catch

Hang in there Lou. RL is one of those strange things that can't be avoided. As Lennon said life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

You oughtta try bombing a zeppelin loaded up with 16 100kg bombs.

Thanks Troops. I fly the complete sorties but edit big time to make short, concise vids. So that you chaps get the gist like. Or it could be my short attention span. Anyway, all the clips I use are from the sorties (no inserting of "action" clips from elsewhere). And of course I faff about with silly stuff, hopefully for entertainment, but really because I guess I'm a bit weird.

You feared right. I'll be one of 'em for sure lol. But it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. With a stiff upper lip and a straight bat. Right?

I dunno about that Mata Hari one? It looks like something out of a BBC series. Mind you, I only ever saw her naked so maybe that's it?

I use Movavi. It has some pretty neat features but a lotta kinda naff stuff I'd never use. I'm still discovering what it can do just by fumbling around and experimenting after some time out in the wilderness away from making vids. Tutorials give me a headache. There's a million out there free and otherwise, some good, some bad so it's a lottery. I used to love windows movie maker back in the old XP and 7 days. Very easy to use with some good features. And free. As for resolution, I think utube stuffs vids up a bit. The clarity is not so good to my eyes compared to the original.

Friday 13th November 1917 8.46am Bruay, RFC 40 A and B flights take to the air in beastly weather on an offensive patrol. "Spiv" Taylor, cold, wet and miserable, cannot understand the sense in it and is beginning to regret his duty to the King and country. Not that he is endeared to the silly old fool but the Poms make you swear allegiance to someone when signing up and old Georgy boy is it. And it's not my bloody country anyway. Struth it's bloody freezing up here. Be good to get back to a stiff drink and a warm fire. Suddenly V-strutters bounce the flight. Outta nowhere. "Spiv" completely unprepared and out of his depth, panics and shoots at anything, wild eyed with adrenalin and scared witless. And then as unexpectedly it began, it abruptly ends. The skies are empty of aircraft. Where did they go? Where is B flight? But this is no time for philosophical naval gazing. Time to vamoose before the bastards come back. He heads west. And safely returns to his airfield. Only to find a pal is missing!

It's a good look Troops but the gloves, in my experience, play havoc with reloading the Lewis via the keyboard. Or anything else, come to think of it.

The most important things are .... a) A swagger stick tucked under the left armpit. b) A moustache cut to RFC regulations. c) Ditto with the hair. Castor oil is good for the hair and skin. d) A stiff upper lip. e) Jutting chin. f) Clenched teeth (with or without pipe). Image is everything. All else is secondary. Die young. Look good.

I'm enjoying these vids/pics/stories immensely. Congrats to all the participants so far. Looking forward to future entries. Great comp Rick.

Waddaya mean Troops? I always land like that. Triggers learned me real good.

2nd Lt "Spiv" Taylor embarks on his first sortie with 40 Squadron RFC on the morning of 11th Nov 1917. Mannock leads the line patrol. It is a chilly but fine, cloudy day. The flight is totally uneventful with no huns sighted. If this is war in the air, Spiv observes, it is a lark. The flight returns safely to base with no casualties. Upon entering the Mess bar, Spiv meets up with "Chuffs" and a plot is hatched. The below filmography documents the events.

Yep Saturday arvo here as I type. I'll put something together shortly. Pretty uneventful as it turned out but that's the vagaries of war! A clip will be included. After luncheon but .... And thanks for those fellows who provided their sticks. I'm liking the Thrustmaster T16000m. Is it good? But sticks are expensive these days (for me) so we'll see ....

What sticks do you guys use? And what combat tactics do you use in the SE? I've just been toodling about in the quirk campaign mid 1915 just prior to the Eindeckers fronting up. So it's pretty relaxing so far kinda like beetling around in a civilian sim but with a bit of flak and checking out the artillery bursts below. The PBI ha. Who'd wanna be them. So I haven't come close to a hun kite yet. Then I thought shit I'd better get some combat practice in the old SE for the RR final, final challenge. And I got my arse handed to me thank you very much. Blast that Pol chap and his improved AI. I ask about the sticks because I've got the MSFFB2 which frankly sucks in WoFF as it goes berserk under extreme combat maneuvers. But then I do suck so I'm also to blame. It does work very well in other sims though. And disabling the force feedback. Well, just forget it. Brewers droop comes to mind. As for the tactics, you don't get into a turn fight right? If above, it's just dive, shoot, hope you hit something and run away. If on the level, take a pot shot and run away. If under, run away and pray someone in your flight has got your tail covered? Is that about right?

I say old boy, I'm new to this comp see, so should the form be inserted in your first post so chaps don't have to search for it? And, when a chap submits it, where does it go and where do you put text/pics/vids? This thread?

I've got mine so that, when in centre view, the horizontal and vertical movements are locked just a tad so you're not wobbling about so much in order to help aiming. That's the theory anyway lol. In practice of course it's just blind panic and quite useless. You have to move your head just a little bit more than usual before you start to look around see. Anyway, it is what it is. Otherwise it's completely vanilla. What does yours do Rick? Does it stabilize the zoom somewhat as touched upon in the vid thread?

Gosh.

How barbaric. I guess you were hoping for tea and cakes. The three accents that crack me up are the Scots, Kiwis and South Africans. With apologies to all three, God bless 'em but ah dinna ken ah cannae help it.

Nice. You know how to get a bloke excited with these vids of the Bebe. Cutest plane ever built. Except maybe Santos-Dumont's Demoiselle. Many decades before ultra-lights became a thing. I like the WOFF bullet hole effect shown in the recon vid. But for the life of me I cannot use a steady zoom like you do without going all over the shop and losing my perspective. Practice I guess. My spotting is terrible. And well aimed rocket firing in the balloon buster vid ! That learned 'em.

OMG the dark side ! Traitor ! You didn't shoot did you Trooper ? Ol' Tinlegs would have put the boot in and have you charged and shot. I really must fire this up again. But managing flaps, mixture, prop pitch, engine temps etc simultaneously along with all the other new hi-tech stuff ..... and those sissy enclosed cockpits for goodness sake ! Well I really don't know if I'm up for it.

In the main, the clouds are quite realistic, better than other flight sims I've flown. So WOFF, he is very good at this, particularly for his engines age. But (there is always a but no?), there are two things that weird me out. The kinda strange flat horizontal clouds that freak out the horizon rendering when flying through them. At least on my rig. And the flickering/disappearing of the 2d dark, storm-like clouds in front of the white fluffies behind when looking around with a head tracker. My supposition is that these anomalies are not easy to fix.

Thanks Rick. As for Chimney, although wounded by the concussive effects of the exploding Zep, he survived and recovered, thanks to the attentions of Nurse Gladys. The indestructible Captain Triggers went on to induce breakdowns in many a future pupil.

I haven't made a vid in some time and it jolly well shows lol. I need lotsa practice to get my hand in again. Rick Rawlings has been churning out some beauties lately and he did say pics/vids are welcome in the accounts for the upcoming final, final challenge. So here's a quickie before the fun begins ....

You, sirs, are very lucky blighters. I have called off the duel at the Maryborough showground, not because of a lack of courage, but because Australia has closed the borders to international travellers. Damned bureaucratic meddlers. My intention had been to plug you both simultaneously and at the same time brandishing twin duelling pistols with some panache and flamboyance. For the ladies. And the Quirk.