MikeDixonUK

The Short SpitStick is made by a company called SpitSim: http://www.spitsim.co.uk/ It's not listed on their website though for some reason (although mine was the first production model, so that might be why) - the only thing listed on the website is the complete Spitfire control set, which includes a full floor length stick, rudder pedals, throttle/mixture, landing gear control, elevator trim tab, etc - although it's very expensive (and yes I'd buy it if I had the money!) I did get an email saying they were going to be adding some new projects to the website soon though, not sure what, mind.

When I saw the title of the thread I was expecting this: Nice Dog though!

Psst, big German railway junction at Douai, pass it on!

I think originally it was at St-Pol-Sur-Mer, to the NNE of St. Omer - the train track ran west to east along the coast and there was usually a train going past at the start of every third or so sortie - you could hear it chugging along as you were sat in your Sopwith Strutter waiting to take off. It might just have been that they were more obvious because they were going right past the Aerodrome while we were still on the ground.

I used to see trains all the time during the DiD Campaign whilst stationed near the coast with RNAS-1 and RNAS-2

Here's a Model kit box, which is better than nothing I suppose. Seemingly grey with a blue hat.

Great thread, Olham - and great pics, chaps! Here are a few photos from the family home, as opposed to the view from my room at University, which is a car park. They aren't very professional as they're more 'oh look something interesting, take a picture!' photos, here are some nature pics: This is one of the three random cats that happen to live in the garden, one is black, and the other is black and white - no idea who owns any of them, or who they own, as the case may be, sometimes the ginger one even wanders into the house and walks up the stairs!: The local fighter ace downs another victim: And here are a few pictures of England's green and pleasant land, from the view out of my bedroom window:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVSOx6nrYgI ...What?

It's sad about the loss of jobs, as a result of there being no more orders for what is made there, but in the grand scheme of things it's better than us having a great need to build lots of tanks, because that would probably mean we're at war with someone! The ironic thing about defence these days is that the better you get at it the less demand there is for it, for example say you have the most high tech and sophisticated fighter jet ever designed, which completely outclasses all possible adversaries, which would lead to there being less air combat, and thus less demand for super high tech sophisticated fighter jets, go figure! But as heartless as it may be, war is good for employment.

It's hard to think about what might have been had certain things not happened, on the one hand you could say that had people not died then the world would have more artists and doctors and the like, but then on the other hand, if a chap called Adolf Hitler had died in the great war then he would have been one of the glorious dead, and people would wonder what could have come of this young painter had the cruelty of war not snatched away his life. It's easy to say that if bad things hadn't happened then the world would be a happy place, but it's not as simple as that - history is history, could things be better or worse had they not happened, who knows?

Not a flight sim, but the first Air based game I ever remember playing was this: (They don't make intros like that anymore!) Seeing images of those Apaches on HMS Ocean off Libya brought it all back. And that intro music! Dun-deeer, Dun-deeeeer, Dun-deeeeeer, Dun-deeeeeeeeeer, Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuun Of course followed by Jungle Strike and Urban Strike The intro music wasn't quite as good after those three.

Thanks Olham, fascinating stuff - looks like it was filmed only yesterday! Love the dog that seemingly gets blown off the wing by the prop.

Yeah sorry about that, I do tend to get quite offensive during the spring time.

I usualy go for a long winded very british sounding fellow, something like Squadron Commander his grace the Lord Sir Peter Billingworth-Billingworth Harper Rossendale Bligh the 3rd esq. Granted not 100% accurate to the correct peerage form. Or I try to make a British sounding version of German Aces, like Bernerd Ross, or Manston vaughn Ritch-Horton And there was a time when I was making a few generic alternate characters to test out different countries aircraft, such a a British Pilot with a Scottish looking photo, called Tester McTwo, a Frenchmen called Testevous le three, a German called Testen Von Four and an American called Billie Testo the Fifth

I've been planning on buying this, but am rather disapointed at the lack of a singleplayer 'career' mode (hopefully someone will mod one in.) Then I can go Sharpe-ing around Europe, bashing people with a 1796 pattern heavy cavalry sword, getting shot in the shoulder every other fight, shouting at French people, shouting at English people, etc.

Of course I'm sure they always relish the chance to be the proper gentlemen - but eventually it shall dawn on them that now they have nowhere to sit. The ones with their legs crossed are probably all desperate to go to the toilet - but don't want to get up incase someone nicks their chair, as for the chap on the left - he's waiting for his turn at the snooker table just off camera.

Earlier today I flew my first Aeroplane as a treat for my Birthday (with an instructor obviously!) Had a 45 min flight experience in a Cessna 172 - flew over the sea and north across the Scottish Border (Recon mission I guess ) then climbed up above the clouds, and saw a rainbow from above. Bloody good stuff! Apparently I was excelent for someone who hadn't done it before (they probably say that to everyone) - though I think playing Over Flanders Fields and other flight sims did help me a lot with some aspects of it, like being able to hold it steady in level flight and coming out of turns properly - felt almost as if I'd done it before. Although I must say that 30 degrees of bank in real life looks a lot different than 30 degrees of bank sat in front of your PC screen! I won't be doing any barrel rolls for a while that's for sure! Only the lonely threshers of the sky, hidden from the earth had gazed on it. Only we who went up into the high places under the shadow of wings!

Yes it's a feature of early Aeroplanes that were made of wood. You see wood comes from trees - and obviously trees grow, so the early aeroplanes didn't need repairs like modern ones do, they just let the internal trees grow a bit - I remember reading about Mosquitos in WW2 being nearly impossible to shoot down because of all the wood they used. As for the Albatros wings not growing back, this is also historically accurate - RFC maintenance stated that an Aeroplane should be watered after every third flight in order to keep the wood healthy so that it would grow when damaged, and this was also something that the French took up as early as 1916, however in Germany they were unaware of the technique, and only in September 1918 did they discover it, which of course by then was too late to have any major effect on the war - who knows, maybe if the Central powers had learned of the technique sooner then things might have turned out differently. You can read more about it in 'Botanical Warfare on the Western Front, 1914 - 1918', by Professor J. P. J Booth Williamson Smith-Villiers MC

Thanks - it's deffinitely something I want to carry on with, without a doubt! I think the biggest eye opener with regards to flying a real plane as opposed to a sim is the way it feels when you're climbing and diving, and banking, like being on a rollercoaster or driving up and down a big hill - which is something you obviously don't experience when sat infront of your PC, unless you have some sort of massive sim cockpit in a hydraulic rig. Deffinitely enhances the respect for the Fighter Pilots flying loops and rolls and hammerheads and the like - whilst trying not to get shot down at the same time!

Gee wizz, Columbo - they're on to something - exactly the same*, well - apart from the fact that they're different colours, and the swords are different shapes, and the ribbon is a different texture, and a different shape, and the metal is a different texture, and a different width, and a different edge width, and a different portrait... Other than that they're exactly the same.* * (I'm being sarcastic incase you were wondering.) But it's true, the two games are based on the same war! *le gasp!*

Here you are old chap, bottom of the page: http://riseofflight....28378&start=230 Give the swine a damn good thrashing! Up and at 'em!

Well Lieutenant, I hear you've been seeing faces in the sky, most interesting. Frankly I don't care if you've seen the Kaiser himself looking down at you - you aren't getting out of the Balloon attack job that easily - 05:00 on the dot!

Now I'm rather a fan of ROF and play it quite a bit, but to say something like that is rather a strong accusation on their part! Damn bad form! Pistols at dawn! Incidentilly I found it interesting that one of my Wingmen from the OFF DiD campaign (Luke Roberts) should happen to show up on the roster of the RoF career preview screenshots - but I just put that one down to coincidence.

ArmA III for me - in my opinion if they polish it right (which I hope they do, seeing as it's the biggest production team Bohemia Interactive have had for one of their games) then it could possibly be the greatest game ever made (no pressure BI.) Then again I used to think Operation Flashpoint was the best game ever - and now ArmA II, so as long as ArmA III is better than ArmA II it should do alright. I've been playing the Operation Flashpoint Series (OFP -> ArmA -> ArmA II) for coming on the last 11 years pretty much non stop - and considering I'm only 23 that's rather a portion of my life I must say! (Though Obviously Over Flanders Fields is the best Flight Sim - that goes without saying!... Even though I just did! )