Gromit

Ah, bummer. Guess I'm glad I didn't make it over to BB this evening.

Great! Thanks! Looks like I'll be doing a reinstall later. :)

Unteroffizier Hans Goldbach joined the Deutsche Luftstreitkräftein in the Spring of 1916, after having transferred out of an field artillery regiment that had seen heavy action during the Second Battle of Ypres in April of 1915. As an eager 20-year old who excelled at Fliegerschule, Hans was both mortified and ecstatic at the same time to learn that his first posting would be to Jasta 2, at the direct request of Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke. Goldbach reported to his new commanding officer at the aerodrome located in Bertincourt, France on 31 August, 1916. Hauptmann Boelcke informed Hans that he would be going up on his first sortie the next morning, but declined to provide any details at that particular time. Hans awoke at 0730 on the morning of 1 September, after having slept what amounted to a mere 4 hours. The excitement of his first foray into battle prevented him for sleeping his normal 7 hours a night, and he trudged himself into the mess tent to forage for some coffee. Thirty minutes later, Hans was dressed and standing by in the briefing room at the appointed hour when Boelcke entered. Hans immediately noticed that no one else was in the room...a peculiar set of circumstances, but one he was sure his CO would shed some light on. "You're to proceed to these following coordinates, and engage any targets of opportunity that present themselves." Surely Boelcke was jesting! What madman would send an untested, inexperienced pilot on a Lone Wolf mission into British territory on his first mission? Oswald Boelcke, that's who. Goldbach accepted his orders, saluted, and left the briefing room shaking his head. What will mama say when they inform her of my death? Hans reached his aircraft, a sturdy Halberstadt DII that carried a single Spandau machinegun. After a quick preflight, Goldbach's mechanic spun the prop and a few minutes later Hans was off on his first mission. Goldbach flew 18 miles west, climbing high over the front. To his right, he could see the fierce shelling of the British positions by German artillery. He wondered if it could be his old unit... As he reached his first waypoint, he still had not encountered any enemy machines. He flew north towards the second waypoint and in the process paralleled the front on the British side of the lines. Fifteen miles into the 34 mile leg, Hans encountered his first target of opportunity: a British balloon! He dove his crate from an altitude of 5500' down to 1500', and let loose with the Spandau. The balloon erupted into a fiery gas ball after less than 20 rounds, and it plummeted to the ground. Ten miles later, Hans spotted a large flight of unknown aircraft at his six-o'clock position, traversing the front from the German side to the British side. As he was alone, Hans thought it best to leave them unmolested and instead carried on to the next waypoint. No sense in getting jumped by superior numbers! As he approached the waypoint, Hans noticed some dust being stirred up on the road below. It appeared to be an enemy troop movement, and further investigation confirmed that a British regiment replete with vehicles was on the move south. Hans dove down and attempted to strafe the column, but missed miserably. In doing so, he also used up his precious allotment of ammunition. Luckily, the rest of Hans' flight was utterly boring. Not a single other aircraft was spotted. No more balloons, no more troops. Hans flew the remainder of the waypoints, and then landed back at Bertincourt. Missions Flown: 1 Total mission time: 159 minutes. Kills: 0 (What a freakin' cool game! )

Well, that was humbling. Uffz Goldbach was killed in action against enemies of Imperial Germany on 2 September 1916. He was witnessed augering in after engaging a flight of no less than 6 Nieuport 17s and 11s along with 7 other members of Jasta 2. Damn DiD.

Hans earned his first unconfirmed victory over a FE2b this morning near Mont-St-Eloi. The observer riddled me with bullets, but I would not be denied. The crate eventually lost power and glided to a crash-landing on the British side of the lines. Now I wait for confirmation...

Classy move on your part, Tom. I hope it goes to a good home, and ideally to someone who otherwise might not be able to afford it.

LOL at both of you.

Great index link! Makes it much easier to watch them in rapid succession... Thanks!

Never met him, but I'm sure he was a good man...

Well, I didn't mean literally... (pardon the pun).

That is TREMENDOUS news! What a relief for his family!

Shades of brilliance in that writing...you might have yourself another Hemingway on your hands!

I'm still too new to the sim myself to intellignetly answer your questions, but I can say I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised at the depth of this sim (at least as much as I've found in the few days I've had it. I haven't actually started a campaign yet. I'm saving that for this weekend. :)

I really don't have a good feeling about this.

That's just brilliant!

I'm partial to the OFF theme...of course though, it's what I'm currently flying.

So now that I have OFF up and running, I'm going to jump right in and start a campaign. I figure by not practicing first with some of the sircraft that it might better simulate the inexperience of a new pilot in the war. Should I start out in 1916 (or is that a requirement...I haven't even looked), or later in the war? Any personal preferences? I plan on flying for the Kaiser... I want to make this as realistic as possible given the constraints of the sim. IOW, no HUD, no radar, etc. Thanks in advance for any responses!

I found that last night by accident...truly riveting descriptions of their accounts. I'm ecstatic that the developers chose to put those in...nice touch!

I've already got one, too. I bought mine at the Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa Arizona back in 1986. The ribbon is long gone, but I still have the medal. :) The museum had an actual PLM in the collection. On many a visit I plotted how to successfully abscond with it...LOL.

Now I wonder if I shouldn't start my first career in a two-seater... I need to stop reading these posts and just go fly! Heh.

Good to hear from all of you... I had played the initial phases of OFF sporadically, but never really got around to buying P3 until this month. Wish I had done it earlier. :) Thought I was British, huh? :) Sorry to disappoint, but I did spend three years stationed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk between 2003-2006. I loved going to IWM-Duxford and just spending hours there. Wish they had more of a WWI section than they do...I also wish Doug Champlin had never broke up his collection he had at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. *sigh* Now there were some impressive aircraft!

I assume the PLM was a replica? If not, how much was an original?

It is. I also used to moderate Sierra's RB boards back then, too.. .

Of course, as soon a I posted that, I see this thread. LOL

Interesting tidbit there.. *files away for future use*