Bullethead

Odds are, if you see nothing on a scramble mission, the attackers were 2-seaters who though better of it, or who were so high you never noticed them.

But where are all my Wound Badges in Gold, my Purple Hearts with bronze stars in lieu of 2nd award, and such things? The only things my pilots ever live long enough to collect are whatever they'd normally get for being badly injured in combat.

Well, as we frontsoldaten know, accidents happen and things on the line are absolutely never ready for inspection. But I'm sure somewhere up your foodchain is some REMF pogue who has to have a tittle for every jot, and all forms filled out in triplicate, who doesn't understand this. I recall once being deprived of my Sam Browne for a week because I happened to be seen by such a person while I was walking between my crate and the bath house with my observer's brains still dripping off my tunic. And that seems small change compared to burning one of Kaiser Bill's hangars

And the crowd goes wild!

Good thing you know what you're doing, Ohlam. Most folks wouldn't last long in such an environment. Did you get griped at for destroying a German hanger? :)

Yes, it was a lot of fun that flight. Unfortunately, we had zero booze in the air that day. Now mind you, ever since we'd rotated back to the rear once the war was "over", I'd been busy making rotgut wine out of locally available fruit and bread yeast for like 6 weeks. I was selling this for a hefty profit, but when it was our turn to ride the "Freedom Bird", I still had about 3 gallons left over, so naturally me and my squad chugged that before getting on the truck to the airfield. As usualy with military movements, though, it was MANY HOURS before we actually got on the plane, so we were not only sober but hung over by then. Fortunately, the trip took most of a day, although flying west made it much less on the clock. We slept most of the way, waking up only to flush the toilets over Paris because the French hadn't let us fly over them on the way out, so we'd had to play hide-and-seek with Lybian interceptors over the Med. We used up all the fresh water aboard the plane with 250-odd guys all lining up to bomb Paris with "eau de crapper", even though I understand nothing actually leaves the plane when you flush. It's the thought that counts . Sorry to offend any French readers, but there's no more helpless feeling than being in a C-141 over the Med with no escort, ECM, or flares, and pinned against a hostile coast, knowing MiGs are stalking you. There was a CVTG with F-14s patrolling somewhere along the way, but weren't in a position to help just then. I haven't forgiven the French yet, and I doubt I ever will. We saved their bacon in 2 world wars, and that's the thanks we get. Oh well. Anyway, after "bombing" Paris, we landed at Gatwick to refuel. We didn't go through customs, so they kept us locked in the glass-enclosed seating area at our gate, kept in by Brit cops armed with SMGs. But really, they were there to keep the mob out of our area. There were thousands of Brits all down the concourse, cheering enthusiastically and waving Brit and US flags. Over their heads, I could see neon signs advertising good Brit beer. And smashed up against the outside of the glass were literally hundreds bare Brit boobies. You can imagine the effect that had on us, who hadn't seen women for months.... I swore then and there I'd return to the UK (that was my 1st experience of it), and I haven't been disappointed in my several trips there since . By this point, hangovers were done and jet lag was catching up, so I slept all across the Atlantic. I was awakened by the announcement to stow all the pillows and blankets prior to arrival. So the stewardesses went around collecting pillows, and when they'd gotten double armfuls, they started throwing them at us. And then it was on. The mayhem continued for a while, before the stewardesses convinced us it was really time to land and started gathering up their scatter garments

Oh man, that's awesome! How many do you have to get before you're a termite ace?

Well, I don't see how anything we did over there impacted the freedom of anybody in the US, except that of the Iraqi POWs who didn't want to go back home afterwards . But thanks all the same.

Geez, Ohlam, reading this makes me want to do the same. Bravo . Great pics, too! This is all making me wonder, though, where to draw the line between what goes in this thread and the "Reports from the Front" thread? Narrative is helped by illustrations, but illustrations need explanations, and I'm not one for "this is a pic of that", I want to convey something of what I was feeling at the time.

This isn't realy a viable option. The typical fight for me is flopping around like mad dodging most, but far from all, of the countless Hun bullets that come my way. During this phase, which might last a couple of minutes, my observer hardly fires a shot, which I think is realistic given that he's not wearing a seatbelt :yes: . If I can keep this up long enough, however, eventually the Huns become impatient and slow down. And of course there's also the nearness of the ground by that point, which limits their ability to dive on me. But during this initial phase, it would be suicide to jump to the gunner's position, or I'd be a sitting duck. I've seen all too often what happens to AI Fees who try to fly straight and level (usually foolishly attempting to outrun much faster planes) while in the middle of an Albatros feeding frenzy. Once the Albatri blow their E, however, they're fighting on my terms. They're no faster and sometimes slower than me, and can't or don't turn as well. Now it's my turn. It's actually safe now to level off and chase a Hun, cut the corner on him, and let the observer take a crack at him. Problem is, by this point my poor Fee is shot to Hell and also very low. Usually she's only staying above the nearby hungry treetops due to my willpower alone, and if I let go of the stick (say to jump into the gunner's seat), she'll flip over on her back. In fact, many times I've crashed due to letting go to pause the game for a good external screenshot, and then been unable to get the stick back where I had it when I restart . Having known for several days prior that 1.30c was going to decrease gunner lethality, I experimented on my last sortie in 1.30b with a new tactic. Always before, when the enemy got close, I've told my wingmen to attack, which has almost always resulted in them running away, leaving me to fight several enraged Albatri alone. Hence the types of fights described above. But this time, while the Huns were still far away, I started pounding R as fast as I could while turning in a circle. This got my wingmen doing a very approximate defensive circle like you always read of Fees doing, and the Huns actually went away fairly soon without really pressing an attack, but just sniffing around us. My gunner never fired a shot, but I'm not sure about the others. But either way, WOW! For several reasons. And like I say, I haven't yet flown 1.30c....

I haven't had a chance to fly yet with 1.30c, but I must admit to a bit of unease about this. My favorite plane to fly is the Fee, which of course is armed solely with gunner-controlled weapons. I've never thought my gunners were particularly deadly before. We'll have to see. Might be nice if the Fee was the D model, with a fixed gun for the pilot ;)

Last night, for the very 1st time ever, I actually saw a Hun 2-seater while flying a Brit scout. Fortunately, I took this screenshot so that this morning, when I'd recovered from my hangover, I could look at it and finally convince myself it hadn't been a drunken halucination I see frequently see Hun 2-seaters when flying a Fee, but never before in a single-seater. This is made me think they must always see me before I see them, and run away immediately, just like the Brit bombers I've flown with. But I must now retract those statements. This guy (and his several buddies) isn't running away. But OTOH, he's rather high up. I get the impression from using TAC constantly that the range setting is spherical, but the TAC itself is 2D. Thus, the bigger the altitude difference between you and the other plane, the closer to the center his dot is when it first appears. I've seen more-or-less co-alt planes appear out near the 8-mile edge. As you can see here, this guy is half-way in towards the center when he 1st appeared, and he looks to be way up there, certainly far above me. Maybe that's why he didn't run away immediately. Still, there has to be some sort of explanation for why my Fee pilots meet them a lot and my scout pilots never until last night. The vast bulk of my flying time in OFF, over dozens of careers in Pups and Fees, has been in the March-April 1917 timeframe over the Arras/Ypres area. I assume the OOBs in that area are the same regardless of which squadron you fly for, so you'd think the odds of meeting a Hun 2-seater would be the same for everybody.

I don't blame you at all there. That was just a very evil, nasty airplane and a complete waste of aluminum better used as beer cans

The Illustrated Propagandist June 29, 1917 Fear the Fee! (Pretend these pics are pen-and-ink newspaper drawings) Crewed by those stalwarts of No. 22 Squadron, Sergeants Bullethead and Stackrock, the mighty F.E. 2b sends another Hun to Hell. This was the 3rd kill scored by this pair during the current Arras "push", all of them Albatri of the latest type. If this is the best the Hun has in his arsenal, this war will be over shortly! When congratulated by this correspondent upon their glorious return to within sight of their aerodrome of Clairmarais, Sgt. Bullethead mumbled something about morphine as he was carried by on a stretcher, which was taken by all witnesses as a stoic refusal of any painkillers. This correspondent then approached Sgt. Stackrock, who was wiping Sgt. Bullethead's blood off his face and hands with a shred of their upper wing fabric. When questioned for details on his latest triumph of arms, Sgt. Stackrock merely stared towards Hunland for a minute, heroically silhouetted against the morning sun, his lower eyelid ticcing with unexpressable emotion. Then he attempted to save the salvageable parts of his Fee by extinguishing the flames with the only liquid at his disposal, oblivious to the ammunition exploding around him. He should get a medal for that.

#1: The Continental Airlines 747 that flew me home from Desert Storm, and which we utterly trashed in the 10 minutes prior to having to strap in for landing back in the World, all started when the stewardesses started hitting us with pillows #2: The American Airlines 767 that took my ex-wife to the other side of the country and didn't bring her back #3: Piper Tomahawk N3288K, in which I made my 1st solo. Even though I hate "Traumahawks" as a species and had times when I was most unhappy with this one, it behaved itself very well that day

As Pol said, no way to turn off killer clouds. And also there's no way to keep your AI flight leader from flying through killer clouds. It's not going to bother him, so why should he care? Besides, if there are 3 total AI pilots and 1 human in the flight, and you die going through the cloud, that's acceptable casualties in Bloody April. Press on regardless! So the only real cure for your problem is to select "player always leads" in the Workshops. And believe me, there are several other important reasons than just clouds to pick this option. If you don't feel you're entitled to lead as a mere Flieger or Sergeant, then start out as an O-3, and rationalize this as you being an experienced pilot from a quiet front transferring in. After all, you've probably been flying sims for years already. And here's the really cool part. When you're warping, you can go right through evil clounds as if you're the AI, with no ill effects. And when you're not warping, you can avoid them without leaving our buddies. Best of both worlds ;).

But don't forget, it's also 173 years today since the greatest country in the world, my native Texas, won her independence in the swamps at San Jacinto. Texas!

It's to be an Islay duel, eh? Geez, this is getting expensive. Nothing is nearer and dearer to my heart than 16-year Lagavulin. God Himself makes it, and the ruined castle on the premises once housed my ancestors. I know that saying this, instead of favoring such traditional Southern drinks as Jack Daniels or the local "Confederate Popskull" moonshine, will earn me a few years in Purgatory, but I'm not worried--I have to get out of Hell first So, I'll call your Lagvulin with some of my own, and raise you a bunny-hoppin' Bunnahabhain and a Bowmore. And "yaki da" back at you, or however the Welsh spell it (iechyd da or some such). I'm multi-lingual when it comes to drinking.

I'll certainly buy whatever you all put out there, regardless of price. As a fellow developer of niche-market games, I feel your pain. It's hard when you make the best Laphroaig in the world, but most people are afraid to try anything tastier than the much easier-to-find Glenfiddich.

Hehehe, to be honest, I'm a Fee-fetisher. I've always wanted to fly them and one the main attractions of OFF was finally getting the chance. I guess I've always just wondered how such an ugly, strange machine could have done so well for so long against all the great German planes of 1917. Everybody knew the Quirk had to go, and damned the RE8 as being no improvement and perhaps worse, but I don't recall there being any hurry to replace the Fee until towards the end of the year. How was that possible? Were the Fee crews ubermenschen, or was there more to the Fee than there appeared? I've now discovered that if you know what you're doing, the Fee can be a match for an Albatross D.III and more than a match for a D.II. The Fee is very slow, can't climb worth mentioning, and is ALWAYS going to be bounced from high above. That's all true, but OTOH it turns quite well, can shoot in both directions, and because both guns are swivels, it can shoot whether it's lined up on the target or not, so usually has more firing opportunities than its opponents. And even better, while your gunner is shooting 1 guy, you can be looking over your shoulder for an approaching threat. The main problem with the guns is that the gunner doesn't always shoot at the guy you think he should, and he doesn't always shoot as well as you think you could, but you can't switch seats with him because you have to keep turning or you'll die. So, as a Fee driver, if you can survive that 1st German swoop, you can put up a very respectable fight. You can usually do at least as much damage as you take. And you WILL take damage, because no matter how well you turn, you're still a big, slow target, and even with TIR it's hard to see what's going on behind you (although the rear gun in front of you points to threats). So it's fairly brutal being a Fee driver, but satisfying, too. It's like limping home after a fight at the local bar, spitting out a wad of blood and teeth in front of your wife, and then saying, "You should see the other guy"

That might have something to do with it. My scout pilots usually die from flying face-first into their targets, either from pressing an attack too close or from the target making an unexpected move at the last second. I chalk this up to having spent nearly 2 decades lugging 4x MG151/20s and 2x MG131s around the sky and turning my targets into confetti before I have a chance to run into them. I have never yet lost a scout pilot to the fire of enemy aircraft, and am hardly ever hit by them at all, but a few of my scout pilots have fallen to ground fire. Only occasionally do they suffer MDS, which I blame on a wingman ramming me. It's rather the opposite when I fly 2-seaters, which I do way more than scouts. In them, enemy aircraft shoot me up nearly every hop, and shoot me down not infrequently, although ground fire gives them good competition. I've only flown into 1 enemy plane face-first in a 2-seater. However, most of my 2-seater pilots still die due to, as far as I can tell, being rammed by wingmen. And I see this happen to my squaddies as well. I usually lead 2nd flight some distance behind 1st flight, and when the Alabri pounce, before they get into shooting range usually 1 or 2 of 1st Flight are spinning down due to a collision. I use TAC, so I see squares go black while the enemy is still a couple miles from them, and then I see in the 3D world a twisting trail of smoke or 2, all before the enemy's fired a shot. And I get rammed a lot whether I'm flying a Fee, a Strutter, or a Brisfit.

I'm totally digging it. Nothing like seeing angry tennsiballs whizzing by your head to increase the immersion

That may be, but apparently something else is kicking in that's giving AI Germans, whether 2-seaters or scouts, rather more than the 8 mile visibility range of the TAC. Either that, or the "8 mile" TAC range is a misprint for something considerably less. The fact remains that German scouts are always attacking, or maneuvering to attack, before the Entente human player can see them even at the 8-mile TAC setting, and that German 2-seaters never show up on TAC at all, at least when you're a Brit scout. When I'm flying an FE2, I meet and fight German 2-seaters every 2nd or 3rd hop, so it's not like there's that much of a shortage of them, just a lack of variety in the types (almost all DFWs). Given that the Germans weren't as aggressively into the deep penetrations as the Brits, I wouldn't expect to meet 2-seaters all the time as a Brit. Every 2nd or 3rd hop seems about right. But never seeing them AT ALL, even on TAC, when I'm flying a Brit scout in the same area at the same time.... that strikes me as being a problem. Why don't I meet them just as often as when I'm in an Fee?

Just so you know, I'm gonna keep asking for longer-term and unobstructed views of my demise regardless of whether you're finished patching or not And BTW, the mission replay doesn't say jack about collisions. You have to imply that from seeing "Captain XXX Bullethead's <aircraft type> has become basically unflyable" without any preamble about taking hits from enemies. And even this doesn't disclose the name of the SOB who rammed me. If he's one of my guys, and I live through the ensuing crash, I want to know who did it so I can shoot his stupid butt down when I get out of the hospital!

Cool story! From Hell's heart I stab at thee, For Hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee! But the most curious thing to me is, where and under what circumstances did you meet this Ahab- or wrathful Khan-wannabe? The only time I meet bosche 2-seaters is when I'm flying a Fee.