Olham

Wonderful "time-tunnel", Stiffy! How wonderfully naive the appearance of visual communication was those days! And they even got a pic of me in my beloved Albatros, hawking down on a two-seater. Great stuff!

Good points there, Gremlin - thank you.

For a German WIKIPEDIA Article, I would like to use very good screenshots of aircraft, single or flying in formation or dogfighting. If you at OFF OBD have some good ones with your logo in, please post them or PM them to me. Everyone else: please use only sim skins and a variety of craft. I don't have the best graphics yet, so I ask you for help here. Whoever wants to contribute some, please follow some rules: 1. You should have most advanced graphics. Use highest resolution for the aircraft in workshop, please. An exception would be shots made to demonstrate damage - here the next lower setting for aircraft is necessary. 2. Pick an interesting wheather - that can be chosen in "workshop QC's". I want some really nice and sunny wheather as well as huge, dramatic thunderheads, but rather no rainy wash kitchen looks. 3. Pick some really interesting German skins for your German craft. 4. Do the dogfighting like a movie director. Manoeuver your craft to good angles in relationship to the sun and the other craft. Use the "pause" key and wander around the frozen scene, to get the best angle; zoom in and out to get it right. Also view scenes or single craft from above - sometimes a good angle. Turn and move around a scene in thunder wheather so, that you may catch some reflection on the surfaces; that will give it an extra touch. And after all that work, you should still be prepared, that your picmight not be used, although it is good - I can't plaster Wikipedia with screenshots, and will have to pick some 3 - 6 pictures, to show the variety of types and skins. Thank you for reading and for any screenshots.

You keep it safe and sound - thanks, Eric!

That's what the picture's name says, at least.

Well, this is absolutely absurd, foolish, giddy, goofy, laughable, ludicrous, piffling, ridiculous, silly - but funny! (You see, I even learbt some vocabulary!). Oh, and the other, the WW2 one: I didn't say I didn'T know Monty Python! Of course I know them, and that joke, too. In the seventies, I loved to see their programme.

Baldric, I can only hope that Bullethead won't sue you for using his line (Lol!!)

Wow, and you even made your avatar with Albatros! Good idea!

The Holy Grail - never seen that one, honestly. But I think they are difficult or impossible to translate really; a German would miss many of the jokes, cause they would get lost in translation.

OvS, Lou is right there The Jpeg names for the D Va's are: Jasta 58-Albatros D.Va D.jpg, JASTA 72 ALBATROS D Va.jpg

Good grief, Rickity, when you write such detail, you seem to know better. And at second looks, mine looks a bit different. But where in the world did you find that? I searched high and low for DFW Dr.I now, but nothing!

No. 48: Aviatik-Berg Dr.I The Aviatik D.I, was a single-engine, single-seater fighter biplane. It was also known as Berg D.I or the Berg Fighter because it was designed by Dipl. Ing. Julius von Berg. The D.I was the first indigenously designed fighter aircraft of the Austro-Hungarian Air Service (Luftfahrtruppen). Development Work on the prototype began in August 1916, while the first flight of the Aviatik D.I prototype, marked 30.14, took place at 16 October 1916 at Aspern, unfortunately killing the test pilot. Further modifications were made, and three more prototypes of the Aviatik D.I were manufactured, labeled 30.19 (for tests on the ground), 30.20 (for tests in flight) and 30.21 (as a reserve airframe). These prototypes differed from the production aircraft in having a single unsynchronized Schwarzlose machine gun above the top wing, firing over the propeller. Tests of the modified aircraft were positive and the first unit to receive the first serial batch (with two synchronized Schwarzloses, one on each side of the cylider block) of the Aviatik D.I was Fluggeschwader I (FLG I, later to be renamed to Flik 101G) on the Divacca airfield in Italy. Operational service In many respects, the D.I was a good combat aircraft. It was reasonably fast, had excellent flying characteristics and maneuverability, and could reach higher altitudes than most of its adversaries. In addition, it was provided with a roomy and comfortable cockpit which gave a good field of view. Despite those desirable features, the new Aviatik fighter wasn't greeted with enthusiasm when it entered service in autumn 1917, as the type also had some serious defects which didn't endear it to its pilots. The early aircraft had structural deficiencies and their machine guns were installed beyond the reach of the pilot; if the gun(s) jammed, there was nothing he could do about it. These problems were later rectified with the strengthening of the airframe and the repositioning of the guns, but the main cause of complaints was the engine's tendency to overheat far too easily. To alleviate the cooling problems, operational units tended to fly their aircraft without the engine's top panels and sometimes also the side panels were left off. The Austro-Hungarian aviation units used the D.I widely until the end of World War I on Eastern, Italian and Balkan fronts, mainly as an escort fighter for the 2-seater reconnaissance aircraft, as the most fighter units preferred the Albatros D.III in air superiority role. Variants The D.II was a version of the D.I with a cantilever lower wing. The model went into production in late 1918 in two Series (39 and 339), but the production aircraft were too late for operational service. The D.III high-altitude version with a 230 hp Hiero engine and the Dr.I triplane development remained as prototypes only. Technische Daten [bearbeiten] Berg Dr.I nur Versuch 1917 6-Zyl.Reihenmotor, flüssigkeitsgekühlt Hiero Austro-Daimler Leistung 147 kw (200 PS) Spannweite7,22 m Länge 6,86 m Höhe 2,75 m Flügelfläche 22,50 m² Leergewicht 620 kg Startgewicht 862 kg Höchstgeschwindigkeit 195 km/h in NN Steiggeschwindigkeit auf 1.000 m 1 Min 40 Sek Steiggeschwindigkeit auf 2.000 m 4 Min 10 Sek Bewaffnung 2 MG Besatzung 1 Flugdauer 2 h 30 min Had the techn. data in German only. WIKIPEDIA

I don't know the context, in which Richthofen used it. But generally, it means for Germans, to overcome you negative part, mainly used for lazyness. If you find it hard to do something, like jogging every day, cause you got too much weight on, or walking the dog, although would much prefer to sit on your couch with a beer in front of your TV - then you have to overcome your "inner Schweinehund". The inner Schweinehund stands for a weak will, a lack of motivation. The word Schweinehund was used since long as a cuss word for an unfriendly, sinister person. It comes from the Sauhund (sow hound or boar hound), that was used for hunting wild boars. The Sauhund's character was, that he chased and tired his victims, and finally bite and held them, until the hunter arrived.

Welcome in the mess, Stiffy My system would be regarded as "not to be mentioned", I'm sure, but it runs the sim fine, and it even looks great! See my posts in "Screenshots". OFF even looks good with sliders on less than 5; I have aircraft on 5, but all others on 2 or 3, clouds on 1 only. So, see my pics, and you'll see what you can get - I'm more than pleased with it so far. Here's my system: - Intel Core 2 E 6550 2.33 GHz - ATI RADEON X1900 video card When you got the sim, you should check for all the advice for a good setup; people here will help you. And again: you need "Combat Flight Simulator 3" - you can get that on DVD for about 10,- Euro. And if you give me your hometown and state, I'll add you to the OFF Pilots Map. Thanks!

They are most beautiful indeed, Lou, and although I could score higher in a Dr.1, I can't fly any other bird for very long, and come back to them. Here are some more pics I just found - don't ask me where.

My god, CJ - where have you been all the time? Nice to hear from you!

Quite an aviator's romantic idea, OvS. Didn't Udet take an aircraft with him, together with a friend? Well, I just checked it. They got two planes out of a hall in Bamberg, Germany, where these craft where waiting to get shreddered by the Entente commission. The friend got a D VII, Udet took a "Fokker Parasol" - I think, he meant a D VIII, I guess.

A Marine sergeant, who knows Latin - how was that saying about deep waters? No, wouldn't fit; I think it was: Silent waters are deep. But you're not really silent, are you? Wow, wonderful design on the SPAD, Burning Beard, I wish I could meet it in the sim - and shoot it down! (We're Barbarians over the lines, you know? Huns!)

That's true and right, what Creaghorn said. I had wingmen problems like yours very rarely. But when I marked a target (yellow brackets), and then ordered "Attack", they would of course fire at that target. Often from a long distance already. And when I flew into that, to hunt the same guy - my fault. So now, I'm mostly flying without that, or I mark them another target to attack. This way, they never get into my way much. Last point is: you are responsible for your own situational awareness. Don't rely on the AI to be driven by the computer, and he will know, where you are. That won't work. You must make sure yourself, not to be in danger.

HouseHobbit, you must choose the skin for that pilot elsewhere first; I think in the other, main QC menue.

Well done, Rooster, congrats! Any next competition, when you take part right from the beginning, we "may have to dress warm!" (A German saying). I'm a little proud too, cause I was closer than I knew. But I typed "synchroniser" and "synchronizer" into my search and didn't get it.

Just got this set of pics and want to show them to all, who like this craft. Perhaps our professional skinners and historians know them already. Is there a story behind this?

"A FRONT WESTERN" by Lonesome Olham Our lonesome heroe is pulling his sturdy Albatros D III into a tight turn. He is closing in to the turn of William Hargrove 'Harry' Chisam's Tripe. Tracers wizzing past him; three other RNAS-1 elite pilots try to shoot him off 'Harry's' tail. In vain! Banked hard, nose below horizon, Leutnant Mahlo screws into the turn of the ace and hits him with a terrible burst! The Tripe shudders, falters, falls away. CRASH!!! But the whole story: My flight of 5 Albatros D III from Richthofen's Jasta 11 spotted 4 Fees on patrol, and engaged them. I had just downed one, and my wingmen shreddered a second, when I spotted lots of craft coming down not far away. First I though, they came to get us, but they did a ground attack. I counted 6 more FE2b, but above them: Triplanes! Our worst enemies! I led my flight into a climb, and soon we where above the Tripes. Some of them went low for joining the Fees. I counted at least ten Tripes. I still ranged between leaving and doing one blitz attack, when the higher Tripes made the decision - they approached us. With our altitude advantage, we got behind them like that! I hit two craft in a turn, both two or three times, and one was smoking and crawling away. The other was the craft of our above 'Harry'. At almost the same time with Chisam, the other Tripe crashed, that I had hit before. Our heroe looks around - no other Albatros near anymore. All killed or driven off. Around him three Tripes as upset and buzzing as Hornets. Our lonesome heroe estimates: he might have 200 - 250 rounds left. Enough to kill another! He goes really low, at full risk, and the Tripes don't like that. They had already got in the way of each other, and now there are even trees involved. As soon as one of them tries to zoom out, our pilot is there behind him, plastering the dark fragile three-winged beauty; the RNAS pilot pulls up even steeper and gets it all - slow motion, almost a halt, our heroe hits and gets hit; TAC TAC TAC TAC TAC - he tries to break away, but Newton says 'not yet', the chasing Tripe almost crashing into his bird now, rushing past! 'Harry's' craft crashing! My, what a moment! The Albatros can take up speed again, dives, hopping over tree tops, that the pilot could pick apples, two really mad Tripe pilots chasing him; he gets hit again, an open inbetween the trees - touch down, gear breaking, a crushing slide, halt! - - - Alive! Gee, I know I'm not the Richthofen type at all - I just can't resist it!

Of course we were Huns.....best planes to me, at least. The Bordeauxred Baron: "Zatt iss obvious, off course! Ant beautifully painted! Twin Spandaus!! Crash ze crumpetz! Mmuahahahahaaaaa!!!!" Pietro, here is also a multiplayer community, and they sometimes do MP games, or maybe even regularly. Just ask Sitting Duck via PM about it. When I have a better system soon, I may join them, too.

Hasse Wind, I'm sure, everyone of us has days like this. I never read much of any pilots here, who make more than 17 hours AND many kills. I lost one pilot through "blood rage" - I didn't stop chasing and firing at a SPAD VII that had shot down my wingman, when the tracers of his wingman zipped past my head already. More SPADs joined in to that, but I shot the bloke in front of me down with a very demolished craft, before I crashed myself. I had hoped on a crash landing, but the craft became uncontrollable. My fault. My next pilot did better; he downed one FE2b, when he saw no less than 10 Tripes from RNAS-1 diving on his wingmen. He shot down three of those elite pilots, but one claim was regarded erroneus through the lack of witnesses. And he survived this, although his craft was damaged.