RAF_Louvert

Thanks for the offer of assistance sitting_duck, I am sure I will be taking you up on it. I will also grab those files for my MP install. BTW, will you folks be hosting a server this weekend? Cheers! Lou

carrick58, your beginning numbers sound about like mine. As you are flying OFF DiD keep in mind that the typical Great War pilot spent between 12 to 18 weeks in various flight and gunnery schools, (even longer in the case of the French air service), ultimatley learning to be primarily adept at a single type of aircraft. He was then sent to the front and if he was lucky enough to draw a quiet sector would be taken on five or six cook's tours of his AO, after which he would be led across the mud and into battle. Even then he was often instructed by his flight leader to stay out of the fight unless he was attacked, and to try and learn at least a little from the "veterans" flying with him, (veterans being anyone who had survived a few weeks of combat flying). The World War 1 flyer battled not only the enemy but also weather, mechanical issues, and just plain bad luck, and all of this on a learning curve that likely ended abrutly with his death. Now, if we as OFF flyers are attempting to mimick that situation in this combat flight sim, is it any wonder that it's a bit trickier than flying an arcade-style game? Yes the AI are good, but not all of them, and not all the time. Our real life counterparts had to contend with being jumped by numerous enemy at once from out of the sun or clouds, happened often. If he was watchful enough to see them coming he could make the choice to fight or flee, but still with no guarantee of making it home in one piece. Sometimes he ran into an ace, or several, with no chance to flee and found out just how good, and lucky, he was. The point of flying OFF on the DiD settings is to find out how good and lucky you might have been as a Great War pilot. And yes, luck plays an important role in your survival. The devs of this sim have done a first-rate job of recreating the Great War combat flight experience, so "No" it's not easy to survive, not by a long shot. Don't expect to become an ace with just a few hours of stick time, even if you devote it entirely to one aircraft type. But don't despair. Keep practicing and your ability to fly, fight, (and flee), will improve. And hey, if the DiD thing isn't your cup of tea, OFF has settings galore to dial it down to an arcade-style shoot 'em up if that is what you like. To each his own. OFF really is very versatile in that regard, and I've tried flying it in just about every setting configuration imaginable over the last few months. Cheers! Lou

Thank you very much for that information and correction Pol, I will make the changes in my post to give credit where credit is surely due. I am still a noob in the history of OFF. Cheers! Lou

Thanks Rickitycrate, I was aware of that one Sir. What I was getting at, and did not state very well, was if there were a separate sub-forum for such postings here within the OFF parent forum. The folks over at the old RB3D "Wings of Valor" have such a forum even though they are a dedicated RB3D site. Clear as mud...right? Cheers! Lou

I have to say that since there is not a separate and specific forum here for folks to post info about the other WW1 flight sims, (and I am not saying that there needs to be), it always struck me odd and quite generous on the part of the OFF forum admins to allow these posts anyway. I mean, I can't imagine the Ford dealership would be fine with a sports car lover driving his new Chevrolet Camero into their showroom and parking it next to the new Mustang and saying how cool the Camero was, no matter how many times it was qualified with "Don't get me wrong, I like all the new sports cars and I think the Mustang is very nice." Cheers! Lou

Hasse Wind, there are many accounts of WW1 pilots who suffered severe cases of frostbite resulting in lost bits of ears, noses, fingers and toes. Also incidents of pilot's hands becoming frozen to the stick. Often, the ground crews had to lift the pilot and observer out of the aircraft after landing from a long recon flight in cold weather. -50F windchills at 5,000' and above was not uncommon in the dead of winter. Unless we plan to fly our WW1 sims inside a meat locker with a barn fan blowing in our faces, most of us will never have a clue what it must have really been like up there in that situation...thank God. Cheers! Lou

Yes Sir tn_prvteye, flying anything should be taken as dead serious. But as you say accidents will happen, and in the case of catastrophic structural failure there is unfortunately little you can do if your chute doesn't deploy, or you don't have a chute at all. That being said, it is still a lot of fun. Yes as well to that N11 replica, that's what the Dawn Patrol group flys various versions of. There are a few other WW1-style UL's out there as well, the DVIII "Razor" being one of them. Cheers! Lou

Scout, it doesn't affect how far you can lean per se, but when you are sitting farther "in" the virtual cockpit which seems to be what is simulated in a tighter FOV, the edge of the cockpit effectively blocks some of your view as you attempt to lean over to look. Now, if you sit up higher as you lean you can then see as much as before, but if you were strapped in to your seat tight as our WW1 counterparts were, you could not really sit up much higher. Cheers! Lou

Steve, they flew in nearly all types of weather when they had to, which was generally when a big push was on and they needed the B/R planes up in the air to range the big guns. Otherwise, it was usually left up to the Squadron Commander to decide if the day was a "wash-out" or not. Hauksbee, I have pics somewhere as well showing some of the face gear the flyers wore in bad weather and cold weather flying. Cheers! Lou

Times of the sorties varied a lot based on the objectives of the mission, distances to be flown, weather, and contact with the enemy. From the books and reports I've read it would appear that patrols by scout flights were on average about 90 to 120 minutes long, (barring contact with the enemy), and during peak periods scout pilots could fly upwards of four missions a day. The same holds true for the B/R flights with the exception of the long recons, some of which could last six to seven hours. However, there are just so many variables it would be hard to come up with any sort of true average, so it's likely that all these various number of days and/or hours are each as accurate as the other. Suffice to say, a new pilot's life expectancy at the Great War front was brief. Cheers! Lou

Ultralights are a blast! Quite inexpensive to get into, and relatively safe as long as you remember their limitations and don't try to fly in any wind over 5 mph. A ballistic safety chute is a good idea as well but that means you need to get some altitude to have it be effective. Nearly all the UL flying I've done has been around 500' above the ground, so a chute would likely not have helped me out at all. But as long as you follow all the safety procedures, do a complete pre-flight check, and DON'T DO STUPID THINGS WHILST FLYING, you should be fine. Fine of course being a relative term. Cheers! Lou

griphos, From my little bit of expereince sitting in such planes as the SE5a, DV, and DR1, once you are strapped in tight the latest default FOV setting seems to be about right in terms of how far over the side you can lean. Cheers! Lou

That's a big "Yes" to both questions Hauksbee. Welcome to the life of a 1915 B/R pilot. You can peer around it and/or under it a bit, or do the old side-slip trick to open up your forward field of vision. Cheers! Lou

Thanks Gents, I will be giving this one a go soon. Cheers! Lou

I have also looked over the years for an English translation but have never been successful. However Stickshaker, if you want one there is an original 1938 printing listed right now at AbeBooks: Du oder Ich Cheers! Lou

Dej wrote: Ah, right then. Corrected the map for you Sir, and added a few others to planet Earth as well. Steve Drew wrote: If Olham won't add a separate map for you folks "down under" I most certainly will. .

Well, I don't know about others, but I've had a few stays in the OFF hospital in my campaigns. The day nurse in the ambulatory ward is quite fetching. But that night nurse...ew-ew-ew-ew. She's likely killed a few good flyers all on her own, I dare say. Cheers! Lou

Generally speaking, I also land with engine on but throttled all the way down, and fuel mixture leaned well back. I side-slip, as mentioned by Launchbury, to bleed off speed and then straighten out and touch the ground just about the time I am stalling out. After that I use the rudder and throttle to turn to my hanger, stopping just before rolling inside, although you can pull into the hanger as well if you like, as I demonstrated quite some time ago with my Strutter. In fact, here is that little video: Putting Your Kite in the Hanger Mind you this was when I had first started flying OFF and does not show the side slip or turn I now employ, but then I've gotten a bit better over the last few months. Cheers! Lou

BuB, warp is allowed and you would then use the DiD/W designation to indicate so. If you read through Siggi's DiD standards post the allowed configurations are listed. BTW, I have used warp for several of my DiD pilots, it's just that I have found a bit more time in the early AM to fly now, plus I was missing a lot of beautiful scenery by warpping. Cheers! Lou

Rickitycrate, you are talking about Sherm Booen, a Glenville, Minnesota native. That was a very good old show and I watched it regularly as well back in the day. Now as to Minnesota getting crowded...well...not out my way anytime soon. Cheers! Lou

Great idea Olham. Much more detailed than the one I was working on.

An excellent book Rickitycrate. I've read most of it, though I don't own a copy at the moment. I just received a new volume myself recently. "Days on the Wing" by Willy Coppens, arrived from England after many weeks of waiting. Outstanding personal memoirs, in a near-perfect first English edition with dust jacket, printed in 1932. I have already read it through once and am going again. Cheers! Lou

Jour de Bastille Heureux mes amis ! (or something along those lines) Cheers! Lou

Actually Olham, in August of 1945 he became a test pilot assigned to Lockheed, where he flew the P-80 Shooting Star and died during takeoff on the acceptance flight of the new jet. Bong was the highest scoring US air ace of WW2, receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. The irony of his death is beyond painful.

Sushi you can keep Olham. But the burgers, now that's a different story, and I actually had a pretty good one down in Bremgarten once. Cheers! Lou