Dej

That's why I don't fly OFF when I'm on the road. Carrying that kinda luggage with you is potentially embarassing!

The action of any key can be programmed into the X52. The thing to watch for is repeated key presses generated by slider or axis type controls rather than buttons but the X52 programming software allows to set 'bands' thus changing even these to emulate a series of single button presses. I don't use mine as well as I should but it suits my style as I have it at the mo'.

Cheers, Lou, Olham, Rabu. I think it probably is a B&S monocular, Lou, although the area where the embossed name should be is worn and barely legible. It doesn't quite match any B&S design I've seen on the web either having some kind of extendable section at the thick end, almost like a flash shield. I don't know its provenance I'm afraid, friend of mine gave it me after picking it up at a car boot (yard sale type thing), it has the WD arrow on it but more than that I can't say. Still works beautufully though and comes in handy these summer months, living as I do on the London-avoidance flight paths for many of the big UK airshows... for instance the Red Arrows flew right smack over my house in immaculate diamond formation Saturday 4th Jul. I was floating on my back in the pool and nearly bloody drowned myself, they were so low and of course I never heard them 'til the last minute. The binoculars are my wife's father's WW2 Navy issue, those are his medals on the wall and his MiD scroll hangs in the hallway. The photo is not me, but my eldest son when he was a recruit in the Royal Marines. In answer to the other question, the drum is a Bodhrán which I play in the odd ceilidh band from time to time. The better half is the piano player. [EDIT]Actually, probably not a B&S... been straining me poor minces trying to make out the writing and it says A. C. 2010 | Power 10 Field 5 1/4 (degrees symbol) | No. 118 703 | PATT 2112. And as mentioned above it has the UK WD arrow on it and the extending 'flash shield' is made of brass. Google it with no results - now I have to know grrr...[/EDIT]

She cetainly can... this is her with the last piece of furniture she restored

As promised, my desk. Sorry about the quality of the light and picture clarity, I took them late evening as soon as I got in, so as not to forget. There's one of the desk closed, one as in use for OFF (in hurry, forgot to turn TIR on) and one as in use for other WW1 stuff... and I thought some of you might appreciate my current wallpaper Oh, and it seems I have a 22" monitor not a 24" as I've been supposing, and as my missus has just pointed out and pulled out the invoice when I disagreed! Hrmmpf, efficent women... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em! Still, it means I can get a 24" then Desk needs a bit of TLC which is why when we move house in a couple of months I'll lose it while the missus restores it... yes, she can do furniture restoration too :sigh:

I believe that - wherever research has provided the knowledge for the devs to use - all units are flying at the times and places they historically did. Therefore, whom you may encounter and when is mostly dictated by: the period in the war in which you are flying; your mssion time of day and where on the Front you are. What is as yet not historically accurate, I believe - owing to limitiations of CFS3 and some aircraft models not developed - is the type of mission flown, the aircraft (a substitute may be used), and the ace encounters. On the latter I mean that, for example, if you're flying with No. 56 or No. 60 squadron you can't guarantee to meet Werner Voss on his own over Poelcapelle on 23rd September... he'll be in the area but you might pass him by or he might get shot down before you get to him. Warp can have the drawback of pulling you into combats you'd otherwise not know existed, and as noted above air activity over Flanders in early 1917 was such that with warp on you're going to come across someone. Also, missions tend to cluster at particular 'peak' times of day and will be within a limited range of x+/- miles over or y+/- miles up/down with reference to the front line. If the other side has the same parameters chances are there's going to be someone there doing something similar at roughly the same time and yours and their operations have the potential to intersect at common points in the mission, e.g. for a given area, if it always takes you an hour get 5 miles over the lines and Jasta 2 happen to always be patrolling 5 miles behind then you're always likely to encounter them an hour in. That's near enough what really happened as the lone wolf period gave way to patrols in strength, the key thing being whether you spot one another. Warp doesn't allow you NOT too so I'd suggest it's your use of warp that is making it seem predictable. Try setting up several campaign pilots in different parts of the Front, at different points. Even in 1917, look at where 1917's major battles were and deliberately set up a pilot in some backwater area. Then see if they all have the same experience... if they do, then you might have an issue. Oh, and as Creaghorn notes... normal air activity will be more... eh, normal

That is indeed a fine piece of work, Lou. you mean you finished it and kept it quiet... tsk! I see you're back on the DH2. BH has challenged me to write the 'Flying and air-fighting' guide for it if he does the DH5. Which bribe I fell for as I'd love to survive in No. 24 long enough to get the SE, so I'll do it... but I'm sure you're the better DH2 pilot. Anyway, since you guys have asked I'll post a couple of pics of my desk when I get back home on Thursday.

Since I acquired my Track IR I have counted myself even more fortunate in having, by chance, possibly the best flight sim computer desk that is actually a normal piece of furniture. It's a big late 1920s roll top writing desk. Each side of the desktop centre is a pull out shelf about A4 size, perfectly positioned for a HOTAS setup. The desk is deep enough that I can sit my 24" monitor between 2 and 3 feet from my eyes and easily fit a keyboard in front. The top of the roll top section at the back of the desk is about 6" above the top of the monitor and extends a foot further back, perfect place for my Track IR and my speakers and all the wirelss network gubbins. Behind and at the sides of the monitor are enough cubby holes to store dvds, maps and other docs, with even a space for my hat! The desk sits on two integral pedestals, one with drawers that accommodate more dvds and PC bits and the other with upright slots for more document filing. The space between the pedestals perfectly accommodates my rudder pedals, with space behind for my subwoofer. The only thing it can't readily support is my PC case, which sits at the side, but if I took out the document storage in one pedestal it would accommodate that too. I don't know who designed this desk, and suspect he's long dead, but I'd shake his hand if I could. Oh, and when you pull the roll-top down it's back to a non-technical piece of furniture... I love it.

Hey Lou, that link pulled up another alongside... your N17s vs. DIIIs in the Alps - absolutely awesome camera work and flying there, Sir! I can't 'hit a barn door with a shovel' outside of the virtual cockpit view so I was most impressed. And capturing the moment when your Hun almost collided with his own engine which you'd helpfully forced him to jettison moments before - superb!

Yep, enjoy your day, colonial rabble And as Duce says, especially those still fighting for others' freedom.

Cor! Lucky Barsteward's got the compact version!

Now you've made it too easy, Lou. I'd be lying if I claimed to be an OT expert, but I do know my Elgar.

Ras, if any of your relatives/ancestors were pilots with any of the Jastas then they should be found in 'The Jasta Pilots' - Norman Franks, Frank Bailey and Rick Duiven. That book is, as its dust jacket claims "as comlete a list of all Jasta pilots who served in those front-line units... as can be found" [my italics]. It also covers known pilots who served in the Marinefeldjagdstaffeln and the Kampfeinsitzerstaffeln. A lot of records were lost in WW2 and I'd hazard that without a comprehensive record of what there was, it's difficult to gauge the completeness of what remains. Of course, there are also family archives which can and do yield new information. I'd suggest, too, browsing and maybe dropping some names over at The Great War Forum

A kind offer, Lou, and no less than I've come to anticipate of a gent like yourself. But you've inspired me instead to redo mine - I'm a glutton for punishment - the kerning on that copperplate text is a biatch! . May I ask though if the original you posted above is full size? If not, I'd appreciate the link.

Not to the right it don't . OTOH, it doesn't stall if you so much as fart in the wrong direction either, as the Camel can!

Yes, very nice indeed, Lou. Interestingly I used exactly the same original as my source but not as crisp an image as you seem to have found. I am hence particularly envious of your leatherette binding because when I blew my source up it had too many horrid jpej artifacts and I had to create the binding from scratch too. I recommend 1001fonts.com if you want to improve your font collection - but I'm sure you'll already be familiar with it.

Bruce, If as I guess (as does Olham) you haven't Track IR then I'd recommend giving Padlock a try. The default key is ' (apostrophe). It's a toggle so assign it to a button on your j/s and snap it on/off to see where your enemy's got to. You'll need to be able to target him first so bring up the TAC, cycle the Target Type to 'Aircraft' (default key is T), reduce the range (default is CTRL+SHIFT+T) to 4 miles. IF I remember those keys correctly you'll be left with dots on the TAC which are the aircraft around you. Select an enemy (default is TAB) snap on Padlock and you'll follow him with your virtual 'eyes'. If you get disoriented (and you will ) snap Padlock off, re-orient and reacquire. Also useful is Target Attacker (default CTRL+'). I'd map all these key commands to j/s buttons if you have enough. It's what I used to do before I had Track IR, and you can learn to fight quite well... but I'd heartily endorse Olham's advice - put all your pennies and birthday/xmas gift hints toward Track IR, this sim is several orders of magnitude better when you have it.

You're very welcome, Lou. Interesting resource there Uncleal, I've not read through that before. I really must spend more time WILFing at The Aerodrome... seem to spend most of it here though

Hey Lou, Thanks for the heads up, I too use the Flight archive a lot. You may well be aware that Cross & Cockade also publishes Aero Certificate numbers but not in so much detail - nor is it in the PD. However, I'm actually posting to suggest, with your penchant for backstory, that you might be interested in creating yourself an S. T. Ravenscroft version of the attached, which I put together for the work-in-progress I mentioned when asking you about your sig pic. Happy to send you the layered constructon .psd file, if you wish. The attached is 75% of the original size.

Just got around to watching this - very evocative indeed, Lou. Your gunner's a frightfully keen chap though isn't he, thought he was going to stick both barrels in your ear a couple of times! Hav to hand it to the MAW developers, that aerial shout of the Pyramids looked really authentic, even had the lesser and household tombs around them.

Welcome Bruce. I started my OFF flying in the SE5 with No. 56 Squadron RFC, April '17. I'd personally recommend that when you come to try your hand at a campaign, not only do you have a stable gun platform but you're faster and stronger than anything the enemy have which means you can dive steeply out of trouble at full throttle and watch those pesky Albatri shed their wings if they try to follow. Best thing to do though is try all the aircraft people recommend, but in the Quick Combat facility. Select Free Flight and bumble around until you're confident of the machine, then start over with a few contemporary enemies... rinse and repeat with next recommendation.

In the words of Jimmy Naill's character Les in the under-appreciated 'Still Crazy' - commenting on the observation by a newer band member that their performance had been bad... "We weren't... bad, we were seriously, diabolically, sh*te" Absolute farce. At least Germany has a chance of a game of football next match.

Aye. Bad luck America, both spirited teams but the Ghanaians outplayed you just enough. Nevertheless you did yourselves proud in what is, after all OUR national game. What next, cricket? Or maybe as WM implies you should give Rugby a... ahem... try.

A few shots of Widowmaker's future 'office'. Best not gain any weight though! It's a little cramped but those Vickers are handily placed for some shredding of their own.

At the risk of (uncharacteristically I hope) lowering the tone. I happen to be in a relationship with the brunette Appraiserfl is talking about