RAF_Louvert

. Greetings PRang, I have an entire OFF/MAW hybrid set-up that I have been using for quite some time now, and I love it. Started building some missions specific to it as well but had to put it on hold for the time being. Here is a vid I did of one of my missions: A Battle in the WWI Skies Above Egypt Cheers! Lou .

. Oh I find it a good game Olham, and if you posted the following I'd know exactly where you are today: Ah yes, the upper midwestern US during it's other season; both invigorating and character-building, (and believe me, we have our share of characters here). .

. Thanks Olham and WK. I had some time this AM to get all the lakes painted into the St. Mihiel salient and also dialed in the drome locations on either side of the mud. I've never flown too much in that sector with the paper maps and was surprized how very, very easy it is to navigate around in due to all the unique landmarks. Cheers! Lou .

. I think I've ridden on that bus line in the first picture, but there was a fair amount of good British ale involved at the time so I could be mistaken about that. .

. That is going to be a beauty of a flying rig Slarti. And if you are happy with WIndows XP go to the 64-bit version, you will love it! I have been running it on my flying rig since I built it and it has all the advantages and speed of the newer WIndows 64-bit OS offerings with none of the hinkyness. .

. Greetings All, This week I was fortunate enough to add two more first editions to my own little WWI library. They are: “No Parachute” by Arthur Gould Lee, 1970 Harper and Rowe, first U.S. edition; and “Beyond the Tumult” by Barry Winchester, 1971 Allison and Busby, London, first edition. Both are in beautiful shape with no wear to the hardcovers or bindings, near-perfect dust jackets, and clean unmarked pages; and both were very, very inexpensive. I had borrowed a paperback of Lee’s work some time back and read it in it’s entirety and must agree with those in this forum who have rated it as one of the best works of it’s kind. While I still think Lewis’ “Sagittarius Rising” is slightly better, as is Biddle’s “The Way of the Eagle”, Grinnell-Milne’s “Wind In the Wires”, and “Kingsford’s “With the Earth Beneath”, I would definitely place Lee’s book in the same esteemed company as these. As to Winchester’s book, if you’ve never read it you should. It gives a great insight into an entirely different aspect of the pilot experience in WWI; that of being shot down, captured, and placed in a POW camp, only to eventually escape. I put this one in nearly the same class as another of Grinnell-Milne’s outstanding works, “An Escaper’s Log”. With the newest additions my collection 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) 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) "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) Me so happy. Cheers! Lou .

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. Thank you for the recommendations JFM, a couple of those are already on my book wish list and I will be adding the others. Given your own authorship I imagine you are one of those here whose personal WWI aviation library is very, very extensive. .

. AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREEEEEEEEEEEEEE. .

. OUTSTANDING! Some day I'd like to get back into RC model building and flying. Oh but for another hundred years of life in which to do everything I'd like to do before shuffling off this mortal coil. .

. Many thanks John, HW, Olham, and Dej for the kind words about my writings, I am glad you folks continue to enjoy the stories. Hasse Wind, sorry to learn of the loss of all your pilots with the crash of your hard drive. I went through that myself some months back and it is rotten. Olham, thank you for the information on the proper use of objects in German spelling, I will make those corrections and remember it for the future. Also, I find the steady quiet inline of the Alb to be an honest treat when compared to the hinky Allied rotaries. And yes, it was a close one today for Paul. Dej, the problem Herr Blum is having is that he has yet to find a wingman of his own since being assigned to Jasta 16, though to be honest he is not looking too hard for one either, (issues with Karl's death and all that). Every flight he's had so far has been an odd number and as the leader he ends up the man out a partner as he takes it upon himself to let the others work together to build their own teams, and tends to fly alone in the role of the watchful mother hen. In the mission today however he had a moment of target fixation and was not nearly as watchful as he should have been. Hopefully this is a mistake not soon repeated. (Seriously, when those bullets went zipping through my wings it scared the living bee-jeebers right out of me!) .

. Those are all beautiful and I love them all, but my personal favorite is still "O Holy Night", and here is a wonderful rendition of it by Celine: "O Holy Night", Celine Dion .

. Good on you T&FO, you will enjoy those books Sir. And thanks as well. BTW, "Flying Minnows" is one of the many on my list of works to get, and I'll have to look into "Australian Hawk Over the Western Front" Cheers! Lou .

. Greetings Dokken, and welcome to the OFF forums, (and soon the OFF skies). Don't worry about us lot giving you a bit of a wind up, it's just our way of making you feel at home. As has been so rightly pointed out for you already, new lads buy the drinks, and I believe I'll have a nice pinta' red and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps my good man. Cheers! Lou .

. Greetings All, The next installment of Ritter von Blum's saga has been added: Paul Blum's Story The young Leutnant had a busy day. Enjoy! Lou .

. Hasse Wind wrote: Yes HW, (to paraphrase myself from one of those earlier postings), I have the seven volume set plus both complete map cases. It is an original 1st edition set with matching blue bindings with gilt lettering that originally resided in the RUSI at Whitehall until 1956 when it was pulled from their shelves and sold off. I purchased it from a rare book seller in Florida about three years ago. It is in near-perfect condition and is the pride of my WWI book collection, and the set rests securely on the top shelf in my library: Olham wrote: We are a classic lot, are we not? .

. Ah RTT, yet another romantic in our midst I see. I do take some literary license with Paul's story in an effort to make it a bit more interesting, but I still allow the actual missions the sim throws at the young Allemander to determine the course of his saga. There were cold gray dull days in the lives of our Great War flyers, and white hot days of glory and death, and everything in between. And I'll drink to your toast as well Sir, and most heartily! .

. Many thanks Carrick, Dej, Mike, Ratatat, and Olham for your kind praises of my collection. While it is perhaps slightly more than modest to some, it is quite timid compare to others belonging to folks in these circles. As example, one of the members of my old RB3D squadron has a private WWI aviation library of over 500 books and adds to it with every new work that hit the presses. However, what may make mine a bit unique is the point made by Dej about the first editions, and to that point I'd like to elaborate if I may. I was born in 1954 and my very first book on the subject was "The First War Planes", by William Barrett, a thin little pulp newsstand item I recieved for my birthday when I was around nine or so, (I was already interested in WWI aircraft at that point, having built several plastic models of the more famous ones). I loved the pictures and information and wanted more, so I started going to the libraries and finding other related books, (Grinnell-Milne's "Wind in the Wires" was the first autobiographical work I read and it has been one of my personal favorites ever since). Now, you must keep in mind that for the most part, in the 1960's in the upper midwest portion of the US, the majority of libraires, both primary school and public, had many recently purchased books. The years since WWII had been generally quite prosperous and the display of this newfound wealth was seen everywhere. In the libraries it manifested itself in new facilities, new equipment, and new books. Lots and lots of new books. Old editions, unless they were rare, tended to be boxed up and stored away, or given away, or thrown away. They were replaced with bright, plastic-wrapped modern works, and reprints of the popular earlier ones. Because of this it wasn't until years later that I came across an old WWI aviation book that had been printed "in the day". It was Rickenbacker's "Fighting the Flying Circus", and I found it in the University of Minnesota library, (a place where the old books had actually been preserved and remained on the shelves). When I held it and leafed through its aged, cream-colored pages it was like a time machine: The style of illustrations; the cloth-wrapped hard covers; the tint of the old photos; even the type font. It changed the reading experieince for me. More than that, it made me wonder who had read that same volume before me. It became possible, perhaps even inevitable, that a former WWI flyer himself had held the very book I was holding. It was now more than just a collection of facts and figures, or the recollections of a hero from the past. It was a direct link, a conduit if you will, to that very past itself. If you've never experienced this I am truly sad for you, and I hope that someday you will discover the absolute wonder of it. It is this which started me collecting the first editions, and it has been an ongoing labor of love ever since, made sweeter by the limited income I have to direct towards the hunt. Most of my finds have been discovered at garage sales, church sales, estate sales, and library sales, (where they have actually found those old boxes that were stored away decades earlier). More recently, the internet has given me new, far-reaching fields to explore, resulting in some amazing additions to my collection, Raleigh and Jones' "The War in the Air" being the superlative example. My apologies for a rather long-winded explanation in reponse to a short comment. Olham, to your thought about me starting my own open library; I have begun to wonder just what I should do with the collection in the inevitable event of my passing. I have considered donating it to an appropriate organization, provided I don't have a heir that would wish to claim it for their own. I don't really know though at this point what organization might be appropriate and/or interested. Good Lord willing I have a fair amount of time left to sort that one out. Cheers! Lou .

. This sim is rich with such moments, and is one of the aspects that makes it so very good, IMHO. .

. And I didn't take it too serious, mein Freund. You know me. .

. In campaigns I nearly always fly as flight leader, (except when I am first assigned to a squadron as a lower rank, then I take my lumps), and I almost never go into the clouds but rather stay under, go above, or around, and try to keep my flight with me. If I am escorting B/R's and they choose to fly right into some giant anvil cloud I let them, but I take a different route and hope to find them when we each get to the other side. Sometimes I don't find them, some times my own wingmen get separated from me when clouds are involved. Sometimes EA come popping out of the clouds and scare the Hell out of me, and sometimes I dive into a cloud for cover and scare the Hell out of myself. I figure it's all part of what our RL betters had to put up with. .

. Stratos, the best I've managed in a DiD campaign was about nine months and that was flying with EXTREME caution. It ended when I crashed and was captured. As of late I have switched to flying the "Die Roll" setting with all other realism factors max'd out, I feel this is more accurate than being killed on every little flip or hard landing, (which tends to be the case with Dead is Dead). Our RL counterparts walked away from many a crash and bad landing, or at least lived to recuperate and return to the fight later on. My current campaign pilot Paul Blum was out for five months recovering from a wreck he had, which is one reason he has "survived" for over eight months of the War at this point. That is one of the great things about this sim, you can tweak the settings and parameters to fit your own personal taste and enjoyment. Uncleal's method of self-imposing a set guideline for crash outcomes in the "Pilot Never Dies" setting is a great example of this, and works very well. .

. Very good Elephant. Thanks for sharing Sir. A bag of fresh peanuts awaits you upon your next visit to the pub. .

. You are all more than welcome my friends. Enjoy the hours of great reading contained in these sets. .

. Happy Thanksgiving Javito and Crossbones, and to all my American compatriots. May your travels be safe, your turkeys well roasted, and your friends and family near. I have more things than I can count to be thankful for, and one of them is indeed you fine folks here at the OFF forums. Let's reflect on all the blessing we each have in our lives, thank God for them all, and drink a toast to our own good fortunes whatever they may be. Cheers! Lou .