Olham

The basics of the landscape, like rivers or cities, are AFAIK the original CFS3 landmarks. I found several times, that roads and rivers seemed to match quite well with reality. You can try that out by pausing over a bridge, and then noting the longitude/latitude data from the F5 text or the inflight map. When you compare that to GoogleMaps satelite view, you may really find that road crossing that river. What definitely does not match are the towns and cities - they often seem to be too far to the south-east.

Small company - big achievements. I guess the RoF crew was much bigger, but they didn't yet create as much as OBD did. Not to speak of the public relations. Here OBD was also always sober and clear, and they rather kept quiet than promising too much.

Weren' they always like this? And in the end, after "two weeks", they always delivered.

Great news, whatever it may be. They said some time ago, that they wanted to build some of the known historical airfields, as they really looked. That would be great to have, and my personal wish & guess.

There was at least one film about the work of Alan Touring before this one. Touring's success in decrypting German messages might have been the key to winning the war. The tragedy for Touring came only little later. In the early 50s he had to undergo a chemical castration, because it became public that he was homosexual. The enforced treatment led to a deep depression, and Touring commited suicide two years later. What a sorrowful end for a man who had served his country so well! The trailer for this one looks very promising - I'll rent me a Blueray of it soon.

The cracking of the ENIGMA code was a great success for the Allied forces. Now they KNEW where each submarine was sent to operate.

...which was definitely a British tradition.

Yeah, in that respekt they almost rivaled, who's the more cruel leader.

I'm not so sure, if the early victories were Hitler's successes, or those of Generals like Erwin Rommel. The invasion with tank divisions through the Ardennes, bypassing the Maginot Line, was rather the unorthodox idea and leadership of Rommel, as far as I know. The Stuka was an idea of Ernst Udet - the Jericho trumpet included. With such "ingredients" a Blitzkrieg could be fought - in the beginning. But when the opponents had learnt their lessons, they came up with new strategies. And the Germans, fighting on several fronts, overstretched their armies, and did not have the long breath, like the Russians had.

Well, he only achieved the rank of a private in WW1, if I remember correctly. How can such a man decide about such strategies? And how could those who knew better follow him without much opposition? To follow the leader blind was a German characteristic back then. I am very glad that the outcome was like it was. I visited England several times, and I like the country and it's people, as they are. I cannot imagine them living under Nazi rules. And I am glad that the Allied forces finally beat the Nazi regime - I would not want to live under such conditions.

That, and then they also had only a limited operational time over England before they had to return cause the fuel went out.

Welcome, Robert - nice to see you here!

Thank you for the info, Jim. Goering should be called "Herr Meyer" in that video - that was the new name he had chosen for himself, if ever an Allied bomber should appear over Berlin. And we all know: there came many of them. Rudel was AFAIK definitely a staunch Nazi. Galland seems to have changed during the war, at least so far that he objected "Herr Meyer" several times, until he got arrested. The allowance for him to build up JV 44 came directly from Hitler. "Herr Meyer" might have been boiling about that.

Great to see you with that work, Tony - looking forward to more pics! Thank you for your kind offer! I confess that I have only yesterday begun to read Collishaw's "Black Flight", that you sent me some time ago. I got so far, where he learned to fly in England, on a Caudron G.III. So take your time with the new book - I'm a slow reader.

Well, you can't have it all; the day has only 24 hours, and you need 6 - 8 of them to recover. I wish you the best of luck and health for your work, your hobbies and your family, Jim! One day you will find time to fly again.

Well, I'm not sure how much I could tell, so you better ask JFM.

Great to see such detail photos - thank you for sharing, Jim! How's your new book about MvR getting on?

Tony, great to see you around here!

Yes, that makes sense.

Hey, Tony - great to see you around here! How's the Mosquito?

Well, the real Albatros V-strutters did have wing failures (especially early on), which may have been caused by only one main spar in the lower wing, held at only one point of the V-strut, which allowed the wingtip to flutter in longer steep dives. The wings were then reinforced by an additional metal rod which led from the V-strut to the lower wing's forward edge. If I remember correctly, a warning was made to all pilots, not to dive steeply for more than 1000 meters - which should mean, that the wings did not break as easily as in RoF or WOFF.

Thank you, Jim - great sketch! I wonder if the "5mm reinforcement tape" is a typo and should be "50 mm"? Or do they mean the thickness in this case - 5 mm thick?

Yes, I hope so too - I miss him.

Ah, you saw this thread - thank you for the details, Jim!

Check your PMs, Hauksbee - addy sent.