RAF_Louvert

. I'm a fourth generation midwestern Lutheran of Scandinavian descent. Our weapons of choice when feuding and brawling are guilt and sarcasm, and they are used in the most brutal and savage means possible. "I can only imagine how disappointed your family must be that you're leaving high school to take a job on the docks in Duluth. But you go get a GED while your working there, because I'm sure THAT will make it all just fine." .

. Outstanding Widowmaker! You are one of the true OFF veterans Sir. But banal, useless, and generally laughed about...I think not...well...perhaps on rare occasion. Also, I feel the same way about our lot here. It really is beyond grand, and after reading through everyone's comments in this thread I was inspired to rewrite one of my favorite Rudyard Kipling poems in honour of this endearing bunch of loonies, (apologies to RY fans everywhere, however this was penned with only the deepest repect for the man's work). The Lost OFF Legion There's a Legion that never was listed, That carries no colours or crest, And it serves in such barmy detachments, That it's poor understood by the rest. Our forebeares they left us their blessing, They taught us, and groomed us, and crammed; But we've shaken the ancient few pixels To go and find out and be damned (Dear boys!), To go and get shot and be damned. So some of us fly for the Kaiser, And some of us soar for the King, And some rise up for La Marseillaise, And some for old Sam take to wing: And some of us drift up to Ypers, And some drift up over the Somme, And some share our tucker in Flanders, And some at St. Mihiel do bomb, (Dear boys!), At St. Mihiel get giddy and bomb. We've painted old Flanders vermilion, We've washed the old Alsace in red, We've shouted on virtual battle, We've flown until we were dead; We've laughed at the world as we found it, From high in the spurious air, From Zeebrugge on down to Mulhausen We've battled with nary a care, (Dear boys!), We've flown with nary a care. The damned depths of Hell were our portion, And Heaven at large was our share. There was never a skirmish to windward But the Leaderless Legion was there: Yes, somehow and somewhere and always We were first when the trouble began, From a recce flight over old Lille, To a dogfight on high over Thann (Dear boys!), We mounted and fought over Thann. We preach in advance of the Army, We skirmish ahead of the Church, With never a general to help us When we're dying and left in the lurch. But we know as the cartridges finish, And we're filed on our last little shelves, That the Legion that never was listed Will send barmy ones as ourselves (Good men!), Hundreds barmy, just as ourselves! Then a health (we must drink it in whispers), To our wholly unauthorized horde, To the line of our dusty foreloopers, The RB3D'ers adored. Yes, a health to ourselves ere we scatter, For the simmer won't wait for the train, And the Legion that never was listed Goes back into quarters again! 'Regards! Goes back in the skies once again. Hurrah! The Sop and the Alby again. Here's how! The Vickers and Spandaus again. Salute! Up O'er Flanders Fields once again! .

. WM, if you are considering the jump to a 27" monitor you really should go with 2560 x 1440 pixels, (not 1920 x 1080). The Dell Ultrasharp U2711 is one such offering, is quite highly rated, and should be in your price range, (albeit at the top). .

. Helloooooo Bullethead! You came to mind the other day while I was enjoying a meal of dirty rice and Andouille sausage. Glad to see all is well with you Sir. And quite the sweet new rig for your fire department there. What make is that? My company sells Crimson and U.S. Tanker, but I honestly don't know all that much about the fire apparatus as I do nearly nothing but ambulance and transfer rig sales and service. Great to have you back BH. Now how about getting some stick time in the virtual skies. .

. Olham, the title of Degelow's memoirs when first published in 1920 was "Mit dem weißen Hirsch durch dick und dünn", and if I am correct in my very thin understanding of German, that would translate to "With the White Stag Through Thick and Thin". .

. Me too Winder, and I really like how the observer is now hunkered over that Lewis. A very anatomically accurate posture, IMHO. Kudos to all the devs on everything you folks are doing for us poor sods. .

. Holy Schnikee! There's even a Norman wind vane sight on the observer's Lewis gun! B-E-A-U-tiful. .

. Many thanks Shiloh, and drool towels are provided in the reading room. Olham, I understand that Peter Kilduff has added quite a bit of new material to his 1979 book, "Germany's Last Knight of the Air: The memoirs of Major Carl Degelow". I read that one when it first came out and thought it very good. This first work was basically the translation of Carl's own 1920 German publication, "Mit dem weißen Hirsch durch dick und dünn". I am looking forward to reading Kilduff's new edition as well. Sorry though Olham, it does not appear to have a German text offering as of yet. BTW, have you read Herr Degelow's original work? I should think that must be available in your country. .

. Dej, Udet's book is only one of many I have yet to find a good copy of at a price I wish to pay. Just several others of those many would be, (in no particular order): "Winged Victory", by V.M.Yeates "Bomber Pilot 1916-1918", by C.P.O. Bartlett "An Airman Remembers", by Hans Schroder "I Chose the Sky", by Leonard H.Rochford "The Balloon Buster: Frank Luke of Arizona", by Norman S. Hall "Adventure's a Wench: The Autobiography of Charles Veil as told to Howard Marsh" "With the French Flying Corps", by Carroll Dana Winslow "The Journals of Ernest George Fenton Hall" "The Lost Diary", by Sandham Graves "An Escaper's Log", by Duncan Grinnell-Milne "Night Raiders of the Air, Being the Experiences of a Night Flying Pilot, Who Raided Hunland on Many Dark Nights During the War", by A.R. Kingsford "Marine Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", by Heinz J Nowarra, Bruce Robertson, and Peter G. Cooksley Now, to your other question. You are spot on with the group you listed, and I would also add: Biddle's "The Way of the Eagle", Coppens' "Days on the Wing", Kingsford's "With the Earth Beneath", Roberts' "A Flying Fighter", and Hall's "En L'air!". There are other outstanding ones as well, but I chose these as they offer some range in writing styles as well as personalities. .

. "P-4 in 2 weeks ?" Well, perhaps, if we're talking two Venusian weeks. .

. Good for you Carrick! Ultralights are a blast as well and you should only need about 8 to 10 hours of twin stick time before you are ready to go. .

. Despite the edit, it was my pleasure Sir. . Despite the edit, it was my pleasure Sir. . ...hee hee hee... .

. I agree with VP on this Tranquillo. You are likely getting that CPU fan error message because the system is reading excessive resistance in the fan circuit. I'd replace the fan/cooler unit rather than risk frying your CPU. .

. Well Carrick, it's all quite relative. My collection is more that of an enthusiast when compared to those belonging to the real WWI aviation historians. But I do appreciate the "wow". Also, I realized after my first posting that I had completely forgotten one I'd acquired about two months ago. A beautiful 1st edition of "That’s My Bloody Plane: The World War I experiences of Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore, as told to Peter Kilduff". This is a fun little read about the Major's time with 19 Squadron flying the Sopwith Dolphin. .

. Thanks WM, it has been a good many years in the making. And it does give my flying room a certain je ne sais quoi. Oui? .

. Well Olham, since you asked, here is my WWI library, (both aviation and general interest): Personal Narratives and Biographies: "A Flying Fighter", E.M. Roberts, (1918 1st Edition) "Airmen O' War", Boyd Cable, (1918 1st Edition) "An Airman Marches", Harold Balfour, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "An Airman's Outings", Alan 'Contact' Bott, (1917 1st Edition) "An Aviator's Field-Book", Oswald Bolcke, English Translation, (1917 1st Edition) "A Poet of the Air", Jack Morris Wright, (1918 1st Edition) "A Rattle of Pebbles: The First World War Diaries Of Two Canadian Airmen", Brereton Greenhous, (1987 1st Edition) "Beyond the Tumult", Barry Winchester, (1971 1st Edition) "Cavalry of the Clouds", Alan 'Contact' Bott, (1918 1st Edition) "Cloud Country", Jimmie Mattern, (1936 Pure Oil 1st Edition) 3-volume set "Days on the Wing", Willy Coppens, English Translation, (1931 1st Edition) "Death in the Air", William Heinemann, (1933 Edition) (famous faked aerial photos) "Double-Decker C.666", Haupt Heydemarck, English Translation, (1931 1st Edition) "En L'air!", Bert Hall, (1918 1st Edition) "Fighting the Flying Circus", Edward Rickenbacker, (1919 1st Edition) "Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps", James McCudden, (1918 1st Edition) "Flying Corps Headquarters 1914-1918", Maurice Baring, (1968 1st Edition with supplementary notes) "Flying for France", James McConnell, (1917 1st Edition) "Go Get 'Em!", William Wellman, (1918 1st Edition) "Guynemer, Knight of the Air", Henry Bordeaux, English Translation, (1918 1st Edition) "Heaven High, Hell Deep", Norman Archibald, (1935 Signed 1st Edition) "High Adventure", James Norman Hall, (1918 1st Edition) "Horses Don’t Fly: A Memoir of World War I", Frederick Libby, (2000 1st US printing) "Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille", Franz Immelmann, English Translation, (1930 1st Edition) "In The Clouds Above Bagdad", J.E. Tennant, (1920 1st Edition) "Kitchener's Mob", James Norman Hall, (1916 1st Edition) "Letters From a Flying Officer", Rothsay Stuart Wortley, (1928 1st Edition) "Memories of World War 1", William Mitchell, (1960 Edition) "My Experiences in the World War", John J. Pershing, (1931 1st Edition) 2-volume set "Night Bombing with the Bedouins", Robert Reece, (Battery Press Edition) "Nocturne Militaire", Elliot White Springs, (1934 Edition) "No Parachute", Arthur Gould Lee, (1970 1st US printing) "Open Cockpit: A Pilot of the Royal Flying Corps", Arthur Gould Lee, (1969 1st Edition) "Rovers of the Night Sky", W.J. 'Night-Hawk' Harvey, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "Sagittarius Rising", Cecil Lewis, (1936 Edition, 1st US printing) "Stepchild Pilot", Joseph Doerflinger, (1959 1st Edition) "That’s My Bloody Plane: The World War I experiences of Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore, as told to Peter Kilduff", (1975 1st Edition) "The Flying Poilu", Marcel Nadaud, English Translation (1918 1st Edition) "The Red Knight of Germany", Floyd Gibbons, (1927 1st Edition) "The Spider Web", T.D. Hallam (P.I.X.), (1979 Edition) "The Way of the Eagle", Charles Biddle, (1919 1st Edition) "Up And At 'Em", Harold Hartney, (1940 1st Edition) "War Birds; Diary of an Unknown Aviator", Elliot White Springs, (1926 1st Edition) "Whom The Gods Love", Lewis C. Merrill, (1953 1st Edition) "Wind in the Wires", Duncan Grinnell-Milne, (1918 1st Edition) "Winged Warfare", William Bishop, (1918 1st Edition) "Winged Peace", William Bishop, (1940 1st Edition) "With the Earth Beneath", A.R. Kingsford, (1936 1st Edition) "With the Flying Squadron", Harold Rosher, (1916 1st Edition) History, Reference, and General Interest Books: "A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918", G.J. Meyer, (2006 Edition) "Air Aces of the 1914-1918 War", Bruce Robertson, (1964 Edition) "Aircraft of Today", Charles Turner, (1917 1st Edition) "Aviation in Canada 1917-18", Alan Sullivan, (1919 1st Edition) "Capronis, Farmans, and Sias: U.S. Army Aviation Training and Combat in Italy With Fiorello LaGuardia 1917-1918 ", Jack B. Hilliard, (2006 1st Edition) "Colliers New Photographic History of the World War", (1917 Edition) "Decisive Air Battles of the First World War", Arch Whitehouse, (1963 1st Edition) "Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1964 Edition) "Flying The Old Planes", Frank Tallman, (1973 Edition) "Fragments From France", Bruce Bairnsfather, (1917 1st Edition) (Great War cartoons by the master of the genre) "German Air Power in World War 1", John H. Morrow, Jr., (1982 1st Edition) "Heros of Aviation", Laurence La Tourette Driggs, (1919 1st Edition) "High in the Empty Blue", Alex Revell, (1995 1st Edition with author's signature card) "Historic Airships", Rupert Holland, (1928 1st Edition) "History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion", L.C. McCollum, (1929 Edition) "History of the World War", Francis March, (1918 1st Edition) "History of the Great World War", Rolt-Wheeler and Drinker, (1919 1st Edition) "Land and Water" Magazine, (entire April through September 1917 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) "Ludendorff's Own Story", Erich Ludendorff, (1919 1st Edition) 2-volume set "National Geographic" Magazine, (entire 1918 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) "Reconnaissance & Bomber Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1962 Edition) "Rhymes of a Red Cross Man", Robert W. Service, (1916 1st Edition) "Source Records of the Great War", (1923 1st Edition) 7-volume set "The First War Planes", William Barrett, (1960 Edition) (the one that started it all for me) "The Great Air War", Aaron Norman, (1968 Edition) "The Great War", George H. Allen, (1919 1st Edition) 5-volume set "The Great War in the Air", Edgar Middleton, (1920 1st Edition) 4-volume set "The Imperial Russian Air Service, Famous Pilots and Aircraft of World War One", Alan Durkota, (1996 1st Edition) "The Lafayette Flying Corps", by James Hall and Charles Nordhoff, (1964 Kennikat Press limited edition two-volume set) "The People's War Book and Atlas", (1920 1st Edition, signed by Lt. Col. William A. Bishop) "The Sky on Fire: The First Battle of Britain 1917-1918 and the Birth of the Royal Air Force", Raymond H. Fredette, (1966 1st Edition) "The Story of a North Sea Air Station", C.F. Snowden Gamble, (1967 Edition with supplementary notes) "The United States in the Great War", Willis Abbot, (1919 1st Edition) "The U.S. Air Service in World War I", Maurer Maurer, (1978 1st Edition) 4-volume set "The War in the Air", Raleigh and Jones, (1st Edition) 9-volume set including map cases, (originally in the military library at Whitehall; my personal Jewel of the Crown) "The Western Front from the Air", Nicholas C. Watkis, (1999 1st Edition) "Time-Life Epic of Flight", 23-volume set, (not old and not strictly WWI but still a lot of good info and photos) "True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set "U.S. Official Pictures of the World War", Moore and Russell, (1924 1st Edition) 4-volume set "1920 World Book Encyclopedia", (entire set with addendums, great for cross-referencing in a contemporary context) Instructional Books: "Aeroplane Construction and Operation", John Rathbun, (1918 1st Edition) "English-French War Guide for Americans in France", Eugene Maloubier, (1918 Edition) "Learning to Fly in the U.S. Army", E.N. Fales, (1917 1st Edition) "Lewis Machine Gun 'Airplane Type' Service and Operation Manual", (1918 Edition) "Manual Of Rigging Notes Technical Data", (1918, possible reprint) "Practical Flying", W.G. McMinnies, (1918 1st Edition) "The Art of Reconnaissance", David Henderson, (1916 1st Edition) "Science of Pre-Flight Aeronautics", (1942 Edition) "Self-Help for the Citizen Soldier", Moss and Stewart, (1915 1st Edition) And no, I do not read them whilest zipping along the North Dakota byways. As to when I actually do read them all, let me just say that sleep is overrated .

. There's a reason we're all members of the BOC, (and members in very good standing I might add). .

. The stalwart flyer in my camp who serves in this capacity is Captain Art Chequer, (or Hauptmann Kunstwerk Testman if I happen to be on the Hun side of the mud). .

. I wasn't affe-affe-affected by the forums being down in the in the in th-th-the least. .

. hee, hee....just as long as one appreciates art. How that's done is up to the individual. "OH YEAH! Well I've been thrown out of WAAAAAAY better art galleries than this one buddy! Hell, I was bounced from the Louvre for sayin' Monet didn't impress me much, so just watch out who yer callin' uncouth!" .

. Hauksbee, I imagine that you and Widowmaker, (and other Lady Butler fans as well), are likely already aware that the works she wrote and illustrated are in the public domain and available online to download: From Sketchbook and Diary Letters From the Holy Land An Autobiography I have read the first two but only browsed the last, and am quite fond of her sketchbook. . .

. That's a beauty WM! Thanks for sharing Sir. .

. Shiloh, photography is absolutely another genre where one can be "techincally adept" while another knows just how to capture the emotion of a place, person, and/or event in a single still frame of film. And, I would have also gone directly to Adams' work to support just such a point. Flyby, that must have been a rush for you back when you you rode. Some of my past experiences with horses have been less enjoyable, but those are stories for another day I think. .

. BTW, for those interested, here are all five parts in English: Blood In The Air Part 1 Blood In The Air Part 2 Blood In The Air Part 3 Blood In The Air Part 4 Blood In The AIr Part 5 And remember you can use 'KeepVid' to save these to your computer if you like. .

. Olham, two fine videos there with colorized versions of some well-known B&W footage. And the addition of a sound track to the clips also helps bring them more to life. Thanks for sharing Sir. .