RAF_Louvert

. That is a beauty Olham, first-rate work as always Sir. Really like the picture on the side and the mottling on the top of the fuselage. .

. Alrighty then Crossbones, your new kite is ready. Click on the link below and download the zip file to your computer, then unzip it to a convenient spot, open the folder, and grab the .dds file that is there and drop it into your OFF "skins" folder. The path to that folder should look like the following, assuming you installed the sim in your C-drive: C:\OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\skins Once you have the file installed you simply start up the sim and when you get to the main screen click on the personal skin drop-down menu and choose Off_camel_t_USA-17_Crossbones 1918 , (but then you probably already sorted all that out). Here is the download link to the zip file: Crossbones 17th Aero Camel Here is what your new ride will look like: I couldn't just leave it at simply changing the letter to a 'C' for you so I added an apropos emblem under the wing letter. I also repainted the cowling and wheel spats to blue, and personalized the tail number. Boche beware! Enjoy! And as always, many thanks to Winder, Rabu, OvS, and all the devs who created the outstanding OFF skins in the first place. All I do is build ever so slightly on their fine work. Lou .

Good Morning All, I have been working on another tweaked Belgian skin, this time for the OFF Bristol F2b Fighter, (the Brisfit). I ran across some excellent photos of one that is on display at the Brussels Air Museum. It was reconstructed using parts from several planes and painted as B4/66 of the Belgian Air Service: Here is my work so far: Still have more weathering and fine tuning to do, but it will be done soon and I will make it available in our downloads section once I have it where I want it. One more kite to add to brave little Belgium's air arsenal. The other project I have in progress is a Belgian Sopwith Strutter that I'm basing on some photos I gathered up a while back, and I will posted a pic of that one once I have it farther along. Many thanks as always to Rabu and Winder and OvS and all for the beautiful skins we all get to start with on these little ventures. Your work is appreciated more than you will ever know. Cheers! Lou .

. Glad you like the skin Crossbones, and I'll go you one better. If you let me know what logo you would like on the sides and letter on the top wing, I'll send you a personalized paint. BTW, how about the activity in our AO when you first sign up with this outfit. Seems there's no end to the waves of Hun fighters that are about, and all types too. Cheers! Lou

. Greetings All, Last weekend I began an American DID campaign with the 17th Aero and soon discovered what others had pointed out about the US awards; they follow no logical or historic guideline at the moment. I realize that one of the features of P4 will be a total rework of the medals system, but for the time being I sorted out how to make a few adjustments of my own for my US pilot. After his first five kills had been confirmed he was given the Congessional Medal of Honor: Not a chance of this happening in RL. After his second five kills had been confirmed he was given yet another CMoH: A snowball surviving it's entire summer vacation in Hell would have been more likely. So, I went into my "PilotXDossier" file, ('X' being the number of the pilot in question), and changed line 20 to read "Distinguished Service Cross", (rather than "Congressional Medal of Honor"), to see if it would change the award, and "Presto!" it was now a DSC. This then got me to wondering if the sim simply recognizes a plain text command and assigns the image with the exact same name from the "Medals" folder. I was very pleased to discover that is precisely how it works. With this new understanding now at my command I created a bmp image for the Belgian Croix de Guerre, (WWI version), and dropped it into the "Medals" folder, then changed line 21 to read "Croix de Guerre Belgium", (again, rather than "Congressional Medal of Honor"), and wouldn't you know that is now what shows as the award. I chose the Belgian CdG in this instance as there are is a sizable contingent of Belgian troops nearby and during the mission just prior to my second award I had been strafing German ground targets directly across from them. This award would have been far more likely, given the situation, than a CMoH, and historically there were quite a few US pilots who returned from the War with this trinket. If anyone else wishes to use this method during their US campaings you can find accurate historical precedent to follow by reviewing the awards of the many US aces over at The Aerodrome. Enjoy! Lou .

. Good Morning All, After the latest crash, hospitalization and internment of my current DID Pilot, F.W. "Chappy" Chapman, and whilest I wait for the eventual outcome of his situation, I began a new career as an American volunteer with the 17th Aero Squadron stationed at Petit-Synthe aerodrome up along the Flanders coast in June of 1918. We are flying the Camels, (which is why I chose this unit), and after I'd earned my first medal I decided to personalize my plane with an emblem, wing stripe and initial, as well as the roundels and rudder stripes of the U.S. Air Service, (rather than the British versions our squadron planes are sporting). Got some heat from the brass hats for that last modification, but they let it slide given my recent accomplishments in the air. After getting my kite all spruced up, I went out on morning patrol and, since we are situated next to a very busy little rail line, I started my flight by racing the train. After this bit of fun, I continued on my way alone as I had promptly lost sight of the rest of the flight. Followed our assigned route in hopes of catching up to them but came across a group of Albs instead. After stalking them and getting barely within range of the straggler, I let fly with a burst from my guns and he immediately turned and dove down to engage. His buddies must have all been a sleep because none came to join him. It was really no contest as the Hun pilot appeared to be a novice with the mistakes he made, and I very quickly had the advantage. Since the nasty side of the mud was still about four miles away I decided to try and force my opponent to land rather than killing him outright, so I was careful to do just enough damage to his controls so that he had to set down, or choose to crash and die for the Fatherland. He prudently choose to land and become our guest. I promptly set down at a British aerodrome not a 1/4 mile from where my soon-to-be prisioner had landed and was provided a car to zip on over and introduce myself, as well as claim a few souvenirs before the DVa was turned over to our boys for study. All-in-all a very good morning for 2nd Lt. William "Swede" Larsson of the 17th Aero! Cheers! Lou .

. Aaah, very well then, Mike. Being held incommunicado by my Hun captors, I of course receive no news of my squadmates or their whereabouts. That is one way to get rid of me; move while I'm away from camp. .

. "Lou's Dicta" ... LOL! I like it Herr Prop-Wasche. Akmatov, hope you find the advice of some use Sir. As to your pondering about the number of hours a flight student had before he was "breveted". It varied, A LOT. The French were the best at preparing their young aviateurs, and most had upwards of three to five months training at the large flight schools such as Avord. They began with the "penguins" and systematically worked their way along, all the way to full acrobatics training, before being sent to the front. The Americans tended to follow the French model, likely because so many of the early American volunteers flew with the French before the U.S. entered the War. The Germans and Austrians also provided a lot of first-rate, practical training. The Brits were atrocious and sent pilots to live, or more likely die, with as little as 8 hours of actual flying, and often none of it in the planes they would be assigned in combat, (they did however vastly improve their system as time went on but not until losing many, many unprepared flyers). The Belgians didn't seem to have a clue and did everything from requiring their flyers to go to England and pay for their own training; to pawning them off on the French, (the lucky ones); to sending them to their own small flight schools where they could sit for months and get no more than 20 hours of flight time before being sent up. In fact, in the Belgian schools, any initiative on the part of a young student to try and press beyond the rudimentary take-offs and landings being woefully taught resulted in several days of lock-up for the "offender". Read Willy Coppen's "Days On The Wing" if you want the full, first-hand account on Belgian flight training. .

. Love those night shots Dej! They make me realize how long it's been since I've flown after dark or before dawn. I'm going to have to load up a nocturnal bombing mission this evening and experience it all over again. .

. I was always partial to a good, full-bodied, rich dark ale and/or stout, served from the cold shelf down near the floor, or drawn directly from the tap. English, German, Belgian...they all have so many to offer. And in more recent years the U.S. brewers have gotten into the act as well. I, like a couple of others who have posted here, no longer can partake of this little bit of liquid heaven, but I can still taste and savour the countless, brilliant pintas' I enjoyed over the years, and the memories continue to make my mouth water. Aaaaah...good times...good times. .

. No other period in history when so many men were lost in single battles, and WWI had many such battles. When you review the casualty figures you begin to understand why the major combatants in the Great War really did each lose an entire generation of their heirs. Very sobering to consider that the best and the brightest every nation had to offer were literally slaughtered in their prime. Imagine what might have been accomplished in the world if that generation had been allowed to live and strive to their fullest potential. War is the cruelest poignancy: Capable of pushing men to incomparable, singular and collective acts of courage and sacrifice, while at the same instant annihilating their hopes of any such future greatness. Candles in the wind, I suppose. It never ceases to amaze me the heights the human spirit is capable of climbing to, nor the depths the human mind is willing to sink to, to champion the same "noble" cause. .

. Puff, absolutely beautiful work Sir, my hat's off to you. You have a true talent and I would love to see your entire portfolio. Do you have it online somewhere that folks could go and appreciate it? .

. Akmatov, as Olham has mentioned here 17 hours was the average for our RL counterparts back in the day. My current DID pilot, Flt. Lt. Frederick "Chappy" Chapman, has beaten all the odds and survived 100 missions and over 130 combat flying hours, but even he has drawn the short lot on occasion. He is in fact currently in captivity and recovering in a Hun hospital from injuries sustained in mission 100, (I say "currently" because I already know his fate, but I don't want to give away all the details yet). I fly my campaign pilots very carefully and attempt to weigh each mission in terms of survivability while still doing my best to complete the assignment given. I fly full DID with no TAC or on-screen aids of any kind, and I use a "paper" map to navigate rather than the one in the game. I will look at a mission and determine if it seems reasonable given the circumstances. For instance, Chappy's squadron is currently stationed up a Furnes on the coast so it would not have been remotely likely that they would have been given the task of destroying a railyard 60+ miles to the southeast deep inside Hunland, even though the sim engine might generate such a mission. The beauty is however that you can look through the other available "assigned" targets for that particular mission and choose one that is far more realistic in terms of distance from your aerodrome. The only time I won't do this is when the assignment is, (what was referred to in the day as), "The Long Recon". That was one assignment that every flyer drew from time-to-time and there was no getting out of it. So, when my DID pilot is given the job of say, flying well east of Thielt as escort for a trio of B/R planes, all I can do is keep a sharp eye out, fly smart, and hope for the best. Several things I recommend if you want to survive: 1. If you are on the nasty side of the mud do not follow your enemy down, no matter how tempting or close you are to the kill. You might get lucky and make it home, but eventually you will be pounced upon by higher EA, or hit by ground fire, and your career will end. 2. Always fight from the top down, pushing the highest threat below you while keeping your alt. Don't get fixated on a single target but take each best opportunity as it presents itself, even if you haven't "finished" with an earlier foe. 3. Shoot smart. Don't blaze away like you are trying to saw an enemy's wing off. Short, accurate bursts into the cockpit and engine. You have very little ammo and you never know when you are going to need it to fight your way home. 4. Stick with your flight. A lone flyer is far easier to kill than one travelling with friends. 5. Mission is secondary, living to fight another day is primary. This may sound like treason, but a dead pilot is of no use what so ever to his country. Try your best to complete your mission and protect your wingmen, but in the end making it back alive allows you the opportunity to continue fighting for the cause. 6. Know when to run. When a mission becomes undoable, or a dog fight unwinnable , don't kill yourself trying to force a different outcome. Break off and make for home. 7. N.O.E. can save your arse! Nape-of-the-Earth flying is your best chance of escaping when you've been stupid and are caught low and fat. Point yourself towards the nearest section of front lines and fly inches off the ground, bobbing in and around trees and any other ground objects that might provide cover as your beat it back home. The enemy AI do not like to stay down that low with you for more than a second or two and then they will pop back up a bit, and each time they do it widens the gap. If you make it back across and they are still hot on your tail try and find a friendly base or gun emplacement nearby and drag them over it. If you have ammo and feel the odds are now more in your favour, climb, turn and fight, while trying to gain the alt advantage, and once you have it, keep it! (refer back to item 2) 8. Land if you have to before it's too late. If you have taken damage and are loosing control functions and/or fuel, find the nearest friendly base and set her down. Barring that, start watching for a smooth field on your side of the lines and make for it. Dead stick landings are a lot harder when your kite is all shot up or damaged from AA, so don't wait til the engine conks completely. 9. When you land after a good mission, (and any mission you make it back from is a good one), celebrate! Best of luck Akmatov. Lou

. Thanks VP. I've been a free time, self-taught student of WWI in general and the "Great Air War" in particular since my youth. Pursued WWII for a while, but it couldn't hold my interest the way the 1914-18 conflict does. It was just such an amazing, and horrific, period of world history. .

. Possibly. But more likely it's due to the fact that I've been swilling Pepto-Bismol like water for a while due to a touchy stomach whenever I eat really spicy food. The day I did Olham's plane I'd had curry the night before. Last night I had a big ol' bowl of five-alarm chili with extra jalapenos. So on each occasion there, for inspiration, sat that God-awful pink bottle on my desk next to the computer. .

. Very good, WM. Thanks for the link Sir. .

. LOL! Quite possible, Olham. But regardless of what color Voss' plane was, he was still likely the best dog fighter of the entire War. .

. Also, this zip file I put together some time back: WWI Books Zip Download This download contains the following titles: Biogrophies, Diaries, Personal Writings “A Flying Fighter”, by E.M. Roberts, c.1918 ”A Happy Warrior”, the letters of William M. Russel, c.1918 ”Above the Battle”, by Vivian Drake, c.1918 “Air Men O'War”, by Boyd Cable, c.1918 ”An Aviator’s Field Book”, the field notes of Oswald Bolcke, English Edition c.1917 ”Cavalry of the Clouds”, by Alan Bott, c.1918 ”En l'air!”, by Bert Hall, c.1918 ”Fighting the Flying Circus”, by Eddie Rickenbacker, c.1919 ”Flying For France”, by James R. McConnell, c.1917 ”Go Get 'Em!”, by William Wellman, c.1918 ”Green Balls: The Adventures Of a Night-Bomber”, by Paul Bewsher, c.1919 ”High Adventure”, by James Norman Hall, c.1918 ”Night Bombing With the Bedouins”, by Robert H. Reece, c.1919 ”The Flying Poilu”, by Marcel Nadaud, c.1918 “The Red Battle Flyer”, by Manfred von Richthofen, English Edition c.1918 ”The Way of the Eagle”, by Charles J. Biddle, c.1919 ”Winged Warfare”, by William A. Bishop, c.1918 References: “Aircraft Mechanics Handbook”, c.1918 ”Heroes Of Aviation”, by Laurence La Tourette Driggs, c.1918 ”How To Fly”, by A. Frederick Collins, c.1918 “Learning To Fly in the U.S. Army”, by E.N. Fales, c.1917 “Practical Flying”, by W.G. McMinnies, c.1918 “The Aero Manual”, c.1909 “The German Air Force in the Great War”, by Georg Paul Neumann, c.1920 ”The Romance Of Aircraft”, by Laurence Smith, c.1919 Cheers! Lou .

. Well...alright then...conclusion drawn: JK .

. What a great find Bullethead, I have added it to my "electronic" library. I read an excerpt from that book many years back, and until you had posted this link I'd completely forgotten about it. If you aren't already aware, "P.I.X." was the pseudonym of Flt. Commander Theodore Douglas Hallam, a Canadian in the RNAS who was twice awarded the DSC for his actions in the war. As an interesting sidebar, Hallam is mentioned in The Fleet Annual of 1917 in the same group of despatches as RNAS ace Roderic Stanley Dallas who was also presented a bar to his DSC at that time for his actions of April 23rd, 1917. BH, you would find this publication of interest I am sure, and here is the link to that archived volume: The Fleet Annual and Naval Year Book of 1917 Enjoy, and thanks for the link to "The Spider Web". I love the old seaplanes and can't wait until we have a few WWI types to fly. In IL2 one of my favorite birds is the Catalina. Cheers! Lou .

. Wow, what an impossible question to answer Olham. I will say that my personal favorite of the genre is Duncan Grinell-Milne's "Wind In The Wires", followed very closely by Cecil Lewis' "Sagittarius Rising", and Norman Archibald's "Heaven High, Hell Deep". But there are just so many. .

. Thanks Olham, but you would be surprised how qucikly you can read through a pile of books on a subject that really holds your interest. I've read through them all at least once, and at least a dozen of my favorites I've read two and three times each. BTW, that German set would be amazing to own. If I could read German at all I'd be very tempted to go after it myself as it would give an outstanding perspective of the German view of the Great War. .

. Thanks Hasse Wind. And it's only taken me about 40 years to bring it to this point. .

. Yuppers, that is correct Ironhat. I also purchased TrackIR 4 and upgraded for free to 5 when it became available. Flying OFF with this system makes it a whole new sim. You'll love it. .

. Olham, you are not belittling my find at all my friend. Anything that promotes the collection and preservation of old books is a very, very good thing, IMHO. I'm doing my bit. Here is the listing of my current WWI literature collection: 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) "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, ex-library copy) "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) "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) "Rovers of the Night Sky", W.J. ‘Night-Hawk’ Harvey, (Vintage Aviation Library Edition) "Sagittarius Rising", Cecil Lewis, (1936 Edition, 1st US printing) "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) "Wind in the Wires", Duncan Grinnell-Milne, (1968 Edition, ex-library copy) "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 Rpbertson, (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) "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) .