RAF_Louvert

. hee, hee ... off-track ... very punny BTW, here is a U.S. YouTube link: CCR, Have You Ever Seen The Rain .

. Olham told me long ago, there's a train in O-F-F. I know, it's been rollin' for some time. When you spot it, so he says, make sure your settings are hi rez. I know, and anti-aliasing at 16x. I wanna' know, have you ever seen a train? I wanna' know, have you ever seen a train, when you're flyin' OFF on a sunny day? In O-F-F-B-H-a-H, the mud is cold and ground is hard. I know, been that way for all our time. 'Til forever on it goes through the dogfights fast and slow, I know, and it can't stop, I wonder. I wanna know, have you ever seen a train? I wanna know, have you ever seen a train, when you're flyin' OFF on a sunny day? (apologies to CCR fans everywhere, but I .. I couldn't help myself) .

. Creaghorn, you and your wife are truly blessed; Melissa is beautiful. A daughter and a son now, so you will be experiencing both. As already noted here, enjoy these years as much as you possibly can, they go by in the blink of an eye. My son and three daughters are all grown and on their own and I wish I had spent more time with them when they were all here. But Jane and I now have a granddaughter, (age seven), so we get to have the joy all over again! God keep you and yours Creaghorn, and all the best for little Melissa. BTW, new dads buy the drinks. Cheers! Lou .

. Greetings All, Duke asked yesterday if it might be possible to have some historically based guidelines on what criteria to use when awarding one's self the new OFF P3 medals. I volunteered to take this on as I have had a fair amount of experience in the past creating such criteria. Here are the tables you can use if you wish to get closer to our RL counterparts in terms of just how many awards they might have been presented, and how often. Remember, most WWI pilots did not end up with more than two or three medals awarded to them for gallantry or actions "over and above" what was expected. Even most aces did not have many, with the exceptions being the handful of greats at the top. It should also be remembered that the British and US flyers recieved less on average than their French and German counterparts. So, with all that in mind, here are the tables outlining how you might wish to present awards to your pilots, with adjustments made for the higher number of kills achieved by most virtual pilots here, as well as for the different times of the War, and the different settings folks use when flying. Post any questions you might have on these, (and I am sure there will be some), and I will do my best to answer them. Cheers! Lou .

. OlPaint, you and Lothar are more than welcome to use the new medals and guidelines in your upcoming bundle. Don't really have other thoughts on it as I am lost when it comes to the mechanincs of what you've been putting togther, but I'm very impressed with your combined efforts thus far. Cheers! Lou . . Jarhead, thank you Sir for your meniton of the two US Marine aviators who were also awarded the CMOH in WWI. .

. Paul, I am very glad you made it through the operation, I only wish it had gone better for you. But I'll be pulling for you on a speedy and uncomplicated recovery. God's speed my friend. Lou .

. Mais oui! .

. And here is mine: .

. What a wonderful thread and even more wonderful photos and stories. Love to get these little glimpses into my OFF mates' lives. You've prompted me to go out and snap a couple pics of my own family manse to share with you lot. Here's a view from the road of our old prairie farm house, (built in 1887): And here is the 'summer kitchen' that sits in amongst the greenery of our back yard: For those unfamiliar with the history of midwestern US farm life, the summer kitchen was a small building that sat near the house and was used to do all the cooking in the hot months of the year. Farms in the late 1800's required a lot of hands to get everything done that needed getting done, and the women of the household would cook almost constantly to feed the crews that worked the land, particularly during planting and harvesting times. Doing all that cooking in the house during June, July, and August could get it heated up so badly that you couldn't even sleep in it come nightfall. Thus, the summer kitchen. .

. With the recent discussion concerning the DH2, and with Olham and RamblingSid both asking about setting up a blip switch in OFF, I took another look at the matter. After getting my new JS a while back I had not re-explored this issue myself, and after a bit of experimentation I discovered I can get quite satisfactory results by blipping the mags on and off rather than blipping between 20% and 100% throttle as I had done in the past. Here is a quick vid I shot this AM to show how it works in the sim: OFF Blip Switch Demo Video I simply mapped a toggle to one of my JS buttons that allows me to flip between 'SHIFT+M' (mag off) and 'CTRL+M' (mag on). The only thing you need remember is that to initiate the procedure you will have to hit the 'mag off' twice the first time as OFF simulates dual mags on every aeroplane. After that you simply 'blip' back and forth between 'mag off' and 'mag on'. And an added immersion bonus: just like our RL flyers had to deal with, if you keep the engine blipped off for more that a couple of seconds, you may have a devil of a time restarting it. Now then, if one of our OFF sound gurus could tell us how to disable the rotary engine 'idle down' sound it would be the cat's pajamas. Enjoy! Lou .

. Think of it folks, with SimHQ now being OFF's "Official" forum locale and Combat Ace back in the fray we now have an even more realistic WWI feel. I find myself imagining our forums at SimHQ as our very own St. Omer, where all the Brass Hats are situated and from where all official despatches and orders disseminate. While our good old forums here at Combat Ace are rather like Bailleul aerodrome, our long-standing base of actual operations and where we all hang our collective flying caps. I'll be making the regular runs up to St. Omer to pick up the odd new aeroplane from the depot, and to get the latest official news from the powers-that-be, perhaps even pop into town for a bite to eat. See, it will be just that much more like it was for our RL counterparts. Lou .

. Exactamente! .

. Agreed Si, it does help one build characters. .

. Da da da da daaaa, I'm lovin it. .

. Careful or not HW, I have found myself banging along in my Quirk, alted up as far as the beast will go, when from on high the Hun come bouncing down upon us leaving no other real option. I do my best to watch for them, but with only Eyeball 20-20 and AA puffs to go by there are simply times when you don't see the nasties approaching until it's too late. Si, I've gone on the attack as well, and I agree it does scatter them. However, I've also found it can really get them quite PO'd at you. Barmy you say, Olham? But of course, and well you should be able to recognize it, mein barmy Freund. .

. Yeah, that's it Olham. And, if you shut your eyes real tight, rub your temples real hard, and chant, "I'm as young as I ever was, I'm as young as I ever was, I'm as young as I ever was ..." over and over, you can reverse time. No, really. .

. Truer words never spoken, Hasse Wind, and being a B/R man myself I've oft times had to resort to one of the more successful tactics in such situations... Brave, brave Sir Louvert, Brave Sir Louvert ran away. Bravely ran away, away, Brave, brave Sir Louvert! When danger reared its ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled. Yes, brave Sir Louvert wheeled about And gallantly he chickened out. Bravely bringing his plane around He bravely landed on the ground, Bravest of the brave, Sir Louvert! Well done Redmonkey on your first outing in the Pup and on your wonderful little write-up. I hope there will be many more to come. Lou .

. Here is the next in the series of WWI British ordnance survey maps: the Lens Sector of France, Map 11. I’ve again assembled this one from many high quality screen captures of the original example, which resides in the Lloyd Reeds Map Collection of McMaster University’s online library, (my sincere thanks to that fine institution for providing this and many other original WWI maps free of charge). After reassembling the image I cleaned it up a bit and it's now ready to work along side the Tournai and Hazebrouck maps. Again, I hope those of you who fly OFF using paper maps and compass will find this wonderful old map useful. Cheers! Lou . Oops, forgot to mention, available in the OFF downloads section. .

File Name: Original 1916 Map of the Lens Sector of France File Submitter: RAF_Louvert File Submitted: 27 May 2012 File Category: Maps, Missions, and Campaigns . Here is the next in the series of WWI British ordnance survey maps: the Lens Sector of France, Map 11. I’ve again assembled this one from many high quality screen captures of the original example, which resides in the Lloyd Reeds Map Collection of McMaster University’s online library, (my sincere thanks to that fine institution for providing this and many other original WWI maps free of charge). After reassembling the image I cleaned it up a bit and it's now ready to work along side the Tournai and Hazebrouck maps. Again, I hope those of you who fly OFF using paper maps and compass will find this wonderful old map useful. Cheers! Lou . Click here to download this file

. Good to have you with us Redmonkey, and whichever side of the mud you fly on it's going to be a challenge. You did not mention if you are looking to fly scouts or B/R buses, though I assume the former. If you like the late war period Hasse Wind's suggestions are good ones to go with. I'm more of an early war fan myself so I would recommend starting with one of the low-numbered RFC squadrons flying the DH2. But then, I've always been a glutton for punishment which likely explains my penchant for not only the 1915-16 era but the 2-seaters as well. Welcome to camp RM. Now then, since new lads buy the drinks you can set me up with two fingers of a good Irish single malt, thank you very much. Cheers! Lou .

. Well, as I noted in another thread, it's just added immersion as far as I'm concerned. SimHQ is now OFF's official forum and serves as our very own St. Omer, where all the Brass Hats are situated and from where all official despatches and orders disseminate; while our old forums here at Combat Ace act as Bailleul aerodrome, our long-standing base of operations and where we can all hang our collective flying caps. Not an either-or in my book but rather both, and all the better for it. .

. Thank you mucho Andy! I look forward to giving the new mod a go. .

. Me too, BirdDog. Olham, I'll drink to that ... I think. And, even though I'm skint I'd offer to buy the next round and put up my watch as collateral except said watch has been lifted by another one of the OFF moderators who's gone and used it to cover his own rounds of drinks. Dej ! Swine ! .

. Wouldn't it be so sad if I were even remotely serious? .