themightysrc

"So let's see; Si, Stary, Creaghorn, Widowmaker, Wayfarer, Duke, Olham, and TaillyHo. That should just about fill the first tender." And the first ambulance... But, seeing as I haven't yet said it - congrats. It's always a treat to read your posts, regardless of how rubbish they are (joke!) Cheers, Si and a very rare from me!

Lou - get one of your chaps to take us in on a Crossley - he can pick up a few crates of beer and some cases of wine for the way back!

Congrats Lou - well, it is a Friday, and seeing as the last patrol of the day has returned safe and sound with a couple more Huns driven down, what say we go to Amiens and paint the town rouge?

Here's one I found on YouTube from our own Mike Dixon. I don't know if it's already been posted, but I think that this is astounding. Mike - I hope you don't mind me linking it from here: I was genuinely very impressed with the filming and effects. Cheers, Si

Hi Olham, I'm not surprised you ran out of ammunition! I'm astounded that you started firing at the ranges that you did in that Youtube vid. I prefer to be able to count the hairs on my opponent's neck before I pull the trigger! Still, two down - can't argue with that! Cheers, Si

"I disagree. The stalemate on the Western Front was the result of the size of the armies then available compared to the available space. On the Western Front, army frontages spanned the entire continent so there were no flanks to turn, let alone room to manuever beyond flanks. Thus, everything there had to be a direct frontal assault. As a result, the ONLY way to break the stalemate by offensive action was to find ways to 1) utterly smash what was directly ahead, 2) move enough troops through the resulting hole faster than the enemy could move reserves to plug it, and 3) communicate in real time with forward troops and their supporting arty well enough to exploit opportunities created by successfully accomplishing steps 1 and 2. As WW1 on the Western Front went on, the armies got pretty good at step #1 to start with and then step #2 by the end of the war, but they always broke down on step #3 provided the enemy was still willing to fight. There are many examples of this failure to communicate aborting what might have been major breakthroughs." BH, I think you've missed my point somewhat, if you don't mind me saying so. What you say is absolutely correct, and I wouldn't disagree with any of it, however you seem to be implicitly acknowledging and agreeing with my argument, which is that circumstances which all combatant armies found themselves in forced a major rethink, rearming, retraining and retooling. It was an entirely new form of war to the armies that took part - the Franco-Prussian war was no preparation, and the American Civil War only faintly echoed the horrors that awaited the armies in Belgium and France. There was no precedent, and hence the learning curve - aided and abetted by technological developments. Arguably, the biggest single change experienced in WWI had nothing to do with the Western Front per se. The idea that a total war might be fought and that entire nations would risk their very existence was something unknown in Europe - not even the Napoleonic or 30 Years wars had been a fight until a nation was destroyed. But that's, effectively, what WWI became as empires and nations went into the melting pot. In the end, the greatest effects were those on the mass populations of the combatant countries, and the perceptions of power and nationhood amongst those people. WWI ended in an armistice, but it unleashed political and nationalist movements whose reverberations echo not just around Europe to this day, but around the entire world. I heartily recommend Huw Strachen's one volume history of WWI as an adjunct to this conversation - you'll absolutely love it. *** "my professor just yesterday confirmed my request to write about the subject, with much enthusiasm I must add! "This is a wonderful subject, well done on your choice to write about it" he wrote." Well, go on Maf - what's your title and thesis then? I'm actually very interesting to know. Cheers, Si

"So IMHO, the so-called "failure" or aircraft to break the Western Front stalemate, despite their rapid pace of development, must be measured agains the identical failures of advances in ground warfare weapons and tactics." It's arguable that the failures that you allude to weren't actually failures as such, but more the evolution of warfare in a period when nobody knew pretty much where things were going, and thus were still geared up to fight the most likely war - ie, an open one. If someone had told boht sides in 1914 -"oh, by the way; you'll all be spending the next four years conducting siege warfare against each other, for the most part" - the I guess that creeping barrages and HE shells would have appeared a lot sooner. And, don't forget, the armies themselves, even with recent wars under their belts had to learn this new way of conducting war against their enemy, and, what's more, to do it with troops who were only initially volunteers, and later, conscripts. It takes time to meld that mass into an army, and, perhaps, even longer for the control structures (like good spotting and recon methods, for example) to enable such a masse de manouvre to make a meaningful impact on a battlefield where fronts where measured in many miles. Aircraft were very much a part of this evolutionary process. It's easy to see the use of both German and Entente planes in Operation Michael as unique - the truth is this reflected Cambrai some months earlier, which in its turn was a tank development following on from the Somme, etc. I guess that's why I said to the OP that it wouldn't be wise or easy to write about WWI air fighting as separate subject; it's too intertwined with the ground war, and it's the ground war that had the most profound effects on all the societies which it drew in. 6 or 7 pages? I'd want 6 or 7 years, minimum!

"Then we can find out what it feels like to be the hunter (doing the important work) rather than the hunter (getting all the glory). Good stuff!" Lima - I'm already suffering like this in a BE2c/RE8 campaign with a Briddish pilot stationed at various places in Flanders from 1916 onwards. December 1917, still not dead, but it's getting harder.....If I make it to March 1918, we get Brisfits! Hurrah! This is in OFF, of course.

I can only echo the above sentiments. P4 may be the ultimate WWI paradise, but P3 and HitR give me my shot of heroin now.....

Hi Maf, "In one of my courses I have to write an essay about 20th century history, and WWI is included in the subjects I am allowed to write about. so what I want to do is write about WWI aviation, linking it to the sub-subject of technological advance. that is to say: how did the advancement of Aerial Combat affect the ground war" I'd limit yourself to that if I were you. You've only got a few pages, and you'll overrun massively unless you produce the most scanty precis of what is an in depth subject. Trust me. The question you pose has much more to do with the ground war - which is an immense and fast moving subject - than it does the air war. I'd tackle it from that angle, otherwise you'll build up a (brief) narrative that will leave readers thinking; yes, but why? Don't forget: the war in the air changed in response to the war on the ground, and not vice versa (as a rule of thumb). "and more importantly, how did it affect combat pilots. were WWI pilots chivalric as they are sometimes portrayed in popular culture?" A fun question to tackle, but ancillary to the question that, IMHO, you should try and thumbnail in the little space you have. "truth is, I have to find a research question and try to answer it. as I said it's a paper of not more than 6 or 7 pages, even less." So - you have in effect an essay whose length won't allow you to expand too much on any subject or angle. Make it easy for yourself and write only about subjects you already know. This isn't the time to be breaking new (for you) ground. If it's effectively an intro piece into what would then become a research subject (and having worked up to MA standards here in the UK, I appreciate just how limited your options are), then I'd suggest that sticking to what you know is best, unless you already have a question - and, more importantly, arguments and impeccable sources - to hand. Good luck! Welcome to our little corner of hell on Earth. Here's to the dead already; here's to the next to die! (Mine's a pint of Speckled Hen). Cheers, Si

I'm almost beginning to understand why CA runs that front page add for uniformeddating.com... So: Siemens-Shuckert DIV or Sopwith Salamander?

"By the way Si, you clean up quite nicely. You know, we are looking for someone to play Yum-Yum in this season's squadron performance of "The Mikado". Interested?" Thank you; my weekend name is Lucille - listen to my adventures on freephone 123321, or text the words "bafflingly" and "pathetic" to....

"Your fantasy vs. the OFF reality?" My fantasy - that I would make a great scout pilot, adored by all for my ability to cut swathes through the ranks of enemy fliers. The OFF reality - I'm probably more suited to waving the chaps off on a mission, waving my hankie at them - from the ground...

"The Aviatik will be coming to a screen near you. Not soon, but it will be coming. Cheers, shredward" Thank you Shred - I'm heartened by that. "I've suggested this before, but if you feel like it would be a good idea to help fund the development of OFF, please consider offering plane packs for sale. I dislike the business model of the other sim (having to pay for every new aircraft), but I'd be willing to buy aircraft expansion packs, especially if they contained new two-seaters and other bombers." Hasse - I suspect the major constraint on the OFF team isn't money - it's time.

Couldn't vote the ATI HD 2400 card, so went with what I thought to be the lowest spec video card...

I rather like that Rumpler, and, if memory serves correctly, it actually had a fairly long run at the front - hence a good addition. Having said that, I would be very happy indeed to see Aviatik and Albatros two seaters added, as they were fairly legion. Is this likely? And, of course, any other Entente two seaters which would nicely fill out the Allied rosters - DH4s, Breguets, anything really!

"You keep telling yourself that it's just as nasty up there for him, as it is for you" In my measly BE2c, or even the RE8 that I'm currently piloting, I absolutely heart appalling weather for this reason. Apart from anything else, the chances of a roving Jasta seeing through layers of murk, rain, snow or cats and dogs drops dramatically, so as long as you stay in the muck, you're (almost) safe...

Right then - what are the numbers up to? I think that even though we're approaching summer (in the Northern hemisphere, that is), it's worth a punt. Winston, VB, Vasco and others - can we not arrange a one off mission to see if there's the appetite out there to play more widely? If I'm wrong - I'm wrong forever, and P4 will be a solitary pleasure. I can't believe, though, that OFFers only ever wish to fly solo.

If it's any help, I'm often mistaken for being a hired hand/servant in the house. Mind you, we have three cats, so in effect we are staff...

"In case I frightened you.....this is me when I'm 'Sane'...hahahahahaha" It's still actually quite frightening, and I'm now longing for the promised apocalypse.

Please can you post the spec of your PC, Pol. I have a very bad feeling - matched by an absence of cash - that my existing rig simply won't be able to run P4...

"So lets try to divert to a less serious atmosphere with this thread" Would you consider fish food and pork butt plug jokes to be in terribly good taste? I have strong views on the entire subject of the alleged 'war on terror', and making jokes about it is fairly borderline in terms of propriety. If you think that the death of any person - no matter how awful the acts they've inculcated - is the stuff of humour, then I suggest that you have a word with yourself. I'll probably bob over to the arena (wherever that is) to see if the content is as unashamedly gung ho as here. I hadn't realised that we were meant to be celebrating someone's death.

Hi Al, "He couldn't be brought back alive, suppose he wasn't talkative. How could he be forced to talk . . Harsh Language and Loud Rock music . . anything else is Torture" You're assuming that only beating, waterboarding or whatever would be effective. I suggest that you read of the methods employed by British military intelligence in WW2 when trying to get people to talk. "Surely Bin Laden WAS the leader of Al-Quida ONCE. But now he's in a compound with two analog TV's with rabbit ears, no telephone lines, his only contact with the outside world is by currier carried thumb drives" Apparently not so, if we are to believe what's already been recovered from the materials taken out after the raid. "Plus IF he was brought back alive, he'd be sent to GITMO. With the Best Lawyers in existence, what would we do if a Federal Judge declared him innocent" I think it would have been better to have a trial. I would suggest that even the finest lawyers in the USA - and I'm sure that they're the best in the world - would have had an unenviable task defending OBL against charges brought. Ironically, it would probably have been easier to convict him on the basis of materials recovered than for his participation - even by proxy - in 911. But I suspect that a conviction would have followed, although I'm sure that someone, somewhere is breathing a sigh of relief over the now obviated need to find a jury of people who hadn't been influenced by the media, and would, therefore, prove to be impartial.

Humorous stuff in here, but I would very much have liked them to bring OBL in alive. I can only imagine, given what has been learned from perusal of his notes/computers/etc, what he might have been able to tell intelligence agencies. <on edit> And, thereafter, it would have been proper and fitting to have tried OBL for his role in the criminal acts that occurred, not only in America, but in Kenya and so forth.

I've had situations before now where I simply couldn't take enough fuel to do a given mission, so that's definitely time for the optional flight. If you find yourself in a BE2c, with no escort assigned, being expected to fly about 30 miles behind German lines on a regular basis, there's another candidate...