RAF_Louvert

. Ironhat, that is an excellent source Sir, and was one of the ones I used some time back in the "What's My Plane?" contest. For all our new folks, here is the link to the post in which I offered all the sources I used for that game. WWI Aviation Website Links Post Enjoy! Lou .

. Couldn't of been too much later BH as I've seen mention made of the Bowden cable in this type of application in tech manuals published as early as 1915. As to sliding the Lewis up along the Foster mount rail and getting it back in place, it looks to me from the following photo that about all you could do was have your seat belts loose enough to allow you to stretch up and push it into place. I assume the locking pin was spring-loaded so that it would snap back into the dentent once the sweet spot was hit. However they did it, it doesn't look like it was any too easy while trying to survive a dog fight. .

. BH, they used a Bowden cable to control the trigger rather than simply a single open "wire". The Bowden cable is just like a choke cable in the old cars: a stiff wire running inside a wrapped spring wire outer sheath. This could be mounted anywhere and would not be affected by the movement of the yoke. .

. And for the best outline on how the hydraulic system worked, go here: Firing Between The Props .

. Here is a diagram of how the Fokker mechanical system operated: (From Wikipedia): Diagram of Fokker's synchronization mechanism. Pulling the green handle lowers the red cam follower onto the cam wheel attached to the propeller shaft. When the cam raises the follower, the blue rod is depressed against the spring, enabling the yellow trigger plate to be reached when the purple firing button is pressed. This image shows a side view of one of the original Spandau LMG 08 guns, somewhat different in appearance from the LMG 08/15 that later German fighters used. .

. Quite right uncleal, they were either mechanical or hydraulic systems used to control the firing of the guns. .

. Olham, I realize you said we shouldn't compare the two, but I do find it interesting that while the DR1 designers used the Tripe as their springboard, they seem to completely ignore the aileron system used on the Sopwith. Frank Tallman noted in his book "Flying the Old Planes" that the Tripe he flew had much nicer aileron control than the DR1 he tested, (which he described as very heavy). None-the-less, the DR1 was one of the finest "knife fighters" in the War. .

. Sieben, in the Camel there was a cocking lever for each MG, "A", and a single thumb button at the top center of the yoke to fire both, "B". . Many of the planes, such as the DR1, had a trigger lever on the yoke for each MG, as has been mentioned here earlier. .

. I was wondering Ovs and crew, just how many hours a week are you still devoting to your 4+years long labor of love? It's clear over and over and over again that this has been a passion for you folks far more than a project, and hours don't really come into the equation when such is the case. But I wonder none-the-less, even after all the time already given, how much are you still committing to it on a weekly basis; just a rough estimate. Enquiring minds want to know. BTW, whatever it is, your efforts are amazed at and appreciated more than you'll ever know, and regardless of how much money you may ultimately make from this, it won't begin to match the outstanding work you have done. You Gents deserve to win a lottery; a big, BIG lottery. .

. Well then Pol and Creaghorn, it appears I stand corrected on two counts. I was under the impression that there was a randomness factor to the whole claims process in OFF. And, from what I've read in the past, it seemed the Germans accepted claims more or less on the word of their officers and did not rely as heavily on physical confirmation as the Brits or Americans did. And BTW, the Brits relied VERY heavily on physical confirmation of a kill. It was really only Bishop that I recall being awarded kills simply on his "word", and he was a whole 'nother character. .

. Stiffy, this has been a topic of great discussion in these forums, and I have come to the conclusion that there is no real rhyme or reason to the process. The suggestions given are all excellent and using them may increase your odds of having claims accepted. However, I have tracked this in my own campaigns and despite my best efforts to list aircraft type, times, alts, locations, witnesses, etc, it still is a random factor and you can check that yourself by looking at the numbers that follow the pending claims in your pilot claims file. Generally speaking, if the number is 60 or less your claim is going to be denied. Also, in RL in the British Air Service in WWI, you needed ground confirmation of a kill. An eye witness in the form of one of your wings was not enough and your claim would be denied by HQ. This is why the British aces ended up with far fewer confirmed kills than their Central Powers counterparts, whose word was accepted as proof enough. .

. OUCH! .

. Well, right there OvS you've illustrated my very point about this being a passion far more than a project. I completely understand about getting lost in something you truly love to do, and I've done the same thing on the very few OFF planes I've done a "custom" paint job for. Always a bit of shock when I'm finished and look at the clock only to discover that 3 or 4 hours have gone by. Also, good choice of "working" music. Many thanks again OvS and all for making your passion our pleasure. Cheers! Lou .

. Roger, what kind of a connection are you working off of? Even I was able to download it in about 15 minutes, despite the single-hamster-powered IP I'm stuck with. Worse case scenario, you could maybe get a dev team member to burn a disc of the update and send it to you if need be. But I'd jump on line in the wee hours of the morning when things are slow and download it direct. Come to think of it, that is what I did. .

. Creaghorn, I've been married for well over 20 years so I imagine I know women as little as any man, and I advise that you have that Wii sitting on your sweetie's lap PDQ if you want any shot at a happy home life over the next course of weeks. .

. I'm saving my sheckles for a big flat screen as well, but I'm kind of in the same spot you are VP. My old 19" CRT just keeps on running great and I can't really justify pitching it quite yet. It may have to meet with a tragic boating accident this spring..... "Ah, it was awful, officer! If he'd only been wearing a life preserver all this could have been prevented. Terrible, just terrible. When will they learn." .

. Ras wrote: Hmmmmm: South Texas with nice weather, but flying OFF on a laptop; or snowed in in Minnesota, but flying OFF on a super computer with a big monitor, in a comfy chair, with hot coffee, and warm cookies right out of the oven, and nowhere to have to go. Tough call. .

. Check Six, I believe it was "Deutsch Gothic", (if it's the one I am remembering), which is available as a free download. There are a couple of others that look about the same which are also available online from websites such as 1000 Free Fonts. In fact, here's a link to one of many places you can grab it from: Gothic Fonts .

. More outstanding shots here folks! But RC, what is the deal with the ghost pilot in that SE5? Spooooooooky. Here are a few I snapped whilest flying the Brisfit during a recent go-round with a trio of Pfalz from Jasta 80. On the field preparing for our mission. The initial merge with our three assailants. It is amazing how well the Brisfit turns; here I am carving inside the lead Pfalz. A brief second later and I have a gun solution on him. And in another second he is "Kaput"! Here's my trusted tail gunner Sgt. Kenny Shewtum working his own brand of magic. We fought these birds all the way to terra firma. A beautiful summer sky clear of threats, so we head for home. Man, do I love flying the Brisfit! Cheers! Lou .

. Olham wrote: No Olham, it's not one of our OFF Albs, (ours look much nicer). And oh the wonders I can perform with my little old Adobe Photo Deluxe BE program. .

. Or back up to the earlier version if they were working better for you. That's what I'd do. I hate triangles when I'm flying, unless I'm eating Doritos. .

. As some of you will remember in a post a while back it was discovered that, contrary to popular belief, our WWI RL conterparts did quite a bit of switching on and off of their engines during flight and combat maneuvers. Immediately following that realization I set up a pair of buttons on the top of my Logitech to act as magneto blip switches. I mapped "Shift+M" to one and "Ctrl+M" to the other and began flying the various OFF planes to see what affect using this feature has. I am here to report that it has quite a noticeable affect, particularly with the rotary-powered kites. Nearly every maneuver that requires a rapid change in direction will benefit from momentarily killing power to the magnetos, thus reducing the effects of forward motion, and more importantly gyroscopic precession as that spinning mass slows down. And this all happens much faster when you cut the mags rather than reducing throttle. I have discovered after my last couple of weeks of flying "with the mags" that it is another edge you have at your disposal to combat the AI. You can go about 3 seconds with the mags off and still have the engine fire back up. Longer than that and you will likely kill the engine completely and will then have to go into a dive in order to get enough speed to windmill the prop and restart in flight, (which they also did in RL back in the Great War). I had to map two separate switches, an "ON' and an "OFF", because some of the planes are modeled with one mag while others are modeled with two. With this set-up I simply hit the "OFF" switch twice in quick succession which shuts down each and every plane we have PDQ. Conversely, hitting the "ON" switch quickly twice brings them back up to full power just as fast. Give it go, and see what you think. For me, it has now become part of my regular flying practice. Cheers! Lou .

. Outstanding info Bletchley and many thanks for it! I am adding it to my resource library. As to the Camel I saw fly, you are very likely correct about the engine Sir. It was many years ago and my memory is not what it use to be...or maybe it is, I don't really remember. .

. Siggi, I just this weekend updated to 196.21 for my 64 bit XP Pro OS. I believe these are the newest drivers out there for nVidia. .

. Well if everything was working fine before Siggi and you had no triangles then I would look to something else. Have you added any large programs lately? When was the last time you used a really good cache and registry cleaner and defrag'd your hard drive? I run CCleaner at the end of every day and defrag once a week. Keeps my PC bright and zippy...and no triangles. And I've noticed a pronounced decline in performance and a return of the jaggies and other graphics anomalies if I do not do this as described. Remember, a clean 'puter is a happy 'puter. .