RAF_Louvert

. Aaah Widowmaker, I can so identify with your parenting dilemma. I went through this with all three of my kids. The funniest was with my youngest, who I am sure had her first drink at around 14 or 15, (though I never had any proof of that). However, it was when she was 19, (Minnesota drinking age is 21, ridiculous IMHO), and back from her first year of college when we got the phone call at 2:00 in the morning from one of our local uniformed officials asking if we'd like to drive down the road to where the beer bust had been and pick up our daughter. The party, which was out in a cornfield, had been raided, and all the kids scattered into said corn. My daughter had taken cover in a small ditch and was home free, unitl her cell phone rang and the police zero'd in on her. Best part: It was one of her friends calling to see if she'd gotten away. It was all I could do not to bust out laughing when I heard that. And it was pretty tough to drop the hammer as I had been in exactly the same situation when I was sixteen. But, since that was long before cell phones I actually did escape. .

. Five million dollars? Phhht, chump change. I'll just write a check. You do take checks, right? Post-dated to 2054? .

. Beautiful plane. And you do have to hand it to them for creative thinking in handling that problem. .

. Very nice Olham. She's a beauty. .

. BH, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, from what I've read about the Guidoni hydrofoils they seemed to have worked quite well on the planes they were fitted to. Though, to be fair, most of the planes they were fitted to were considerably smaller than the Pescara-Guidoni Torpedo Seaplane being dealt with here. .

. Soppy, when you're in Munich and if you're looking for a place to grab a bite, enjoy a bier, and hang out with some of the local journalists, head up the Sendlinger Straße to the Altes Hackerhaus. I stopped in there in 1975 and as such things don't change much in Europe I'm betting the place is still quite a bit the same. Great beer and Bavarian cuisine, and outstanding atmosphere. Have a stein for me while you're there, a nice dark harvest brew of some kind, if you'd be so kind. Prosit! Lou .

. Hood, I'll be there too soon myself I fear. "Huh? Whatzat you say? Chicken poodles poop a bunch? Oh ... chicken noodle soup for lunch. Sure, that sounds good. Now somebody go switch the TV to 'Matlock' gawdammit, I didn't fight in the war so I could sit here now and watch this Josh 2.0 moron." .

. Olham, not sure that hydrovanes are the same thing as hydrofoils. I've not seen the term hydrovane in use much in the United States, and when I have it's been in reference to boat steering. A hydrofoil however is a device which, at speed, actually lifts the body it is attached to up out of the water. They were being fully developed right around the beginning of the 1900's. A hydrofoil works much like the elevator on an aeroplane, except in the water instead of the air. But where an elevator can be swung up and down to change altitude the hydrofoil is a fixed surface, (at least they were in early applications). As the speed of the boat increases the water acting against the hydrofoils will actually lift the boat hull completely out of the water, greatly increasing not only the boat's top speed, but also the quality of the ride in rough water as you are now riding above the waves with nothing in the water but the hydrofoils and their supporting beams, (and the prop of course). Also, since the hydrofoils are actually below the water's surface they are not as affected by wave chop. The advantages of hydrofoils fitted to the pontoons of an early seaplane would be tremendous, given that engine power was at such a premium. From the contemporary reports I can find concerning the Guidoni hydrofoils it appears they worked very well. .

. I think it was the result of bad wine. .

. There are many things about the design of this beast that are unsettling, the greatest of which for me is the idea of taking off in the thing with a friggin' torpedo strapped to the bottom of it. That would just HAVE to give a pilot confidence. .

. Very cool. And that reminds me of a song by the Police. .

. Knock knock. Who's there? Ka. Ka who? KA BOOM! .

. BH, very glad to learn that you and yours have survived the storm. Great update BTW, and thanks for sharing the photo. Do I see more chainsaws in your future? I think I do. .

. Gents, that is the 1914 Pescara-Guidoni Torpedo Seaplane and those things mounted on the floats are an early form of hydrofoils. Seriously. You can learn more about this unsuccessful deisgn here: http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft29117.htm .

. Prosit! .

. DEAL! And if I should win the big lotto I'll reciprocate, my friend. .

. God, do I want to fly one of these! Do you think if I make the trip to NZ they'll let me take one for a turn? .

. Dimus on August 19 I posted the link to my fabric image here: http://combatace.com/topic/74411-heres-one-for-bullethead-austrian-swirl-camo-for-off/?do=findComment&comment=587091 It has been downloaded from my website quite a few times since then. As I explained in the linked thread I worked from original photos and templates which were posted at The Aerodrome. To get the original pattern to accurately repeat took a lot of time and tweaking and I shared it in order to save others the same work. I am fine with the A2A/Aircraft Factory using it, but I would like credit for my work, and if they make any money from it they could send me a gift certificate. Cheers! Lou .

. That is a beautiful aeroplane Dimus, well done Sir. And I see you were able to make use of the swirl camo 'fabric' I worked so hard on and shared here in another thread a few weeks ago. Very nice. Cheers! Lou .

. Bello posto! I'm so jealous tranquillo. Very glad to learn you are well recovered Sir. That Italian sun does work wonders. .

. Take care of yourself Bullethead. I'll say a prayer to the Man Upstairs for you folks in the path of that storm. .

. A long-term study recently completed by the University of Research Nonessentials and Urbane Thought Sciences has at last uncovered the source of misunderstandings surrounding the OFF/WOFF use of the term, “two weeks”. Due to the fact that most civilized industrial societies around the world use the Gregorian calendar, which is divided into 52 seven-day weeks, the practical assumption made by those outside of the OFF/WOFF development group is that two weeks equals fourteen days. But this assumption is utterly incorrect. Intensive research into the matter has unearthed evidence showing that members of the OFF/WOFF development group, or ‘WOFFites’ as they refer to themselves, use a calendar radically different from that noted above and one based entirely upon their own labor-to-rest time ratio reality. Given the standardized WOFFite work schedule of 272 days on followed by one day of relaxation, the WOFForian calendar week actually equates to 39 weeks on the Gregorian calendar. Herein lays the root of the misunderstanding. When a WOFFite indicates that something will be done in two weeks he is not in error but is simply making his statement based on the time frame in which he lives. For those outside WOFFite society however it appears the person making such a statement is a bold faced liar, or delusional, or trying to pull something. He is not. The WOFFite honestly means two weeks, but two WOFForian weeks which, unfortunately for the rest of us, equates to 546 days or 78 weeks on the Gregorian calendar. So when will the two weeks that have been cited repeatedly as the completion timeframe by the WOFFites for their grand project actually terminate? While there was lengthy debate on this point amongst members of the research team at URNUTS, the generally agreed upon date when the ‘two weeks’ estimate was first made appears to be 23 June, 2011. Therefore, based on the WOFForian calendar week of 273 days, the actual project completion date should be 21 December, 2012. While this is also, oddly enough, the date the ancient Mayan calendar sets as the end of modern times and the beginning of a new world, researchers believe this to be nothing more than a coincidence. For a complete transcript of the study, “Time Reference Disparities between WOFFite and Real World Societies”, contact Dr. Benjamin Whaddajahoo, Professor of Thinkology, Room 42, Arcane Building, University of Research Nonessentials and Urbane Thought Sciences, Pleasantville, Minnesota. .

. Thanks Olham, I did the camo using photos of original N124 Nieups, and worked from color samples which are generally agreed to be close representations of the WWI paints. And it does not surprise me that the emblem looks familiar to you. Langdon's new personal logo was, with minimal changes, lifted directly from a cigarette ad he'd seen in a German magazine that had found it's way into camp a while back. Check "Novelta Cigaretten" and German graphic designer Lucian Bernhard. .

. Great stuff as always Gents, please keep on snapping those screenies and sharing your stories. Here's a breif update on one of my longer-running OFF flyers. Escadrille Américaine pilot Langdon Alberts was recently promoted to Adjutant, (due to his fine record at the front thus far), and just this last week, (early August, 1916), he was given an N16 to fly. After having the boys give it a good rigging, he had a new personal emblem added to the fuselage as well as fresh camo to the top surfaces, (the kite had arrived in all natural doped linen). Here is a collage of screenshots which document Adjutant Alberts ruining the fine, sunny, late-summer morning of a Bosch Eindecker pilot near the frontlines at Bethincourt. C'est la guerre! .

. A great man, and a great moment in history. Walk among the stars now, Neil. "To infinity and beyond!" .