JFM

Nah, we didn't save Britain from speaking German. The English Channel did.

First, thank you for the great shots! Very nice touch with the backlit internal bracing, visible roundel, etc. Good stuff. The plane is not overweathered and the pilot figure looks fantastic. However, it's missing a strut near the empennage. Can you guys add this or are you planning to add this or is it too late?

Maybe when they invent a time machine we can go back and have Japan attack Pearl Harbor earlier and have Hitler declare war on us earlier so we won't be "late" anymore, at least to the second one.

A brief wander OT, perhaps, but if interested this goes with UncleAl's first photo, an Aviation Militaire Belge MF11bis, flown by Lt Louis de Burlet and Adjt José Orta, 3me Esc.

Same with intestinal gasses, Olham. As an aside, a Luftwaffe pilot told me that as a student he and his friends intentionally ate food that caused gas so they could reek out their instructors.

This is very basic but the average temperature lapse rate is ca. 3.5 degrees F/2 degrees C for every thousand feet one ascends (more in dry air, less in moist). Thus, even if 70F/21C on the ground at takeoff, by the time the plane reaches, say, 10,000 feet AGL (above ground level) the temperature has dropped 35/20 degrees and the ambient air temp is now 35F/1C. Take her up to 13,000 feet and the temps drop to 24.5F/-4.2C. That's at 70F/21C at takeoff. Now let's say it's a late December 1916 morning and McCudden has left on patrol in his DH2 pusher, which had no benefit of engine heat that the tractor pilots had to at least warm them slightly. At takeoff the temperature is, say, 20F/-7C; at 10,000 feet it'd be -15F/-26C. Common to be in those temps for 90 minutes or more. The DH2 nacelle and windscreen would offer some protection from the 80-100mph wind, but at those temperatures the cold finds you damn fast. During my multi-engine training in Oklahoma I flew a Beechcraft BE-76. It was winter (in Oklahoma it is ten billion degrees in the summer and minus ten billion degrees in the winter, with a 30 knot sustained wind blowing year round); the heater was inop; engines were on the wings. We trained anyway, bundled to the max but at least we were in an enclosed cockpit. We were relatively warm. Still, it didn't take long for our feet to start, well, burning is the only way I can describe the effect of the cold. And we were only out for an hour at a time (all our feet could stand; hell we weren't at war [and didn't have fug boots]!) and not much higher than 6,000 feet.

I'm very glad this is a joke because I was not interested in the online-multiplayer-only aspect at all.

RoF, WoP.

Above and beyond all combat, I like flying. Combat is incidental; as it was with real sorties, which mostly involved flying around. A very small portion of a sortie involved fighting. Maintaining altitudes, headings, monitoring engine temps, navigating, etc., that's what I really love. If I get a chance to flame a plane amongst all that or bomb something, so much the better. I agree eye candy isn't everything but 'tis important; every sim strives to improve it and for me, dated graphics and models are a huge immersion killer. From my observations, calls of "eye candy ain't everything" usually come from fans of sims that have less than others. RB3D had a great campaign but no way on earth I'd fly it today, even if that relic would run on this machine. RoF's campaigns are a series of scripted missions made to replicate a specific career, such as Ernst Udet's. Their "career" is what most people call a "campaign": you join a unit and fly missions that may include some historic aspects but much of the flight involves random occurences. A new career mode is what RoF is working on. At the moment, RoF's career is pretty stale and OFF's is much more--what's the overused media phrase today, besides "the fact that"?--comprehensive. It has some quirky missions here and there (Jastas going deep across the lines to strafe an airfield) but overall it is excellent. RoF's new career that's on the brink of release (two weeks be sure) looks to be fantastic. From the screenshots I've seen and the info I've read, how can it be bad? I can't imagine why anybody would want it to be bad. At the very least, how can it be worse than what's there? It can't be, unless it crushes the sim into the disaster of CoD. And great as RoF's new career turns out, it won't replace OFF. Why should it? In my world, it's not either-or, it's both. Actually, it's all, since I have First Eagles, too. Well, I guess I don't have them all, as I don't fly Richthofen's Skies or the SDOE WW1 sim. Tried 'em both, but they didn't last. Point being that I love airplanes and flying too much to deprive myself of as many sims as possible.

It's great. Anything by Greg VanWyngarden is worth thrice what you pay for it.

According to Lothar von Richthofen, here's an anecdote describing a similar situation with MvR. Bear in mind, I'm not suggesting MvR would have survived if in Voss's shoes 23 September 1917, just showing that even the pinnacle of German fighter pilots was involved in his share of scraps: (After becoming separated from MvR in a battle when 5 English scouts attacked them. LvR fought one, had jammed guns, then disengaged.) "Where are the other four Englishmen and where is my brother? Then I saw a ghastly scene! The four Englishmen and my brother were turning circles around each other in a wild battle. I was fearful for Manfred. I had a gun jam and could no longer shoot. But he must have help! After all, my brother had continuously distracted the four Englishmen, who would have long since cut me off. Now it was my turn to help. I got right in the middle of the combatants. The four Englishmen, who had previously had one opponent, suddenly left us and flew home, even though they were double our number. They could not have known that my guns were jammed as well. As my brother said afterwards, he had given up on both of our lives." MvR had rescue, but prior to that had fought a 4 vs 1 draw. Who knows how long he could've continued without help.

MvR's situation 21 April 1918 is simple to assess: too low near the lines. That's it. There was no "violation" of personal combat ethics or PTSD-influenced decision making or any other such overthinking by many to "explain" the loss. He flew within range of small arms fire, as he had before, only that time he got shot. Just like Mannock, except not in flames.

I agree with UK_Widowmaker. Voss wasn't much of a leader but what would a driven leader like MvR have done with the Luftwaffe? Fun to speculate. Wouldn't have overcome the English Channel (it was is the savior of Britain--the English fought valiantly during the Battle of Britain, and I mean no disrespect, but if England were landlocked with France nobody was stopping the Wermacht in May 1940) or US production but had he been in charge it is possible the allies would have had a much tougher time of things. Or, maybe not? Who knows. Again, fun to speculate. +1 to what Hasse wrote. Regarding Voss, many think he's a better pilot than MvR. I'm not saying he is or isn't (although history shows MvR was not the "poor" pilot many mistakenly believe he was); I don't know. But I can't find anything that speaks of Voss's stick-and-rudder ability beyond the descriptions of his final flight, made by pilots with far less victory totals. I can find beacoup personal testaments to MvR's skills but nothing on Voss; again, not saying MvR was "better" pilot than Voss but indeed he was better than "poor." Although I will say that if Voss was a better stick and rudder pilot than MvR, well, okay; he would have done better at the Adlershof demonstrations but a lot of good it did him over the lines, where it counted. Voss's death is another example that maneuverability is defensive. One needn't fly like Sean Tucker to shoot down an airplane but it can help evade the guy on your six, but Voss had too many opponents to overcome (although Hawker had only one opponent to overcome and his aerobatics got him nowhere as well). It's no fluke that the #1 and #2 top scoring pilots of WW1 weren't aerobatic pilots.

Hey, I'll go ahead and offer that Walter's latest book already is THE reference source on the Belgian Air Service. His first book is good, too, but the new one is a magnum opus. If interested, some info: http://www.aeronautbooks.com/product/978-1-935881-01-8

Lewis.

It is a stellar must-have.

Respectfully, I disagree. The aim of a fighter pilot was to attack the other guy without being seen. Why is it more impressive to attack/shoot down an N11 from behind without being seen than attack/shoot down a lumbering two seater from behind without being seen? A bullet to the back of the head is a bullet to the back of the head; that was the name of the game. My take, anyway.

"but the Aerodrome needs Alex far more than he needs the Aerodrome" I agree with that 100%. Alex gets in the thick of it sometimes but I've never seen him be personally nasty or attack people--well, excluding Manfred Thiemeyer, although MT liked to ruffle plenty of feathers himself. And same as you, Lou, he sent me an autographed label for HITEB. Contacted me out of the blue and offered to do it, as well; probably the same for you. It was a thoughtful and kind gesture, not a conceited one, just to be clear for others reading this. (For you Americans who remember, it was like the old Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial when he throws his jersey to the kid.) As far as BS (musn't touch that pun...) is concerned, I've been ignoring him for quite a while so he's already been "banned" in my world. I'm not surprised he's been officially elbowed, though, although I have no idea the specifics of his case. If he gets reinstated, C'est la vie. But if protesting his ban is the "grounds" for Alex being gone, clearly that's ridiculous. And it seems a ridiculously obvious thing to say now but calling for AR's reinstatement should not be "grounds" for others being banned. I mean, last year I saw a guy call Alex, literally, a "c*nt", and he didn't get banned, IIRC. Surely (hopefully) there has to be more going on than being banned for supporting someone? Perhaps they can make AR's ban temporary. I'll dash off a note to Scott, too.

Amazing how "spouse radar" knows no geopolitcal borders! If I see a HITEB somewhere for less than a hundred I'll shoot you a PM.

Osprey books are great--I have ten zillion--but they aren't HITEB. Re: Osprey's No. 56 Squadron, from what Alex said over at the Aerodrome, Osprey (paraphrasing here) butchered his text. Thus, he effectively would have nothing to do with it.

I agree, Lou, that's wrong if that's the sole reason for Alex's banning. As far as Bristol Scout, again, he had it coming from long before.

The man makes sense. People always argue about which sim is better, and taken to its logical conclusion (finding the better of everything) this leads to which is best; i.e., one thing. There can only be one best, that's what best is. I don't want to limit myself to one. Besides, there is no single sim that does everything "right"; thus, I like aspects of various sims and fly many depending on my mood (when I have any time to fly in the first place). Re: WoP, I've formatted my computer three times (thanks to *$#ing trojans) since I've had it and no problems. It has some bloody annoying features (timed missions, required waypoints, green filter, etc.) but IMO also has some outstanding "immersion" during combat. Flying an IL2 on the hardest settings over burning Stalingrad with 109s roaring around, in and out of cloud shadows, over that gorgeously done scenery, at 60 fps, is both a joy and an asskicker. I eagerly await and will purchase future sims from Gaijin, along with CoD and OFF P4.

I don't think flying is dangerous. It's just less forgiving of error than many other endeavors. As regards that road, I wouldn't want to be in Bolivia on any road.

Believe me, if the "other member" who was banned at the Aerodrome "for no good reason whatsoever" is who I think it is, he had it coming; that guy ruined more good threads than a thousand moths. Although, I have seen some ridiculous bannings at that place. Manfred Thiemeyer was banned for "threatening a moderator's children"--that was the Mt. Everest of absurdity. Of course, you do whatever you like, but avoiding the Aerodrome because of things that don't involve you (and Alex has been great to me but over the years he wasn't pure as the driven snow at the Aerodrome, either) deprives you the chance to interact with and learn directly from heavy-hitting WWI historians such as Peter Kilduff, Norman Franks, Lance Bronnenkant, Alan Toelle, Terry Phillips (although not so much in recent years, because he told me he was tired of Alex Revell's contentious demeanor; maybe he'll be back since Alex is gone), Russ Gannon, Dan-San Abbott, Stephen Skinner, Greg VanWyngarden, who are still there, just to name but a few off the top of my head as fast as I can type. I've seen some at the Great War Forum but not nearly to the degree as regards First World War aviation.