Flyby PC

Hmmm. I think MAW has already been there and done that. Not a nudist colony, but I'm sure I recall somebody topless sunbathing on a rooftop - in Rome if remember correctly. Thing is, with MAW, I can't remember if it was actually there, or just rumoured to be there. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but that's not saying much. It took me going to find the Pyramids and Mt Etna, (which definitely are there), and that's when I knew where to look.

In addition to the desk fan, caster oil, burned flesh and smellyvision device, you could also have your children or grandchildren use their school rulers to ping insects in your face at random moments through your flight, for that extra bit of "Ouch! WTF? Spit it out quick" background ambiance. Buy now! Insects are collectible and come in a variety of skins, and the hard ones are mostly re-useable. (Highly recommended for 'in your face realism' by MS Motorbike Sim).

Oh, you old romantic you....

Hoping somebody can advise me... I'm getting bombed up for multiplayer after a long break, but realised I'm on a new machine that needs configured for port forwarding. The static IP address bit is done, and I can remember all the steps to configure my router, but its the ports reference that is throwing me. I'm sure I remember figures with 1's and 0's, like 1001 or something etc, but it was too long ago and I just dont remember what figures to use. Can anybody help? It's the last three boxes I need to fill in, but I'm reasonably sure the bottom box, server IP, is the static IP address, (I think) but it's the port settings that kill me. Can anybody help? Where do I get these figures?

Another brave WW2 veteran is with us no more. Bill Millin was the piper who played ashore Lord Lovat's commandos on D-Day to the tune of Highland Laddie, and played the troops off the beaches towards their objective. The sound of the approaching bagpipes was a most welcome sound of approaching relief for the beleaguered paratroopers who's taken and held the Orne River Bridge, nowadays known as Pegasus Bridge. Takes a lot of guts to pipe the troops forward, unarmed, and defenceless. Rest in peace Bill.

See? I knew going to school was a waste of time. I 'king knew it! ....

Hi Bob. Keeping well? Yeah, I'm still kicking. I thought I'd be finished the workshop by now, but i'll be lucky if I'm half way through. It's hard going building it and keeping the business going. Between that and the dogs I still don't get the spare time I used to have. It's rare for me to even get some OFF time at all these days, never mind multiplayer. I really do miss it. I need to get some self discipline together and get back into the fight. Must be two years, maybe even three since I was a regular. How scary is that? Brutal times in the stone trade at the moment. What with the credit crunch and the Tory government 'somebody' sticking VAT up to 20%, (in the UK you pay 20% Value Added Tax on work to existing buildings, but new build is 0% rated. X+Y = kick in the nuts for stonework), it's not the best time to be a stonemason. New trade seems to have driven over a cliff of late. I'm OK, and a lot better than some, but just ticking over for the present. Nothing big and meaty happening any time soon. I'll get myself PC sorted out again, - hopefully without my signature feedback this time. Be great to catch up again. (Woops - sorry - No politics!! Bad stonemason! )

Hi fellas. Can't find the 'crisp' original, but this is slightly bigger format. Badly needs a P3 update.....(As do I). This is Phase 2, but you still see what Multiplayer with the Boys of 60 is all about. Excellent fun, and good company too.

No more airworthy Dh Mosquitos since the last one crashed in1996. Sniff, sniff. But wait, what's this!

The silly cow laughing at the Vimy in trouble is lucky I wasn't standing beside her. Not bad doing an emergency aborted take off with no brakes. Pilot's a legend I think.....

I think this has to be a C5 Galaxy. - Definitely not a Herc.

That's awesome footage Carrick58. I knew the soviets were the earliest to develop paratroops in the early 1930's, but those pictures are amazing. The slow motion at the end is incredible. It all goes in reverse nowadays. When you jump static line, as most Parabears do, you jump while your parachute is still tied to the aircraft. As you fall away, your weight causes various knots to snap and this allows your parachute to unfold and deploy in the correct sequence. The strongest tie, and therefor the last one to break, was the Apex tie right at the top of the canopy. Very often, the apex tie would still be attached to the canopy on the ground, and though it was actually forbidden to pinch it, it was a good souvenir to count your jumps by. Not that I ever did of course. Cough cough. Hmmahemm. Whistle, whistle... The other thing about these knots and ties were that you repeatedly checked these as part of your pre-jump drill, and if anything wasn't 100% correct you got a new parachute. Naturally, because your parachute is on your back, you dont check your own ties, you check the guy in front. Had to laugh one time when moments before a jump, a dispatcher took out his hankerchief and held it against a man's chute so it looked like some white material was sticking out his parachute and flapping about in the breeze. He looked at the guy saying what's that? - Poor sod had an instant look of "WTF?!!!" trying to turn desperately to see his own back - Green on! - Go! 2 ,3, 4.... Dispatchers are the aircrew who look after the 'RAF' side of a drop. Sort of like the bus conductors on a bus that can fly (tee hee - don't mention it guys). Having a laugh at para's expense was encouraged to break the tension. Lots of guys didn't like jumping and one or two got a bit nervous. The odd chuckle helped a lot. Visual gags were best of all because you can't really hear very much above the engines unless it's really shouted out. I've seen lads who wanted their photo taken to have a photo of himself for his mum and gave his camera to the dispatcher, who run down the back and used up the film taking photo's of the aircrew all posing for the camera, then handing back the camera all used up. Bastards. All clean fun though. Another time, we all had our names on our tin lids and were stacked into the Hercules ready for a jump. There was a phone handset just beside the side door, ( I presume for the dispatcher to speak to the pilot), but one time, the dispatcher picked it up as if he'd heard it ringing and starts shouting out "Higgins?" "Is there a Higgin's here?" Naturally 'Higgins' was sitting right there, wondering who it was calling and how the 'F' they got the number. Even funnier, Higgins caught on pretty quick and bawled out "FFS! I said don't call me at work!" I suppose you had to be there, but very funny if you were.

Not so much for the history of how the war started, (although there are issues here too), but more what it evolved from, I would strongly recommend you read up about the Crimean war. I'm new to it myself, but it's fascinating, because some passages are taken straight from wars in the Napoleonic era, with columns and lines of infantry, with lancers and sabre wielding cavalry charges and artillery etc, but later, regarding the seige of Sevastopol, some of the passages I have read might just have easily have come from troops in the trenches of WW1. It really is quite uncanny. Granted the victorian armies didn't have machine guns, but grape shot and canister would still cut swathes through advancing troops, killing men in their thousands. But the digging of mines, (or fear of them), raiding parties, saps and carnage of going over the top, mortars dropping shells into the trenches,...it's all there 1856. Letters from home, war photography (censored), and kids of 16 and 17 frozen by fear - it's really a foretaste of what was to come, briefly in the American civil war, and wholesale in 1914. It doesn't reflect the scale of the WW1 carnage, (though it has it's moments), but you can see the roots of where such warfare came from. Trench warfare isn't insane. It's desperate, absolutely desperate, but not insane. If WW1 interests you, then I urge you to read about the Crimean. It wasn't a long war. 1853-56. Roger Fenton began recording war photographs in 1855, although these were often censored to reflect the stiff upper lip attitude of the Victorian Army, and some were quite possibly staged for dramatic effect. Its a great pity for our collective posterity that he wasn't there a year or two earlier and able to capture images of massed cavalry charges and soldiers of the line. But then again, the technology of his camera perhaps was against him too. But if only..... "It is only the dead who have seen the last of war". (obscure source, but doubtfully Plato). Oh, and 111 VC's.

Tried to think of something clever to say, but no need .... yup, it's all in there. Just hope you checked the envelope for bandits. - They're everywhere. ......BD? .....BD? Come in BD! Oh no. BD? ............. BD? ..... Gone? He can't be gone already. He just got here! (OK, I know there's no radio, but this is OFF in WW1, and you have to do the 'da-da-dit-dit-da' translation bit for yourself).

There's more...... http://www.k4.dion.ne.jp/~suppon/

One of the reasons you're not supposed to use water straight from the tap for topping up your tropical fish tank is the background presence of Chlorine. It's recommended you let it sit for 24 hrs to let the Chlorine come out of solution. Chlorine gas I believe kills by irritating the linings of your lungs, and your body reacts by producing mucus and fluids causing you to drown or die from asphyxia. Horrible. The only saving grace about chlorine was that you could see it, and it was relatively easy to protect your soft tissues. Chlorine gas has two molecules of Chlorine with a weak chemical bond. It makes compounds with other molecules very easily, which is why the urine hankerchief did actually work. The gas molecule would break up to form compounds with the urine. Don't be misled though, Chlorine was deadly in sufficient concentration. The French developed Phosgene which was even more deadly, largely because it was invisible and undetectable. By the time you knew you were a victim, it was too late. It's a Chlorine compound with Carbon Monoxide which destroyed the oxygen transfer parts of your lungs so you died, or lost huge parts of lung function permanently and died of asphyxia. One drawback is that the damage can take 24hrs to reveal itself. Your enemy is destroyed, but may still be fighting for some time. Mustard gas was perceived as the worst gas, because it wasn't a true 'killer'. It was an intense irritant or blistering agent, which would cause skin to blister and bleed, and destroy your mucus defences and cause internal bleeding. A victim might take days to die, and die in fits of agony with his eyes sealed shut. The cynical thing about disabling gases is that you take two combatants out the line. The poor victim, and the man to look after him. It also lingered in the trenches and polluted the ground itself. Not very pleasant for anybody. Mustard gas was the 'daddy' if you will, and the priciple chemical weapon stockpiled in mass for 'defence'. Prior to WW2, the US had over 80,000 tons. The UK had about 40,000 tons, and planned to use it if the Nazi's had invaded the British Isles. Scarey stuff. The German scientist Fritz Haber was central to the German's first use of Chlorine gas in the trenches, and when he returned to Berlin after the attack, his wife shot herself in the chest. Speculation was rife about her motives, whether she saw her husband as a monster for what he had done, or some other factor. Clara, his wife had confided she found their marriage very oppresive. On a lighter note there was this famous incident about a chemical you would kind in your own home!!! - Dihydrogen monoxide: is called " hydroxyl acid", the substance is the major component of acid rain. contributes to the " greenhouse effect". may cause severe burns. is fatal if inhaled. contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape. accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals. may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes. has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients. Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used: as an industrial solvent and coolant. in nuclear power plants. in the production of Styrofoam. as a fire retardant. in many forms of cruel animal research. in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical. as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products. Yes everybody relax,, dihydrogen monoxide is H20, or water.

I'm a stonemason to trade, and I often say to customers that our best work in progress is our three apprentices. That's what I'm most proud of anyway. Feel the same about the OFF team. What they produce with the resources they have is spellbinding, but I think the best work in progress is the OFF team itself. You just know that whatever they produce, it's going to be good, and tick all the right boxes. (No pressure guys ) Just to add a friendly dig BurningDaylight, browse round the cockpit on the ground. Do it once you're airborne, and you'll be taking your life in your hands. For P4, I'd like to see more body parts, - starting with a rubber neck and two eyes in the back of my head.

I agree with Olham. The EIII is an early plane and iconic of it's era, but it's perhaps one of the hardest planes to fly. Full marks for jumping in at the deep end, but you'll probably learn more, and learn it faster, flying something else. It's very dispiriting being killed every mission.

Phase 4 might be some time away yet. But even regardless of that, I'd take the plunge now. There's quite a steep learning curve to staying alive in OFF, and it's just something you have to go through. That sounds bad, but it isn't. Once you master the 'flying bit', each sortie is a white knuckle ride to stay alive. It is frustrating, but you improve as you learn and you get thoroughly engaged with what you're doing. Once you get over the hump of being cannon fodder, the sim really opens up. I'd jump in with both feet and get the learning bit out of the way because you'll really enjoy P4 even more. The OFF team has never let us down yet. P1 was mind blowing compared to CFS3. P2, was another big step up in realism and ambience, P3 brought in bandits that were actually scary to dog fight - they wanted to kill you!!! P4? Comes with real bullets I heard....

I liked that a lot. There's an immediate 'feel' to it, - and that's hard to do. Excellent. I heartily approve of any 'touching' up to make footage look better. - That's what it's all about. I've got ROF, but my pc struggles with it. I might have another look though....

I'm maybe a bit over sentimental that way. I even get the heeby jeebies when Time Team digs up a saxon or iron age grave. I know it's fascinating, and we've learned such a lot, - but part of me still squirms that it's just not right.

I don't know how to feel about this. It's portrayed as a positive thing to identify the missing dead, which in some ways it is, but it comes too late for the generation of families who actually knew these men. It struck me watching the progam that it was the living relatives and girlfriends who were denied the closure of knowing where their loved ones were left to lie. For these people, then yes, no stone should be left unturned, but once that generation has passed, then my feelings begin to change. I have tremendous compassion for those who watched their loved ones depart for war and never return, but when they themselves have passed on, then the link is broken and loss becomes less immediate. The closure, or peace brought though finding the mortal remains of their dearest has come too late for them. Sorry my choice of words isn't the best, but I hope you get what I mean. If you're not going exhume and DNA test everybody, then why do it for anybody? What are you actually achieving? Where is it going to lead you? Are we to desecrate the tombs of unknown soldiers just because our science can now find out who these men were? They had families too. No. These men have been laid to rest once, and rested there for nearly 100 years. Even in a mass grave, far from home and buried in an unmarked field by their enemies, they were meant to rest in peace. What about the bodies we disturb who still remain unknown? Like I said, I have mixed emotions. I need to know who and what is actually driving this quest for knowledge. If it is driven by grief still actively felt by these families, then yes, I'm ok with it. But if it's a scientific experiment to see how clever we've gotten in the last 100 years, then it's time to move on I think. God forbid it isn't driven by expediency to 'do the right thing' before these graves are plundered by souvenir hunters.

I remember WW2 B of B veteran, Wing Commander Bob Doe put his survival down to his bad flying. He reckoned he couldn't complete most manouvres, and would fall out a roll half way through etc or fly off in a wierd direction. He reckoned this helped him survive the Battle of Britain. Those who could execute point perfect manouvres would instictively do so, but this made them more predictable fliers, and for just a second or two in combat the enemy pilot could predict where their target aircraft was going to be. Interesting too, and sorry it's WW2 again, but RAF heavy bombers flying at night were told to corkscrew every now and again, just in case there was a night fighter tailing them. Many pilots would do so, as drilled, but didn't have much faith it did them any good. After the war, a bomber pilot met face to face with a night fighter pilot, and during their discussion, the nightfighter pilot confirmed the corkscrew did work. For one thing, it meant the bomber pilot was alert, and additionally, the NF pilot didn't know if it was a random corkscrew or whether his own aircraft had been spotted. Furthermore, by diving away, the nightfighter pilot had to decide whether he should forfeit altitude chasing an alert bomber, or just bide his time to find another target which wasn't so alert. The bottom line was the random corkscrew did work and kept many aircrews alive, even if they didn't know how close they'd come to death.

Sad but true, we have all had more time in our OFF cockpits than many of the real pilots. We shouldn't be surprised if our kill rates are superior, we have had longer to practice and our mistakes have never been fatal... I couldn't quote a source, (I read too much these days without really paying attention), but I'm sure most of kills of WW1 and WW2 were made by the more experienced pilots, and at the wrong end of all that was the other side of the story, most of those killed were novices. As I recall, this was a phenomenon which occurred naturally, and didn't arise from any 'kills' being set up for the coup de grace from an ace trying to inflate his score. I don't think for a minute we're better pilots, nor do I think the sim is too easy. We have time to develop our skills. What I really wonder is how many of those real pilots would have lived a little longer if they'd had some combat hours on BHaH before heading for the front. Impossible to know, but simulators are central to modern pilot training. What I really mean is whether BHaH is close enough to real combat that the skills it teaches you could have saved real lives flying in genuine combat. I'm actually fairly certain it would....

Seems it might all be a load of rubbish anyway - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursery_rhyme I'm not convinced though. We take political satire for granted these days, but time was you could get yourself tortured or killed for spreading such innuendos. Just because a poem or rhyme can be traced to an older point of origin doesn't preclude the possibility it was adapted to lampoon a monarch while reducing the likelihood of getting your own head cut off. We can mostly all read nowadays, we're a lot better educated and wise the the world around us. We have TV, radio and newspapers speading modern scandals nation wide. Perhaps we simply don't need nursery rhymes any more. Whenever a new story breaks nowadays, some smartarse has a joke about it on sickipedia in minutes.