Flyby PC

Well spotted Paarma. I stand fully corrected. But quickly changing the subject, have you noticed the anti sub balloon with the aircraft cockpit slung beneath? Comes complete with land anchor. Looks pure madness, but then again, if there wasn't a war on, it might have been fun to 'potter' about in. I'd just need convinced it wasn't all held together with cow gum and sticky tape. Since there was a war on, I wonder what the drill was for taking evasive action. Join the army I expect. edit - and 10/10 for the pictures. Pure treasure, with so much incidental detail, meaningless to the masses, but priceless revelationtion to some.

I think it is him, but not a good picture. If you compare the shape of his ear and top lip, it is very similar. I think it's him, but if the picture hadn't said so, I'd never have guessed.

Shooting in the dark here, but the Hurricane evolved from a long line of fighters, and since it was the first monoplane to enter service, a crude logic would suggest it evolved from a biplane. Maybe the photo isn't as wierd as it looks. Big guess on my part, especially because I'm fairly sure that the three bladed prop is not an early or prototype Hurricane. More lift verses more drag, so I'll be in Panama Red's team please. Quick take off. On the other hand, with more lift, you can fly slower and make the fuel last longer, so I'm with Jim. Oh I just don't know.... Jim. Red. Red. Jim. Toughy. Edit - I do know the P is for Prototype, at least I think so. The famous pic of the Mosquito with the air brake had the same.

Did any aircraft from the Flying Circus survive the war and make it into museum somewhere? I wonder where so many of these wonderful skins come from, and how authentic are they? Are there good colour photos anywhere? I don't just mean the flying circus, but generally. Bit like Scottish Tartans, bar a few recorded in portraits, most were reinvented by the Victorians. (Most true tartans were lost because you could be hung for wearing them).

Even better.... http://freewarecfs3.webs.com/aircraft.htm

I might have one of the Helo's Stump, but I'll have to dig about to find it.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I reckon you're going to struggle with that Celeron Stiffy. I started out on a Celeron 2.4, which was ok in a one on one dogfight, but anything intense became a slideshow with FPS of 2's and 3's. (Frames per second). On paper, a 2.4 ghz chip should have been fine, but the Celeron chip is different. I was told it was designed for the business market, not gaming PC's, and reliability took precedence over speed. It's therefore going to struggle with CFS3 and it's derivatives. I didn't know all this at the time of course, spent a lump of money upgrading RAM, graphics cards, sound cards, power unit, etc trying to eek out a few more FPS, but the bottleneck was the Celeron chip. It's not a complete disaster, I played enough to get hooked, but very soon, you'll want to upgrade.

As I recall, I think British Eh is correct, but it's not just fuel, it's also the weight (or lack of it) of ammunition carried. It's the same 'advantage' you get in multiplayer dogfights. If the host sets fuel and ammo as unlimited, you never run out, so load your aircraft with 0% fuel and no ordinance. You still have both, but your aircraft isn't burdened with the weight and flies accordingly.

Looking awesome UK. Blur is a double edged sword. Take a screenshot, and even with high resolution, you don't need to look hard to find pixellated bits, especially through rigging etc. Add a little blur, and this can look 10 times better, but in other places you lose definition. Overdo it just a smidge and suddenly you have a picture which is simply out of focus. Have you ever looked through the various filters you can plug-in to Virtualdub? It's a bit overpowering to look through at first, what with your interpolation and deinterlacing thingies to work out - WTF??? But if you read through the help files, you quickly learn it's just jargon, and once you know what a particular filter is, what it does is usually fairly obvious. There are areas way over my head, but I'm working at a similar learning curve. Take a look here - & look at 'library' in the LH menu. http://neuron2.net/ Virtualdub is a video tool really, but it might be of interest all the same. It's a bit bare boned, and not especially user friendly, but give it some time and if you're like me, you'll really like it. It's very powerful in the sense of what it can do. Thinking out loud, even with a single screenshot, you could turn it into a video clip of a still image, apply a few filters and then take another still screenshot. Edit - Virtualdub & plugins are free!!! For example, I have a plug in which can turn 25 frames into 50. Why would you want to? Well, it makes a slow motion clip much smoother. Clever eh?

Going in the other direction, but this seemed equally unfeasible to me, but quite impressive really. I'm sure you've all seen it already. v=h1MUo2QbfNM Hmmm. Why doesn't Youtube embed option work??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1MUo2QbfNM

I'll do it, ... I'll do it, ....... OK, so maybe I need to get out more.

Post 3 has some massive craters. Not big enough for mines, but big shells or something. Excellent Photo's to have. My father flew in Swordfish in 1939, and his best photo is the British Med Fleet of Gibraltar. I know it's a different era, but the amount of detail lost when scanned into a PC is tragic. I've actually identified about 20+ ships from the photo, so I'm assuming these trench photos must be pretty clear to make out. Nice post Flynn, thank you for putting it up.

Bouncing enemies isn't easy, because they see you coming. I'm a bit light on OFF experience trying this, but I know using the Schragemusik in CFS3, you couldn't sneak up on the bombers 'properly'. To make a movie of a typical attack, you had to fake it and make the bomber a friendly. You couldn't make an AI target fly normally as you approached, simulating that it hadn't seen you, and suddenly react when it came under fire. Be a nice development to see resolved, but it's hard coded I believe. When I recall, I think I even tried building missions to fly as a Mosquito nightfighter stalking German nightfighters, I had to make the German planes 'friendly'. OK it took the challenge out of it, but then again, using Frosty's adapted TAC altered to look like a H2S radar screen, all targets friend and foe were just black dots on a green screen. You had to get close to identify them by sight before firing. It wasn't a complete milk run, because there were also real enemy nightfighters hunting me, just black dots themselves. There were a lot of compromises to get it to work, but the tension and immersion levels flying in the dark with your eyes peeled watching blips on a screen, went beyond 'fun' and passed into stress.

Presumeably too, because thestation is on a line, every now and then there's going to be a random train actually chuffin' through the station. Outstanding. Thomas the Tank Engine eat your heart out.

Fascinating how close 'Terrain de la ferme Râperie de Saint-Amand' seems to be to a major trench works in the area of the Somme. There must be a lot more to that story... What a cracking find. I'm sure there must shed loads more aerial photographs of the front, hidden away somewhere. The front itself must been an incredible sight.

Superb.

I know this is just a bit of fun, but in two gos, I got 4 x 0.156, 3 x 0.219, and 2 x 0.282. I make that 9 duplicate times in 10. Don't know whether this is a speed test, or multiple choice.

"If the artillery-spotting aircraft is attentive and a surprise is not successful, in most cases he will go into a dive or make turns at the lowest altitude. Then, in most cases, pursuit is not accompanied by success, as I can never hit an opponent who is turning. Also there is no practical value in driving him away; [for] in no more than five minutes he can resume his activity. In this case I consider it better to let him go, fly back to the Front again and repeat the manoeuvre. I have often bagged a British artillery-spotter during the third attack". Also - "I place little significant value on the skill of flying itself. I shot down my first 20 [victims] when I still had the greatest difficulties with flying itself. It does not matter whether [or not] one is an aerobatic artist. Furthermore, I prefer the one who can fly only in left-hand turns, but who goes after the enemy, to the diving and turning specialist from [the training centre at] Johannisthal, who attacks too cautiously". (MVR Air Combat Operations Manual. April 1918) Quite thought provoking really, but considering this Manual was intended to be read by young pilots, I wonder whether there was some element of these candid admissions aimed at confidence building for new pilots going into battle. Beyond that, it almost says to me that you should be looking for your exit from contact the moment you lose your tactical advantage. Only press your attack while the odds are firmly in your favour. Once the odds draw even, withdraw, regroup, and start again. All that flies in the face of the prolonged dogfights I typically fly, and makes you wonder how disciplined air combat actually was - in the initial stages at least. What is it they say, 'the best plan never survives first contact with the enemy'? I suspect the first stages of an attack were always planned and well rehearsed 'teamwork' affairs. I think our AI wingmen, friend and foe, are vastly superior to those we meet in any other CFS3 theatre, but they still lack a realistic level of unit cohesion which did exist in reality. That's not a criticism, but evidence of a first class Sim making your mind engage and speculate more fully about what actually happened.

Too true. The Sim-Outhouse had a real veteran tail gunner from a Lancaster who confirmed exactly that. Me262's would blast through the bomber formations, so the escorting P-51's would tear off after them, only for a co-ordinated attack of FW190's to set upon the bombers from the other direction. I can't really speak for him, but I got the impression he had a great deal of fondness and high regard for the escort fighters. He told how Me262's attacked his own flight, destroying an adjacent Lanc, before a 262 streaked passed him with 3 Mustangs on his tail. He said the upper gunner was already firing before he realised what was going on, but his own guns jammed. He had to re-cock them by hand, by which time the jet was almost past him, but allowing him a 3 second burst at the enemy. 'His sole contribution to the war effort' as he put it. He was a real gent, from Canada, but I'm told he recently passed away. Big salute Grandguy, it was a genuine pleasure to make your acquaintance Sir.

Even though the Hurricane did most of the work and rightly deserves it's seat at the top of the table, it's the Spitfire which delivered hope to the anxious British public and helped them keep the faith in their darkest hour. Schools chopped down their railings to build spitfires. It was the real glamour puss, simply the best, and it was also easy for impressionable minds to spot from the ground by the shape of it's wings. It also made a similar impression on the Luftwaffe pilots, who must have understood how dangerous the Hurricanes actually were, but agreed there was still something iconic about the Spitfire. Personally, I'm rather glad they were both there. I do have a big soft spot for the Hurricane, but even the very name 'Spitfire' just carries so many powerful connotations.

Might want a tank T shirt too. First time tanks were officially used in battle, during the Somme 1916. (Maybe a tank top? OK, maybe not ). Just don't muck about with the Brits on 15th September.

Had a small idea which might be very possible, though I lack the skill to do it myself. (& sorry, I don't know if this has been discussed). Would it be possible to add a signal lamp to artillery spotting aircraft? I mean a light which you can use to tap out morse code to communicate with the artillery batteries you're supposed to be spotting for. I'm thinking of using a gun station, with a flash effect, - but something which actually works. I don't mind if the effect isn't attached to a lamp, at any distance the effect alone would look just fine. It suddenly struck me, that spotter aircraft were in line of sight with the artillery batteries on the ground. I wonder how many witnesses there were to these aircraft being shot down, perhaps even seeing the enemy aircraft attacking before the distracted pilot could even react. Must have been quite a sickener.

I think they did use Aldis lamps, and even when they did change to wireless telegraphy, I suspect the lamp was still carried as a back up in the event of the transmitter not working.

And just another twist in the light of Creaghorn's post - If you want more guilt about flying in a Sim, go down the multiplayer route, (with Teamspeak). I remember once with the Boys of 60 when I was flying escort, I dallied too long having fun dogfighting bandits. Suddenly, the guys flying the bombers towards their target were bounced again by a different flight of enemy fighters and had not one escort fighter in sight. I can't believe how bad I felt. I was diving, full power, doing everything to catch up, but resigned to my mistake. There was nothing I could do. I know it's just a sim, with guys flying for fun, but in a parrallel world, my error would have got people killed.

Sometimes, doing the right thing just doesn't matter. Most terrible example I've heard about was a WW2 Lancaster crew. Badly shot up after a raid in 1944, the pilot gave the order for what was left of his crew to bail out once he knew he was over friendly territory. They thanked him for his bravery, forfeiting his life to hold the crippled plane steady while they could escape, and wished him luck before parachuting out of the aircraft. Alone without the lives of his crew to worry about, the pilot found he had no auto pilot and couldn't hold the aircraft steady long enough to make his own escape. Faced with Hobson's choice, he somehow nursed his badly damaged aircraft back over the North Sea, and crash landed on home soil. Though he never found out until after the war, in all the commotion the Navigator had made a mistake, and the crew had actually bailed out over German territory. Worse, the crew to a man had met a rather grisly fate, being either shot or lynched by hostile crowds of German civilians. I have more details in a book somewhere, but I forget which actual book, but it is a true story. Focuses the mind a bit. Maybe no accident that fate is a four letter word. "What did you do in the war Dad?" "........Tell you when you're older son".