Pips

For books that provide a good overview of the Great War in the air I would suggest: Royal Flying Corp/Royal Naval Air Service/Royal Air Force The Friendless Sky, By Alexander McKee The First Great Air War, by Richard Townsend Bickers The First Air War 1914-1918, by Lee Kennett The Royal Flying Corps, by Geoffrey Norris The Royal Flying Corps in WWI, by Ralph Barker Independent Force: The Daylight Bomber Squadrons Of the Independent Air Force July-November 1918, by Keith Rennles Royal Naval Air Service 1912-1918, by Brad King Aeronautique Militaire French Strategic And Tactical Bombardment Forces Of WWI, by Rene Martel and Steven Suddaby Kings of The Air: French Aces And Airmen Of The Great War, by Ian Sumner Sky Fighters Of France: Aerial Warfare 1914-1918, by Henry Farre First To Fly: The Story Of The Lafayette Escadrille, by Charles Flood The Lafayette Flying Corps: American Volunteer's In The French Air Service, by Dennis Gordon French Aviation During The First World War, by Vital Ferry American Air Service Aerial Observation In The Great War, by Harold E. Porter Hostile Skies, by James J. Hudson The Unsubstantial Air: America In The First World War, by Samuel Hynes America's First Air War, by Terry Treadwell Luftstreitkrafte Development Of German Warplanes in WWI, by Jack Herris Sharks Among Minnows: The Fokker Eindecker Period, July 1915 - September 1916, by Norman Franks Germany's First Air Force 1914-1918, by Peter Kilduff The German Air Force In The Great War, by Georg Paul Neuman Zeppelin In Combat: A History Of The German Naval Airship Division 1912-1918, by Douglas Robinson The German Air Raids On Britain 1914-1918, by Joseph Morris General Early Aircraft Armament: The Aeroplane And The Gun Up To 1918, by Harry Woodman Eyes All Over The Sky: Aerial Reconnaissance In The First World War, by James Streckfuss Wings Over The Trenches: Air Power And The Western Front 1916-1918, by E. R. Hooton Gallipoli Air War by Hugh Dolan The First Air Campaign, by Eric And Jane Lawson The Strategy And Tactics Of Air Fighting In World War One, by Oliver Stewart The Great War In The Air: Military Aviation From 1909-1921, by John H. Morrow

Of the list I too would select the Camel. Strong airframe, extremely manoeuvrable and stronger fire power than any Entente fighter except the Spad XIII and Sopwith Dolphin. Now if I had my choice of any Entente fighter I would choose the ..........Sopwith Dolphin. Only slightly slower than the Se.5, yet far more manoeuvrable, better altitude performance and had two Vickers MG's. Imho the best Allied fighter of the war. Greatly underrated

Ahhhh. Thanks for letting me know. :)

Haven't visited here in years. The format has changed quite a bit. Combat Ace used to be my second home for EAW and MiG Alley news etc, then life took over and before you know it ages have passed. Now have time available and want to get back into some old sims, MiG Alley especially. I have some questions on the sim, but not sure where to post them. The only MiG Alley Forum I see is closed to all but developers and modders. Would some kind soul point me in the right direction?

That Albatross is absolutely superb. The attention to detail and finish is exquisite. Does anyone know where the sourced the linen for the wings and tailplane? Is that done in genuine material as well? I know that when the AWM was rebuilding their Albatross D.V they searched all over the world until they found a supplier who could provide the exact linen as used during WWI construction. And then they had to (again) search worldwide for the actual presses used for doping and painting the material. From memory they finally found the press somewhere in Germany.

The aeroplane is an Albatross D.II. Square lower wing and low set top wing. As to pilot and unit it's got me beat! There are several pilots (that I know of) who flew using the Skull and Crossbones symbol. Julius Arigi of the LFT. Georg von Hantlemann Prince Friedrich von Preussen Kurt Monnington Julius Arigi of Flik 55J is out, as the only photo I've seen of his Albatross (which is a Oeffag D.III) has the skull and crossbones painted directly onto the fuselage. No band. George von Hantlemann is out as by the time he started flying his unit - Jasta 18 - was equipped with D.III's. Add to that Georg' symbol was overpainted on a white and black band. Kurt Monnington of Jasta 15 is out too. His Albatross, again a D.III, had the fuselage top and sides painted a serrated green camo. That leaves Prince Friedrich Karl. He could have been a contender. After all he flew occasionally with Jasta 2, although usually a Albatross D.I. But even if he flew a D.II, his emblem doesn't match as it was skull was set in a green, possibly black, square. Interested to see who others may come up with.

Just wondering if they are all inclusive? Or do they need to be installed in order?

There are a number of voice interviews that follow on from the 'Credits' section. Fascinating. I particularly like the second interview. Frightfully British voice, very plummy. This fellow is flying a Be2c and spots a German 2 seater below him. He dives towards it and his observer, an inexperienced Corporal, fires off the whole mag before the Be2c is even remotely in range. And in the usual understated way of the British, the pilot, now faced with an alert German whose observer is now firing at him, refers to his own observer as .....an idiot Corporal! Love it.

Most definitely just you old chap. WOFF is outstanding, convinced it'll be classed as a classic over time.

Cheers.

Oh, WOFF install separate to OFF eh? Interesting, kinda cool too, because I was hoping to keep OFF. Does that mean then that I need a second install of CFS3? Or does it run off the same one that OFF uses?

I've ordered the DVD, and it seems I'm allowed to get the d/load version too. All for the same price (excluding postage of course). Fantastic value!! So rather than wait for my DVD I may as well use the D/L version. I have OFF currently installed. Do I just install WOFF over it? Then do the patches (v1.3 I think it is now)?

Just placed my order for the DVD. Just have to have the hard copy. What a wonderful Christmas present. Thanks guys!!

On boy, oh boy, oh boy! Haven't been able to sit still since I read of the impending release yesterday.

I have read that one great benefit of the Me 109 cockpit was it's seat arrangement. Willy M designed the seat deliberately low, so that a pilots legs were stretched out in front of him, rather than the 'chair' style favoured by British and American (and Focke Wulf) designers. The advantage of such a layout was that it allowed the Messerschmitt pilot to pull higher 'G's than his opponents, before the onset of black out. Eric 'Winkle' Brown had some harsh things to say of the 109 cockpit layout - in terms of size and ability to twist and turn to look over the shoulder. But he was highly complimentary of the seat/leg arrangement; saying it was superior to any Allied fighter he flew.