RAF_Louvert

. Good Morning Tone12. IIRC, the other download is for the Saitek Profiler, (as noted by Jarhead), and while you don't need that, it is a nice little utility. I have run my pedals with and without it and they work just fine either way. Ras has pointed you towards the primary change you need to make for the WWI kites so you should be good to go. That link posted by Stickshaker looks useful as well. Of course, if you have them running the way you like, you could just leave well enough alone and go fly. Cheers! Lou .

. P12, with the Dardanelles "Fez in the Hoop" add-on pack. .

. hee, hee...sorry about that Rugbyfan. Also, like Olham, I am very interested to know what Creaghorn's dream encompasses. Please consider sharing it here with us. .

. Not stupid at all Creaghorn. I've a similar story to tell and did so a while back here in another thread about going back in time. Allow me to quote myself from that thread. I've had this eerie feeling, ever since I was a very young boy, that I served in the air at least once before. One of the earliest recurring dreams I can remember involved me sitting in the glass nose of an airplane as it was plummeting towards earth. I had a machine gun in front of me and various instruments clustered around where I was sitting. The entire dream was simply me sitting in that glass nose watching the earth come up at an incredible speed, seeing the 360 degree horizion that wrapped around me disappear as this large grassy field filled my forward view. The last split second went into slow motion as I watched the muzzle of the gun dig into the dirt, and the tall waving grass push aside as the glass nose entered it. I could see the grass flattening as the glass came within a millimeter from the ground...and then I would wake up, every time. Never any sound in the dream...just dead silence all the way through. And it was in color because I remember how green that grass looked, more vivid than any green I've ever seen. As I grew up I explained the dream away as being some memory from when I was a baby and my parents had me plopped down in front of the TV while they were watching some old war movie that this scene was from, and it had embedded itself into my subconscious. Now for the spooky part. When I was in the USAF I got to go through a restored B25 Liberator. As soon as I approached that plane my childhood nightmare came back as vivid and strong as it had ever been in my youth. I was overcome by a feeling of absolute dread, I wanted to leave but I was compelled to go forward. As I did so the feeling got more intense by the second. By the time I'd crawled up into the "greenhouse" I could hardly breath and I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. Still, something kept pulling me in and I sat down in the seat, and it was as if I'd gone into a trance. I felt like I was someone else, I knew where everything was. My hands went as if they were on auto pilot, checking the gun, and then the bombsight. There was a moment where I was sure I'd passed out. And then, I snapped back and jumped up and got the hell out of there, completely terrified. I am not someone who scares easily, but I can honestly say I've never been so afraid of something in all my life as I was of that, and I have never gone back near a B25. Make of it what you will. I still can't decide, if it is nothing more than a movie memory imprinted on me as a baby, or if it came from "another life". I've never been a big believer in past lives, but this experience does make me wonder about it from time to time. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." . And CaptSopwith, many thanks Sir for your high praise of my earlier post in this thread. Much appreciated Sir. .

. My love affair with WWI aircraft began on Christmas of 1962 when my younger brother and I were each given a model kit: my brother receiving a Fokker DR1, and I a Sopwith Camel. After we assembled the relatively simple little kits, we staged endless dogfights above the braided rope rug Western Front of our living room, and while the battles may not have been historically accurate they were none-the-less exciting. We spent that entire winter reinventing WWI aerial combat to fit our limited knowledge and arsenal, and my admiration and interest for the real world inspirations of those Christmas gifts from long ago still remains. There is something inherently elegant in the simplicity of the Great War aircraft. Their beauty lies in the very necessity that created them, and it is a timeless beauty indeed. Deceptively strong and durable despite their seemingly delicate appearance, they served their pilots and crews beyond well. And while they were not all equal in terms of strengths and weaknesses, they are all equally amazing in their own right. And their evolution in four years at the various fronts was a true miracle of reinvention and urgency. From wings of gossamer with nothing more threatening to offer the enemy than a wave, to deadly armored birds of prey capable of destroying an opponent in a heartbeat: all in 48 months. Little wonder there is such a romance about these craft and the men who flew and fought, and lived and died in them. I have been blessed with occasions over the years to sit in the cockpits of a few of these wondrous planes, and to say that the connection I felt to the past was ethereal and intense would be one of my classic understatements. Still, I can only imagine what it must have been like…all those decades ago…piloting such craft in the hostile sky. But then I’ve always been blessed with a very good imagination. .

. Hasse Wind wrote: .

. I took a left at RB3D and followed the signs. .

. Olham, I believe Bullethead may have already touched on the one about making signs for your wingmen...at least one of the signs anyway. But seriously, you are quite correct Sir. It would be very immersive to be able to operate all the various cockpit controls "by hand", as well as wave instructions to your flight. .

. They can have my PC gaming system when they pry it from my cold, dead hands. Owning one is my constitutional right, DAMNIT! When PC gaming systems are passé, only passés will have PC gaming systems. .

. And don't foget being able to pound your fists on the jambed gun sitting worthlessly in front of you, or being able to grab the pistol and take the gentleman's way out rather than becoming "carbonaise" as you plummet in flames from a mile up. .

. Duke, such figures are found in works like Raleigh and Jones, "The War in the Air", and if I were at home right now I could find a few for you. They would bear out what Bletchley has outlined above concerning the Belgian Air Service. Hundreds of flight hours spent on patrols dodging nothing more than AA, mechanical troubles, and bad weather, (as if that weren't entertaining in and of itself). .

. Hear, hear! Well said, Soppy old man! .

. Greetings All, Good fortune came my way last week in the form of the following: Erich Ludedorff's war memoirs, 1919 1st edition two-volume set complete with all maps. And, Flight Lt. Harold Rosher's personal letters home, 1916 1st edition. Both are in outstanding condition and were dirt cheap, ($60 for all). With these my Great War book shelf now looks like this: 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 Aviator’s Field-Book", Oswald Bolcke, English Translation, (1917 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 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) "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 Wortlrey, (1928 1st Edition) "Memories of World War 1", William Mitchell, (1960 Edition) "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) "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) "The Flying Poilu", Marcel Nadaud, English Translation (1918 1st Edition) "The Red Knight of Germany", Floyd Gibbons, (1927 1st Edition) "The Way of the Eagle", Charles Biddle, (1919 1st Edition) "True Stories of the Great War", (1918 1st Edition) 6-volume set "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: "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) "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) "Heros of Aviation", Laurence La Tourette Driggs, (1919 1st Edition) "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) "National Geographic" Magazine, (entire 1918 series, hard bound, ex-library copy) "Reconnaissance & Bomber Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War", W.M. Lamberton, (1962 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 Lafayette Flying Corps", by James Hall and Charles Nordhoff, (1964 Kennikat Press limited edition two-volume set) "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 "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 an historical context) "Time-Life Epic of Flight", 23-volume set, (not old and not strictly WWI but still a lot of good info and photos) "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) 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. Minnies, (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) Cheers! Lou .

. Time to start working on that tan, eh? .

. Hey, that's about how cold we were here in Minnesota a week ago Hasse Wind, -30°F. And we had strong winds as well. Brisk! Now this week, it's about +50°F. That's an 80°F swing in seven days! Hard to know how to dress. .

. Sah-OOOOOOOO-deee! Sah-OOOOOOOO-deee! And just in case it was lost in translation VP, the joke on my part was that I spelled "Portugal" as "Pourtugal"..."Prost" as "Proust"... get it? .

. Yes, indeed they do. .

. Star Wars: Legos .

. I can't help you with this one Lewie. I run a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro with Saitek pedals. But I know some of the folks here are running the Saitek sticks so I am sure you will receive sage advice. .

. Oh, but we do have llamas in Minnesota, HW. In fact, there is a llama farm not but three miles from my house. No polar bears, however an occasional elephant will make the odd appearance after a particularly hard night of drinking, though they do tend to be pink in color. .

. Quite right about keeping a critical eye when reading Ludendorff's work, Hasse Wind. However, his is still an excellent firsthand historical source concerning the War from the German command perspective. And the details and maps are outstanding. Also, while this set is not considered "rare" even in the English translation, it is still hard to locate in this kind of condition, in a 1st edition, and with all the maps still intact, for anything less than $100. Rosher's collection in a 1st edition is nearly impossible to find, in any condition, and is worth far more then the $30 I paid for it. Olham, there might be a few more residents of Lester Prairie than the number of books in my library. I believe at last count we had 1,712. But then that did include, men, women, children, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, cows, horses, sheep, goats, shoats, sows, hogs, dogs, cats, rats, hamsters, badgers, beavers, bears, deer, moose, mice, moles, voles, minks, lynx, and llamas. .

. It was hilarious the first time I saw these, and it is just as hilarious now. .

. Well put, BH. As one of those who is far more interested in the dynamic campaign than the super graphics and realistic flight models, (with "realistic" still being a rather relative term in these instances, IMHO), I applaud the efforts of our devs for trying to really get that portion of the sim right. Don't get me wrong, I love my eye candy. But I will gladly sacrifice a bit of that for the ability to sign up with a squadron and fly into the teeth of the wind, never really knowing for sure what might await me on each mission. To run the same little scenarios over and over in the same weather, above the same bit of dirt, facing the same group of enemy planes each time has about as much appeal to me as owning that flashy Harley with all the bells and whistles that I can only ride around the block on a sunny day. I'd rather have the somewhat clunky olive drab Sunbeam S7 that I can jump on and go wherever I please, whenever I please, and experience to the fullest whatever might come along. .

. The times, they are a-changin. And I for one believe they are going to keep on changing, and at an exponentially increasing rate. The powers that be in this old world cannot keep pushing down on the masses the way they have been and expect it all to stay "business as usual". The tipping point may well have been reached. Put down your books and pick up your gun, we're gonna have a whole lotta fun! And it's 1,2,3 what are we fightin for? .

. Feh, I'm used to flying under the radar Gents, been doing it for the last 50+ years, though it is kind of you all to say that you noticed my absence. Now as to VP's "Proust", well that's just how it's spelled in Pourtugal. .