Olham

You see no ghosts, elephant, I think you are spot on right - there must be a colour between the white chevrons. As the colour doesn't appear very dark, it could well be blue. Also green. Bavaria = blue and white, true. But they sometimes took the colours of previous units they came from. So it would be interesting to know more about that.

Cody, the Albatros D.III here shows the typical leader chevrons on Goering's top wing. So the craft is most likely his. (Profile by Bob Pearson; found on RoF forum)

Jim, you are right of course - so many possible variables. I meant specifically the situation, when the German pilot close behind you (with full advantage) would NOT shoot as he could, but instead point downwards repeatedly, to make you understand you should land. Many German pilots did so many times. Even MvR did so, until some observer fired his machine gun at the circling MvR. After that I think he gave up any mercy.

You must have hawkeyes - I cannot even say, if the wings are Lozenge? I would say the hood is a much brighter colour, not black. If it was black, it could appear brighter with the sun from above, but not that much, I'd say. The stripes on the wings may appear "rougly painted" because the fabric over the ribs 'makes hills and valleys'.

I think JFM meant the gun jam situation. But still, it would be a longer helpless situation, when you had to hit the breech with a hammer to clear the dud round - you couldn't do much evasive manoeuvering at the same time, or so I guess.

Well, what chance is left to fight anything out with an unclearable gun jam, flying in the opponent's gunsights? Lanoe Hawker did what you suggest, until he had to try to get back over the lines. And we all know that was the end of him. Naw, I would have put the kite down under such conditions. I do much prefer to live than to be a dead heroe.

Yes, could be the tank hit; it could also be a bad gun jam for example. What would I do with a German Albatros in my neck, and no gun to defend myself with? I would be more than happy, if the fellow behind me would only point downwards to tell me to land my helpless kite - instead of him pulling the trigger. As for pierced tanks - both WW1 air combat sims, OFF and "the other sim" have the tank only leaking out and slowly running dry so far. I don't think that "the other sim" will ever change anything about that. Would be great if WOFF did.

Nineteen? Jeeze, they were young... Thank you for the research, Flyby!

If we wanted to know, how hard the conditions could sometimes be for the flyers - the "Buddecke" website has the answer with this photo of Jasta 27 pilots in their winter gear. Damn, I don't know if I had been hard enough for flying in an open cockpit under such harsh weather conditions...

Good morning from Berlin to Greece, elephant! Yeah, that's what I thought. When you study the other photos of this session, you can recognise, that many of the rigging wires are hanging loose or rolled up - as if they took them off or replaced them.

There are again many new historical photos on the "WingnutWings" website. http://www.wingnutwi...togallery?cat=1 This is one of them, showing a DH-2. But I wonder - the riggers with their caps look German to me? Does anyone know the story behind this? Or did British rigger wear such caps too?

That was new to me that the Border Collies are such a young race. Well made, your website and the video, Widow! I had a German Sheperd, when I was a teenager, and we were living on a farm fro three years. "Barrie" never had any sort of training. But it was in his genes - when he saw our herd of 32 cows out on the marsh meadows, he would constantly circle around them, and he could not accept any single animals trodding off - he would always chase those back to the herd. I was very impressed. And I felt from his looks into my eyes, that he was seeking for some reaction every now and then. If we only just said "well done, boy!", he would rush off and continue his work with great abandon. The Border Collie seems to have developed this heritage to even greater perfection. When we still see them as dogs, it's mostly because they can't speak our language. (They may see themselves as some of us - who knows) But they speak - one must only watch and listen. And often, when I meet a dog on a walk, I receive a smile - and I smile back in return.

Shiloh, the original name is "The Eye of the Needle". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_the_Needle_%28film%29

Thanks for the link, Shiloh - very interesting! Would have been THE job for me in that war! Have you seen the film "The Needle" with Donald Sutherland as a spy? It shows him creeping up near an airfield which looked like being crammed with bombers. But they were all only dummies made of wood and canvas, to bluff the Germans.

Okay, not sure if I can top it, but I still have the early PC "sim" "Their Finest Hour" by LUKAS ART. It had no 3D models but pixelated images of the planes from various angles.

No one mentioned this news from yesterday yet: a meteor came down in Russia. The sonic bang smashed hundreds of windows. Also - although it had nothing to do with the meteor - an asteroid with a length of 50 Meter passed planet Earth in a distance of only 28.000 Kilometers. The distance Moon - Earth is 356.000 - 406.000 Kilometers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHoy12qY4bU

Well, I try to create logical folders and branches for them. My Albatros D.III (OAW) photos for examplae would be under D: WW1 > Photos & Documents > Aircraft > Albatros > Albatros D III > OAW

Naw, there was no info with the pic. Could it be in a museum? No idea...

The hard disks are so big nowadays - why shouldn't you be a hamster? The major problem is not the space - it's to REMEMBER that you have all this stuff!

Makes perfect sense to me, Lou - so I can only guess it was an evasive manoeuvre for a withdrawal of the Albatros. I wish I could remember who wrote it, and where I have read it. Seems no one else here has.

Yes, indeed, Hasse Wind - Fröbe would have suited the Floh. I wonder how they built the fuselage - I guess it was "Wickelrumpf" technology. When you see the Mercedes D.I engine, which was fitted into the "Floh", you may understand why it is so unproportionally high.

Well, you guys say, you'd "wait above the Albatros and get at it's tail". But the Albatros isn't there anymore. When it performs a left-turn descend, I understand the Camel pilot would find it too hard to follow. So what would he do? Stay at his altitude and perform a 3/4 right turn to get into the right position? Meanwhile the Albatros (which was faster than the Camel in a dive) would be quite a bit further away. Now of course he wouldn't have to perform the right-turn climb to, when the Camel did not follow the left-turn descend. But he should have gained a distance between him and the Camel. The Alb only turns so long, until the pilot can see, if the Camel follows or not. If the Camel follows, he continues with part two - the right-turn climb. If she doesn't follow, he would no longer turn, but fly away straight from her, while she performs her 3/4 right round turn. Only if the Camel tries (and halfways manages) to follow his left-turn descend (which the pilot could only do with fully kicked left rudder plus stick hard left, I guess - only then would he change into a right-turn climb. If the Camel pilot would now suddenly change from full left rudder plus stick left, into a right turn - then I assume the chance that he would overturn to the right (gyroscopic effect and torque) and run downwards would be pretty good. Useless to compare that with flight sim Camels - they are all still too gentle to handle IMHO.

Maybe the skies of Europe would have been full of laughter?

Ah! Errh - okay then... You muszt know zatt uss Dsherrmans do nott have ze same humour. But now I understand - you mean you vere playink ze role of der hotspursz ve are shootink down all day? Now I gott itt! Ssank you!

"Huh!!! Why do you ssink I'm only flyink der Albatros? Ze answer is: because itt iss so beautifull! Huh!!!" Cute Floh video - lovely!