Olham

Thanks, m8 - another bet is won, I'd say!

Unbelieveable find, OvS! Look at that ...Pfalz5 pic - how thin the plywood must have been, when the man could bend it like that!

By the way - does anyone know if it's Ringo singing "Good night" on the "White Album"? I'd bet he is, but a friend of mine said, no, can't be, as he was only allowed to sing one song per record. But it's a double-album, so ... Anyone?

More pics - I reduced them to 200 dpi, but only to make it possible to place them here. One shows the front fuselage part of a Fokker E.V. The other seems to be a Halberstadt two seater.

No no no, Lou - as long as I haven't really flown all the crates and squads in BHaH, I don't need another WW1 air combat sim. Maybe some people here are just curious. But to me it would mean less time for BHaH - and I have duties to fly.

Hmmmm - I do it more or less like you, Dej, but my pilots mostly have around 30 or more claims, by some 10 - 15 confirmations. Like OvS rather... PS: the English (real) Cheddar I got with "Ploughman's lunch" was fine. We only get bad copies here.

Still no idea, what that site is - the pictures look like from a documentary archive. There are well photographed detail pictures of this kind of "mitrailleuse", linked with the handle/fire button of a stick. It could well be, that hese are original photographs made by or better for Fokker, or the German military. The aircraft production pic had the letters AEG in it's shortname. The wing is for a Fokker Dr.1, getting the fabric attached to it.

Oh, that was Ringo? Always thought it was Pol - well, anyway, I like Ringo and his work as a drummer. Nice he found the time to do this wav for OFF - it definitely wasn't for the money.

Just in case you ovelooked it - the Fokker Logo. And some of those fashionable furs on MvR. That find seems like a gold mine.

Karl Thom - Germany - 27 victories Rank: Leutnant Orden Pour le Mérite (Blue Max), Golden Military Merit Cross, Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class Units: FFA 48, 216, 234, Jasta 21 Born: 19 May 1893 in Freystadt, Westpreussen (West Prussia) Died: 03 March 1945 in Pillau, Ostpreussen (East Prussia) Thom was wounded in action on 23 December 1917, 11 August 1918, and badly injured in a crash landing on 9 November 1918. Information data from "The Aerodrome" ( www.theaerodrome.com ) - I really recommend that site to all aviation fans.

Emil Thuy - Germany - 35 victories Rank: Leutnant Orden Pour le Mérite (Blue Max), Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class Units: FFA 53, Jasta 21, 28, JGR 7 Born: 11 March 1894 in Hagen, Westphalia Died: 11 June 1930 Killed In Flying Accident near Smolensk, Russia Thuy was badly wounded while fighting on the Western Front. Sent back to Germany to recover, he was deemed unfit for further service. He then transferred to the German Air Force, eventually becoming the highly decorated commander of Jagdgruppe 7. He was injured in a crash on 2 February 1918. Thuy survived the war but died in an aircraft accident while training pilots for the Luftwaffe in 1930. Information data from "The Aerodrome" ( www.theaerodrome.com ) - I really recommend that site to all aviation fans.

Eduard Ritter von Schleich - Germany - 35 victories Rank: Hauptmann Orden Pour le Mérite (Blue Max), Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class, Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max-Joseph Units: FA 2, Jasta 21, 32, JG IV, JGR 8, SS 28 Born: 09 August 1888 in Munich Died: 15 November 1947 in Diessen, Bayern (Bavaria) Flying an all black Albatros D.V, Eduard von Schleich was known as "The Black Knight" of Germany. Information data from "The Aerodrome" ( www.theaerodrome.com ) - I really recommend that site to all aviation fans.

I'd like to make an exception here, and report, with screenshots, about my first campaign fight in a SPAD XIII with 103rd Aero, La Bonnemaison Ferme. Would you believe it - Albatros-Olham in an American fighter, shooting down an Albatros? Well, I had to overcome quite some emotions. I'd prefer to see this pilot as my cousin, Dennis Marlowe - the son of my father's brother, who had immigrated to North Carolina in 1892 (fictional). We encountered Albatros DVa and DVa 200, and we where equally numbered. As the Albs wanted to fight low, I had to go and stay down lower than I liked, but I feared for my fellow pilots, and though climbing up, to come down again, would just take too long. So I did more turnfighting than I should in this crate, and I must say, she's doing far better than I had feared after reading about her easy stalling at banking. I did have 4 - 5 minor stall situations, but without bad spinning, and I managed to get out of them. It seemed to me, that she behaved contrary to all my previous experiences with other stalling craft: I got her out by pushing FULL THROTTLE and pulling the NOSE UP a bit above horizon. It felt, as if she pulled herself out of the stall with sheer engine power. I will try that again, before I claim it a fact though. See the fighting picture with my steep banking, more than vertical wings! With full speed it was possible (I'm flying with 110 % realism; only auto-mixture is on). After flying a craft like the Albatros, which isn't so much a turn fighter, it did not feel to big a change to the SPAD - for a Nieuport or Camel pilot, it must be a big difference. The SPAD even has it's own beauty, as the shot on the field may show - enjoy my pics! Olham - arrhhm; Dennis Marlowe PS: oh, and I got him - the Albatros. Edit/PPS: My goodness - these French can make a comfy cockpit!

Hey, Mighty - I just shreddered 4 of your Nupe 17 south of Juniville, flying a "bewildered" Albatros DIII. So much for that. And I fly the SPAD, cause it was made. Cause it was lovingly modelled and painted lots of skins for. Cause I want to take on the challenge to fly a crate, that is NOT easy to fly reasons enough for me.

Hellshade - he isn't only shooting good videos - his shooting at SPADs is also superb! Jammer - thanks for the idea; I have straight away listed in with Jasta 21, in May 1917. We're situated at Le Chatelet, Marne region - beautiful! I just shot down 4 Nupe 17 with a light blue angle on the wings (sorry, Rabu!)

Don't know, Dej - look at her from above: beautiful! (Picture: thanks to www.callie-graphics.com)

SirMike: When gliding don't think yourself obligated to land at an airfield. Find the closest relatively flat, open space on the allied side and drop in on it. Sorry, SirMike, but for Creaghorn, Hasse Wind, several others, and me that would be the worst solution.

Yes, Hasse Wind, I do a lot of turn fighting in the DIII. Yesterday I turned with three Sopwith Triplanes - and sent two of them down (the third got shot up badly by my wingman). You should have good wingmen though in such a case - alone, it would have been a different cup of tea. But when you are good at deflection and long range shooting, no problem.

Yes, always watch the sun! I have (in Phase 2) once been attacked by a single SPAD VII coming out of the sun. When I recognised it, it was huge already; I just managed to push the stick hard forward, when he opened fire. Udet lost his comrade Putz that way. Does your TAC show target assignments in German? How comes?

The Albatros may not be the lightest craft to perform that, but she did very well. But a Nupe or a Pup should get much further. I suppose. If you really try that, Widowmaker, try to hold them 5 ° down (use the instrument) if possible, so we'd have similar conditions?

They are getting even better, Jammer - you are the OFF Movie Director! That blend from one skin to the other was a perfect idea - watch this, Paarma and OvS, it shows your skins so nicely. And off course I always melt away when I see my favourite bird shown so beautifully. Wagner, eyh - well, he really fits the gravely German soul here. Jasta 21 is on my list of Jagdstaffeln, that I want to fly with - where were they?

Hahaha! Great story, UncleAl! Sometimes the devs built it almost too realistic, eyh? I just imagined you crashing into a huge box with cans to stopp you. And being all the practical pilot, you find a cracked up can and say: "Hm!!! Corned beef! Are there some sour cucumbers anywhere to it?" Rickity, they are sure helpful there to shoot opponents off your tail. But never land there, if you mustn't - the food you'd get in the canteen is far worse than ours. Canvas Wings - you must not make it to an airfield - if you touch down your side of the lines, anywhere in the green, will do.

Hey, Lou, welcome back at the front! From a two-weeks-holiday, I know how you must have suffered. IL2 1946 has some campaigns on, which can be flown with a friend, via direct LAN connection. So you and your friend can be in the same Squadron/Geschwader and help each other out. Did that with my neighbour, and THAT was big fun! Stay aloft! Olham

Thanks all, but I should have known most of this. According to my data, the SPAD is faster and climbs better than the DVII? Should try to make use of that then. Your low down dive should do great for gaining distance and more speed, SirMike, but going home from there? NEVER! From that lowest point, I will - at least once - try and zoom up steep (they shouldn't be able to follow that as fast) and with the necessary distance between us, perform a loop, to check headover, where they are, and attack again. Maybe you tried that, and it didn't work? Well I have to do it once, so I know - the benefits of not being in a real war...

Good grief! Had a fight against Fokker DVII from Jasta 6; Werner Noldecke, Paul Wenzel, Richard 'Ricardo' Wenzl and Franz 'Locken' Werner among them. As I have hardly flown the DVII, I didn't know how good they would do. Well, they did VERY good - I fell into a lake with my crate! Back to square one - arhm - back to QC training!