Bullethead

Yeah, damn shame. Hurt 30 or so other people, too. That was in my newspaper this morning.

Very nice crate! But I imaging it's a bitch cleaning the castor oil off all the fuselage struts and wires, eh? That's what always stopped me from building a skeletal plane like that.

Wow! Anything you can walk away from...... :) I'm quite impressed with the Tiger Moth. Despite obviously having some sort of problem (engine?) requiring a forced landing right after takeoff, it came down with enough speed to roll a long way and then jump back up without stalling, ALMOST high enough to miss the cow. Plus, the plane appeared not to feel the impact at all, despite knocking the cow for a backflip. And at the end of the movie, when the plane turned a bit while stopping, you could see the wing shadows and they showed no damage. That's a SOLID wad of sticks and canvas there!. Forget SPADs, I'm flying a Tiger Moth :). Also, did you see how, just after they hit the cow, the came within an RCH of hitting a telephone pole?

Today, 1 September 2010, is the 140th anniversary of the battle of Sedan, which set the stage for our favorite conflict, WW1. Regardless of your view of how things have turned out since, none of us would be playing OFF and talking about our mutual interests today without it. So here's to the fall of the 2nd Empire . In that spirit, I offer the following piece of music, one of my all-time favorites. It was penned by a veteran of 1870-71 to welcome home the troops, and IMHO it is one of the best marches ever written. I have it on a CD in my fire engine and play it on the way home from successful operations to let my troops know I'm pleased with them. I give you "Preussens Gloria". This forum wouldn't be here but for the events it celebrates. But let us not forget that the Franco-Prussian War started when it did on the off chance of the Spanish asking a junior Hohenzollern prince to be their king. But for that, despite Europe being primed for a Franco-German showdown, things doubtless would have played out differently. So, if you don't like the world today, blame the Spanish, not those who actually wanted to fight . 1 September is also the day Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 to kick off WW2 in Europe, and also when Hurricane Gustav leveled my part of the world in 2008. Thus, 1 September is not just a good day for this forum, but a very bad day in the living memory of millions of others, not to mention all those who died in the Franco-Prussian War. So, the oracles are mixed. Best thing is to drink and be thankful that the Powers have taken this particular 1 September off, instead of lobbing a world-changing grenade into our midst

Well, the term "nitpicker" is rather colorful in itself. "Nit" is an old-school popular term for the egg case of the head louse. Thus, picking nits involved carefully searching through the forest of somebody's scalp hair looking for the tiny parasite eggs. While this was a useful service prior to modern standards of hygiene, it does provide a analogy to finding minute flaws in large arguments. Pooping currants, picking nits, f***ing commas... Geez, people who act this way must be universally annoying for so many languages to come up with rather unflattering terms for them. Especially when the good old "pedant" was already available :).

Good thing you didn't break both arms--you can still drink Get well soon and good luck with your school work.

Hmm, the multi-quote thingy seems busted so I'll have to do this the hard way: @Hasse: While Bismarck definitely had a lot to do with 19th Century events, don't forget several other key players. Besides the obvious suspect of Moltke the Great, there are also Napolean III who, although largely forgotten this side of the ocean, had important fingers in many pots. Also, King Vittorio Emanuele II, who caused as much commotion in Italy as Bismarck did in Germany. And don't forget the long string of Victorians who shaped much of the world outside Europe itself. @Ohlam: Great music. It contains a snippet of "Preussens Gloria" towards the end--perhaps they were written by the same guy? I don't know for sure. The author of "Preussens Gloria" was named Piefke but the wiki doesn't list all his works. It does, however, mention that "Piefke" is "an unpleasant nickname for Germans in Austria", which provides a retrospective justification for this thread straying off into German names for various items. So, what's "unpleansant" about "Piefke"? Does it have a specific definition, or are the Austrians just mad at him because he wrote the to celebrate Prussia's victory over them? @Lou: I just saw a History Channel show about that Hinckley Fire. Damn, what a mess! Glad I wasn't in the local fire department :).

He'll just do the "Duck song" dance and nobody will be able to hit him :)

But when you burn a balloon, at the end of the mission you get a message saying the nearby front line troops saw it happen. Why can't such be applied everywhere friendly ground forces can see things? Reading my books, it seems ground forces were often the witnesses, even well behind the front.

The things I see as most important to the future of the game weren't really in the poll, so here they are:: FRENCH 2-SEATERS The French and US fronts are only really playable from the Entente side because of the absence of French 2-seaters. Sure, there's the Strutter, which they did use into 1918, but they had dozens of other types all through the war, in much greater numbers than fighters. So, if you fly for the Kaiser, all you meet in French and US sectors are vast herds of Nupes (early) and SPADs (later). 2-SEATERS IN GENERAL There were far more 2-seaters than fighters on all sides in the war. However, in OFF, we have scads of fighters but few 2-seaters even for the Brits and Germans. Even the Brits don't have enough 2-seaters. HISTORICALLY ACCURATE REAR GUNNER FIELDS OF FIRE Right now, rear gunner arcs of fire are much smaller than they really were. This completely precludes their formations providing mutual defense, which defeats the whole purpose of flying in formation. As a result, you can wipe out whole flights with relative easy if you get under the formation. Alternatively, if the rear gun arcs remain the same, at least have the 2-seaters weave around so that their arcs can provide mutual cover at least some of the time. DEDICATED 2-SEATER ROLES Most 2-seater squadrons did 1 type of mission (short recon, long recon, bombing, arty spotting, or CAS) far more than they did anything else. Right now, however, 2-seater squadrons (even those with dedicated ground attack airplanes) do all mission types at random. Not only would this making choosing a 2-seater squadron to fly in more meaningful, it would justify making all the new 2-seaters we need anyway. LESS-PERSISTENT FIGHTER AI AI fighters (yours and the enemy) should do a better job of realizing when they've lost the advantage in a fight and get out while they still can, instead of staying suicidally in fights they should know they can't win. Right now, they only give up when they're too badly damaged to make it home anyway. So, dogfights (except 1918's massive furballs) should end fairly quickly with the player finding himself alone in the sky. Then maybe wingman losses could be made to match what actually happens in your missions, instead of like now where you see 3 of your guys go down in flames but they almost always survive. LUFBERY CIRCLES All 2-seaters without an effective rear gun (Quirks, Fees, and hopefully all the other early-war pushers we'll get in P4) shouldn't fly on straight and level pretending they have a real gun. Instead, they should do the Lufbery Circle like they did in real life. Otherwise, I'm good. While I fly fighters much more than 2-seaters, the fighter experience is somewhat blighted by the lack of 2-seaters all around. Thus, I don't think we need any more fighters for a while, and should instead focus on 2-seaters.

I dunno. It probably didn't hit going faster than about 30 knots. That's probably fixable. I mean, these things are just sticks and canvas, pretty easy to repair. Of more concern in the engine failure that led to the crash.... When did this happen?

Gentlemen (and I mean that as anyboby who has the foggiest notion of what we're talking about here).... Anarchists are too organized for me. I'm a Paleolithic nihilist. HOWEVER, we must impose the slightest bit of order on this thread because folks are posting more questions before those before them have been answered. I suggest we adopt a rule that the person who is acknowledged by the questioner as having given the correct answer gets to ask the next question. Everybody else, try to answer the question currently under debate or keep your peace. Think of it as our savage ancestors gathered around the campfire drinking pulque or mead and smoking peyote or hemp, resharpening our dart points or straightening new dart shafts, and asking riddles to pass the time before the next mammoth hunt. Everybody is armed to the teeth (which they ain't afraid to use if push comes to shove) with the sharpest edges (obsidian blades) humanity has ever created. So let 1 man ask his riddle and acknowledge the 1st guy with the correct answer, and then that winner gets to ask the next question. And remember, an armed society is a polite society.

You are correct, Sir, which wins you a drink on me . This plane's actual name was the Lohner 10.20 as it says on the fuselage. Later, after the 1st rebuilding, it was known as the 10.20A, then the 10.20B (which still bore some resemblance to this original form), and then a few more radical rebuilds, one of which warranted a separate number. None of these looked anything at all like the "production" L, which turned out to be the typical Austro-Hungarian thing with a slab-sided fuselage all the way back to a diminutive fin and rudder hung on the end, but otherwise more resonable proportions. BTW,. for the curious, a lot can be learned from the serial numbers on the sides of Austro-Hungarian aircraft. In general form, they are in the format Series.Airplane Number within the Series. HOWEVER, the series was either a 2- or a 3-digit number. If only 2 digits (or 3 if they are 100), then you know it was a prototype and the 1st part of the serial number says who built it: 10 = Lohner 20 = Phonix 30 = Aviatik 40 = Loyd 50 = Oeffag 60 = UFAG 70 = Fischamend 80 = WKF 90 = MAG 100 = Thome & Fiala Good thing the Dual Monarchy had only 10 native airplane-builders:rofl: Things get really confusing after that, because once an airplane was accepted for production, the serial number included referrences not only to who designed it but who built it under licesne and what engine went into that type of airframe, as distinct from this slightly differenent airframe with the same engine built buy somebody else. If you understand the language, then it makes perfect sense, but suffice to say the Lohner 10.20 becoming the Lohner D.I Series 111.01 tells you all you need to know

Here are some hints. As you all have probably guessed, this is quite obscure and never entered service. In fact, this is the 1st prototype which was thoroughly unsuccessful. It was completely rebuilt several times during testing so the final version looked quite different. But even the final version never made the bigtime. Also, you all are looking for answers a few hundred miles too far north and west.

OK, here's one that might stump some people, although a major part of the answer is visible in the pic :). WTF is this? When I was a toddler, I vaguely remember having a pull-toy airplane that looked much like this. It had bigger wheels made of red plastic with a bent axle so it wobbled when I pulled it along by the yellow plastic tube that served as a string. The axle also had a crank on it that worked like a cam on a wooden disk that had some sticky coating on it. When this got turned, it made a squeaking sound. But, this was a real airplane. Any guesses?

How about this? or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHeto66FqwQ ????

They do it today in most truck engines. There's a thing called a "jake brake", originally made by the Jacobs company but now by others It not only cuts off fuel to some number of cylinders, it also alters the valve timing so the dead cylinders act as air compressors. Thus, those cylinders eat the truck's kinetic energy, allowing it to safely negotiate steep downgrades and also to stop more quickly on the level. http://www.jakebrake.com/

"SNIPE! SNIPE!" (whack---OUCH!) Snipe hunts. Oh , the memories More 2-seaters, and either more realistic gun arcs for the observers or a 2-seater AI that makes them weave around. <BR><BR>And, of course, my Fees doing Lufberrty Circles.

I was in the process of typing up a long-winded reply stating why this had to be an N and not a G, H, I, even U, V, or AC. But it took so long I refreshed and saw you'd changed your last post.

IIRC, there was also a way to make only some fraction of the cylinders fire, so you had settings for like 25%, 50%, and 75% power as well as on/off. I'm not entirely sure how this worked, given the inability to control fuel flow to individual cylinders. It might have been a magneto setting that disabled the spark in chosen cylinders, but you'd think that would fill the cowlling up with atomized fuel within its explosive limits.

I had a great-uncle at 2nd Ypres who survived the chlorine gas by pissing on his hanky and standing on his parapet so his nose was above the worst fo the fumes while shorter guys died around him. Good thing he had a full bladder when need arose. That was before they had gas masks, you know. Anyway, today I was thinking of him when I had to go deal with a chlorine gas leak at my firefighting job. In this part of the world, it's not uncommon for drinking water to be chlorinated by bubbling pure chlorine gas into it just as it comes out of the well. IOW, hooked up to every water well is a cylinder of chlorine gas just like the Germans uncorked at 2nd Ypres. From the well, the water goes into a big tower were the chlorine is diluted by the other water in there so you don't notice it, but right at the well it's deadly. And this afternoon, this water well blew out and was spewing water with fairly high quantities of chlorine right on the edge of a densely populated subdivision, which just happened to be downwind. Not much of the chlorine had yet dissolved so much of it was being released right into the air. Fortunately, this happened just around the corner from my fire station, so we got there muy pronto and put a fog stream on the source, thus knocking the gas out of the air. And the water utility guys got there right after we did and shut the well down. Thus, dangerous concentrations were very localized--only the houses immediately adjacent needed to be evacuated and only 2 folks went to the hospital, both of whom are doing fine last I heard. However, the whole neighborhood smelled like chlorine so I expect every single resident to claim some damages and sue the city.

Also recommended if you're a homebrewer without an unchlorinated water well of your own. Yeast is a fungus, just the sort of thing the chlorine is intended to kill . Another joy of being a fireman is that burning air conditioner units tend to create a fair amount of phosgene. It has a distinctive smell, BTW, although you can't see it. Also, smoldering cotton fabrics (such as bedding, closets of clothing, etc.) tend to create hydrogen cyanide which can build up in the room to lethal concentrations. And then of course there's all the carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion, which IMHO is even more deadly. That stuff bonds to hemoglobin much better than oxygen and doens't let go, so breathing it reduces the effective amount of blood you have. Yup. I always thought the "Alien" movies were funny with the acid blood of the monsters. Folks forget that most of our blood is not just water, but salt water, and that we breathe oxygen. Both are highly corrosive and oxygen in fact is extremely dangerous because it makes everything else burn.

Yup, it does. Here's an example I had 3 years ago: The attached pic shows where lightning hit a water oak tree. I happened to be looking out the window and saw it happen--pretty big bolt. The roof in the middle distance is the top of my brewhouse. The tree is about 5m behind the brewhouse, and the brewhouse is about 15m away from my house. In the foreground, you can see the weatherhead of my electric meter. The meter is mounted on a billboard-like structure along with the main breakers for my house and all the surrounding outbuildings (brewhouse, carport, garden shed, water well, barn, etc.). This is about 3m in front of the brewhouse. The wire for the water well runs underground about 35m to the wellhouse, which is about 3m from the main house at the opposite end of it from the brewhouse. The lightning itself went down the tree and into the ground without touching anything else. There were streaks of blown-off bark all down the tree and no scars on anything else. However, the EMP wreaked havoc with wiring and telephone lines. The brewhouse has a telephone and EMP got into that, inducing enough current not only to fry its jack, but to send current up the underground phone line to the junction box on the main house 15m away. There, it burned out not only the brewhouse connection but also the adjacent connection, thus knocking out one of the phones in the main house. EMP also got into the water well breaker box and sent beaucoup current the 35m up its underground power line. When this reached the wellhouse, it took out the fuzebox inside there. The fuzes were those old massive things made of brass tubing with replaceable links inside. This not only burned away the links, it burned the outer brass tubes completely in half just below their upper connections. And enough EMP was released through the air from this fuze box to get into the nearest room of the main house and trip all the breakers for that room's light fixtures and wall sockets. Despite all this, it did NOT trip the main water well breaker out by the meter, apparently because it got into that circuit downstream of the breaker. The water well breaker is mounted highest of that whole assembly except for the meter's weatherhead. Interestingly, apart from the lights going out in the one room, the others didn't even flicker. And the only damage done was brewhouse phone jack, the main phone junction box, and the wellhouse fuzes. No electronics in the house were damaged, nor even the telephone itself in the brewhouse. The tree, however, was not only debarked at the point of impact, but the trunk was cracked badly, which is pretty rare and indicates how strong the bolt was. A year later, Hurricane Gustav broke the top off the tree right there, but fortunately it fell away from the brewhouse.

Damn, CJ, that sucks! What type of surge protector did you have? How close was the bolt? I've had pretty good luck with my el-cheapo surge protectors. They've always protected my computers, but the phone jack parts have never worked. Back in my dial-up days, I used to lose a modem every year or so to lightning, but it never got beyond that into the mobo.