Olham

Trying to catch up here with everyone. Still possible I overlooked something. "We got back to our safe house, and a light headed elation overtook me, but was increased somewhat the next day when we found out that the German train had been nearly at the bridge when the charges went off.... He hadnt managed to stop in time, and had crashed. Only one tank was servicable enough to drive off...the others were wrecked!" I detected a slightly smug tone to my dad's tone of voice when he recounted this particular part of the story! I for one dont blame him for that! Widowmaker, the big tanks were all SS units, and they would have fought on very determined with the new delivery, only to stretch the loss of the war; which would have cost so many more young men's lives - I know I would have burst from pride about such a great deed - especially as I didn't even have to kill all the tank crews - he just destroyed their lethar weapons. Pulling the Tiger's teeth and claws, so to say. A great deed! Thanks for the good info on the Skua aircraft and the seaground picture from the "Ark Royal" (always very touching, such pics...), Flyby! Lou, I know that many people feel guilty after surviving a cathastrophy, which cost many other people's lives. It sounds irrational, but is also understandable. Your dad may have felt similar. It is a pity that it caused a shadow on his soul. So, the war could even hurt the souls of men, who did not have to fight in it. That is so sad... Interesting stories, everyone, thank you all for sharing!

Good idea! Maybe that will at least make it a bit better? I guess it must be like a Gordian knot to untangle, when you start with the values of AI? Change one thing, and get a strange result elsewhere, like that - I wish you good luck with that, Herr Prop-Wasche and Hellshade!

That narrative style of your latest video here is a great idea, and it has a "very human touch", Hellshade. What the video reveals very well, is the (non-) reaction of those Albatros to an approaching, very lethal craft. They just fly on. Even when they are getting shot at, they do not seem to notice it, or don't care at all. Here, I would really LOVE to see in P4: sudden hard banking to the left or right, extreme pushing of the stick; barrel rolls; evasive zigzagging etc. etc. to make a dogfight look like something, that would explain to us, why even the aces did not have incredibly high kill rates. Herr Prop-Wasche's DM seems to be a good step forward to make them last much longer. Now we need AI with a good defensive intelligence.

The latest video is showing, that at least a more experienced Staffel like Jasta 26 can do some energy fighting. What I am missing very hard, and what I deeply desire to see more in P4, are real evasive movements of craft, which are getting chased and fired after. Here, the AI is often acting like a suicidal winglame duck, as if saying: "Come on, finish me off now, I can't stand it anymore." The new DM of Herr Prop-Wasche is looking very good. Now it is really hard work, to bring them down. Thank you for the tips about all the mods and how you use them, Hellshade. I am longing for the weekend already, when I intend to get it all installed and configurated like that again.

Haven't seen or read anything from our professional gruntler here. I hope he is only on holidays, and not in hospital, or banned from here?

That must be feeling very dull, to lose such a good man, pilot and comrade after more than fifteen months in this Storm of Steel. My condolences, Lou! From what I knew about Major Jeffrey Alberts, he was a man of education, of culture; a man who read many a book in his far too short life. So you may accept from a German pilot this poem by Josef von Eichendorf: Und meine Seele spannte weit ihre Flügel aus, flog durch die stillen Lande, als flöge sie nach Haus You have really given all you could give - now rest in peace, Major Alberts! And my soul unfolded wide it's wings flew through the silent lands as if flying home

Sorry, Flyby, hadn't seen your topmost post - it must have crossed with mine. That is a very touching picture. Most people are "of little value" in times of war, it seems. I will read it all tomorrow.

Simon, I remember I had read this or an earlier, similar text about your dad before, but I'll read it again tomorrow (I'm in a hurry now - work & social duties calling). Your dad's service time sounds much more like the "true grit" to me, old chap!

Well - when it comes towards you firing, I must still be looking quite impressive, I guess. I'd say, they must have been from a carrier then. All the way from England should be a bit far for a plane of that size?

Thanks for the picture, Widowmaker - I had never seen that one before, not even in our model shop in my hometown, where they had many AIRFIX kits. I have always thought I had only remembered the sound of the name vaguely; that the craft had a slightly different name. Otherwise I would have googled for it. So now I see the plane, that impressed my dad. Well, maybe it was rather the muzzle flash? Is this a torpedo bomber?

Thank you guys! But if you had known my dad (he died 1991) - he wasn't the brave, "ballsy" type at all. He was rather a shy guy (until he had had a few!), and quite introverted, at least after the war. He liked it best, if he could draw or build something technical or soldering some electronic gadgets. He never spoke much about war time, but there is one thing I remember. His iron ore vessel lay in a Norwegian harbour, when the alarm sirens went screaming off, and the Flak began firing flat towards the enterance of the Fjord. When he came out of his radio cabin, there were six "Skua" machines (as he called them - don't know what that is) coming in through the Fjord very low above the surface of the water, firing from all guns. He could see the muzzle flashes, and he knew that this meant, that he was standing in the line of fire. But he was, for a second or two, completely shock frozen. The attackers left as quickly as they had appeared, and when the Captain came over to my dad, they both could marvel at two or three impacts in the funnel. They were about 2 or 3 feet right of where my dad had been standing. He was very impressed by those British "Skua" machines. You could be right, Flyby - my dad's pneumonia wasn't really cured and may have come back.

All pictures from my dad are at my sister's place in my hometown unfortunately, Flyby. My dad used to be a wireless radio operator on a cargo ship in WW2. They went the same route up and down to Kiruna in Norway. Way up, they carried supplies for the German troops there, and on the way back they carried Norwegian iron ore to Germany for steel production. During the last weeks of the war, he was in the Corps of Signals on the Eastern Front. They layed out all the wires for front line telephone connections. The front line then was already close to Berlin, where his parents lived. When he left hospital after a pneumonia, the doctor told him to go home - everything collapsed anyway. They gave him private clothes, and he went to Berlin. He had to walk by night. Had the SS caught him, they would have shot or hanged him for desertation. He was 24 then. From Berlin, he managed to get through the Russian ring closing on the capital. He met Russian soldiers three times and was again in danger to get shot. The Russians sometimes shot civilians without any reason. He pretended to have Tuberculosis, and also to be mad - he even tried to fumble the cigarettes out of a Russian's chest pocket pretending madness. It must have been quite convincing - the guy chased him away with his gun. He was incredibly lucky then, when he got caught by a German army unit. They locked him in, and he was about to get shot, when the officer returned. It was an Oberst (Colonel) Jeschonnek, and believe it or not - we are far away relatives familywise. My dad could give them valuable informations about where he had seen the Russians, and Jeschonnek let him go. My father really managed to get through all the way to Ostfriesland somehow, where he had relatives. He was imprisoned a bit later by the British, who handed him over to the Americans. There he was in a big PoW camp, where he lived from two cups of sugar and two cups of margarine per day for some time (argghh!!). But he lived. I am very glad, that he never had to shoot at anyone. .

You can mark bogies, ememies and friends on your TAC; and then see them, when you press F4.

The "Barmy OFFers Art Gallery" is proud to be able to present to you two paintings by Al Forbes, which we could borrow for a short time from his gallery over at "The Aerodrome". The first is a German "Taube", climbing in the frosty clear air of a winter's day. The other is showing a nice contrast between the warm tone of the sunset reflecting from the wings of a Sopwith Pup, and the high blue sky, where a DFW C.V is taking on the fight.

But he did that in his whole service time - not every week?

They did exactly that. I flew the Fokker E.V to try it out, and the SPADs circled high. I got attacked two or three times by one of them, and after the attack, they went back up to his previous height.

You can select friend and foe aircraft on the TAC, and then you see them; always looking in the direction of your own plane.

Thank you very much for the explanation of the flare signals, LIMA! I asked and searched for that long ago, but never found it. Fly with Manfred von Richthofen, and just follow him. Once we sighted several Triplanes 9 o'clock high - and he led us into a fast dive to starboard. Most people might not have run away - MvR did. Just more smart. Yes; especially the barrel roll is getting performed often, when a chasing craft tries to eliminate speed to be able to stay behind the prey. Boom and zoom was/is partially used by the AI which got later stamped "less aggressive". The SPADs used it - but unfortunately, they were over-careful with attacking at all. I hope that the devs took up that line and improve it. What OFF are you flying, Flyby??? If you select "by rank" in OFF "Workshops", then you can fly as Sergeant or Flieger - lowest rank. And when you follow the A-flight / ace flight, then you can also use their guidance, cause they definitely have their own mind. I do that all the time. Very cool. If we could have a mission replay... ...maybe that would eat too many ressources?

Okay, the sentence is 10x "Our Father in Heaven" - and 20x "Dicta Boelcke".

It's great when I could help, Wayfarer.

What is the meaning of your question, when you already did, Lewie?

OMG!!!!

Raising children is something you guys had, which no one can take away from you anymore. And it must have been wonderful to discover the world again through a child's eyes. I don't have kids. Well, one there is, already grown up but still not behaving alike - me. But somehow, that's not quite the same. Congrats to that, guys - well done!

The "Help" command to me is like the replacement for the AI to notice, that they should help you. In RL for example, Viktor Schobinger once dived on a Sopwith Triplane, which was chasing his CO, Lt. Tutschek. He shot the Tripe off of Tutschek's tail. A real life flyer would notice if someone was in trouble, and help (if he was free himself, of course). The "Help" command can replace that. I would just not regard is as a command signal given, but as an assistance for the AI to behave "intelligent".

I don't use the TAC at all anymore, and so I had to concentrate more on my wingman orders. From what I saw in those sorties, the wingmen react differently, when an order is getting repeated. If I fly high above an enemy flight and press "Attack" twice, only two wingmen dive to attack. If I repeat pressing it twice, the next two follow. So, this gives me a control about how many wingmen I send to attack, and how many stay with me. If I'm in a furball and want them to attack the nearest targets around me, I do the same with the "Help" command. If I press help only once, it will just be my direct wingman, who will come to help me out. If I press it repeatedly, all flyers who are near enough to "see" my order, would come and attack the nearest EA. Works fine to me - try it out. The TAC is not necessary for a scout pilot.