RAF_Louvert

. Gordohk, there are what appear to be original military versions and civilian versions being offered right now at an online US Marshals siezed assets auction, closing in four days: Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class, with Swords Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class, Civilian With a current bid of $565 for each, they may still be well out of your price range though, ( I know it's out of mine). Lou .

. It must be awfully slow these days in the old OFF skies. I was sure more folks would chime in on this topic. Ah well, c'est la guerre. .

. Olham, I just read through this thread and learned of your computer woes. I hope it all goes well for you Mein Freund, and quickly. .

. Oh yes, I too have had some close shaves. Apart from the five-month-long stint of recovery, training, and PR tour endured by Paul, he's also had to force land at least half-a-dozen times due to damage sustained in aerial combat. A couple of hard landings as well. All of which tends to get us much closer to what our RL counterparts went through during the course of their time at the front. BTW Javito, to your medals. You need only show the MC with Bar as that denotes two awards of the same honour. And you might want to consider either the French or Belgian CdG as an award to your flyer as well, if he has been involved in any of the jointly fought battles in the AO he currently serves in. .

. Javito, well done. Captain Joyce is doing quite fine so far. Hasse Wind, I can appreciate not wanting to throw the bad mojo on your flyer. We pilots are a superstitious lot you know, (touch wood, rub the rabbit's foot, kiss the cross, etc). BB, with only a handful of exceptions, nearly all of my OFF aviators expired or were captured within 25 to 30 hours, or less. Mike, impressive run Sir, very impressive. Also, you should download my updated medals pack, (as I see Javito has done), and then you could assign your pilot a more historically accurate grouping. Something along the lines of the following would be very fitting, and leave you room for one more trinket later on, (the British DFC after 3 June 1918 would be quite apropos, or the Légion d'Honneur perhaps). .

. Greetings All, So then, I am wondering, (after Creaghorn's Ace of Aces came to his most unfortunate end), what is your longest surviving pilot in OFF? Please note the settings you use and any other relevant information. Mine is Leutnant Paul von Blum, currently with 288.1 flying hours, 149 missions, and 23 confirmed kills. He has been serving for nine months and was out of action for five of those months due to a near-ender that severely wounded him and killed his gunner/obs. I fly with everything cranked up on the RSS settings, and use Roll of the Dice for crash outcomes, (I personally find this more realistic than the DiD setting). I use no aids when flying, and no Warp, and navigate by "paper" map. Who else has an "old timer" in the sim that they would be so kind to share the particulars of. IMHO, it will be a very long time before any of us comes close to Creaghorn's acomplishment, but I'd like to see just how far along folks are. So please, post your heros' records here. Cheers! Lou .

. I agree Jim, historically accurate airfields would be wonderful, but as has been mentioned in past discussions, they would be a hugh resource hog and thus we have the dozen or so generic fields, trees and all, (hate those trees...want to have at 'em with an axe). Now then, as to that landing shown at the start of this thread, I had one of those once in a pusher UL. It was NOT one of my favorite moments, and it caused me to ruin a perfectly good pair of Dockers. .

. Yes indeed Pol. Frank's sense of humor is one of the things that makes this book such a good read. . Javito, if you take the book and place it in a large zip lock bag with a couple of dryer sheets you can lose the ciggy smell. .

. Creaghorn, I salute you Sir, and I drink to the memory of Oberleutnant Cvjetanovic. A truly outstanding achievement in this sim. Best of luck in your next run, and may you live to survive the War. Also, I agree. There should be a Wall of Fame somewhere on our forums to begin posting such accomplishments. .

. Dej wrote: It took me forever to sort out what you were referring to as I had tweaked the original image and the layers swapped, so the item you had pointed out wasn't in the updated pic. It wasn't unitl I went back to the earlier rendition that the light finally dawned. I can be a berk sometimes. .

. Really Olham, you want to play the 'Viking' card in your defense that the Danes aren't practically Germans. Hmmm, let's see now...Richard Wagner, (a German), and his infamous "Walkürenritt"? I seem to recall a few horned helmuts being worn in that little bit of German opera. So, nyaaaaahhh. .

. Patience is a virtue, and in OFF it is downright essential. Get impatient in a dogfight and you may well get dead. Of course, in the virtual skies it's only 'mostly dead'. And there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Now, mostly dead is still slightly alive. But all dead...well..with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do. Go through his clothes and look for loose change. .

. I see nothing nerdish in your behaviour Lewie, and not OFF-putting in the least. .

. Well done Sir. A drink! A drink I say, for our latest bard. .

. By God! You're right Parky! .

. I live a little over an hour away from the Lake Wobegon Trail...seriously. And to the views held by the various Scandinavians towards each other: The Swedes feel the Norwegians are a bit coarse and rough round the edges, while the Norskies find the Swedish pious and a bit uppity. The Danes are practically Germans so we don't have much to do with them, (except for their pastry). And the Finlanders, well, they're so far out there on the edge that nobody can figure them out. .

. Hmmm...odd. My CP has another additional setting to tick: .

. Aaaah, you see Olham, I thought you had inserted the word 'bier' as the German form, not the English. I had looked at the original and then your translation and assumed you had picked a more current form of the word that we non-German-speaking folks would understand. I see now that you instead used an archaic English word meaning 'stretcher'. Can't recall the last time I saw that word used in that way. .

. I agree completely Lewie; I loved living in England and touring around the British Isles. And I loved travelling about Europe for three years as well, getting to visit other wonderful countries such as Germany and France and Belgium and Italy and the Netherlands. Met a lot of great people throughout. And believe you me, I needed the exposure. My father was American-born of 100% Norwegian stock while my American-born mother was of 50% Norwegian and 50% Swedish heritage. "GASP! Mixed blood, MIXED BLOOD!" Honestly, where I grew up, our idea of racial diversity WAS someone like my mother. I had to travel around Europe just to add some perspective and flavor to my midwestern-US-white-bread-and-mayo existence. Before I went overseas I though ethnic food was Danish pastry. .

. Our pleasure Capitaine Vengeur. Of course, we did owe you for the help you gave us a while back in that little bruhaha we had with King George III. . . Oh, and those two video postings were classic! .

. Yes indeed Gents, I too was quite sure the first line was a reference to the denial of Christ by Peter. Also, interesting that the German word for 'beer' can also mean 'stretcher'. A bit of unintended double entendre there eh, especially when the next line is about 'absorbing' death. .

. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I'd like to buy the world a beer, and keep it comp-a-NEEEEEE! .

. I might add Olham, it is a very, very sad poem Sir. .

. Olham, this may be a bit closer to what the author actually intended: Midnight We are forever disowned, and three times more, For all our actions, all our gathered hopes and dreams, And for those that were our fathers' and mothers'. We stand by our beers, And drink in death, to better understand our own dying. For this is our purpose. We are children of a race that does not hesitate; Of children who are against their own race. Souless. Our eyes turn inward, searching our own minds, taking in the pain there. We are forever disowned, and three times more. And denouce the very Gods themselves. For us there is no blessed return, and for our crying no “Amen” from loving lips, once so full of sweetness. Our mothers failed us, who mourned about us. We doubt those, those who claim to be our mothers. And this will never leave us. Perhaps, when we finally know that we are the Children of Error, and therefore lost to time; Maybe then…perhaps…we will surrender. To a land of white and far away, where many have gone, and we too are longing for it’s comfort. (Ludwig Baeumer) .

. That's true Jim, but hardly the point back in the day. We had to find something to needle with, and that worked well as any to get the Limeys riled up. And we love you too WM. .