Olham

It must have been a terrible mess - a meat grinder in the air, so to say! I wonder, how many aircraft were lost due to collisions in that battle?

Carrick, as I think you didn't get my Albatros skins downoaded, here they are again. You must right-click the compressed file to unpack them; then you have to put each skin into here: [your sim folder] > campaigns > CampaignData > skins

Okay, you downloaded and installed the programs we gave you links for above? Then go to the skins and have a closer look. There are not only the thousands of ace skins, but there is also a basic skin of each craft for each Jasta. It won't have any more markings but the basic Jasta colouring. Search for: Off_Alb_DIII_early_t_Jasta 2 1917.dds and Off_Alb_DIII_t_Jasta 2 1917.dds

Stratos, some of us skinners inc. myself have offered to make a personal skin for everyone who wants one. So, if you send me an emblem in Jpeg or GIF format, or an idea for one; as well as for stripes, bands or chevrons, I would make you a personal Albatros D.III from the original basic Jasta 2 skin. It can then be saved and used as both the early and the late version.

Hellshade, I didn't find anything quickly, but here is an online map showing you airfield and squadron locations (not always quite right though, but it's a help anyway). Just choose in the above "By date", and select the date you want. Then you will get dots for the airfields which were operational on that day. Move the cursor over the dots to read the squadron or Jasta. I think you can assume, that only Jastas close enough to St. Mihiel (middle between Verdun and Metz, a bit south of both) would have been involved- http://patriot.net/~...end/WW1AirMap2/

Oh, that sure is a beauty, Javito and Lou! Very believeable!

Well, at least there is a song by the "Dandy Warhols" called "Minnesota", if you want to rock. Edit: not quite right - it is called "Minnesoter"; here it is:

Lou, if I should ever consider to move to the USA, I'd ask for a job with you first. We're a good team, I think. (And Minnesota should be fine for long bike rides without too much heat.)

I think, Homeboy just used a CFS3 chart and forgott to change that one point. No bones were broken.

Could it be, that the devs have just forgotten to link a few mission briefings with "All flights cancelled due to bad weather"? Or did you also face it in good weather?

Hellshade - I hope my request for a "full movie with lots of action" won't make you try to top any WW1 air combat movies ever made? Keep in mind, that FRAPS still needs a decent frame rate, old boy! With the battle of St. Mihiel, you might have too many planes around? I don't want, that your rig may blow up or melt down?!

Not sure, if you can convert the skins in Lou's recommended program. If not, download the free program DXTBmp. With that, you can convert the skins into BMP files you should be able to paint in. Later use the above progr. to re-convert the skins into .dds files. And yes - have a look into Gous' tutorial! You'll see - after a while you'll get there!

You have a typo there - it must be St. Mihiel. Perhaps you find something over at the Aerodrome - here is the link: http://www.theaerodrome.com/isearch/index.php?domains=www.theaerodrome.com&q=St.+Mihiel&sa=Google+Search&sitesearch=www.theaerodrome.com&client=pub-9021205038260322&forid=1&channel=0029775758&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23000000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23BAB79F%3BVLC%3A000000%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3ABAB79F%3BLBGC%3A918D70%3BALC%3A000000%3BLC%3A000000%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A000000%3BGIMP%3A000000%3BLH%3A0%3BLW%3A0%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaerodrome.com%2Fimages%2Fsearch.gif%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2F%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en

Thanks for sharing! Good to hear he is alright. And you, UncleAl - you know soooooo well, that we don't have a 4-mot-bomber (yet!) - how could it drive you nuts? But it may come one day!!

It's alright and shows your compassion, elephant - but the Albatros is for some time the only German fighter available here in OFF more or less.

"Vee vere flyink from der Montingen Flugplatz south to attack der Toul aerodrome, venn vee vere attacked by some French Nieuport N24. Ze furrball began! I had peppered a French craft already, venn I suddenly read "Le Pol" on ze side! Vass zatt ze famous Polovski from der OBD Team??? Vould I now be held responzible for der P4 nott makink any progress, ant der aircraft not gettink ready?!? Vell, I did my best ant made sure, zatt "Le Pol" vass nott shot at any furzer, ant I tried to guide him home. Unfortshunately, he crashed little later... Pleeaze, believe me: I did not vant zatt too happen! Can anyone forgiv me, or vill I now bee chased by der whole OFF community? I am so sorry! Sincerely! Your "Bordeauxred Baron"

Ahem - no - the French? Didn't know that! One letter too many or too few can make a dangerous difference, it seems!

There were Albatros D.III (early) and the later, stronger ones. They had a top wing camo of pale gree, dark green and brown; spinner/nose and tailplane were white, the rest of the fuselage clear varnished plywood. The metal hood was light grey. Stratos, get yourself the free "IRFANVIEW", install it and browse through the skins. You find the skins here: [your game folder] > campaigns > CampaignData > skins http://www.irfanview.de

Thanks for your compassion, elephant, but Tranquillo is right there - in the air we would be opponents. Opponents - not enemies - an important difference for me. I made him an S.E.5a, knowing very well, what he would do with it. I even flew that good British fighter myself and shot down Albatros. But it was making a queesy feeling in my belly. Hellshade, that's what I was thinking about, when I saw your video. It is a wonderful show of all the different craft in OFF. Now OFF might benefit even more, if there was also a video showing one tough clash, with pre-flight and later landing - a story, the viewer can feel part of. That's why it wouldn't be possible to show the variety of historical craft (which your video does perfectly) - it would be an action movie. Together, they would make a perfect team, I think, to promote OFF. (As if your other videos wouldn't do that - they all do, but I think you know what I mean!)

YES!

Hellshade, your action is breathtaking! As you seem to like to make videos, may I suggest a kind of raw script for one? 1. Go into a real big fight and make as much video material of it as you can. The best would be a fight in 1918, where French, Germans, British and American forces clash. If possible, show an Entente bomber attack on a German airfield or railyrad, with fighter escort, and a counter strike of German fighters 2. Note all the aircraft types involved, and find out what squadrons they were from 3. make starts & landings with all squadrons seen in take one. 4. fly a similar mission (weather and area) with all craft from take one and make more video material 5. try to make additional dramatic stuff like collisions, explosions and crashes The Cutting The cutting makes the dramatic differences, and the fighting will need to have many cuts and counter-cuts, often only very short bits, to create the speed and confusion of such a furball. Now cut it that way, that we see 6. all different parties at taking off (dramatic angles of running aircraft; speed!) 7. how they proceed to their areas (the dancing up and down bombers, the nervous fighters etc.) 8. How the bombers approach & bomb their targets (incl. bomb view - the spectator falls with it so to say) 9. how the German fighters approach 10. how the bombers turn, and the fighters spot the enemy coming 11. how the dogfight begins 12. how the bomber gunners defend more German fighters (All this with many cuts between the different parties.) After the fighting, you show the returning, battle-strained craft, some smoking, (very dramatic would be a badly damaged craft pulling a dark trail of smoke on a long and shallow descend); and their landings at their various fields (the bombers perhaps, while the sun goes down - end title) Sorry, I got carried away with it, but this is something I know you could do with great precision, and I'd really love to see from you. But only if you like to do it and if you have the time for such a big movie project.

Tranquillo, your skins are delivered (see your PMs). I did not find the time to do two different ones, as I had not worked much on the S.E.5a. But you got both versions, with all their differences, of course. Have fun with them! PS: thank you for the tip - it works fine already!

Lou - you must have one of the best women in the world, when she lets you get away with spending so much time on our favourite subject. So thank you for just being what you are - and to your wife for letting you do all that!

Recently, RAF_Louvert and I exchanged a few words about balloon attacks and how to blow them up. After reading somewhere (Julius Buckler's book, I think) that you could get the gas to burn only, after it was mixed with air, I wanted to know more, but didn't yet find anything at wikipedia. But here is a post over at "The Aerodrome", written by our Forum member "Catfish"/"Wels", that you may find interesting: http://www.theaerodr...html#post423189

Well, the balloon observer had a telephone line to the ground, as far as I know. He got warned by the ground crew, who got informed from the troops at the lines, when enemy craft approached the spotter's position. As you say, Hasse Wind, they were well trained and valuable men, and they were often very early ordered to jump out. Their parachutes were, as far as I could see, connected to the balloon basket will a pull-line; so they were pulled open, once the observer jumped. I don't think, that many observers got killed in balloon attacks. It seems it was only to bring that "sausage" down, and thereby stop the enemy's artillery guidance for some time. A new balloon had to be filled, or even to be brought from elsewhere.