Rickitycrate

It does help to pick a plane and be determined to understand how to fly it to advantage. Hopping from crate to crate will hamper your developement IMO. Maybe a quiet sector or 1916 for learnings sake. I don't follow my own advise very well as I have been upgrading my gear on a regular basis. In particular joysticks and each time I change I have to relearn what to do, much like changing planes. Good advise above, best wishes.

I'm glad for you. I see you don't have TrackIR. I did not either for the first few months of OFFing. I did pretty good without it but now that I have it would not do without. Have a great time checking things out. A hearty welcome and best wishes.

Very interesting and good to see. Nie details. Your frame makes the bid item look much more attractive. Herr Olham has something to keep fighting for. His Blue Max needs company. I expect any time now to see that he received it in the mail. One time I saw some Fokker DVII fabric on ebay. I can't recall how much it sold for.

Yes Ras our boys will be doing battle today. I'm excited to say the least. It all comes down to this one extra game and then it's those damn Yankee's. Last night was pretty exciting too. ZZ, I saw what you are talking about on the History channel. They were call USO's, unidentified submersable objects, only now you let the Katze out of the bag.

Just bringing an ace down gives me the satisfaction I need. The Von Richthofen brothers were both shot up and brought down wounded but recovered and flew again as did many others so in my mind it is not unrealistic as it is. Just my 2 cents.

Seems there's been a call to action from the "higher ups". The brass wants a certain suasage brought down and the loss of some kraut kites into the pot would be in order. Our losses in the air have been heavey as of late and some desk jockey of self import is due to arrive tomorrow, perhaps to pin a prize on a poor boy that's recently pissed himself. I'm to lead "B" flight again. The crates are rolled out and fired up and we leave the field at St.-Pol-sur-Mer in the lovely early morning. A. Fry and Ben Amherst are along for this jaunt, good lads. We follow the coast to the east-nor-east when just prior to changing course to head south, near the front, we are jumped by half a dozen of the hated hun. 'Round we go, here's a bit for you flippin' bird. Crikey and bloody hell my neck can hardly take the strain of getting a fix on their positions. Here's one, "good morning" I says with me gun. Knock, knock on your bloody noggin' I hope. Good for 'im the filthy bastard he's in the drink and but good. Taking a good look now I see Ben bring down another in flames. There's a smoke plume to the west not far off. Perhaps the remaining hun are harassing "A" flight. Well on with our date with the Drachen. There's a plane ahead flying low, one of ours, he joins up in our formation. In short order the target is sighted and bloody hell don't you know three Albatros DII's are not amused by our intentions and drop toward us as we dive toward our target. Damn and drat! Missed the plump gasbag on the first pass. I had hoped for a quick flamer and a mad dash for our side. Now I have to circle back and not only try for it again but face the enemy airplanes intent on my demise. I give her some lead as I missed with my last rocket, unreliable childs plaything I say. As I turn about I see the balloon has met it's firey fate by some act of God perhaps but now we have to deal with the angry hun hornets as well as the ground fire. I got a few rounds into one but one of his dark brethren bounced me from behind and took my engine out of commission. Too low to try for our lines. Nothing for it but to bring her down. Two days later I'm back in camp getting that arse chewing I expected for my troubles. You can't win.

A long time ago I had a hun pilot that survived all kinds of things I thought he shouldn't and he was DiD too. I almost felt quilty somehow but then he met his fate. It happens sometimes to have a run of luck.

Thanks again Lou, I hate reading online so I will be tempted to print some of these. That's a lot of paper and ink! I just Ordered the Jasta War Chronology by Franks and The Years of the Sky Kings by Whitehouse came today. Love them books.

Well this is an obvious Sticky IMHO. Thanks Lou, how about those Twins!?

Any time now.... Best wishes.

To answer Stiffy and other new guys; As stated by the OBD dev team work is going on towards add-on plane packs, Phase 4 and who knows what secrets they may be keeping close to the vest. It is very kind of them to share the information that they do share. Our "heroes", the OBD team continue to add to the OFF world and carry over their good work from phase to phase. As long as the team has the heart and we give them encouragement I think we will see additional planes and improvements for the forseeable future. I don't mean to speak for OBD but Winder, Pol et al are consistant in their statements and this is the understanding that I have. Meanwhile the flying is great and I appreciate having more goodness to look forward to.

FYI,I had that same problem and others too yesterday. A few other guys had troubles also. I know for me I am sorted out now. It seems to be on the CombatAce end and it seems to be something that Erik and Fates are sorting out. It can frustrating I know but hopefully you will be back in business.

Yeah Duce, I thought it was unusual and was glad I had fraps running for a screenie.

Thanks for the clarification Shred. Best wishes on all that work.

All of those would be great and maybe one day we'll see them. AFAIK for now we can expect the Morane "Parasol" before too long along with some later year crates. Now I'm not sure about the parasol..... I know we've discussed it alot. I know in good time our devs. will continue to take care of us. That's why we have Phases

Stiffy, truely wonderful contemporary pics and info. Thanks.

Seems I can upload now. The pic just goes to show you never know what might happen in OFF.

Well maybe I'm wishful thinking about things being worked on. I can't find any message relating the fact. At least know you are not alone, Uncleal is having some problems too.

I think there are a few issues right now that are hopefully being worked on. I cannot upload jpgs. My Profile dropdown stays down also. I don't think we need to say it's virus related. It just may be some work going on behind the scenes by Erik and/or Fates.

My experience with the EIII there was early P3. I have pilots for each faction and alternate lately.

You can see how the plywood fuselage resisted the flames or it may have been a different story. One time In a flight I got all shot up to hell and had to put her down in a field. I landed the 1 1/2 Strutter safely and cut the engine and then she caught fire. The one time I would have jumped. You'll see in the pick the prop has stopped and the smoke and flames are going up not back. Will post pic when the editor allows.

Nice review, thanks. This book happens to be on my wishlist. Nice to know it is a worthwhile tome.

I've gone up as observer a few times. It is a whole new game to assume that role. I use a USB gamepad instead of my flightstick when I do this.

I bet it is being worked on for future release. It is a huge amount of data and is date specific. Probably a matter of time involved to compile the data and then to get it into the program. I imagine too that the Devs. would like to have it all done in one fell swoop rather than make it available piecemeal. Just my suspicions of course, not based on any facts of what may be happening.

It is beautiful down there. I did a stint with Udet flying EIII's back in 1916. It was quiet and a good place to come to grips with the charcteristics of the monoplane. Enjoyable and relatively quiet.