Mike Dora

Nice! What did you give Otto as his coat of arms?

Thanks BM, Remind me please how the Userlist thing works? Mike

Thanks Gunrunner, My next question, does China have to be the “primary” nation for an aircraft, or is it acceptable for China to be an “importee”? Because in messing around I’ve found I can make North Korea show up as an importee, but not the People’s Republic of China. Mike

Well here's my root problem. I'm trying to fly missions as the "good guys" in the Himalayas terrain by Wrench & Maj Lee, with modern (ie post-1980) ac, with the following Himalaya_Nations.ini file: [Theater] TheaterName=Somewhere over Himalayas Location001=Nepal Location002=PRC [LimitedNationList] FriendlyNation001=USAF FriendlyNation002=USMC FriendlyNation003=RAF FriendlyNation007=Australia FriendlyNation008=Singapore EnemyNation001=China //EnemyNation002=Soviet Trouble is, the Chinese never show up. When I fly as the Chinese, though, I do meet the "Western" ac. How do I fix this please? Thanks Mike

Thanks Wrench, Very helpful. I think I’m going to have fun with this. Mike

Nicely done Spinners, I can still remember when the then in-development MRCA was initially to be called the Panther, before it was renamed Tornado. This must have been in the 1969-70 time frame. I recall preparing hand-drawn scale drawings of it while still at high school, with the optimistic intention of one day scratch-building a model (oh well) . In those days all the artists' impressions showed a much sleeker airframe - something more akin to the eventual Tornado F3 than the stubby GR1- with half-circle intakes plus half-cone centrebodies á la Mirage III. After I joined the RAF in 1972 I discovered what MRCA was believed to really stand for in the eyes of the Service at that time: "Must Refurbish Canberra Again". Only the really cynical said it stood for "Mother Riley's Cardboard Aeroplane".. Mike

So far (I’m at page 128 of 359, it’s now August 1916) he’s been on a Hansa-Brandenburg CI and a Lloyd CII of Flik 19F, based at Caprovizza near Haidenschaft at the east end of the Vippaco Valley. Although a qualified pilot from before the War (see Biggins’ “The Emporer’s Coloured Coat”, the second in the Prohaska series), he initially at least flies as an officer-observer. I suspect though that he’ll end up flying a Lohner type L. Mike

As for Bleriot XI’s, we have one (original, from 1909) at Old Rhinebeck where I have the great good fortune to serve as volunteer groundcrew during the summer airshows. (Depending on the weather) it still gets daylight under the wheels at every Saturday show.

Excellent news Gterl! May I make a plea for the (admittedly ahistorical) inclusion of the fictional Linienschiffsleutnant Otto Ritter von Prohaska? Yes yes I know this would be equivalent to including Biggles in a Western Front campaign*, but by coincidence I'm currently re-reading "The Two-Headed Eagle" by John Biggins. This is a fictional account of the adventures and misadventures of said Otto Prohaska, an Austro-Czech naval officer attached to the KuK Fliegertruppe on the Isonzo Front in 1916. Clearly grounded upon solid research into the period, it gives a dramatized but authentic picture of the Hapsburg Empire in its waning days. It is very far from dry though, with moments of high farce and moments of deep tragedy, all narrated by the protagonist with a stong sense of irony. It is the third of four novels in the Prohaska series, all very highly recommended! Cheers Mike *and why not? Biggles was quite “real” to generations of British schoolboys, inspiring many** to careers in the RAF. **Including this one.

Thanks guys, Reinstallation worked first time. I've no idea what I mucked up before, must be out of practice! Changing subject, but still relevant, I'm re-reading "The Two-Headed Eagle" by John Biggins, a fictionalized account of the adventures and misadventures of Otto Prohaska, an Austro-Czech naval officer attached to the KuK Fliegertruppe on the Isonzo Front in 1916. Clearly grounded upon solid research into the period, it gives a dramatized but authentic picture of the Hapsburg Empire in its waning days. It is very far from dry though, with moments of farce and tragedy all narrated by the protagonist with a deep sense of irony. It is the third of four novels in the Prohaska series, all very highly recommended! Cheers Mike

Many thanks Stephen for yet another fine new model. I have one wee problem with it though, the rear gunner seems obstinately to face the wrong way, please see the attachment. How can I get him to turn round to cover the tail please? Thanks Mike

Thanks guys That simple *data.ini edit did the trick, everything now looks normal. Actually everything now looks excellent, much credit to Gterl! Mike

First of all Gterl, Many many thanks for your efforts in bringing the WW1 Italo-Austro-Hungarian front to life. As an ex-RAF person with Italian ancestry and a lifelong interest in WW1 aviation, it activates several deep-seated themes for me. However I seem to have encountered a couple of a graphics glitches when first running this new terrain with FE2, please see attachments. As you'll see, some ground objects/buildings are emitting a peculiar "glow" or "bloom", while others are frankly psychedelic in their colouring. Your advice please, how can I get things looking "normal" again? Bearing in mind as noted that I'm running FE2 rather than the original FE. Thanks (ie grazie!) Mike

I'm trying to get LB2 to run on my new (XP SP3) system, using the advice at Speichts.com install guide. This tells me to upgrade the install to v2.09, but I don't seem to be able to do this. Every time I try, my MacAfee virus checker quarantines the patched LB2.exe file because of a detected Trojan. I've tried several different sources for the patch, to no avail. So, can anyone tell me where to find a "clean" LB2 v2.09 patch, or better still, can anyone copy me a clean, v2.09 updated LB2.exe file? Thanks Mike

Actually I’ve long considered exhaust smoke effects in WW2 sims to be a framerate-destroying, wholly inaccurate irrelevance, created by people seemingly unfamiliar with the real aeroplanes. Just look at any picture of an airborne Hurricane/Spitfire/Mosquito/Lancaster (is my RAF background showing here?) and observe the complete _absence_ of any smoke. Further, in relation to WW1 types, in my spare time in summer I volunteer as groundcrew at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York State. Apart from an occasional brief burst of white smoke at startup as excess fuel is burnt off, none of our WW1 types trail any visible plumes of smoke either. For me then, these “exhaust smoke” effects as every bit as unrealistic as the “sun flare” effects also often offered by popular flightsims. Wherever possible therefore I always eliminate “exhaust smoke” from my WW1 & WW2 sims. Improves both realism and framerates. Now if one is talking about the “skidmarks in the sky” of Vietnam-era J79-powered Phantoms etc, then those are definitely realistic! In my own service I recall spotting types like Vulcans & Hercules from their smoke trails long before the actual ac was visible. Cheers Mike

Bad old 80’s joke: ”Doctor! Doctor! I’ve got hermes!” ”Don’t you mean herpes?” ”No, I’m the carrier..”

Fascinating pics, thanks. Made me quite nostalgic. When I was a young flt lt, my air movements team brought back the last Vulcan deployment to Red Flag in 1979. For the team, the high point of our deployment was that because of the big Red Flag exercise, all the base accommodation was full, and so was all of the local commercial accommodation. The Nellis base accommodation office ended up putting us in the nearest available empty rooms. The Dunes casino at the top of the strip in Las Vegas :)))) (that said, Service life being what it was/is, the next job was to Cambodia.. )

Actually Bader, though a very (very) brave man, was never popular within the RAF for his (verging on arrogance) extreme opinions. Many never forgave him for his role in undermining Dowding and Park, the victors of the Battle of Britain, in favour of Leigh-Mallory.

Old enough to remember British compo rations (MRE equivalent) with plum & apple jam, condensed milk in a tube (like toothpaste!), and with a separate hexamine tablet “stove”. The 24-hr one-man pack also had 3 pieces of toilet paper. Once lived on French-made MREs for a month. Lost almost 10lbs..

MRE = Meals Rejected by Everybody..