Olham

I know, Creaghorn - I didn't mean to insult your granddad, nor the Croatians or Romanians. It was only just that sound of the name.

...the Transsilvanian Vampire-Pilot.

:no2:

"No Parachute" is a top notch read; I would recommend it to all interested in a personal view on WW1 air combat flying; and I recommend it especially to all Germans, who may find it hard to take the view from the other side. This gentleman just takes you into his war time life as easily, as the Britsh fellers can often be, sympathic and open. A book I will read more than one times. Here is one for 30 $ at Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.de/No-Parachute-by-Arthur-G-Lee-1991-Hardcover-/200566615837?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item2eb2b3af1d

I liked this weird movie back in the early 70s. MAD's Mort Drucker failed to make it even crazier - it wasn't possible to top that.

No need to vomit, Mighty - my mum loves the Royals ; and you should be situated far enough away from alll the trouble.

That explains it all, Lou; the uniform and all the books - maybe the soul of a WW1 flyer found a new home in you?

Indeed, TaillyHo, indeed! The SPADs definitely. They are strong and great energy fighters, but turning with them is something you need to exercise. The S.E.5s are - IMHO - a good mixture. They are firstly energy fighters; very powerful engine, extremely fast, good climb. But you can also turn with most German fighters quite well; she is easy to fly and to turn. Only craft you shouldn't dare to turn against, is the Fokker Dr.1 Dreidecker. I have to read that book yet. Is it a good read? Yes, the German craft in OFF are energy fighters. But there had been earlier Fokker with rotaries, which I guess were rather turn fighters. But for the idea of carrying two guns with enough ammo, an energy fighter would be more like it. The Germans mostly built great war craft; the British had (before the S.E.5) rather aircraft, which were beautiful to fly with.

You will learn each aircraft well, when you fly it a lot. Of course it's easier with an "easy" craft like the Sopwith Triplane. Hellshade is a top gun; he has been flying hundreds of sim hours. It's like flying with TrackIR - it is hard first, but when you got used to it, it feels like sitting in the cockpit. It took me a year to be as good in the Albatros as I am now. But I wouldn't stand a chance in that plane against Hellshade in a Triplane. Not the least.

If you are a "rotary-man / turn fighter", you may find it very different to fly an energy fighter. First thing to remember would be: don't let yourself get dragged into a turn fighting style. If you have the alt. advantage, dive on your opponents, attack them, and pull up again with the energy, to re-gain the advantage. If you are lower than the opponent, dive away from him and then pull up to gain altitude. If he should follow, you could only continue the diving away. (Here OFF is not yet perfect - the energy fighters could usually dive away faster than the turnfighters; but here, Nupes can often follow quickly, not to mention the Tripe, which can dive far too fast in OFF). I have mostly been flying Albatros, and after long training, I can turn with most craft pretty well. But with the rotary men, you should always force them into left round turning. In right rounds, they are better. It is quite a change still, coming from the turn fighters.

:rofl: Shootershill!

Damn! I never wanted to get old, but the more I learn that there is still lurking in the dark of nescience, the older do I want to get. English humour, eyh? An endless field, it seems... Found "Der elektrische Mönch" in German AMAZON. Odrered!

Douglas Adams wrote detective stories? Can you name them?

Yeah, why not? Good idea! "Field" sounds good to me - you must have had a great youth, tranquillo?

Not all of it - I think the tail was shreddered by Amherst or Trevelyan. I sure did saw the wing off. That should be the right version. Maybe the other patches still were before HitR. The DFW is a great sturdy and strong Lady. She will climb away from early Nupes! The Albatros D.II and the Pfalz D.IIIa are sturdy German fighters, if you want to try that some day. ReDDoT: "Hals- und Beinbruch!"

George, I suppose you always start new pilots, after the previous one has fallen. Then the sim uses the same pics again (Pilot1, Pilot2). If you go to the pictures, you can view them, and you can change their numbers there. First save the whole folder of pilot pics; then change their numbers after your likes. The pilot photos are here: (your sim folder) > campaigns > CampaignData > PilotPhotos They have folders for each country. You could even make your own pilot pics with them, plus passport images from yourself. Remember to check the pilot pic No. in the ingame log first, so you know which number you need to change. Good luck! PS: If you give me your hometown in Sussex, I will add you to our OFF Forum Pilots maps.

It is sometimes hard to make sense of just a few words of Crumpetlish, thrown at you like bones for the dog. My English may be quite acceptable, but I can still not understand the headlines of the "Sun".

Now I got it. I would be Lord Alfred Barry Am Zingel.

??????????

Wow, congratulations, CaptSopwith - you sure worked long and hard for all this, and even missed out a lot of flying - so you really made sacrifices. You have fought on too many front lines, I suppose, and you can't win them all. Now see, that you recover really well. Be careful, boy. Too much of that stuff isn't good for the healing process. Let the mechanics have some fire to warm their hands at - they will build up a new kite for you tomorrow.

ReDDoT, is that a "first aid kit" in the upper left corner? Very well prepared, I say! Looking good, your cockpits, guys!

The Bordeauxred Baron: "Bleech!!! An IKEA free swingink chair in ze cockpit of der Crumpet! Look at zem namby-pamby, fastidious Weicheier pilotz!!! Vatt do you say, if I shoot ze cotton wool out of your cushionz?!?! Mmuahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!!"

Thank you, TaillyHo. Yes, Jasta 2 is one of those Staffeln I always come back to. Yet dreaming of surviving the whole war with them. So far only a dream - I never even made one year of the war. Maybe I wrote it up a bit confusing? No, I did fire, and I definitely shot that wing off the big two-seater. It was only, that I hadn't chased or aimed at that DFW - it crossed my sight and grew larger, and I only had half a second to react. So I fired and then pulled hard to the right. I wouldn't have got a claim form, if I hadn't shot it down. Sheer luck though. The pilots should still work well after the "upgrade". I almost envy you for making the new experience with HitR. Remember to check for patches - I think there were one or two necessary. Hasse Wind would be happy about that decision.

An hour ago, I would have told you to start with Wikipedia - but now I found totally wrong info on an AVIATIK C.I and cannot encourage you. The OSPREY books, and the WINDSOCK datafiles are very good. But you can also just enlist with squadrons and jump into the cold water - like many of the pilots in WW1 had to. And learn by flying OFF. A wonderful way to educate yourself.