Olham 164 Posted May 1, 2012 (edited) Just chased a Nieuport 16 from Esc.69 over the trees very low. After hitting him, I overshot, and since he had hardly any space left, he pulled up. My undercarriage hit his top wing - and kicked him into the dirt! Nieuports are agile as butterflies - but break as easily. The Halberstadt had a tendency to sink to the right side after that collision, and I expected the undercarriage to break away at landing. But no - I made my careful landing, and she was fine! Her dive is solid and fast, almost vertically! I'm beginning to love the aircraft better and better! . Edited May 1, 2012 by Olham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullethead 12 Posted May 2, 2012 I rather like the Halberstadt myself. As you say, it's quite sturdy and has no vices. It's perfectly adequate for its time period. But I have to disagree with you on the dive speed. With me, the thing acts like I left the parking brake on--it only gets a little faster than it goes in level flight. I had a balloon-busting mission one time so I did my usual flight profile to set up the attack. This entails starting high and some miles behind the balloon so as not to scare it too soon, diving vertically while still a few miles away, then coming in fast on the level, hopefully catching the balloon still relatively high and then right on out for home. This tactic doesn't work in a Halberstadt. During the vertical dive, I gained so little speed that I undid my seatbelt, climbed out of my seat, and started jumping up and down on the instrument panel in an unsuccessful effort to make it dive faster ;). When I finally got low enough to pull out, I was going no faster than I had been before the dive. Surprise was achieved; there was the balloon still a little above me. But I closed the remaining distance so slowly that it was winched down to the ground before I came anywhere close to effective range. Fortunately, I was safely above all the AAMGs but all the archie in the neighborhood had a good time knocking me about. The one good thing was the Halberstadt absorbed numerous splinters with no apparent effect, but the mission was a total failure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted May 2, 2012 You must be right about the dive speed, Bullet - I was never spoiled by the Albatros D.III / D.V 's non-abilities to dive steeply, so everything that CAN do it appears fast to me. And that explains, why I couldn't really catch up with a little Nupe (which should have shed it's little lower wings in that shamelessly steep dive!). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gaw 5 Posted May 2, 2012 wait a sec....the balloons winch down?? I know they're supposed to but never seen it in OFF. I'm not that good that I surprise it every time but I've nver seen a balloon on the ground...and 50% of the time they're aced by their own ground fire at me before I have to fire a shot.......a leisure moment or two swanning about directly above them usually does the job without having to fire a shot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) ...and 50% of the time they're aced by their own ground fire at me before I have to fire a shot... ....a leisure moment or two swanning about directly above them usually does the job without having to fire a shot. "Yes, mein Herr, zatt iss my common speshel tactic for der Balloons! Mmuahahahaaaaa!!!!!!!" I'm afraid that, if you request that from the devs now, they'll build them that way. And OFF II won't appear before spring 2013... Edited May 2, 2012 by Olham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullethead 12 Posted May 2, 2012 wait a sec....the balloons winch down?? I know they're supposed to but never seen it in OFF. I'm not that good that I surprise it every time but I've nver seen a balloon on the ground...and 50% of the time they're aced by their own ground fire at me before I have to fire a shot.......a leisure moment or two swanning about directly above them usually does the job without having to fire a shot. Yup, they winch on down, provided of course that their archie doesn't get them first. It was to avoid the archie problem that I developed the above tactics. After all, to me the mission is a failure unless I personally kill the balloon. And if I'm going to run the risk of messing with them at all, I'd better have the kill to show for it ;). Anyway, once the alarm for that area gets sounded, the balloon starts loosing altitude quite rapidly. The ideal approach is to dive vertically and come in horiztonally just above the AAMG ceiling going as fast as you can. This makes it much easier to spot the balloon because it will usually still be somewhat above you, easily seen above the horizon. By the time you come in range, however, it should have winched on down to just about your altitude. But if you're in a Halberstadt, you'll see the balloon winch on down way below you before you get into range. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
