RAF_Louvert

. I know, but I'm not telling. .

. Not a bad idea NS13Jarhead. My gunner/obs has been Sgt. Kenny Shewtum for as long as I can remember. .

. I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air-- I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair. (written, prophetically, by Alan Seeger, who died on July 1st, 1916, going over the top at the Somme) I too join you BH, and toast to the spirits of those departed warriors. .

. That's quite nice nbryant, and you just happen to have used a photo of Charles John Biddle, the author of one of my personal favorite WWI aviation books, "The Way Of The Eagle", (an original 1919 1st edition of which rests proudly on my bookshelf). Embossed seals are a bit tricky to do as you have to create the seal from a clip of the finished document, so that the array of background colors and textures are part of the seal. You then use several layers built from that clip to create the embossed design, after which you overlay your lettering with a drop shadow in the proper direction and then dial the opacity of the text way down so the background again comes through. Then merge all the layers together and dial down the opacity of the entire "seal" until it looks correct. But really, however you've done it, what you have already looks quite good, IMHO. Cheers! Lou .

. Precisely. Just as "Gloeckner" means "bell ringer" in English. Or "Hartlieb Fruehauf", and it's translation to "hard love, up early". ...hee, hee hee, hee hee...and yes, I get the wondering looks quite often, thank you very much... .

. No, no, wait... " Hartlieb Fruehauf " THAT'S THE ONE! God, I crack myself up. Really. I'm my biggest fan. .

. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference ("The Road Not Taken", by Robert Frost) Life is all about the journey my friends, and my sincere prayer is that each of you makes the most of that journey, no matter where it might take you. Lou .

. "Vee have vays of dealing viss sose who vill not fly in zee OFF skies for zee Kaiser, and you vill not vish to know sose vays, I can assure you. Now zen, sign zee papers." But seriously Olham, your "Flugzeuführerschein" is look very good. Well done. Cheers! Lou .

. On my next pilot career as a Hun, I'm chosing as my family name either "Gloeckner", (because I know precisely for whom the bell tolls), or "Zeitgeist", (in keeping with the spirit of the times). .

. WM, you Brits have no corner on this market. Here are a few laws still on the books in my home state of Minnesota: It is illegal to stand around any building without a good reason to be there. A person may not cross state lines with a duck atop his head. It is illegal to sleep naked. All men driving motorcycles must wear shirts. All bathtubs must have feet. Residents of even numbered addresses may not water their plants on odd-numbered days excluding the thirty first day where it applies. If any cat is found running at large, or which is found in any street, alley or public place, it shall be the duty of any policeman or other officer of the city to kill such cat. Red cars may not drive down Lake Street. Placing tacks on a sidewalk is considered a public nuisance. Any person who persuades another to enter a massage therapist business after 11:00 PM is guilty of a misdemeanor. Hamburgers may not be eaten on Sundays. You're not allowed to park your elephant on Main Street. Our tax dollars at work...yet again. .

. A beautiful story Simon, and it made this sentimental old sod cry as well. Thank you for that Sir. Incredibly serendipitous about the B'Cal contact and the stewardess. Thank you as well to Olham and Ras for sharing your stories too. Life is indeed very strange, but also oft times wonderful. .

. Good Evening nbryant, The stamp is fairly easy. Create a new layer, pull a pair of circles in the correct purplish color, and then add text in the same color. After that you simply throw in a bit of noise and set the opacity at around 60% or so and "Violà!", you have a stamp. The French aviateur certificate is quite easy as it is nothing more than a single-language version of the one I built. The American ones are a bit different, but I have a Great War example of one somewhere, if I can remember where that is. Cheers! Lou .

. Olham wrote: I don't know about being more fit than you in the graphics editing department Sir. More AR perhaps, but doubtful more fit. Appreciate the info on what that stamp is supposed to read, I couldn't make it out myself. Have fun finishing it up. Ras, not sure about an all-in-one list of the German pilots in WWI, but Olham may well be able to steer you towards something. Das Bundesarchiv possibly? .

. Agreed Duce, one of my favs to. But that scene from Hell's Angels is still a corker, even though they crashed a lot of great old planes making the film. I just want one of them...just one. .

. Precisely Dej, which is why Camel jockeys always seem to turn fight to starboard whilest DR1 aces always seem to be going to port. But it works out at least once every revolution when they meet head-to-head. .

. Ah Dej, you're a man after my own heart. If there's a tougher way to do things, I try my best to find it as well. That original I posted is the size I found it in, so what you see is what you get. I increased it by doubling the pixel count which gave me the detail you see in my finished document. Olham, your template is ready. I hope it will serve you well Sir, however I make no claims as to the accuracy of the text on the seal since all I was able to do was trace over the existing one before cutting, pasting, masking, dusting, scrubbing, and generally using every trick I had at my disposal to clean up the certificate. I did leave a bit of the grime on it as I think it makes it look more authentic that way, and in particular I kept the edges and lower corners dirty since that is where you would plant your thumb when opening it up. Cheers! Lou .

. Holy schnikee Olham, that's a beauty! Many thanks Sir, and I will use it to build a German version of the certificate and you will be the first to have one issued. Just send me your pilot info. Dej, that is exactly where I located the script fonts I used for this, (along with many others over the years). I want to thank you again for jogging me old memory on this project, because if it weren't for your posting it would have sat for God knows how long. If you like, it would be my pleasure to rebuild your personal certificate using the template I built. Just let me know. Cheers! Lou .

. Thanks Olham, glad you like it, and send me the info anytime. Also, I would very much like to put one of these together for our Central Powers flyers but I haven't located a good image of a WWI-era German pilot certificate to use as a guide. If anyone has a picture of such a document that I can use it would be very helpful. Cheers! Lou .

. Greetings All, You know, sometimes the most obvious good ideas are staring you in the face for ages and you never return their gaze. Last evening I decided I wanted to start a new early-war RFC career with 24 Squadron and was trying to sort out a pilot persona to create some “history” around before taking to the skies, (something I’ve done since the old RB days). As I was mulling over a few different possibilities it suddenly occurred to me that there is a massive stock available to us all on the internet in the guise of “Flight” magazine, (an aviation history resource I have turned to many times over the years, but for other reasons). For those of you who may not be aware, “Flight” was a premier aviation publication that began back in 1909 and was printed for nearly 100 years, and every one of those copies is electronically archived in PDF format and available in the public domain. Of further note, (and that of primary import here), a regular early feature of this magazine was the monthly listings of those who had earned their flying certificates. So, I jumped online and starting poking about for a 2nd Lieutenant who had been awarded his certificate in the latter part of 1915 as this would be about the right timing to have him likely assigned to the newly-formed 24 Squadron in March of 1916, (the wheels of British military aviation did not turn with any great speed at this point, and it was not unusual at all for potential combat pilots to sit around for months on end at various flight schools, training centers, and home defense units before actually being assigned to a frontline squadron). The man I have chosen to try and honour as my new BHaH pilot is Samuel Trevor Ravenscroft, formerly of the Lancashire Hussars. He was presented Certificate #1748 on September 5th, 1915, and trained in Norwich on the Maurice Farmans. His name appears only twice in all the data bases I searched, and both times in “Flight” magazine, so he is a perfect choice to build a character around. The first entry is found on the following page: The second entry for this gentleman was in the July 1st, 1920 edition and noted the following information: "Married: Capt. S. Trevor Ravenscroft (late Lancs. Hussars and R.A.F), third son of Samuel Ravenscroft, of Brathay, Oxton, Cheshire, and Broughton Grange, Cartmel, Lancashire, was married on June 9 at Chapel Royal, Savoy, to Marjorie, youngest daughter of the late Henry and Mrs. Jenks, of Barrow Hedge, Carshalton, Surrey, and Dunairds, Birnam, Perthshire." As one who likes to build a rather complete timeline for his characters this kind of information to work from is a bit like finding the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and I thought I would share it with those of you who have a fondness for the same sort of background creation for your own pilots. Here is the link to the very first copy in the archives: "Flight" Magazine Archives I hope you folks will find this as useful a resource as I have, as well as food for thought. Cheers! Lou .

. TKS uncleal, I have read that article before, and many personal accounts that support it. Dej, very nice item you've put together there Sir, and great minds do think alike. I have a very similar Aero Club certificate project on my old home computer that was born from an earlier item I built years ago for the 209 website, of which my personal copy looked like this: When I get home this evening I'll see if I can locate the RAC project and dust it off for my new pilot. Thanks for unintentionally reminding me that I have it Dej. Cheers! Lou .

. Very glad you enjoyed it Dej, and I too was a bit concerned about my gunner/obs taking my ear off. At one point I had to swing round and give him a clout with my binocs after which he settled down. Also, I agree the MAW devs did do a splendid job. .

. hughesyman, it's an outstanding BBC series, and I had the pleasure of seeing it the first time around in the 1970's whilest stationed in the UK. And VP is quite correct about it being a drama rather than an "action" series. Still some good flying scenes though, and an excellent story line. I say, "Go for it". Cheers! Lou .

. That tears it! I'm moving to New Zealand. Heck, I'm already a fan of The Conchords... (best poster seen on Murray's office wall in the series) Cheers! Lou .

. Yes Bruce, I read it once way back in the late 1960's shortly after it came out. Fun little bit of historically based fiction as I recall. If you don't already have one and would like to get a start on your own WWI electronic library, here is a link to a zip download I put together some time back: WWI Books Download Link This download contains the following titles: Biogrophies, Diaries, Personal Writings “A Flying Fighter”, by E.M. Roberts, c.1918 ”A Happy Warrior”, the letters of William M. Russel, c.1918 ”Above the Battle”, by Vivian Drake, c.1918 “Air Men O'War”, by Boyd Cable, c.1918 ”An Aviator’s Field Book”, the field notes of Oswald Bolcke, English Edition c.1917 ”Cavalry of the Clouds”, by Alan Bott, c.1918 ”En l'air!”, by Bert Hall, c.1918 ”Fighting the Flying Circus”, by Eddie Rickenbacker, c.1919 ”Flying For France”, by James R. McConnell, c.1917 ”Go Get 'Em!”, by William Wellman, c.1918 ”Green Balls: The Adventures Of a Night-Bomber”, by Paul Bewsher, c.1919 ”High Adventure”, by James Norman Hall, c.1918 ”Night Bombing With the Bedouins”, by Robert H. Reece, c.1919 ”The Flying Poilu”, by Marcel Nadaud, c.1918 “The Red Battle Flyer”, by Manfred von Richthofen, English Edition c.1918 ”The Way of the Eagle”, by Charles J. Biddle, c.1919 ”Winged Warfare”, by William A. Bishop, c.1918 References: “Aircraft Mechanics Handbook”, c.1918 ”Heroes Of Aviation”, by Laurence La Tourette Driggs, c.1918 ”How To Fly”, by A. Frederick Collins, c.1918 “Learning To Fly in the U.S. Army”, by E.N. Fales, c.1917 “Practical Flying”, by W.G. McMinnies, c.1918 “The Aero Manual”, c.1909 “The German Air Force in the Great War”, by Georg Paul Neumann, c.1920 ”The Romance Of Aircraft”, by Laurence Smith, c.1919 Also, be sure and jump over to the thread uncleal started last year: They're On The Internet And They're Free Enjoy. Cheers! Lou .

. Welcome to the OFF skies Bruce, you're in for a treat. And as Slarti has noted, new lads buy the drinks! I agree with all the recommendations above, (well, except for carrick's ), and will also echo using the Sopwith Strutter. Very easy to fly and a stable gun platform, yet quite good in a dogfight, and it can hold it's own against any EA of it's day. Just be sure to choose the two-seater model so you have a rear gunner to watch your six whilest you learn the ropes. Now then, I believe this evening I'll have a Tullamore Dew with a red ale chaser, thank you very much. Cheers! Lou .