RAF_Louvert

. Thanks for the info uncleal, and thanks for the advise Pol. That is pretty much how I aim the N24 now. I don't know that I would even use an add-on sight as I shoot more by feel than anything else. I was asking the question primarily for my own edification. Cheers! Lou

. Good to know you all made it safe and sound. Winter travel really can be nasty at times. Relax now and enjoy the season. Merry Christmas to you and yours! Lou .

. BH, I understand all your points and don't disagree. I am only saying that, given the time of year and other projects on the table, we shouldn't expect the devs to rush to this issue as it sounds like an either/or scenario for the moment. Either adjustable fuel load or custom skin. So unless that is simply a button and a file or two that could be added to allow the choice in the workshop the situation is not likely to be altered anytime soon. Maybe we'll have to use a similar approach to Olham's and install BHaH a second time as another stand-alone and not upgrade it to HITR, assuming folks have the space for that in their hard drives. Just spitballing here on that idea. .

. hee hee, well of course Olham, I would expect nothing less from an aerial warrior such as yourself. Best of luck on your next outing Sir, just try and give my mates as soft a landing as I gave yours. .

. Yuppers, BH has it nailed quite close there. You could paraphrase Sir Walter Scott's "Marmion" when it comes to the French efforts with the Nieup series in WWI. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when improved performance we 'tempt achieve." .

. HOORAH! Finally a sunny day in our DID real time campaign. My flight and I were assigned offensive patrol of the coast and got into a furball with a mix of Halbs and Albs. Great sport! Here we are high above the coastline looking for Huns. Wasn't long before we found some up to mischief over our shipping lanes. An Alb, just where I like them. Sent him in for a swim. Hope he likes cold water. Heading home to brag and boast. We dropped three Boche in the drink and the rest went scampering off east to lick their wounds. What a great day's work it was. Cheers! Lou .

. In a memorandum issued by Britsh GHQ in February 1918 entitled "Fighting in the Air", the point is stressed in the section concerning scout pilots engaged in offensive patrols to maximize the agility and nimbleness of their craft by any means possible. You can bet they played with fuel load in this effort. Also, I know I have read in at least two different personal writings from the time about pilots going up with partial fuel loads when they knew they were staying close to home. I seem to recall in one account the writer talking about his frustration with not being able to chase after an enemy two-seater due to his short fuel load that morning. However, historic practice aside, I too see the ability to adjust fuel load as yet another refinement that should be allowed by the pilot, just like trimming out his controls before take-off. But I also don't expect our wonderful devs to drop everything and play with this little feature anytime soon. It's Christmas for one thing. And besides, I can always just climb to alt, hit ctrl-shift-E and accelarate so I can fly in circles until I have a half a tank of petrol, then decelerate and fly my normal little patrol mission if I choose to, (that's a sort of fuel management system right there). Plus I get to keep my custom skin to boot. Where there's a will and extreme amounts of coffee, there's a way. Cheers! Lou .

. More B-E-A-utiful screenshots Gents! The AA settings make a giant difference in the quality of what you see. I have been running 16x with my 9800GTX+ since loading OFF and it gives razor sharp images with excellent FPS. I love the amount of tweaking the Nvidia workshop allows you to do. .

. I'm running "historical" setting at the moment myself. Just flew a campaign mission with the 147th and my N28 was jumped by six DR1's. It was all I could do to find a place to land my kite before it was shot to pieces. The Kaiser's fliegers where VERY aggressive. Even kept strafing me once I had set down in a field near an Allied obs balloon. Now I'm a bit apprehensive about going back up. Might have to resort to some liquid courage. .

. OK Av8er, the reason I asked is because they have outstanding support and sources for the N11 and N17 builds, and because the picture in your avatar appears to be of a Nieuport replica belonging to one of their members. BTW, I am doing a parasol wing pusher that has been at this stage for well over a year now: Cheers! Lou .

No I don't image you do T&FO. It would make it a real buggar getting through airport security. Neat pic BTW. . . Oh, and Olham, it's Roy Brown's photo. .

. Outstanding pics as always folks. And I did not know we even had flares, (or if I did I've forgotten...my memory is good, but short). How does one go about using them? .

. Thanks for the positive remarks Gents. Av8er, best of luck with your N11 UL project. Are you working with the folks from the Dawn Patrol in terms of support and parts sources? BTW, I have a UL project of my own, but it has been on hold for some time now, however I live in hope that I'll get back to it one of these days. Siggi, it is rather sharp, isn't it? Stiffy, I've been studying those loops myself, and they are puzzling. They appear to be originals as they are a welded, blued steel and show no signs of having been added later. The brass rivets and stitching on the leather straps supporting them do not appear to have been redone or altered in any way. But I have not found photos of another belt showing this style of loop. Since you mention it, do you have a good source for the replacement 'D' rings? Also, I am still searching for that pair of red pants. The two I had been watching online both went for far more than I was willing to pay, (this is a "budget" project after all). I do have a couple other alternatives I am considering, and one of them will complete the display, of that I am quite sure. Also Stiffy, I am very curious what the item is you mentioned earlier that will significantly change the look of your project. Has it arrived yet and when will we see it? Inquiring minds want to know. Cheers! Lou .

. The real ale houses are one of things I miss most about England. I did my level best to enjoy as much of it as I could for the three years I lived there. mmmmmmmmmm...aaaaaaaaale .

. Thanks Stiffy, I was not aware of that company. A bit spendy but it looks like nicely made items. BTW, the Sam Browne arrived on Monday and I discoverd that, despite some heavy checking of the finish on the rear portion of the upper strap it was still quite sound, but very, very dried out. However, after carefully working in by hand numerous applications of a vinegar/mink oil mixture the leather came back and is once again supple with a great color and sheen, and the brass is very good as well. I now have it fitted to my project, along with my collection of French and Belgian medals and honours. I even happened across an original WWI-issue French wound ribbon with red enamalled star which showed up in a package of old French medals and mounting bars I had purchased a while back, (mainly for the silver ball-and-bar mounts as they are hard to come by). Here is the current status of my efforts: Also, the stork pin did indeed turn out to be an original from the Great War era, and it flys beautifully above all that bling. I am still sorting out the collar flashes and combat stripes, but I think it is looking quite fine. I even built my own tailor's form to display it on, but that's a story for another time. Cheers! Lou .

. Good Evening Everyone, Today I was fortunate enough to acquire the following item, and I found it very timely given the recent release of the OFF Hat in the Ring update. So what is it, you may well ask. It is a 5 1/2" length of what appears to be original issue ribbon for the very rare "Ruban du Lafayette Flying Corps". This was the only official honour created by the French government to specifically recognize the contibutions of the LFC during WWI, and was instituted on November 3, 1918. Here is the text of the original document: Ministere De La Guerre Sous-secretariat D'etat De L'aeronautique Militaire Et Maritime, Republique Francaise Le President du Conseil, Ministere de la Guerre, a decide, sur ma proposition, d'accorder un souvenir aux quatre officiers directeurs et aux 214 pilotes du Lafayette Flying Corps, qui, devancant 1'elan de tout un peuple, sont venus prendre fraternellement dans les rangs franfais une belle part de perils et de la gloire. Ce souvenir consiste en un ruban bleu, seme d'etoiles, horde des couleurs de France et d'Amerique, orne en relief de la tete de Sioux en argent, qu'ont glorieusement portee sur nos champs de bataille les avions de la premiere Escadrille Lafayette. This loosely translates to the following: MINISTRY OF WAR UNDER-SECRETARY DEPARTMENT OF STATE MILITARY AND MARITIME AERONAUTICS, REPUBLIC OF FRANCE “The President of the Council, Ministry of War, has decided, on my proposal, to grant a decoration of remembrance to the four directing officers and the 214 pilots of the Lafayette Flying Corps, who, on behalf of a whole people, came to stand as brothers, in a beautiful gesture, and share in the dangers and glory. This remembrance consists of a blue ribbon, with stars, in the colors of France and of America, and decorated with a silver bust in relief of a Sioux Indian which, in glory over our battlefields, was carried by the planes of the premier Lafayette Escadrille.” Here is, as far as I know, the only surviving example of this citation as originally presented, and it belonged to David Putnam of the 139th Aero Squadron: And since we've come this far I may as well note who this brave flyer was as well. Lieutenant David Endicott Putnam, 13 victories. Born in 1898, Putnam, a descendant of American Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam, grew up in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. He joined the French Air Service at age 18, and scored his first victory in January 1918, while flying with MS 156. By early June, he had four confirmed victories and many more unconfirmed. He transferred to Spad 38 and got two more confirmed kills, before moving over to the U.S. 139th Aero Sqn. He was shot down by the German ace Georg von Hantelmann in September, 1918. I am not quite sure yet what I am going to do with this bit of ribbon, but if I can come across a small indian head charn that is close to that shown I may create my own version of this award for my French tunic project. Also, if anyone else is interested there is another length being offered by the same vendor on eBay France right now, and the auction on it ends sometime tomorrow. Just thought those of you who like to know more of the rich history that surrounds this sim we all love to experience so much might find this interesting. Cheers! Lou .

. No Rickitycrate, "Falcons Of France" is a later work that Hall co-wrote with Charles Nordhoff, (one of numerous books they co-wrote together). "High Adventure" was first published in 1918 while "Falcons Of France" was 1929. They do share some story lines of course, as both men served in the Lafayette Flying Corps and had similar experiences, and wrote about them in numerous works over the years. .

. Also, since RC mentioned William Wellman it should be noted that not only was he member of the French Foreign Legion, he also went on to serve in the French Air Service as a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps in Esc N87. He wrote a book about those experiences called, "Go Get 'Em!", which is another first edition that resides on my shelves, (I know: brag, brag, brag). And, he directed another earlier film about WWI flyers back in 1927 that was considerably better. A little production called "Wings". .

. Oh yes ConradB! Excellent old book. I have that one on my shelf as well, along with the companion volumes featuring B/R's, and the aces. A great trio to have. .

. Olham, your money's much better off invested in an old book than in an over-inflated tax system. .

. As ConradB says, its OK. If you don't expect too much from it you'll enjoy giving it a look. Definitely "Hollywood". .

. Thanks Olham, I already have a first edition of that book on my shelf, and it is a top notch read. Someone should nab that copy on eBay. Thanks also for the links. I was not aware of the first one. More good info. .

Good Morning All, So, I was flying an N28 with the 147 south of the Argonne Forest in June of 1918. I had become separated from my flight and as I approached the mud I encounterd five DVII-F's co-alt at about 11,000'. I engaged the top most and after about 100 rounds he burst into flames and started down. I then went after two more that were maneuvering onto my six, and managed to get bursts into both and drove them below me but did not put them out of commission. Started in on another and was pelting him from about 75 yards out when I went bingo on ammo, (not a jam). Messed around with shift-J and shift-C commands simply to see if I would get a refill with the new kite but no to that, which is as it should be, (empty is empty). Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour in this instance I dove to the nearest Allied aerodrome to set down and gain some cover from the MG's, and three of the Hun chased me all the way. I landed and coasted up near a hanger for cover, killed my engine, then sat and let the boys on the ground have at 'em, which they did. The enemy did not leave right away but instead made a pass or two on my bus as I sat on the field, (but the cheeky devils did not hit me). Out of frustration I pulled the trigger and "BANG", I had ammo again! Immediately restarted, took off and re-engaged the EA, sending one down at the end of the runway. I was very suprised. I tried to duplicate the reload by going to my next mission and flying about running short bursts until empty, then landed and waited for the guns to reload, but I could not get it to happen again. Perhaps there needs to be hostile aircraft in the immediate area, or perhaps it was a fluke. Anyone else ever have this happen, or is this a new treat from our grand and glorious devs? Cheers! Lou

. sitting_duck, to answer your question: Unisom washed down with large amounts of extra-strength Folgers coffee. That way I can be asleep and alert all at once. Really saves time. .

. Do you see my new medal? Watch how it sparkles, turning slowly in the light...turning...turning...you are getting sleepy now...very sleepy...you are calm and relaxed...you are sitting in the cockpit of your plane...you have landed after using all your ammo in a dogfight...and now your guns have reloaded...reloaded...you may take off and fight on...fight on...you will give me all your cash and credit cards...credit cards... .