RAF_Louvert

. Here's one for those who might mistake the harmonica for a lowly instrument: While Buddy Greene may not be quite in the same class as Sonny Boy Williamson, Mark Feltham, or Junior Wells, (IMHO), he is definitely way up near the top. Watching that vid has inspired me to go dig out my old Hohner. Cheers! Lou .

. mmmmmmm...Spammmm. Fried egg and SPAM between two slices of hot french toast, one of the best breakfast meals ever, and so healthy too. And Austin, Minnesota, home of Hormel, the makers of that infamous Shoulder of Pork And haM product, and location of the SPAM Museum. ...now I'm hungry... Cheers! Lou

. "A poor aviator lay dying At the end of a bright summer's day His comrades had gathered about him To carry his fragments away The airplane was piled on his wishbone His Hotchkiss was wrapped round his head He wore a spark-plug on each elbow 'Twas plain he would shortly be dead He spit out a valve and a gasket And stirred in the sump where he lay And then to his wondering comrades These brave parting words he did say "Take the magneto out of my stomach, And the butterfly valve off my neck, Extract from my liver the crankshaft, There are lots of good parts in this wreck" "Take the manifold out of my larynx, And the cylinders out of my brain, Take the piston rods out of my kidneys, And assemble the engine again." Hurrah for the next man to die! .

. Lucky Dog, lucky Dog, you're a lucky Dog! If you have not had Track IR until now RD it is going to change this entire sim for you. .

Just got home from a two-day road trip and was very glad to read that the medal has arrived safe and sound. Wear it well Olham, it is a highly deserved honour Sir! BH, great little dittys there, I'm particularly fond of the Thomas Hardy one. Olham...Bordeauxred Baron...hee hee Paarma, if you are looking for a very good quality Blue Max at an affordable price, Wagner of Berlin made a lot of them, (they will have a "W" maker's mark). Wagner and Sons were one of the original medal makers in Germany for many decades. Also, a genuine WWI issue Orden Pour l'Merite with documentation of proof is nearly priceless, and on the extremely rare chance than one might actually come up on auction it would go for tens of thousands of dollars. Cheers! Lou

. Well, I've gone through nearly a roll of duct tape and I can't get this thread to stick, so if it's going to get done I guess it will have to be by one of the forum admins. .

. You can call me anything you like, just don't call me late to supper. .

. Yes indeed Uwe, I have done that several times myself. I particularly like to coordinate my campaigns in the winter here in Minnesota. I look at that frozen snowy airfield and then I look out my window and see the same basic scene, and it really gets me in the mood. Cheers! Lou . BTW, that is a great screenshot Sir. I would like a larger version of it for a screensaver. .

. Yuppers, the DR1 is a hoot to fly Olham. I refer to it as my "German Camel". .

Olham wrote: I have mine dialed in and they are beautiful Olham. I have so much more control with the rudders now than I ever had with the twist stick. I was purposely snapping the DR1 rudder in the video to show how much it would immediately twist on the vertical axis. But I can slide the rudder so slow and smooth with those pedals if I choose to, it's just a treat. You should take some time and get acquainted with your own Saiteks. You would learn to love them and what they allow you to do with your kite. Creaghorn, you may be right that it's possible to duplicate the supposed move that Voss is credited with in his Fokker. However, I have tried it myself every way I can think of and I can't get past a 45 degree twist with my DR1, which is still a whole lot in a dogfight. Cheers! Lou

rjw, along with the Camel the DR1 is the twitchiest plane to fly in OFF. Also, since any plane will want to bank when you give it rudder input, trying it with an inherently unstable one only compounds the issue. I had mentioned dihedral in my earlier post as that seems to also make the bank more pronounced with rudder input, (at least from what I've noticed in OFF). However the DR1, despite it's flat wings, is just so quick to react that it's going to want to bank no matter what when you twist it. Here is a brief video I just put together showing the amount of twist I can get out of the bird, (BTW, it seemed apropos to use Voss' kite for this little exercise): DR1 Twist As you can see, about 40 degrees with full left rudder is the most managed, and around 35 degrees with full right rudder. Also, you will need about three times as much aileron input going left as you need going right due to that rotary engine. Hope this is of some help. Cheers! Lou

. Aw stumpjumper, I just saw this thread myself. Man, that stinks! I hope it won't take forever and a day until you can be back in the virtual skies Sir. Perhaps Santa will be very, VERY nice to you this season and leave a new gaming 'puter under your tree. .

rjw wrote: What plane are you flying when you noticed this? If you are flying a craft with any wing dihedral at all you will start to bank slightly shortly after applying rudder input. When you give left rudder for example the right wing tip moves forward as the left wingtip moves rearward which results in more lift in the right wing than the left, and thus you start to bank left. This is how two-axis aircraft fly all the time. If you are trying to achieve a true "flat" turn you may have to give a bit of aileron to counteract the described action. Also, if you are flying a rotary-engined craft you have the effects of precession to deal with as well. Cheers! Lou

. Check Six, red is a warm color and it is kinda cold playing golf in the snow and...and...yeah, OK, I get it now too. itifonhom, you are very welcome Sir. Happy reading! Rickitycrate, enjoy the books. Boy, no kidding about if it had been snowing instead of raining. We'd be digging out from about two feet of it by now. .

appraiserfl, this is an example of what you can come across in the auctions: Iron Cross and Hindenburg Cross on eBay Granted, these may be WWI contemporary medals, (i.e. of WWI era vintage but likely issued sometime after the war ended rather than during the war itself), however they are none-the-less of excellent quality and condition and not much more in price than well-made replicas. Food for thought. Cheers! Lou

. Dej, what can I say. That is just outstanding in so many ways. Top hole, Sir! .

Well that's very understandable WM. We each feel how we feel about such things. I still feel badly for my father who wanted to serve with his friends in WW2 but was classified 4F and not allowed to. appraiserfl, here are a couple of suppliers that have some relatively good quality WW1 German and Prussian medal replicas, as well as a few original items: The Treasure Bunker Quarterdeck Also, as I said before, do not dismiss the online auctions. You can find not only good replicas but also the odd original at a very good price. And the hunt is half the fun, IMHO. Cheers! Lou

Give me a few minutes and I will find my list. And I forgot to mention, Wagner of Berlin made excellent replicas of the German awards, and if you can find those you will be off to a good start. The Blue Max I presented to Olham for winning the recent "What's My Plane?" contest was a Wagner medal, and it was beautiful, and I found it in an online auction where I was able to purchase it for only $35.00. Don't dismiss eBay. Cheers! Lou

. appraiserfl, there are several very good suppliers of replica WWI medals, but even those items are not cheap. A good replica of something like the OPl'M or Red Eagle are going to run a minimum of $75 or more each, and some museum-grade replicas will sell for several hundred dollars. But still, it will be WAAAAY less expensive to build the display with the replicas, and will look very nice when you are done. Cheers! Lou .

. Oh yes, they are VERY spendy. It's not a poor man's hobby, that's for sure. .

Very nice Check Six, very nice. Love that Turkish Star. WM, most everyone who has served in the armed forces during a time of conflict has medals of some sort to show for it. As you know, service medals were and are presented to those who serve in a specific campaign, for a certain amount of time, for exemplary "general" service, etc. Plus there are numerous ribbons awarded as well for such things as overseas service, or for being an active member with a first-rate squad. It's when you get into the citations and even higher, the honours and orders, that things can get a bit more political from time to time. I agree that all those who willingly and faithfully serve should be honoured for it, and most of the time I believe that is done fairly in the various armies, navies, and air forces. While serving as the CoC of the virtual 209 Squadron I did get a small taste of what it must be like for real adjutants and general staff officers to sort out who should be awarded what for which action, and I'll tell you it can be a real bear trying to sift through the stacks of reports and recommendations during any given battle. Trying to maintain fairness and equity in the awards in all situations is about impossible, despite anyone's best intentions. Cheers! Lou

. Olham, if you right-click on any of the links the little window will open and you can click on "properties", then just copy and paste the full URL from there. Easy peasy Sir. Cheers! Lou .

. appraiserfl, the air in this sim is fraught with danger as you are finding out I'm afraid, and...well...I believe paraphrasing Tim might say it best: "Follow! But! Follow only if ye be men of valor, for the skies of OFF lie between Heaven and Hell, and are haunted by craft so foul, so cruel, that no man yet has fought with them for more than a moment and lived! The bones of forty thousand and fifty lie strewn about the mud. So, brave knights of the air, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty big sharp pointy teeth!" Just remember, it may LOOK like a harmless bunny, but... Cheers! Lou .

. You are more than welcome Widowmaker. I hope you enjoy them all for years to come. I've read each of them and they are all good. The reference books are a bit dry, but very informative. Most of the narratives are outstanding and deserve to be read more than once, IMHO. Cheers! Lou

. Oh yes, "Green Balls". A classic. Glad to see you got the download to work Dej. Enjoy! .