Olham

:good:

No. 1 Squadron RNAS, Bailleul Asylum 1/6/1917 Patrol Behind Enemy Front Lines Flying: Sopwith Triplane. On this day claims: 1 Alb DIII . We had a patrol around Halluin/Rekkem. On the way back, "Teddy" Gerrard's A-flight went down low and clashed with Albatros fighters, short after crossing the lines. I decided to join the fight; it was on our terrain, and I chased one craft and hit it severely. It was dark blue, with a red nose. I had a gun jam, but when the German tried to escape over the line, I got it cleared and shot him down. He crashed east/south-east of Ypres. Witnesses: Edgar Gunn, Leif Parker, Tock Swithin, Jeff Evans Mr. & Mrs. Oldham 17 Harbour Rd. Helston/Porthleven Cornwall GREAT BRITAIN No. 1 Squadron RNAS, Bailleul Asylum, June 2, 1917 Dear Mum and Dad Today I have overcome the impression, that the enemy craft are undestroyable. I have shot down my first Albatros scout! His craft was painted colourful like the Germans often do. The most of the fuselage was dark blue; the nose was red. I chased and hit him several times in a low fighting, but then I had a gun jam. He almost escaped. In the last minute I could clear again, and shoot him down, short before he crossed the line. Edgar Gunn, Leif Parker, Jeff Evans and Tock Swithin saw it best, and the boys where wonderful: they let me have him! When I came to the wreckage later, the German lay beside the plane, with some oil smeared cloth covering his head. When I removed it, I saw why the boys had covered his face. It was badly smashed. He didn't look at all frightening now; rather pale, faint - like a young student maybe. What irritated me most, was his staring into eternity - smiling. As if he was glad he was disburdened from this all. And it was good, that he smiled - somehow. Wish I could be with you in Porthleven. Having some of your shepperd's pie, mum. We could walk over to Penrose, dad, and be fishing at the Loe all afternoon. In the evening I would have a bicycle race with Craig up to the "Blue Anchor" in Helston. I would let him win, and buy the drinks all evening. Miss that rich flavour of Dave's Spingo - the best he could brew for the homecoming boys! Wish I could have that last afternoon again, with Caitlyn at Praa Sands beach... Gawd! The more I write, the more homesick I get - I think, I better move my bum over to the mess! This evening will be quite expensive for me - all of No. 1 Squad must know by know, that I downed my first Hun. Hope to see you some soon day, perhaps even with Robert also on leave! Your son David

Carrick, on BE2c you can get as close as to touch his rudder - they don't have rear gunners. Von Guber - where the planes ALL red? All over, and all of them? I knew only the Red Baron's like that so far. I hope to meet them too. Should be him, with his boys of Jasta 11.

Winder; man of short hints for things to come. Sounds very promising! But don't make them all fly like aces, please - I'm pretty sure, that the majority of fighter pilots didn't live long enough to become really good.

Been flying on XP 32 so far - will now try Vista with my new rig and see what I get. Dimus, what is UAC, that you deactivated?

I assume, that enemy craft doing that, are already pretty much damaged, Fortiesboy. They try to get higher, and stall back. A human pilot would now land on the next clear spot or a field, as the plane can't go on. The AI cannot "think that far", so to say. And so, sooner or later they crash. I had one "golden moment" when I found one of my wingmen creeping low, and I repeatedly press "R" return. After a while, he really came up higher. But that might have been coincidence?

No, it's alright, Ras. Happens to every thread now and then. I typed into Google Maps: Roggow, Deutschland Then I received the one near Rostock. But on the left side, I was asked something like "Did you mean Roggow (and another postal no.), or Roggow (and again another postal no.)". So I clicked on both of them, and got their positions. If you can't get those your end, send a PM, and I'll send you the postal codes. PILOT NOTES No. 1 Squadron RNAS, Bailleul Asylum, June 1, 1917 Flight Lieutenant David Oldham At 10:25 AM, they rang the bell and we stormed out to our Triplanes. Lester, my mechanic shouted something about incoming bombers; then he gave the prop a good turn and up we went. This crate climbs like balloon, and we saw 6 DFW bombers. And 16 Albatros scouts! Only 6 of us got airborne, when the hell broke loose! Albatros everywhere! Their individual paintings showed there where aces among them. Christ almighty - shall I be there still to celebrate your birthday this year? I would have liked to climb above all this turning, but no way - there was always someone behind me. Banking, pulling, rolling - it was like a helter skelter. Tracers zipped past several times! After short time, all fighters where spread out over the terrain a bit, so I could pick me one, I thought. We can turn so much better, after only two rounds I could cut into his, and hit his elevator. Now he tried it left round, but during the change he got it full hard! Still no sign of damage! Are these birds carved from a solid wooden block? I hit him again, but he was still turning tight. Suddenly he broke out, and I should have known: he had seen help coming! I just lined up behind his climbing craft, when I got hit! I managed to roll over and dive away, and even to get behind my victim again! I should have cleared my situation first, I know. I hit "my" Albatros with another full burst. That wild boar was still running fine! You don't believe it!! Now I got hit from the right below. His friend was back. My gun was shot up; full jam! Engine was also hit; ran low, then stopped. I could land between a hill slope and a wood, and had to watch the rest grounded. The Albatros fighters ruled the sky above our field, while the bombers demolished it. I will remember the guy who fired at me twice - a black and white striped craft with a white Jewish star of David on the sides. I will find out about him. The guy is very good! But next time I'll be prepared!

Yes, I found three Roggow, all in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, one near Rostock, the other two more towards the now Polish border, where there was Germany's Pommern before the end of the 2. world war. You can even also use Rasmussen as a family name, because you would find Skandinavian names south of Denmark, and along the Baltic sea shores.

Of course you can take part, mighty. I have a date right now, but will fly later today.

Not May 23, British_eh. Today is the 1. December, so it must start at the 1. June. Haboklabber is cute - your daughter showed a nice example of our human language creation there. Doesn't it really sound like a helicopter? We won't have a website, so we could report besides our deeds, our rank, hours, confirms and medals. Carrick, Otto Matic is good! I wish you good success with him! For you the same, Ras. To honour Julius Schlueter - a name that might be from the northern Germany, Hamburg, Bremen areas? 115 years ago... Many Ostfriesen from my home area went to America with almost nothing but their will to work hard, as they where used to.

OvS, the look of FSX is very good, if you you want it to just look realistic. "Over Flanders fields" is going some good steps further. When we look at really good air combat paintings and art by some of the specialised artists like Dietz, we realise immediately, that we look at a painting. But we also favour this painting instead of the "naked truth" of a photograph, because it also communicates with our emotions so much better. Because contrasts and colour "tuning" are much more to our likes. Because they enhance the visible facts into art. That's what "Over Flanders Fields" is - an animated painting, a modern art expression of the air combat of World War One.

Stiffy, it takes a while, until you know how to fly the kite for a better view. Meanwhile, I can let a Nieuport pass under me, and steer the plane so, that I find her coming out the other side, with no problem. Definitely more realistic.

You guys come up with German names - tch! But if you MUST call him Diesel Oel, you should write it with capital letters - it's a name. Otto Diesel would be even better.

Carrick, I though to start 1917. 1916 has only the Eindecker as German fighter. But you may start 1916, if you want.

If you have CFS3 as DVD version, you don't need to install that. Just install OFF - it will ask for the CFS3 DVD to use some data - that's it. Then Superpatch, then latest mini-patch.

Yeah, Zoomzoom, I know! But the British side makes it easy for us: you can start exactly on 1 June 1917, and will be flying the Sopwith Tripe. The other side - Jasta 6 - will have the Albatros D III at that time. For all who don't know her: rugged, solid good mix of turn and energy fighter, with one weak spot though: lower wings are like Nieuport's very fragile. So NO steep dives, no hard pulling up after soft dives. Sounds bad, but is still a great frighter - you'll see. (Whisper: twin guns!)

captainschwarz: Zu den Flugzeugen hat sich Olham ja schon geäußert. Aber unterschlagen hat er, dass 3.200 Skins mitgeliefert werden. Mein Gott, wie konnte ich das vergessen! Ja, natürlich - da sind alle Ace Skins drin, die man sich wünschen kann, und auch individuelle Skins von weniger bekannten Piloten. Mit dem Freeware-Programm DXTBmp kann man die Skins auch zu Bitmaps konvertieren, die man dann in Photoshop oder anderen Bildprogrammen bearbeiten kann. So mache ich mir meine Skins immer selber. Das Tollste wird im neuen "Hat in the Ring" add-on für mich sein, daß man nun seine individuelle Skin auch wirklich alleine fliegen kann. Natürlich kommen damit auch einige weitere Flugzeuge wie der Fokker E.V (D.VIII) Hochdecker und die Nieuport 28, und weitere Nieuport-Varianten.

From my graphic designer point of view, I would say, photorealism could kill a lot of the rich immersive feeling of this sim. It sounds strange, but somehow you can highlight and bring to life a simulation much better, when you make it an art work, like a painting or a sculpture. With this own artistic touch, that we find in the aircraft as well as in the landscapes - a slight abstraction, like the stroke of a painter's brush - "Over Flanders Fields" has become one of those "games", where you really dive and wallow in a world of immersion. Not many sims and games get that created, and I would never ask you to change that for something as "naked" as photorealism.

Since we often have bad wheather and are even grounded some days in "Krauts vs Crumpets", I had the idea for an "Opposite Campaign". This will be are more loose campaign with no website. Flying activity may be less - we fly just when we feel like. But with date advanced to the same number (December 17 would be June 17 etc.) It will start tomorrow, but on the opposite date (six months ahead), which is June 1, 1917. (I did not choose 1916, cause the German side only has the Eindecker as a fighter). All who are from former Entente nations, will fly German side. All who are from former Central Powers states, will fly Entente side. We report briefly here, and occasionally show the log, when we get a new medal. The only thing we still have to decide is, do we pick Squadron/Jasta/Escadrille freely, or shall we choose certain ones, so we get a "community feeling". What do you suggest?

Warp is made that way, that it stops short before the enemy craft appear visible as white specs on TAC. If it would stop later, perhaps, when enemy craft appeared as red specs, it would throw you into the situation of an engagement, cause the enemy pilots also recognise you now, and engage. So, warp still exits you early enough to get around a fight, if you prefer that. Or early enough to allow you to check the situation, and climb, while you do. Why change that?

Duke, it looked like this. In the movie it was brown, but I'd rather think it was black. Not sure though.

Winder: ...what steps forward would players expect to see in a next gen OFF? Now, I don't know if AI behaviour belongs to what you meant, Winder, but what I would like to see changed, is the behaviour of two-seaters. I'd like to see two-seaters, that react realistic on an attack, at least by evasive movements. The Roland and the Brisfit are doing so very well - perhaps it can be changed for all craft. Especially the Fee was a fighter by name. And even a BE2c would not fly on straight, when shot at. With a good pilot, it might even escape a fighter, who fires all his rounds too soon.

DukeIronHand, the joystick setup isn't so nasty, when you DON't try to delete a command setting, that is already there. Before you can delete or overwrite it, you just click on "add assignment". Now make your desired new assignment. After that, you can (I think) delete the old.

Thanks, OvS, but he's a friend - it won't cost me more than cooking something nice. My problems are partly to get the right hardware for my sound set up, and he has the spare parts for that. But for the right set up of OFF, I will surely ask, if I can't get it right alone.

Bullet, if you haven't seen this yet - there are Fees on film; great footage! http://forum.combata...cool-ww1-video/