Olham

Indeed, Rickitycrate - when I was hunted down on my last Jasta 5 mission, and my ammo was out, I put the bird down near a machine gun position. Instead of leaving the sim via "escape", I remained sitting there, and switched through the outside views and targets. That way, I could watch a Nieuport 24 and two Pups, circling over our field, getting fired at from all angles.

Yeah, I thought, it might have been that then. And really - the British could have the copyrights on humour. We Germans actually got and still get educated by all the great British stuff we import since the early seventies. It began with a TV sketch of Freddy Frinton, then came Monty Python and Marty Feldman; A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Don't panik!) etc. etc.; and I was amazed to get all those little Fawcett books with Andy Capp. We are still learning, but it will probably always be like a foreign language to us, while the British people just have it in their blood, as I noticed in many a pup during some visits to England.

"The Aerodrome" have the WW1 air services listed per squadron / Jasta, and I got curious to see the relationships between victories and losses. So I collected the numbers for the first 25 German Jastas fighting at the Western front. I wanted to see the earliest Jastas with the longest service time (they all fought until the end of WW1). All those listed here were formed in the second half of 1916; so they fought more than two years. I was very surprised about the very low losses, even in those Jastas with a high victory rate (listed are only the confirmed victories). This shows clearly, that the "17-hour-life-expectancy" did not count for the German Jastas; it must have been only an Entente -, or maybe even only a British problem. I will research the numbers for Entente squadrons/Esc. next, and compare them. For the German side it can be said, that they seem to have cared very well for the education and training of their pilots, and that they seem to have protected their "rookies" very well.

That's why I wrote this. From now on, I'll make sure, never to be the most dangerous attacker from the rear gunner's point of view. I fire from a longer range first, and get closer only, when the Brisfit shows damage, or the gunner is "switched out".

What kind of other parameters do you mean? What is it, that you would like to change in Full DiD? I still don't get your point. There are lots of various aids and stuff the real life pilot didn't have. So I can only see one "full realism" standard, which would mean "all aids and crutches switched off"; and the rest is an individual set up each player will do as he likes. Perhaps you can describe, where you want to get? Do you find "Full DiD" still not realistic enough?

Didn't have that, but I noticed, that after each screenshot pause, the sounds seemed to change. A N24 was circling close to me, and after each pause, it used a different rotary sound.

Tried them, and they sound fine so far. It seems, that the sound of my own engine didn't change - is that right?

Thank you, JFM. So I learn, that the French had very similar modern building styles as the Germans had then. It looks exactly like a building south of Tempelhof field, where the UFA Film Company was resident later.

Okay, thank you both - I'll follow von Paulus' suggestion and back up the whole "sounds" folder.

Didn't know that, honestly.

Creaghorn, I'd like to try your sounds, but first I'd like to know, what exactly are the files I would have to back up? When I throw the WAV files into the "sounds" folder, I DO get a notice, that it will overwrite the file. And on C: programs is no other CFSWW1 folder; my game folder is on E:games - do you mean that one?

Hadn't seen this picture of "MvR's team" before. This looks like the buildings that still exist south of Tempelhof Airport - not like anything I've seen from France. http://www.sanke-cards.com/page3.htm Another fact I didn't know is, that there had still been several kingdoms in Germany. Here is a pic for example, showing the King of Saxony with Immelmann (holding the Meissenplate).

What about this one: "Military Bi-Athlon - Jump jetting plus Parachute watersport". Or this one: Don't retract your gear, while you're still running!

British_eh, the 'DiD Standard' was worked out by Siggi, with the assistance of other pilots. It can be found above in the 'Stickies'. The standard is more or less the same as in the "Krauts vs Crumpets" Campaign. If you want to check it there, go here: http://www.hetzer.talktalk.net/ Click on the roundel; then on all the pictures there - you'll find it. What is really missing yet (or I haven't found it), would be a "Beginner's guide to OFF", or a "rookie set up" for the sim, were all workshop settings and inflight aids are getting explained.

Seem to be getting old - see the same things again and again. But here is one that is real: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRRkBNf8T9w&feature=channel

It could perhaps be linked to the ammo counter. Like this: when the real player (RP) runs short of ammo, and has only 50 rounds left, the enemy AI re-assembles, and in a way, that they are not at all defenseless. They would assemble, and half of them would climb above the others; then the lower ones would climb above the first group; and so on, until they have reached a safe altitude to turn their backs on the RP and fly home (still checking their six of course). Another option: the ammo of ALL aircraft is limited and gets counted. When it's used up, it's over. That way, the AI would not shoot down all the opponents aircraft. We would see one or two losses on either side, that's it.

Thanks, Paarma, was just curious, cause I hadn't deen such a jacket before.

It was not my intention to "sugar coat" history. I am not, like many of you here, a WW1 history buff; I actually know rather little about the details of the air forces yet, for example. So I was really surprised about the numbers given in "The Aerodrome"; this was a different picture than the "17 hours scenario" I had believed it was before. I saw, that the German air force must have operated very clever, very caring for each other, and very effective, when these numbers were true (which I don't doubt, as "The Aerodrome" seems to be THE website about WW1 air combat). I felt a deep respect for their achievement, for the way they did their duty, knowing from today's position, that they fought a war they could not win in the end. The word "arrogance" disturbs me in this context. If there was big arrogance, then it was rather present in the higher command and political structure. On either side. French commanders for example have sent whole batallions to storm positions, which were not holdable for long, and sent them into their deaths for nothing gained. That is arrogant. And the nobles, the Kings and the Kaiser, were all of the same arrogance, here as there. The pilots in the field had their little arrogances, as they are rather human. When Udet wrote "Du doch nicht! (Not you!)" on the tail of his plane, that was average arrogance. (And in his book, Udet was later very aware, after being shot down in this plane, that he had been pretty arrogant with these words). The German soldiers and pilots at the front fought a war, like as if one Kung Fu fighter had to fight against a hundred opponents. He may be as good as he can do, but they can sleep in turns and fight him for days if they must, and in the end he must fall, due to exhaustion. But I would have a deep respect for his fight.

12oclockhigh, play it as you like it. There will be no one to look upon you as a "Slacker", as long as you don't tell everybody. Maybe UncleAl had a hard childhood.

No, not in RL, Widowmaker - I know that from 5 visits to your country.

Yep, I recommend UncleAl's "trace of crumbs", as it's called in the stickies.

Wow! That's what I call a stiff elevator cable!

Although Jasta 5 seems to be OvS' favourite Staffel to fly with, I had never yet joined them. The reason was only a matter of taste: I don't like the combination of green with red, which are their Staffel colours. But then I saw the Albatros D Va build project at the "Vintage Aviator" website and was so amazed to see a brandnew version of Josef Mai's fighter, that I started a new skinning project. Like Mai, I wanted a mottled fuselage back. All the time, I was thinking of a good personal emblem for my new pilot. I finally came up with an idea and a whole short story around it. My pilot Hans-Jurgen Harms has made "Bruch" (crashlanding) in an early flight with the Staffel, after a long and alcohol-drenched night. All pilots laughed about him, when he climbed from the damaged craft, and they named him "Hans Huckebein, der Unglücksrabe" from now on. Harms' name is even the same alitteration as that early comic figure: HH. Now for all non-Germans: the story about "Hans Huckebein" was drawn by Wilhelm Busch, who created a whole big book of early comics, mostly with a misanthropic and sarcastic humour. Most of his figures are well known German popular inheritage. Hans Huckebein is a young raven, that gets caught by a little boy. Left in the house alone, the little creature is very curious about everything. When he discovers a glass of Schnapps, he drinks it all dry, and gets totally drunk. He finds his end getting entangled in knitting wool, falling off the table and hangs himself that way. The word "Unglücksrabe" means in English "jinx" or "unlucky fellow", but in German we say "unlucky raven". I found this a story good enough to build a pilot on, and so now, after all these months in OFF-BHaH, I am finally flying with OvS in Boistrancourt. Killed a balloon and a Sopwith Pup in my first sortie. Thanks, OvS and Paarma, for your great skins - I only could work from there. And before anyone comes up again with the wheathering missing - this craft is a brand new production, only just painted in the Staffel colours. Okay?

Have worked on the skin again. The nose/cowling was changed, the metal ring of the hood had to be longer, and the hood had to come down towards the spinner a good deal more. For all this, the pictures at "The Vintage Aviator" were an indispensable help. Also changed some of the metal parts attached to the craft. I gave all metal parts a colour, that was much used in Germany as a rust protecting basic coating. The Luftwaffe used it in WW2 under the name RLM 02; it was a grey mixed of white, black and yellow. I assume, that this rust-proofing paint was already the same colour in WW1. The mix is more or less simple: 40% white, 40% black, 20% yellow (in Corel Draw the colour "Khaki").

Don't know, what happened. Some people seem to have warped too much and thereby landed in the north sea. I'll put you back in.