RAF_Louvert

Olham, I've no doubt your direct translation is correct, but I am equally sure that Bullethead is right about the intended meaning and how it would be worded in English. Seeing as how it is an address stamp, "2nd Seaplane Squadron" would make far more sense than "2nd Division Naval Airman". And you German folk are nothing if not precise. Cheers! Lou

DING DING DING !!! WILD CARD PHOTO ! The first to correctly identify the aircraft shown, the grand plan that had been devised for its use, (but never implemented in WW1), and what exactly is streaming out the back of the torpedo as if it were jet-propelled, will be awarded 2 bonus points. You must be spot on with all answers to win. Good Luck! . Hopefully you won't miss this one zoomzoom. Cheers! Lou

Oh, Olham I just realized you ask what unit these belonged to as well. I am going to say the Starboard Watch Naval Flying Unit. Cheers! Lou

Alrighty then Olham, I have not seen that photo before but I am going to guess it is the German seaplane base on the North Sea island of Norderney. I am further going to speculate that it was taken about the same time as this photo, which was snapped at the same location in October of 1918: If you look closely at both photos you can see that the large hanger looks pretty much identical in each and has the same little fitting above the eave at the far end. Cheers! Lou

I just now read through this entire thread and decided to jump into the sim and take a look for myself. Olham wasn't kidding. These Brisfits are being flown by wizards. hee, hee, hee .

Well folks, if I am being cast as "da man" in this scenario then da man says, "Rickitycrate is correct!" The object is the ever-useful and oft overlooked inclinometer, found in a fair number of WW1 aeroplanes and air ships alike. If I had one handy right now it would show that this Wild Card has tipped in your favor Sir. Two more points to you Rickitycrate. The contest standings as of this moment are: Olham, 20 points Dej, 19 points Rickitycrate, 14 points Red-Dog, 12 points Bullethead, 5 points Duce Lewis, 5 points Luftace, 5 points Burning Beard, 4 points Check Six, 2 points rhythalion, 2 points JohnGresham, 1 point Shrikehawk, 1 point TonyO, 1 point zoomzoom, 1 point Stay vigilant, there will be more to come. Cheers! Lou

After the daring daylight raid by a lone Boche two-seater on the harbor at Dover, it was immediatley evident that retaliation was in order. To let such an afront stand unchallenged would devastate morale. And so a plan was devised as we sat around the dinner table that evening, a plan that involved striking at the very heart of the Fatherland. We would bomb Berlin! We contacted the Commander of 100 Squadron as he had a full compliment of FE.2b's at his disposal, and all were rigged for night duty. We outlined our proposal to him, and being the daring fellow that he was, he jumped quickly onboard with the whole affair. He recommended that GHQ not be informed of the operation until afterwards, as the Brass Hats would likely never give the go-ahead on such an outing, (smart man). Realizing the limited range of the Fee's, arrangements were made to have a trio of the 100's allotment ferried across the North Sea and landed at an airfield near Ribe, Denmark. My crew and I took the boat trip along with our kites, and after they had been unloaded and properly tuned up we flew them up and over to Svendborg for a refueling stop. Then on to a covert field that had been prepared for us at Gedser; a small Dansk community situated on a spit of land jutting out into the straights of the Baltic, and the closest point to the Hun mainland. We chose a night with a full moon, a bomber's moon, in which to work our mischief. A crisp fall breeze was lightly blowing from the northwest, and barely a wisp of clouds hung low on the horizion. 1:30 was our time for take off, and my boys were ready and willing for the task at hand. We warmed the engines. My gunner/obs Sgt. Shewtum readied his office, then gave me the thumbs up. I throttled up the Beardmore and it roared out its approval. We were off! We climbed up and over the Baltic, keeping the moon off our port wing, and in just over 15 minutes time we saw the coast of Germany slipping beneath. Rostock sat dark and quiet below, they were clearly not giving us any notice. We continued our ascent until we reached 8,000', and at this height we could coax about 80 mph out of our buses. With the breeze behind us that meant we should reach Berlin a little after 3:00. We flew on, over Lake Muritz, then followed the Havel River for some miles, all the while doing our best to hold a true 156 compass heading. And, after the alloted time, there it was, the northern outskirts of Berlin! Unlike the small towns to the north the capitol city was not quite caught napping, and while the defenses it threw at us were rather light, they none-the-less kept us on our toes. I throttled back and glided down to 6,500', aligning the Fee directly towards the Stadtschloss. While we had decided not to bomb the royal palace itself, we were going to drop our eggs close enough to get some attention. Kenny and I picked out a cluster of industrial buildings situated on the opposite side of the canal from the palace as our target, and as I held the bus straight and true to the Sergeant's signals, the drop point was determined, and away went 130 pounds of the King's finest greetings. Then the wait. While it only takes about 15 seconds at that height and speed for the bombs to reach Mother Earth, when you are hanging about over a very unfriendly burg that would like nothing better than to blast you from the night sky, it seems like an eternity. Then suddenly...there it was. Hits on the target! (Ironically, the palace itself was just coming into the crosshairs at that moment...oh to have just one more little egg for Wilhelm.) The other lads let go their cargo in quick succession, and as I made the turn back north I could see they too had caused some consternation for the Kaiser. As we bobbed and weaved along, we took great satisfaction in the fires we could see burning below. That should take some of the starch out of 'em! After getting away from the range of the searchlights and AA, we made a course change to towards the west for a while, just in case any Boche scouts were on the way to intercept us. We then turned and set our real heading back to the north and made best speed across the hinterlands. If we were being followed, they never got near enough to do anything. The sun was just cresting the eastern horizon as we slipped once again over the straights. Our bomber's moon was now high in the sky and fading in the morning light. It had served us well. Upon approaching Gedser, I throttled back and glided down towards the makeshift field, and as I turned to land the morning sun was painting the water a golden hue. The warm glow gave a welcoming feel as we touched down on the dewy morning grass. We had made it back to tell the tale. There would be celebration tonight and a fair amount of toasts raised to Willie's bad luck and our own good fortune. Take that you crafty Allemanders! Cheers! Lou

Bullethead wrote: I was wondering when someone was going to ask me that. I took a liberty there with the screenshot and added that after the fact to duplicate what I do use when bombing with these planes. I incorporate the old RB3D trick of a bombsight overlay for my monitor, which when in place looks pretty much just like what I am showing in the picture. I took a clear, flexible film cut to fit my screen and added the graduated crosshair lines and circular mask. This film will suck itself down onto the screen due to static and because it is cut to fit it lines up dead center every time. So, when I start my bomb run, I have my plane all trimmed out to fly level and true, I hit F3 for invisible cockpit, drop the film onto the screen, and using my Track IR simply look straight down and try to hold myself as still as possible as I approach the target. I have a rough table figured out as to when to release based on alt and speed, and I use the hash marks to determine when to drop based on that table. Works pretty well, and likely about as accurate as what my WW1 counterparts had at their disposal. Now then, as to these British war atrocities you're claiming? "Hello Mr. Kettle. I'm Mr. Pot. My, but you're black." Cheers! Lou

DING DING DING !!! WILD CARD PHOTO ! The first to correctly identify the object shown, how it functioned, and on what type of aircraft it was used will be awarded 2 bonus points. You must be spot on with all answers to win. Good Luck! Now I made you look. .

Hee, hee...OK now that was funny.

That's why I made the point about it being a covert airfield. There, and then gone, like a will-o-the-wisp. Did you really see what you think you saw, or does it recede into the mist before your very eyes? As to getting a gong come War's end, well I'll worry about that then, assuming I haven't gone west before the bloody thing ever closes. And it's amazing how many promises made before the conflagfration really got rolling can now be broken with a few cases of good Irish whiskey and several pounds of first-rate pipe tobacco. Cheers! Lou

"Heaven High, Hell Deep", Norman Archibald "High Adventure", James Norman Hall "Sagittarius Rising", Cecil Lewis "Fighting the Flying Circus", Edward Rickenbacker "Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps", James McCudden "Flying for France", James McConnell There are many, many others. Cheers! Lou

Top notch answer Rickitycrate, and exactly right. It is the Lloyd C.V. The final two points in this set are yours Sir. Also, Red-Dog, there are still three photo sets to go and several Wild Card photos, so don't be counting yourself out of this race yet. Keep the competition going everyone. Here are the standings after photo set 9: Olham, 20 points Dej, 19 points Red-Dog, 12 points Rickitycrate, 12 points Bullethead, 5 points Duce Lewis, 5 points Luftace, 5 points Burning Beard, 4 points Check Six, 2 points rhythalion, 2 points JohnGresham, 1 point Shrikehawk, 1 point TonyO, 1 point zoomzoom, 1 point Cheers! Lou

Dej and Red-Dog, well done Sirs! Both of you are correct. #33 is my much beloved Strutter 1 1/2, and #34 is the Farman Shorthorn, (also tagged the M-11). Two more points for each of you gents. Cheers! Lou

Very good BH, that I can agree with. And I am not knocking Shaw's points at all, "Fighter Combat" is one of the definitive works on the subject written by a master. But the lines between LWL and HWL combat planes and the styles of fighting dictated by each do become rather blurred with the WW1 aircraft. Still, Shaw's tactics are rock solid and will apply even in these planes, as long as one remembers that blurriness. Cheers! Lou

Now that was a fun read Bullethead. Being a bomber puke at heart I was rooting for you the whole time, despite the fact that you were attacking dear old England. :smile; Cheers! Lou

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about Olham. Outstanding Sir, right down to the date the photo was taken. Two more points to you Sir. Cheers! Lou

Bullethead, I agree that the pilot is the "E" fighter, the closing point in my previous post was worded incorrectly. And I also realize you were reiterating Shaw's criteria, so again my apologies for making it sound like it was your definition. My point was and is that any plane with a relatively fast rate of climb can be used for "E" fighting, (by Shaw's definition). That's not to say certain planes aren't better for this, clearly they are. But you can jump into your DR1, and emulate the same high yo-yo as the Spad XIII, you just won't attain the same altitude from point of initiation in the DR1 as you will in the Spad, nor do it as quickly. However, the same tactic can be used and should be used against an opponent flying a plane of roughly equal capabilities. The problem I have with the three ways to fight as listed in your post is that it does not allow for the energy fighter who KNOWS how to turn and pivot in the horizontal while keeping track of his energy. A good Camel flyer can not only go sailing up to gain alt and wing over to drop back down on his opponent for a possible kill shot, but can also turn fight that same opponent when the situation dictates, and does so without burning off all his energy, stalling out, or presenting himself as a big, fat target. I find Shaw's definition of energy fighting to be much too narrow when talking about the Great War fighter aircraft. Cheers! Lou

Greetings anxious contestants. We are entering the final four sets so the home stretch is in sight, (can't you just feel the tension mounting). Please remember the rules, and have fun. Round 9 begins now. Good luck everyone. Let's play What's My Plane! .

Oh, agreed Dej. I wandered all over Salisbury Plain and it is a very awesome, and sometimes very eerie, place. Cheers! Lou

There you go Olham, that is spot on Sir. And see how much we're all learning here. BTW, about 13 1/2 hours from right now, (High Noon GMT), I will be posting the next set of photos, so be on the look-out for them. Cheers! Lou

Well that is interesting Dej. I checked three different sources and each notes the Pup as using the Sopwith-Kauper gear for the Vickers. Now the plane in the clip you provided was built by Whitehead, so perhaps that is the difference. However, if the pump on the port side is for the Constantinesco Interrupter then it raises another question in my mind: Where is the hand pump for pressurizing the pertol tank? It is not on the starboard side as seen in the photo I posted, which leads me to believe the pump may have been mis-identified in that article. Or it's also possible that it simply has not been installed yet in the plane shown as that one is in the stages of assembly. I will have to do some more investigating. And since I just mentioned the hand pump for pressurizing the petrol tank...Duce, I am awarding you the 2 points for this one. You are close enough as you noted it could be a pressure gauge used to adjust fuel mixture; well done Sir. What that gauge in the Pup does exactly is it reads the air pressure in the petrol tank, and that pressure is normally produced by a Rotherham propeller pump when the plane is moving. However, at start-up the pilot had to use the hand pump to build about 2.5 lbs of air pressure in the tank in order for the plane to run initially, (the hand pump could also be used in flight should the propeller pump fail or become damaged). If you look closely at the face of the gauge it is marked "AIR", and it is calibrated from 0 to 5 lbs of pressure, which would put the recommended 2.5 reading right in the middle of the dial. Next time you are flying your favorite OFF plane, take a look and see if it has it's own version of this gauge. Some of them do. The standings after this latest Wild Card photo: Olham, 18 points Dej, 17 points Red-Dog, 10 points Rickitycrate, 10 points Bullethead, 5 points Duce Lewis, 5 points Luftace, 5 points Burning Beard, 4 points Check Six, 2 points rhythalion, 2 points JohnGresham, 1 point Shrikehawk, 1 point TonyO, 1 point zoomzoom, 1 point Cheers! Lou

Herr-Prop Wasche, thanks for pointing that out I Sir, I missed it. And no, it does not make a difference. Glad you are enjoying the contest. Feel free to jump in with a guess, I hazard them all the time myself. Cheers! Lou

Yet another beauty I can shoot at with my trusty Camel. Great work as always OvS. Cheers! Lou

Red-Dog, the 36-hour wait period until your next guess also applies to the Wild Card photos, just as it does in the photo sets. The last Wild Card photo I made an exception due to the difficulty folks were having with it. Even if you had been correct here with this latest guess you would not be awarded the points. But it's not quite a fuel gauge Sir. Also, remember you have to name the plane as well in your "official" answer. BTW Red-Dog, if it's any consolation, you were actually closer with your first guess. Cheers! Lou