Albrecht_Kaseltzer

My favorite out of the custom skins I've made for my German pilot Conrad Kuenzl. I present his Albatros D.III, "Der Löwe von Sachsen": After bouncing around the Kest and Kasta systems throughout most of 1916, Kuenzl finally got his big break with a post at Jasta 6 in November 1916. That was followed by a transfer into Jasta 11 just in time for Bloody April of 1917, which is where the above shots are from. Here are a couple shots of Kuenzl's D.I, "Lazarus," a reference to the fact that (a) his last flight in an Eindecker ended with him surviving a crash, (b) flying a D.I with Jasta 6 revived his combat pilot career, and (c) the D.I was to revive the German air service in general. He has 41 kills as of May 1917 - 11 behind Richthofen, but easily his closest rival.

I use Serif PhotoPlus, and I apply the following built-in filters or effects: 1 - "Artistic - Watercolor" (high detail) 2 - "Artistic - Paint and Ink" (high detail, low ink) 3 - very very subtle blur I stop there for pictures that are meant to emulate the illustrations of old time-y books, like this one that I first came across when I was like 9 or 10: If I want to make something look more like a photograph, I continue with the following: 4 - Very, very hard sharpening effect (especially with a large radius) - this creates somewhat of a 3D effect. 5 - black & white / sepia filter 6 - soften to taste Before I figured out the built-in watercolor / paint filters, I got similar results with the harsh sharpening effect + softening and then fiddling around with the color balance.

(Note: Esc N12 was grounded for Oct 1 & Oct 2 due to poor weather, and in the meantime both of Jean-Fidele's pending claims were confirmed - bringing his total to 3).

Jean-Fidele Hierrot, Escadrille MS12: September 1915, Part 3 The next day, Lieutenant de Gennes made an announcement: Escadrille MS12 was now going to be known as Escadrille N12. The Morane-Saulnier two-seaters were out; Nieuport single-seater scouts were in. This also meant that, while pilots were here to stay, observers were soon to be transferred. Given the nature of war, Aldric and Jean-Fidele never had a chance for a formal good-bye. Another pilot, Raymond de Bernis, handed Jean-Fidele a hand-written note that went as follows: Since there weren't enough Nieuports at first, Jean-Fidele was out of a job until finally getting to join a single-seater patrol on 22 September. All was uneventful for a day or two, until Jean-Fidele's flight came across a pair of Aviatik B.I's deep in French territory. While Jean-Fidele's Nieuport only had a gun mounted on the top wing, the aircraft came with a mercifully located pair of criss-crossed bracing wires that made for a convenient aiming assistent - and Jean-Fidele let loose, drilling two dozen rounds straight into the general area of the Aviatik's engine. As Jean-Fidele pulled away, he could see the Aviatik sputter, and he caught a glimpse of his opponent slumped in the cockpit. Just as importantly, Frederic Quellenec saw this, too, and volunteered to serve as a witness as Jean-Fidele filled out his claim form. After remembering to sign off as "Sous Lieutenant Petit-Sous," Jean-Fidele submitted the paperwork to de Gennes. A day later, the announcement came that de Gennes's commanding officer had accepted the claim. Jean-Fidele Hierrot had his first confirmed victory! *** Later in the week, Escadrille N12 was summoned for a scramble mission: an Aviatik flight had been sighted overhead, right there at Rosnay. Following the lead of Adjutant Jean Marie Navarre, N12 swept up into the sky. Jean-Fidele was particularly aggressive on the stick, trying to match the Aviatiks' altitude as quickly as possible. It worked, as Jean-Fidele soon found himself in the perfect place for a shark to be: directly below and behind the hapless two-seater. He sent about 20 rounds into the first Aviatik, then looped back around to get at the second, and emptied out the remainder of his ammunition drum. At that point, Jean-Fidele rejoined the formation. As the flight turned back to land at Rosnay half an hour later, Jean-Fidele could spot smoke stacks where his adversaries had fallen. That evidence, combined with the testimony of squad mate George Pelletier d'Oisy, formed the basis of Jean-Fidele's third and fourth claims, in pursuit of his second and third confirmed victories. However, as of the end of September, both claims remained unconfirmed - the chain of command was moving rather slowly for some reason.