Olham

Thank you for rating my intelligence so accurately, Bullet. Lol!!!

Good, that someone here said something other than Arab bashing; thanks, Bullet. As for wars, I don't believe in enemies in general (some SS divisions would certainly be an exception). I see "opponents" - an enemy would be someone I learnt to know as such. If I had been in some Jasta in WW1, and Bullethead in an American Squadron, we might have met above the lines and fought. But whoever would have brought the other down in the end - if we both had survived it, and would meet the other so close, we could talk to him - then we would realise, we are not enemies - we were opponents. Every being has it's Wolf - man, as the highest on the ladder, only has himself. So it may be an evolutionary thing, that we measure our strengths that way, before we accept each other. May be rather a man's (as opposite of 'woman') way though, as it was HIS evolutionary part.

Bullet, I met a fireman some years ago, and from all he told me, I realised, in that job, you must really witness lots of idiots, helplessness and drama - as if you see it bundled there, that modern man is often hopelessly overextended by modern life. But, on the other hand - in the wild djungle, like our ancestors, it wouldn't be much better...

Returning from a successful afternoon flight, I decided to approach our field at Eswars low. I followed a river, and as I passed Eswars, I noticed marching German troops and vans. I went very low, to see them closer, and I took this screenshot. Very often, I see German tanks roll along the road to Eswars, towards the front.

Ad hoc, I would like to see Udet's life as an aviator, with a pre- and post war part, until the dramatic finish, when he kills himself, as he must realise, that he's only used by the Nazi regime - without any real chance to change anything. Also, a movie about Freiherr Manfred von Richthofen - showing, how it all really was and looked (as far as known). But movies about air combat have the problem, that they show very young men going to fight a war, instead of having some amusing love stories or funny problems of the everyday life. The typical alibi love story was - even in the newer "Red Baron" a flirt with a nurse, who shows the warrior the ugly face of war. No romance really. And what these young men do each and every day, is fly out for slaughter. The "Blue Max" was quite good as an exception, as it was more about a conflict of classes, and the intrigues in the upper class, which wouldn't let "someone from the street" so easily into their ranks.

The French still have the "Storks" Escadrille (don't know the number?) today as an elite unit. (Only, now they fly Mirage jets, of course).

God, I can hardly wait for the moment I have a new rig incl. firewall; so I can fly with many of you. Must be incredible!

WELS: What is strange is that he was still peppered with bullets (the last time), when he must have been already wounded, if not already dead, propellor standing and gliding in a more or less straight line towards the west - because one of the RFC pilots said " ... if i could only have brought him down alive". I don't find it strange. You just stand on the other side of the line, that devides the "chivalrous knights of the air" from the warfighting soldiers. This pilot had just demonstrated to them, that he was an extremely dangerous killer of their comrades. Now they could let him go, and feel bad for their comrades in future - or they get him once and for all, now they have the chance. And feel bad about a victory afterwards, that was anything but glorious.

Welcome, Jim - and don't forget to try the Bristol fighter!

Hey, wow, RedDog - looks like an epic battle! Think I know what you mean - it's never predictable. Widowmaker once was totally surprised by a single Albatros with a black tail (Jasta 12, we assumed), roaring over them, firing; just when he started his engine. And I once had a single SPAD coming out of the center of the sun, which was at my 10-11 o'clock. When I could see it, the craft was only some 200 feet away. My luck was only, that I had just decided to push down my nose for a ground target. So it came like a defensive move, but wasn't. Shocked like that, I wouldn't have been able to react that quick.

Yes, agreed, tttiger. As I said: we are not famous for our humour. German film business lost a lot through the upcoming Nazis, and maybe hasn't recovered from that, ever. A good German comedian was Loriot, who only made two cinema movies (and lots on TV). But I don't think, they where released abroad.

Vee arr NOT amuzed, mein Herr - shootink up der good planez! Good vid, Hiccup. And I wonder you got through with the music? Most of what I choose, is getting cancelled by YouTube.

Okay, will try the SPAD fight. The Voss-fight, I had already done and posted before. But here it is again.

Well, tttiger, that may be because some of the best German comedy was made by Germans, going to the USA, when Hitler and his brown hordes appeared. Billy Wilder was in fact a native Berliner, who had spent his days of youth as a giggolo (yes, Germans can even be giggolos). He used all his experiences as a night owl in his movies like "Some like it hot". Don't know about you, but I found them full of good humour. And here's the fantastic Gert Froebe from the movie "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4fVp-hEPOk&NR=1 (But I admit: we definitely are not the World Champions of humour. I'd vote for the Brits, there).

Hey, RedDog - looked like a zombie Elvis with shades on (Lol!) I just had a very tense "scramble", in which I even broke the tip of my right wing (but that Pup was down!) Our nine Albs where attacked by 9 Pups from RFC-66; and there where aces among them. So I couldn't give up and carefully flew on with my broken wing, downing 4 Pups after all. This time, I used my wingmen very well. I ordered attack on the aces first, and called for help several times with good success! Wing4 Franz Lichtenberger helped me out twice - good man! The fourth I downed was ace John Oliver Andrews, who had chased me a while around at treetop level. But when Franz distracted him, I shot him to pieces. The irony after all: I wanted to use the name of the ace in my claims report. So I paused OFF and started Photoshop, to look at the screenshots. Result: total crash - no report, finished! How stupid can a man be? Pictures: 1. Crushing my wing on a Pup 2. Help me, Franz! 3. Franz doing his best 4. Gottcha, John Oliver Andrews! Oh, and we won!!!

Godzilla: Was it that he really couldn't excape or that his over confidence in his skill and the DrI was such he believed it was possible to shoot down all those Se5a's and live to tell the tale? Well, just try it with one of your long time/good kill tally campaign pilots. Or set up a fight like Voss'. I did that. And although it's a sim (but a very immersive one!), where I can't die, I had an extreme rush of adrenalin. I thought all the time, that I may just have one more minute. One more minute to survive. One more chance to escape the next attack. Don't even dream of running away - they'll shoot you to pieces! Be quiet. Be quiet and don't waste a single round! And if - very perhaps, and with all the help of all my angels - I could damage them all enough to make them give it up - only then, I may see the meadows again, where I used to play as a child. How I wished to...

Here's a photo of Karl Michael Vogler today. He often played the typical Nazi officer in films, but loves the theater. I really enjoyed him in "The Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines", together with Gert Fröbe as a German officer duo, where these two great actors could show, that Germans too have humour.

My Saitek pedals have two axis - 1. the rudder axis 2. the breaks (when i bend the pedals forward). Now, it seems, that in BHaH this second axis makes problems my end. Could anyone tell, if and how it can be switched "off"? I'd like to learn to fly with rudder pedals.

This is strange (at least for a computer idiot like me): I searched for Aussie Pilot's .xca file. The only one shown in the search window was "Flight Simulator.xca", located in CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields. Now the strange thing - it wasn't shown anywhere there. Now I tried to find it with the Editor's "open file" - no way. Invisible?

They could use paintball bullets - and they would get real rich!

Bandy, I'm not sure. I only flew a couple of British missions, where I was not leader. I believe to have noticed, that my direct wingman reacted on my orders; but am not sure.

MEET THE MAHLOs Okay - I have also made some new ones. Here are the names which are in the big book now (I don't know how to get the pics in order, or if they show the pilot numbers?) pilot7: Leutnant Guenther Mahlo Jasta 5, Gonnelieu, November 1916 Albatros DII pilot6: Leutnant Detlev Mahlo Jasta 11, Brayelles, February 1917 Albatros DIII early pilot2: Leutnant Juergen Mahlo Jasta 2 "Boelke", Eswars, March 1917 Albatros DIII pilot1: Gunther von Mahlow Jasta 28w, Wasquehal, May 1917 Albatros DIII pilot5: Oberleutnant Werner von Mahlow Jasta 11, Awoingt, March 1918 Fokker Dr.1 pilot3: Oberleutnant Wolfram von Mahlow Jasta 7, Rumbeke, March 1918 Albatros DVa pilot4: Hauptmann Juergen Mahlo (KIA) Jasta 9, Sissone, August 1918 Albatros DVa 200 The last name, as you see, got killed - he was my best one so far with 17 confirmed kills, (and 48 claims, which in fact where all kills); mainly SPAD XIII It's fun to do your own pics - you should give it a try.

Hey, Bandy ! There really were "lone wolfs" - you could follow Guynemer's footsteps (or wing slaps?). And if you do all the right things, you may go pretty far. But even a crack like Guynemer said: "I will not survive." And he didn't. OvS: ... it would be Voss, MvR, Mannock, Fonck, Bishop, Udet, Collishaw. A cool collection (if we forgive Fonk for his boasting - he can't have been too bad though. Udet had him as a visitor after the war).

Well, if I was in your shoes, Rickity, I would definitely visit the Smithsonian. Your way would be a lot shorter and less expensive than mine.

Hey, Bandy you don't need to circle the field three times, if you do it right. After takeoff, just fly slowly (60 - 70 % throttle) towards the first real waypoint. Press "R" return several times, until your wingmen come so close, you could read their names if you switched labels on. Now, you can go off full throttle, but press "R" once more then. Ground targets and balloons, as far as I know, will not be credited, when they were not a mission target. But I'm not 100 % sure.