Olham

Gee - ground smoke/gas improved, clouds improved - autumn trees also seem to look better! I've never seen the pale sun like in that picture No. 2 yet - great overall impression! Oh, the waiting - how long, until I burst? .

The sound is wonderful! And did you see the short runway, before she lifts off? Gee - I hope the craft will be at the ILA BERLIN next time! I'd go to see it then!

Since October 2008 I have changed only very slowly in that direction, Shiloh. I saw other flyers here, who were more mature about it all. Flyers like RAF_Louvert, Creaghorn and Hasse Wind taught me, that it wasn't all about gaining lots of victories - more victories than the real aces ever piled up in such a short time - not even the best of them. Especially Creaghorn, who was always most serious about this, taught me, that I would honour the real WW1 flyers much better, if I would fly with the real fear of getting seriously wounded, with the fear of death. We can do it all so easily, because we learn and learn. How many lives have I burnt to get to these abilities, to become a good Albatros flyer and decent fighter? Countless. But the real men had only their one life. A precious, youthful life. The hotspurs and those with lesser phantasy risked it more - and often enough fell early. Those, who were fighters with a cool mind lasted longer, but even those guys mostly fell. Those who survived had probably better, bigger doses of luck; they had nine lives so to say. Cause it still needed luck to survive it at all, it seems to me. Or why did an ace like Rumey from Jasta 5 die after a collision? He had a parachute. But it failed to open, and he fell to his death. Reading about the attitudes of Lou, HW and Creaghorn, I understood all that quite well, what they were saying. But unlike them - they had all read a lot about WW1 aviation and the flyers - I had no knowledge, when I started. I had a boyish attitude in air combat sims - I wanted to be the last flyer high up, after shooting everyone else down. It seems now, that I am leaving that more and more behind, and at hindsight it seems it was necessary to let it all out, until I realised, that it was enough of that playing - that I now wanted to simulate the real situations better and better. I am greatful, that the above mentioned flyers did not talk insistently to me, to change my attitudes. I did what I wanted to, and now I have had it - it feels like growing up in that respect. This is not meant to say to anyone, he should fly or behave differently. Let it all out, until it is out and done. Maybe then you will approach it from another angle. No other game or sim has got me that far, without loosing any of it's flavour. Thanks to the devs, and to the above named gentlemen for their patience. .

Thanks, Lou - what a fine compliment! I have hopes, that the AI in the forthcoming OFF II will withdraw, and allow withdrawals. That could lead to more realistic numbers of losses. After all, a single Jasta didn't have that many losses really. (Of course very different on the Entente side - crossing the lines most every day took a much bigger toll on them.) I would be greatly willing to fly accordingly on my end, and not pester and follow a withdrawing enemy unit after a scrap. In the preview film this was hinted - oh, the gleeful anticipation - hope I won't burst, before the release day! Good reminder, Creaghorn - Lothar's program is great to add real "live meat" to the campaigns. If you don't find it easy to imagine your comrades, their ways and characteristics - there you'll get it all.

"Ze Dsherrmans vill get at der Code firrst, mein Herr! Vee hav der Morale any time! Mmuahahahahahahaaaaaa!!!!!!!"

Good find, Carrick - yes, that looks like being at least a good part of "Der rote Kampfflieger" (The red battle flier). When you read it, you must be aware, that this book was written as a heroe's kind of "heads-up", very positive, optimistic - no other emotions mostly. I guess it presents only one view on Manfred von Richthofen - and a view he has chosen to show. In fact he did of course suffer - like every human being - from loosing most of his comrade firends from the early days, as can be read in a discussion with his mother (don't know if it was in this book or where I read it). His mother kept asking him for names, and he said the reply for two of them: "He is dead". "Also dead!". When she asked for another, he got a bit upset (rare for MvR) and stopped her. "Stop asking me, mother - they are all dead!" And then he tells her (on the same, or another leave), how the soldiers jump up in their trenches, waving with their caps, when he flies over low after a fight they had witnessed from the ground. "That is my reward, mother - my greatest reward!" .

That's right, Shiloh. The Albatros is no S.E.5a or SPAD XIII with immense engine power. What I need before all other is energy/momentum/speed to get me to the position I want. I would even give up hight for that. That's why the worst thing for energy fighting is, when you have done that already to the extent, that you are fighting at tree top level. So, an energy fighter must also often dive away and then gain altitude again - if the opponents let him. Hellshade, you know your S.E.5 well - good landing. (And nice to see, that you too are getting knocked down occasionally). .

Okay, Shiloh, here is the last video I made - hardly any outside view, but it's all I have. Will try to make a dogfight movie sometime soon.

Wow, congrats, Mike! What a thing to do in real life! I have been at the controls of a motorised sailplane at 4000 meters - but only for 2 full circles and a couple of level flight miles. I wanted to do a dive, but the owner didn't like the idea and quickly took over. I had only asked! Good luck with your further learning!

Had his chips? You mean, he tried to roast chips in his cockpit???

Shiloh, when I first tried out the Albatros (D.III) after only short time on the Pfalz D.IIIa (in Phase 2), I found the craft hard to turn tight with. Now it has become my second nature, my second skin. But put me in a Nieuport 17 or a Sopwith Camel, and I'll be lost. I wouldn't know what to teach you - I just do the right things, and don't do the wrong ones - but without thinking about them, or knowing to name them. Second nature. If you are more the turn fighter type, you may never feel right in an energy fighter.

Did you try the screen ratios, Hellshade?

Thanks, Hauksbee, but I'm not so sure there. I wouldn't like to be a leader with lots of responsibility for a whole Jasta - the tension would kill me.

Flying without Labels, TAC or other aids, and without any warping, I brought a French balloon down northeast of Fismes aerodrome. On returning, I spotted 3 Nieuport scouts attacking one of our forward trenches, and after making sure there were no others around, I engaged the rearmost flyer and shot him down. Since the other two did not show any reactions, I approached the next French, and my fire was ripping his top right wing fabric to shreds. Short after that he lost control; his Nieuport corkscrewed downwards and slammed in 500 Meter north of Berry-au-Bac by the River Aisne; N-NE of Reims. Nothing compares to flying the full mission without warping and any aids. I have no idea how long this pilot will survive it though.

Don't you? Yes, when they come crawling home low over a forest, and I discover them in their shot up crates, I circle and press the "Return" command again and again. Often enough they finally make it and climb up to the rest of us - and we fly home together. No "Iron Cross" or promotion can beat that!

Lou recommended this site several times, and so did I - it is a bit diffivult to see it all through, but so worth it! I put together some rather unknow photos of French aviators, aircraft and locations. http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/page_centaine.htm

Just did a stroll through the archive of historical b&w photography at the "Wingnut Wings" website. Always worth another visit - the collection seems to grow slowly, but steadily. http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/ I found these Gothas at St. Denis aerodrome. They must be 20 bombers, ready to start for a raid against England. I had never guessed, that so many of them were sent out on a single raid. Quite frightening! Edit: we will have them in OFF II soon! Well, maybe soon. In two weeks. ... ? ...

Just came across this website on a Wiki search - seems to contain a lot of info about sites to visit on a Remembrance Trip to Northern France. http://www.remembrancetrails-northernfrance.com/

The "strange boxy things" are three indeed, Jim. They are French observer/recon cameras - I guess the larger they get, the more telephoto-lens-like they are.

Well, at least it seems to make people move a bit more than computer nerds usually would. Maybe it should get sponsored by the health insurances?

Thank you, Shredward, for adding the link to the source. It is amazing to see some of the still existing aircraft, like the Halberstadt C.IV in it's "clowny" colours. Interesting site!

So maybe sometime in the future we will see real flights of several of these beauties.

The raid on 25 May 1917 was flown by 23 Gothas - see excerpt from WIKIPEDIA here: On 25 May 1917, Kagohl 3 sent 23 Gothas for a daylight raid on London but two were forced to turn back over the North Sea due to mechanical difficulties. Poor weather forced the remaining bombers to divert to secondary targets at the Channel port of Folkestone and the nearby Army camp at Shorncliffe. The raid resulted in 95 deaths and 195 injuries, mostly in the Folkestone area. In Shorncliffe, 18 soldiers (16 Canadian and two British) were killed, 90 were wounded. Nine Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Sopwith Pups engaged the returning bombers near the Belgian coast, shooting one down. http://en.wikipedia....ing_World_War_I

PS: if you want to know how to calculate the values: You start with the vertical value of your resolution and divide it by 15 for a start. 1200 : 15 = 80 Now you divide the horizontal value by 80. 1920 : 80 = 24 So with a vertical value of 15, you need a horizontal value of 24. Not all values make "clean", unbroken numbers. If you chose a vertical value of 16, it would go: 1200 : 16 = 75 1920 : 75 = 25,6 Here you would need to round up to 26. So, 24 : 15 was the "cleanest" result without any rounding up or down. Hope you're not dizzy now?

Well, northern France is not always "drab" - when it's sunny, it is also very juicy (still not as lush as Florida, maybe). But we here in northern Europe may see overcast grey days or rainy days more often than you down there in "Disneyland". As for your OFF settings for a good screen ratio - here are three possible ratios, which would all give you a correct ratio of hight : width (so your aircraft is not so distorted). They are 3 variants, because you can select among them, if you prefer it more zoomed in or out - but they would all be "right". Firstly you need to select the "Aspect (Widescreen)" at the left side in "Workshops" - select 16:10 (I guess you had done that part already, but just to make sure). And here are three possible ratios for your monitor - you need to set the numbers in FOV (right half): 23 : 14 24 : 15 26 : 16 I use the middle one; best is, you check them all out and see what zoom factor you prefer (in other words: how close or remote you want to be in relation to your cockpit). You will still be able to zoom in or out in the sim, if you want to.