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I remember reading that part myself, funny you should bring it up. Must've been hard staying in control with the angry mother attacking you at the same time!! Udet had some amazing adventures, including witnessing the only known lion to airplane collision I've ever heard of on record. He truly had an amazing life. Pity he had to run afoul of the Nazi's...hastening his unfortunate end. ZZ.

Hey Dej, If you wouldn't mind, take a look at my "From" line beneath my Avatar, and adjust your beautifull map accordingly. Good work by the way....quite concise. Olham, excellent effort creating all of this.....much appreciated. ZZ. Ps. You can stick mine in VA whenever you get the time. A little place called Louisa. Pretty much dead center in the middle of the state.

ZoomZoom, Dimus - if you PM me your nationality and home town, I'll add you to the OFF Europe map. If you like. Ah, I wish I could Olham, I would love to be included in the OFF Europe map, but alas I live in America,...Virginia to be exact. Have a pretty long History here as well. My 4th or 5th Great Grandfather was the first (or only I can't recall which) Knight to be buried in America, and one of the first governors of Virginia, Sir George Yeardley. Our family boasts both a signer of the Constitution, and Declaration of Independance, Daniel Carroll, and Charles Carrol of Carrollton, who by the way to our amusement was used in the movie "National Treasure" as the transferrer of all the secrets of the treasure. Silly movie really, and no, we don't have the secrets either, else I would have a MUCH nicer rig to play OFF on! :yes: Thats the Anglo side, and on the Scotch side, Bulletheads' comments about being ousted from other places rings true as my family's Scottish relation hails from the little known Michie..pronounced (Mickey) Clan, and its progenitor here was kicked out of Scotland in a failed rebellion, drawing a lucky lot from a bag with some of his clansmen and being shipped abroad instead of killed. There are many others, who have fought in every war from the Revolution, Civil, and on to World War One. I'm fortunate enough now to be in possesion of the cabin my Revolutionary time period (built in 1730's) relatives lived in, and am currently, preserving/restoring it. Its no where near as cool looking as that windmill in your shots of where you are located Olham, but it's kinda neat. ZZ.

Wow! You guys know what that fish would go good with? A Grill and some teriyaki sauce!! Haaahaha. Ahem. Sorry fella's....couldn't resist. ZZ

Exactly right Olham. I HATED the Spad until I was given some guidelines on flying it properly. It is a fast heavy little brick who's saving grace is its big engine that gives it enough speed, (and an airframe that can handle this speed) to dive as far and as fast as you wish.....and also withdraw from a turning fight. You try to turn fight the little devil against anything else though, and after more than a couple turns, once your speed bleeds off, you are toast. And this is historically accurate. So are the dramatic stalls, because when you have a craft that heavy, once you push it beyond its envelope, the results can be dramatic. I guess you guys can debate HOW dramatic they should be, but if you start tinkering with this bird to make it turn fight on a par with other lighter AC, you will destroy the accuracy already there. Learn the plane....don't force it into the box of your previous experience. I've found that with practice, even the Spads turning ability isn't bad.......its just not a Fokker DVII.....nor should it be. I'll see if I can find the thread that outlined fighting techniques for this bird. You'll find that once you employ them it opens up a whole new understanding of this craft. I know it did for me. ZZ.

Fear not, I've got one waiting in the wings with a few kills and all ready to go up on the board. Funny Olham....I noticed the general lack there as well, and decided to start one just for that reason. He's actually survivied long enough to post so I might offer him up here in a few days. He's flying Camels, but I forget with which group. ZZ.

It's nice to be missed. Olham, thank you for inquiring kind sir. Its actually been a pretty busy time for me as well, much like some of the other guys mentioned. Lots of family, and other related trips going on. I am actually departing again on another trip today after work, going to the beach to visit friends there for an extended weekend. But fear not, I'm taking the Osprey history of "The U.S. 1st Pursuit Squadron" with me, and I believe I'll be ready to dive back into OFF shortly thereafter. Geesh, I need a laptop that can handle this game.....can we say portable!! :yes: ZZ.

How's about: OFF-Phase IV KISS YER FLAMING ARSES GOOD BYE!!! Now new and improved with Nieuport 28's!!!!! wink wink nudge nudge. Has a certain ring to it wouldn't you say? ZZ.

Anybody know what the American order of medals reciept is? Just curious. I have a career American pilot flying camels, and he just recieved his second Congressional Medal of Honor. Is this kinda like the Germans sometimes getting two Iron crosses? ZZ.

Whoa.....lets all take it down a notch or two guys. It was just a simple question. We are all obviously thrilled with OFF, and the fact that the American medals are a bit out of whack can surely be remedied in later patches. If thats the exchange thats been made for such a great sim, I think we'll all happily accept it. I don't really care if they pin a "I ate at Hooters" button on me for surviving as an ace in an American squadron....with a game this intense, as long as I made it back in one piece....I'm thrilled. Was just a bit curious though, and thanks for the detailed input as to the progression...might help the Dev's in future clarification. Then again......I'll take a nice shiny new Nieuport 28 over correct American medals any day!!!! Hint hint...wink...wink...nudge...nudge. Priorities you know. ZZ. PS. To Devs re American awards. "I ate at Hooters medal"..tolerable. "I voted for Obama medal"...expect Suicide upon reciept.

Sorry, no, I don't recall if there was a subtitle or not. With my limited German I would have likely not been able to decipher much. ZZ.

Nice......good work. ZZ.

One step ahead of ya, http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft...ontraption.html annnd again http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=41475 ZZ. Leaning towards bomb release though...if you look just over the pilots shoulder you will see the handle of another one on the other side, so I'm assuming this is for balance reasons, and therefore are likely for bombs. By the way we have Olham to thank for this photo site reference.

Ok....so what is this contraption? At first glance I thought they were the traditional flare rack, but its not. Almost looks like a primitive bomb rack from which bombs would be hung and dropped when each handle is pulled. Anyone know for sure?? ZZ.

Wow, there are a lot of really cool photos in this, and I don't even speak German. You just have to look through the different albums. Thanks Olham! ZZ. Like these:

Hehe, thats crazy Rooster, you shoulda crashed on top of the bums that shot you down!! Even if they were on your side. :yes: Olham, no, I usually don't write combat reports that are quite that lengthy, but this was a most unusual occasion and I wanted to record it for posterity. I was in such shock and disbelief as it was happening....that must have been how the guy who landed the Smithsonians Fokker DVII at an enemy field by accident felt!! Only he didn't tear off again like I did....perhaps he really wanted to stay after all, as was supposed by many later due to being late inthe war, and prospects at survival slim. This is actually my fifth DiD pilot. The first three died while I was getting the hang of flying at 120% realism and not using outside aids. Now that I've accustomed myself to it though, I'd never do it any other way. You do have to have some luck to go with your skill though....some examples: The first pilot I showed..Albrecht: Was captured once and escaped, was shot down (force landed) over five times. Any one of these if it went the wrong way would have been the end of his career. Julius: So far, has been shot down twice, once in flames and I cut the engine in the hopes of killing the fire, and it worked!!, as soon as I chopped the engine the fire went out. Then I skidded in side ways and the plane crashed, and I waited for the fatality screen, but NO!! he survived without a scratch! The second time I was shot up and slid across the ground into a forest of trees, (in between them!) and then crashed. Survived again. I'm trying to stop pushing my luck with this guy!!! And finally for Julius....came out of warp into a cloud bank, plane went crazy spinning out of control, trid to recover but was impossible, spun down for about 2000 feet then redded out......menu screen came up...I waited....I'll bet he's dead. NOPE!! Mission briefing and ready room. I don't understand that one really, suppose it rolled the dice and said you recovered at last. Anyhoo, i believe he's already used all of his nine lives, and I'm trying to be reeeeeeaaaaallly carefull with him. Point is, at any oneof these moments, the jig could have been up.....thats the really cool thing about this sim, as in real life, sometimes that chance card suprises you....and sometimes it really sucks. As for the planes...the old Albatros will always be my "best girl"...but that Fokker Dr1 is a butcher bird if you can practice a really soft touch on the stick and rudder. Don't feel bad Olham, I "shot a lot of sky" with it for about an "in game" month until I got it under control...keep at it. Just don't get pulled into heavy enemy fights behind thier lines with it, cause you can't really run away...its Achilles heel. ZZ. PS. Yeah, its funny you'd mention the DR1's touchy handling, on landing keep the throttle handy, especially when crash or force landing, often if you feel it lifting or dropping a wing you can hit throttle and correct and then settle in again. I made this mistake, and lost a pilot due to it when landing a shot up DR1. The engine died before I touched down and I should have just plonked the wheels down at a relatively high speed and let them slow me while safely on the ground. Instead, I bled off too much speed, and at a higher than usual speed due to the damage, she started to stall. Without the engine to pulse and pull out, she rolled in...........results...1 dead pilot. Its nice to be immortal so we can learn from our errors.....too bad the boys in 1917 couldn't.

Well, I was gonna save this for a thread of its own, just cause its an awesome (and true) story, but since my current DiDW pilot has the Hohenzollern, I thought I'd post it for Olham's sake. Read the pilots log on the right and you will see why I was so stoked about the last mission my pilot flew. ZZ.

Anybody know how to take a screenshot of your Pilot's log. I have Fraps, but it wont work on the logbook page. I must be missing something. TIA ZZ.

Hehe, actually it was I believe the "Spinne", which correct me if I'm wrong meant spider? ZZ.

BTW, what plane is that in the picture above? ...... LOL! Looks like a DVIII-XPLANE. Nice pic though. ZZ.

What in the blue blazes are you guys talking about!!?? ZZ.

this is not the Pfalz pilot I was discussing earlier, he actually was killed in a head-on collision with a camel over Douai. Probably the only way to down a Camel in a Pfalz (Lol!) LOL!!!!! True True. Hehe....poor guy, he never got an upgrade. Unfortunately, the only upgrade he got, was to "Wings he rather didn't want"!!! ZZ.

Thanks Olham! I had never seen or heard of the "Red Eagle" either....so I found that interesting as well. Actually this is not the Pfalz pilot I was discussing earlier, he actually was killed in a head-on collision with a camel over Douai. But I started Albrechts carrer just after that in an attempt to be absolutely DiD, "the Pfalz pilot was close, but not fully DiD, due to lack of Ram in my machine not allowing me to select the necessary boxes..ie...clouds..etc etc. Anyway, I finally ponied up for the Ram, went full DiD and Albrecht is the best of three attempts at war survival so far! As for kills, most of them were in the Albatros, and the Dr1, I'll have to check the logbook for the percentages. I must say, that I rather did not like the Dr1 at first, but after getting used to it for about a month, (my gunnery suffering most due to its extreme twitchiness) I finally developed a light enough touch on the stick to become a real killer with it. As for my latest DiD pilot, I can post a screenie of his progress so far when I get to my home computer (I'm at work now). Orrrrr, maybe not....don't want to jinx him!!! But I believe he is with Loerzer..I forget which Jasta number, and his name is Julius Jaeger. I do have a camel pilot, and a Spad pilot I started as well, but haven't had the time to pay much attention to them yet....."Deutchland Uber Alles" after all! ZZ.

I'm quite pleased with this one...he's my first survivor of the war, albeit captured, out about three tries so far. He's had a great career and flown Albatross,Pfalzes, and finally the DR1....been shot down and captured twice, the last time of course he did not escape. The whole reason for his ultimate final capture was an engine failure over the lines...very realistic. i tried and tried at every setting I could to get that thing back running again, but to no avail....he glided into a cloud bank and the updraft dropped me so far I had to put down far too close too the lines. Oh well....very realistic nonetheless, and captivity surely spared his life till the Armistice. Only downer......no Pour le Merite!!!!! go figure. ZZ.