RAF_Louvert

. My home here in Minnesota is part of an old family farmstead that dates back to the late 1800s. In one corner of the property there still resides the original family cemetery and in it there is a stone for two sisters who died of the flu in late 1918. They passed within days of each other, one at age 2 and the other at age 9. Makes me weepy every time I see that stone. That hideous Spanish Flu pandemic reached nearly every corner of the globe back then and Olham I fear you may be correct about another such event coming soon. Let's pray it does not happen. .

Greetings All, As I mentioned in Stiffy's thread about his RFC uniform I am beginning a similar winter's project of my own. As some of you know I've been assembling a small collection of original WWI medals, (the bulk of which are from France and Belgium), and I have been looking for a distinctive way to display them. The other day I hit upon how I am going to do just that. I will be recreating an example of the dark blue tunic that was worn by many of the Great War airmen who flew for France. Here is a photo of an original example of that tunic, (it is in fact George Guynemer's, sans ribbons and medals), and to the right of it is a late-WWII USMC tunic in Kersey wool that I've purchased as my starting point, (a first-rate example for the low cost of $40). Since I won't be wearing this but instead am doing a static display I went for a size appropriate to a WWI airman. The tunic I purchased is a 36 long which is only slightly larger than the original tunic shown. I will be removing the red piping, adding the cuffs and appropriate rank chevrons, creating a taller collar with the Air Service flashes, and sewing up the correct arm band. I am also going to replace the USMC buttons with a set of French Foreign Legion brass. This will be in keeping as there are numerous examples of WWI French tunics sporting the buttons of the wearer's former service unit, and in fact Guynemer's has infantry buttons, (in my case I will be creating the tunic of an American volunteer who joined the Foreign Legion at the beginning of the War and shortly thereafter volunteered for the French Air Service). While it does not show well in the photo, the USMC tunic has the same oversized patch-style lower pockets and pleated breast pockets as the original making it nearly an exact match in design and cut. I will keep you all posted as work progresses, and I look forward to the grande finale when I can hang the various honours and orders on the finished work. Cheers! Lou .

. Huaksbee, that is very neat Sir. Love the old uniforms. Stiffy, sorry you had to sell off your project. Hope you can build another one someday. Thanks for the kudos on my completed French outfit, it is a beauty even if I do say so myself, (which I do). I've added a few other tunics to my collection and I will see about posting some new pics here soon. .

. Imagine how different it all might have been if the German advance had been able to make that last push and take Paris. It is more than probable that, had this happened, the Entente powers would have been willing to sit down at the peace table and work out an agreement ASAP. The war could have been over by Christmas. So many what ifs. .

. I believe it was on both the top and the underside of the wings Hauksbee though I cannot find a photo at the moment to support that belief. If I happen across such a photo I will be sure and post it here. .

. Olham, that is Bristol F2b number A7231 and it was the property of Jasta 5. It became their hack and they eventually painted it like this because simply slapping crosses over the roundels did not deter German troops from firing on it. .

. +1 me too also, virtual reading sticks not so good in the ol' noggin. .

. Olham, that is a good read even in it's rather flowery writing style. And just for those who may not know, it has been available in #3 of my book downloads for the last several years: http://combatace.com/files/file/11532-wwi-aviation-books-set-3/ So many books, so little time. .

. Must be a very sobering reminder of the past horrors to deal with that 'harvest' every year. A century later and still the crop comes up, it honestly staggers the imagination to think about what mankind has done, (and continues to do), to itself. .

. Agreed Hauksbee. We should all take a moment to remember this tragic commencement and raise a glass to all those fallen millions and say a prayer as well that we never see the likes of the Great War again. .

. Tony, that is awesome! I would love to be involved in a project such as that. Please continue to keep us posted on the progress Sir. .

. Well hello Parky. Glad to see you are still about, sorry to learn of your health issues though. Hope all is well now, and I hope to see you in the WOFF skies soon too. Cheers! Lou .

. Since I had everything set up after doing the Flanders map this morning I went ahead and build a version of my WOFF Verdun map for July 1916 as well. Again, this one shows all the troop/gun positions, obs balloons, and factories. It also now distinguishes between the towns that are actually seen in the sim and those that are only shown as historical reference, (just as I had done on my Flanders map). Anyone flying the DID campaign in the Verdun region might want to try this one out. You can right-click on the image and open it up full size in a new window if your browser is being difficult. Happy Navigating! Lou .

. What with no flying the last few days in the current DID campaign, (due to bad virtual weather), I found myself with a bit of free time and used some of it to build a version of my WOFF Flanders map for July 1916. Since WOFF has mid-year map changes at the virtual front, (beginning in 1916), I checked the situation in June against that of July and found no differences, so you folks flying the DID campaign in Flanders can use this map and it will be current for your given assignments. As with my last map offering this one shows all the troop/gun positions, obs balloons, and factories. Give it a go and let me know what you think. You can right-click on the image and open it up full size in a new window if your browser is being difficult. Happy Navigating! Lou .

. MudWasp, we've all misunderstood posts from time to time, it is one of the pitfalls of forum communications. To your issue, you say it doesn't work for you to hit your "Print Screen" key and then exit the sim and paste the screen capture into your image editor program? Odd. That is how I've always done it. On an unrelated note, I had some time to work on the DID campaign medals, (due to rain and no flying at the virtual front). Let me know what you folks think of these so far. Cheers! Lou .

. My thoughts and prayers go out to you Tony. You've had a tough row to hoe and it's high time you caught a break. Lou .

. I've just added the following to my assembly of WWI trinkets: These unofficial cap badges were sold yearly as fund-raising items throughout the German and Austrian-Hungarian empires during the Great War. There were literally hundreds of versions representing the many different units of the armies, navies, and air forces. They were worn by civilians and military members alike, with the former displaying them in support of family members and friends serving in specific units, and the latter using them to show the different units they'd been assigned to during their stint in service. This particular example from 1916 is for the KUK Luftfahrtruppe, the air force wing of the army of Austria-Hungary. It is quite rare and is in beautiful condition and now resides in my own little collection of Great War aviation items. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. .

. Well, it's been nearly three months since I started work on this project but it is at long last ready for you folks to give it a go, (it would have gone quicker but RL kept getting in the way). I will be packaging it up and sending it to Pol for posting in the download section on the WOFF website but before I do that I'd like you navigators to have a crack at it first. Keep in mind that while the CFS3 landscape is quite accurate in terms of roads, railways, and coastlines, it is hit-and-miss when it comes to location of cities and towns. Some are correct but many are off by a few kilometers. Rivers and forests are even worse. This map is going to show all such errors as it was built from an in-sim photo recce of the entire area. So please, don't point out that Armentières is 5km too far to the north or that Tournai is 7km too far to the east. It is what it is and the devs have noted numerous times that trying to correct these placement errors is a gargantuan task and not one they wish to take on any time soon, (if ever). It is because of these very errors that I launched into this mapping project in the first place so that we might have charts accurate to the WOFF WWI landscape, warts and all. I should also mention that I have denoted historical landmarks and points of interest on the map that are not actually in the sim differently from those that are so as to avoid confusion. If there are other such historical landmarks not currently on the map that you would like to see added let me know what they might be and I will look into including them before sending this along to Pol. Alrighty then, here it is. You can right-click on the image and open it up full size in a new window if your browser is being difficult. Happy Navigating! Lou (NOTE: Updated image added 5-17-2014) .

. pcpilot, I believe it is a silver plated pressed metal of some kind. It appears pressed from the back but it is heavier than expected. MudWasp48, I do not have them displayed on the web but I have been asked about that before so perhaps I will have to do that one of these days. .

. That's what map boards were for Jim. .

. Nibbio's in-sim map is a marked improvement over the stock offering and I switched to his right after he released it. I seldom use the in-sim map but when I do Nibbio's is definitely the way to go. I know flying with a paper map is not for everyone however I do recommend folks give it a go at some point. If you've never tried it you may be surprised just how much more immersive it really is. .

. It has been a while now, I hope things are going OK for him. .

. My pleasure, John. I just sent the zip file to Pol so that he can add it to the download section at the WOFF website. The zip contains the full map along with a printable version. I made a couple of minor tweaks to the map this AM and just updated the image in the first post of this thread so you'll want to grab that one. Enjoy! Lou .

. Many thanks Gents, glad you like it. Bletchley, I can easily build a printable version, just keep in mind that the map I've posted here is about 53" x 48", (and that is reduced to 60% of my original working map). It would be best to go to a 60" x 55" size for ease in cutting it up evenly into printable sheets. Figuring 8.5" x 11" paper and allowing a minimum of 1/2" for the usual border most printers have to leave around the edges you end up at 6 sheets across and 8 sheets top-to-bottom. After trimming and assembly it would make a lovely and highly functional wallpaper. .

. Given the weight of the oil and water and the small payload capacity of the Travel Air 2000 I'm betting flight time in that was very, very short. Still, an interesting experiment. .