guys!

[Lewie 7]

Udet at 15,000 feet, alone? what happened to the rest of the Jasta? Also the isn't 15,000 up the ceiling of the Albatros DIII? You're not going to be yanking the stick around violently while trying to engage an enemy unless you have a death wish.

 

Oh well, the History channel could also be called the Histrionics Channel.

[Olham 164]

If the service ceiling for the Albatros D.III was 5500 Meter, that would be 18.044 ft.

And in the time of the D.III they may still have flown lone wolf missions.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Lewie, I agree there were one or two liberties taken in that video, such as how they were tossing those kites around at the higher climbs. But it did a better job than most modern productions in terms of having the planes perform at speeds and adroitness relatively appropriate to 1918. Far too often they have them screaming about the skies at jet velocities and reversing directions as if on cocaine.

 

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[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Gould in "No Parachute" talks about DIII's regularly being at 18,000 ft. and higher, but he says his Pup could outperform them at that height.

[Rugbyfan1972 1]

If the service ceiling for the Albatros D.III was 5500 Meter, that would be 18.044 ft.

And in the time of the D.III they may still have flown lone wolf missions.

 

Olham,

 

I think some of the pilots of all sides would have flown lone wolf if they were after recon aircraft. After all from reading Flying Fury by James McCudden, I can't believe that he was the only pilot on any side to go out alone and hunt aircraft.

 

After all lets be realistic, we all know how hard it is to spot a single aircraft as opposed to a flight of 4 or more, and a single aircraft can set up a far better stalk unseen than can a flight of aircraft.

[Olham 164]

Yes, that is right. The Pup seemed to be very good at high altitude.

 

While the Pup only weighed 556 kg at takeoff, the Albatros weighed 886 kg.

So the lift to weight ratio was better for the light Pup.

 

Someone here (Pol?) said some time ago:

"While Sopwith built wonderful flying machines, the Germans built great war machines."

Edited June 4, 2011 by Olham

[33LIMA 972]

I noticed the section in the 'First Dogfighters' episode on the AR Brooks SPAD-vs-DVII combat got fairly badly shot down in flames on the Aerodrome.com, as regards its general accuracy. Seems the only plane that definitely went down on fire in that engagement was one of the US pilot's squadron mates earlier in the fight, and the Huns only lost one plane with the pilot not killed. Took some serious liberties with Brook's own account, which was a lot less bullish apparently; all this stuff about magic incendiary rounds flaming Fokkers by the dozen was a tad overdone. Excellent series tho, the CGI recreations are nothing short of superb, much better than Flyboys or Red Baron, good though some of the better air combat moments were, in both those rather more dubious accounts.

Edited June 5, 2011 by 33LIMA