JFM

In my view, carrying weapons/having weapons at home is about preparedness, not paranoia. For instance, I have fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in my house. Do I think I'll ever have a fire? No. Am I paranoid about having a fire? No. Am I better prepared if there ever is a fire than I would be without those items? Yes.

I am Joe Public and am more than fit to carry a weapon, which I've been licensed to carry concealed. To dredge up the tired cliche, UKW, guns don't kill, UKW, people do. 'twasn't a gun that killed that poor boy, was it? What's next, outlaw knives? I live in a nice community on a golf course and I go heavy even when I ride my bike. It's not that I expect trouble or anything, but anything can happen. It's like a parachute. You don't expect to need it on some 20 mile rear area flight--if you really thought the plane was going to crash on that flight you wouldn't get in it and take off in the first place (unless you hadn't any decision making skills at all to realize that "if I get in this plane and take off I know the engine will catch on fire and I'll have to bail out, but I think I'll take off anyway"). But if you DO need it, no matter how unlikely the event, it's there.

Seems we like a lot of the same music. AC/DC and Maiden are my favorites. Love Motorhead, Priest, Sabbath, early Krokus, Saxon, early Leppard, UFO, etc. Enjoy the Rush gig. Living in Naples there isn't much that comes through here (last gig I saw was The Wiggles). Hopefully Maiden will play in Tampa or Miami on the upcoming tour.

+1 Other ideas: 1. Belgian ops 2. Schlachtflieger ops 3. Multi-engine bomber ops 4. Historically accurate airfields 5. Fix the Albatros D-series throttle; i.e., its proper location on the control column, and the removal of the egregious five+ second lag between throttle application and engine response 6. Engine RPM affects rate-of-fire 7. Props can be damaged by gunfire and shrapnel 8. Parachutes for late-war Germans

Must just be me. Been a Priest fan, too, from 1980, when I was 14. Found out he was gay through a mutual friend. Certainly put a different spin on Desert Plains but I didn't care. Same with Accept. People were making fun of "London Leatherboys" but I thought--and still think--it rocked. But I understand your point, OVS, and it's a good one. Maturity is a good thing; it also causes me not to have fun with your third sentence, although immaturity causes me to at least bring it up, anyway.

Big fan of Dio since 1980 but I'm not sad; I never knew the man. I have plenty of his Sabbath/solo cds that I'll continue playing just I have for the last 30 years. BTW, I've known a lot of gay people (many of them musicians) in my life and none of them wore leather and spikes; i.e., one's clothing preference does not denote one's sexual preference. Paul Di'Anno outspiked Halford on the Killers tour and trust me, he ain't gay.

+1, except for the Blu Ray part.

Hi, Olham, I'm there in Florida, but you have me as "FJM." Not complaining, just an FYI.

My two cents for new things: 1. Belgian campaigns. Hanriot needed, yes, but they also flew Camels, SPAD VIIs, SPAD XIIIs, BE2s (some modified with Hispano-Suiza engines and some stock), RE8s (some with Hisso engine, some stock), Nieuport 11s, Nieuport 23s, Pups and Strutters. That's just what's already in the sim (well, the 23 isn't, but it was essentially an N17 with 10 more hp [an overly simple description]). The Breguet 14s and Farmans and SPAD XI would be nice, too, if they could be made. Perhaps all this could be a future HITR-esque add-on. 2. Accurately represented airfields. Flying out of Boistrancourt that looks like Boistrancourt, flying out of Vert Galant looks like Vert Galant, etc. Perhaps not every single field could be historically represented because some documentation and/or photos could be scarce, but photos/information exists for many popular fields (although each field would require several versions to represent their changes over time). One of the Devs (forgive me, forget which) said in the recent past that something like this could be done. "Could" be done, mind you, not would be done. 3. Schlachtflieger campaign and the machines necessary to fly such a campaign. Similar to 1, perhaps a future add-on.

Although ineffectual--MvR didn't even break off his pursuit of May--one still admires Brown's ballsy power-dive attack. I'm looking forward to the book.

Well, I was hoping you'd add this stuff to P2.

Maybe reading this will show those still resistant that he didn't down MvR. I already know that, but I'm certainly interested in the 500 (!) photographs!

Hello, As Pol rightly pointed it out, I came on here specifically to say that I was wrong about the OFF early Alb D.IIIs not having central radiators. As he indicated, they do. I have been checking/testing these various models but obviously I overlooked the central radiator or thought I was in an early when I was in a late D.III. Either way, I was wrong. I'm all for voicing suggestions but I do not want to state inaccuracies and I apologize for having done so. With respect to Cecil Lewis's observations in his book (which I own and will opine that while okay, it isn't worth a hundred or even fifty bucks--I paid $17.95 for mine and that's barely a fair price for the content within), his comments regard the Albatros in comparison with British planes, not other Albatrosses. Thus, to a man used to flying light and nimble Pups, etc., any Albatros is going to be sluggish by comparison and wouldn't have the "grace" of Pups, Camels, etc. That the Albatros isn't as maneuverable as a Pup isn't the point, though, because an Albatros was built for speed and twin-gun firepower, not maneuverability. It's the marked performance degradation from the Alb D.II to D.III and D.V that is the concern with OFF's machines. In that regard, respectfully, my earlier point 12. does not agree with what is in the sim because in OFF there is a significant decrease in performance from the DII to DIII to DV. 9. no idea. I understand you've much to do and may not get to this. Hopefully it can be examined, as the power lag is even worse than the One-Hole-No-Roll because it's always there. 6. Will be fixed at some point but it's in 8 aircraft of course. If interested in accuracy, which I believe OFF is, then that's all the more reason to get it done. It is a "sim" and not real life, but we try. Understood. If I could model these planes I'd volunteer my time to help--a sentiment which helps you not at all.

I understand there is limited time, manpower and money, but since it's been brought up, here's my Albatros D wish list for P4: 1. Include the Albatros D.I. I know only 50 were produced but they accompanied the dawn of the Jagdstaffeln and are historically significant. If the Flying Glider—er, Razor, a bicycle and a car are in the sim, then certainly the D.I should be, too; its engine actually worked and Richthofen shot down more planes with a D.I than were shot down by every Fokker E.V/D.VIII pilot combined. Don’t care for Richthofen? Okay, Erwin Böhme shot down more planes with a D.I than were shot down by every Fokker E.V/D.VIII pilot combined. 2. Wing radiator for the Albatros D.II. Later machines got rid of the fuselage mounted “ear” radiators and employed a Teves and Braun wing radiator; a famous example is Oswald Boelcke’s D.386/16. Thus, both D.II types should be available. 3. Less airframe or eradication of visible airframe on control surfaces. Photographs show that very, very little/usually no airframe was visible on the ailerons, elevator or rudder. Might be seen on the rudder; sometimes, maybe, if. Mostly these surfaces were very smooth, certainly the ailerons and elevator, especially compared to the wings. Most color profiles in books are drawn with excessive frames/shadowing on these areas and many people have become used to that, but the overwhelming majority of those depictions are not accurate in that regard. 4. All Albatros rudder logos should “fly toward” the spinner. Currently in the sim most if not all are backwards on the port side of the rudder. I’ve mentioned this before but this noteworthy detail warrants another mention. 5. No green/mauve wings on Johannisthal-built D.IIIs. 6. Make/install throttle onto the control column. Currently the spark retard handle on the port side of the cockpit is being used for the throttle, but the Albs all had them on the control column. I’ve mentioned this before and Polovski has acknowledged same, so this is likely to be addressed. 7. Make/install proper radiator handles on the D.Va. 8. The NASM D.Va book includes pilot reports that reveal the water in the wing radiator heated/expanded during takeoff/initial climbout, creating a vapor trail that streamed behind the airplane until the excess water was gone. Certainly not a crucial addition to the sim; just a little eye candy. 9. Reduce/eliminate the throttle/power lag. Currently there is a ca. five second lag between power application and engine reaction, and the engine is woefully slow to increase power once it finally does start to increase. Thus you can literally slam the throttle forward and yank it back to idle and the engine will not respond—if you do this in a real airplane with a reciprocating engine it is a good way to have mechanics beat the hell out of you once they figure out what damaged their engine. Overall this power lag is annoying but becomes critical in certain combat situations and landing situations. 10. Central radiators on the early D.IIIs. Currently the radiators are all offset to starboard but the first 300 or so D.IIIs had them centrally located. 11. I agree with the “one hole/no roll” issues. Over the years OFF has addressed and improved this CFS3 annoyance, yet it still lingers too often. Many times I’ll have either no holes or just a single hole in my upper wing but it will reduce my roll rate by at least ca. 33%--even though the ailerons are still fully deflected. If after wing damage the control surfaces still deflect as fully as they did before the wing fabric damage, the airplane is going to roll at the same rate; certainly with only one hole in the fabric. I accept occasional damage to cables, pulleys, etc., but in those cases the aileron deflection should be reduced or eliminated, depending upon the amount of internal wing damage. 12. I also agree there is disproportionate performance degradation from the D.I through D.V; this is found in many sims. The D.I, II and III were very similar, aside (mostly) from the D.III’s reduced lower wing cord and raked upper and lower wingtips, and although there wasn’t a significant improvement in performance with the D.III there wasn’t a significant decrease in performance, either. Similarly, the D.V was, according to Idflieg, “a lightened D.III of virtually equal performance.” Early D.Vs had empty weights of 620 kg compared with the D.III’s 675 kg. The D.Va was heavier which negatively affected performance, and although this was partly offset by increase engine horsepower the D.Va was the least “nimble” of the D-types. Of course, the D.III, V, and Va had the lower wing issues that the D.I and D.II did not, but this is a structural difference and not a performance difference. The above items are offered as constructive suggestions for consideration regarding P4 and are not meant to denigrate P3 in any regard.

Okay, seems to work now, if interested.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/JFM/First%20Eagles/EIIIWIP2.jpg WIP. No oil stains or damage layer. Quack is kindly helping me with my halo problem on the damage layer. Don't want to hijack this thread so just a quick peek, taken from screens to check the alignment of the wing battens and belly lacing. BTW, that p10ppy's work is insane! I wish he'd make more planes.

Thanks, Quack, it works. Grabbed it last night. Haven't checked it out yet since I was busy with the Eindecker but will take up a DH2 later today. Thanks for this.

"You know how I hate to come across like Mr pedantic..." I don't know about Quack but I find your observations invaluable. When I send something and you say "looks good" I know it had to jump some high hurdles to get there.

Damn, isn't this done yet? You take forever to finish stuff.

Thanks, Olpaint, I'll give that a try if this bombsight from Tailspin doesn't work out--and thanks, TS, for that. (BTW, I'm from CMH and been to Roundtown for about a zillion Pumpkin Shows. )

When I went to download it it said I had to first read the disclaimer below before clicking the download button, but there was neither a disclaimer nor a download button.

I sleep very well. Don't watch the news on television. Here, at least, in many regards, it isn't. My father had a career in television news and I was raised within it--it's redundantly event driven (notice how when there is an earthquake that they suddenly report every single earthquake on earth; or when there is a shark attack they go wild for a couple weeks about sharks [i actually saw them go live from a helicopter over the ocean to show sharks swimming--"Sharks have been spotting prowling {note the menacing word--they weren't swimming, but "prowling"} not two miles off Florida's beaches"--mmm hmmm, this is "news"] and all about advertising and cross-promotion and ratings. Which is fine, but they pretend their main motivation is "caring." Feh. These people are assigned drama coaches--literally--to project "caring." In many regards these people are actors. When the cameras turn off, so do they. And (since I'm on a mini-rant) hey, Weather Channel! Please, no more reports with weathermen standing outside in a hurricane. We know it's windy, okay? We've figured it out. By the way, they've invented these clear wall-thingies called "windows" that actually allow you to take video from inside a structure while keeping you out of the "dangers" of a storm. Going out into a hurricane to report "yep, sure is windy out here" is akin to a reporter dashing into a burning building and going "yep, sure is hot and smokey in here." No sh*t.

I'm a sucker for it. Although your museum shows are quite stellar, too!

One of my favorite live gigs is from NYC during the NOB tour. At the Palladium. I haven't seen them since BNW in Chicago. Dave Murray played almost a single note solo during NOB--at the bend after the trills during the second F he held it and screamed it for the rest of the solo. It was wailing and bucking and feeding back but he held it all the way through to the break. It was so minimalistic during the frenzy that it worked in spades. That alone was worth the ticket price. Anyway, back to Jasta 19.

Ditto! I wasn't around last year and missed these then so I'm seeing them for the first time. Maybe he's too busy making an Albatros D.I or D.II or both (*nudge*nudge*wink*wink*).