Olham

Well, firstly, blue on a green-grey tank isn't "shining" as far as red and white do; and secondly - could it be that the high brass (being English mostly) only picked the English colours? "St.George beats the dragon" kind of colours?

Well, that mustn't even be a joke, BB. For the forward-storming troops it may have been very reassuring to see the tanks forward white-red-white stripes pointing in the direction of the enemy trenches. This colour-combination must have been visible a long distance left and right of the tank, and I guess it must have felt a bit better to see, that their tanks were the forward spearheads.

White-red-white seems to have been the recognitional stripes for British tanks.

The Jastas ended up - but they feared no one. Mmuahahahahahaaaa!!!!

And now, to add even further confusion: I have just found an item on EBAY - an original WILHELM MORELL Tachometer in original casing (!). If only I had the money... Well, and this tachometer seems to be based on the RPM (Uml/min = Umläufe pro Minute). Seems you had to calculate your speed from these values - not sure. The airspeed was read from the external device fixed to the wingstrut, as was already noted here. Here is a quote from "THE VINTAGE AVIATOR" report "Notes on flying the D.Va" by Gene deMarco: “The engine has a tremendous amount of power...” As the take off is started you are amazed at how much movement can be seen in the upper wing relative to the fuselage, the first instinct is to close the throttle and look for some missing brace wires. Fortunately a little experience with this type prepared me for this, and I kept going. The movement comes from the lack of cross bracing in the center section area and the monocoque fuselage changing shape as it becomes airborne. The engine has a tremendous amount of power and the Albatros climbs well, you need to look out on the Right hand wing strut to see the airspeed, a small wind driven anemometer displays the airspeed in Kilometres Per Hour. The airspeed indicator in itself is a work of art. [from Gene deMarco's 'Notes on flying the D.Va' at "The Vintage Aviator" website.]

Searching for Albatros Tachometer, I just stumbled over this wonderful item: a WILHELM MORELL Tachometer in it's original casing box! Damn, if I had the money... http://www.ebay.de/i...l-/260844188002

Here is a Tachometer from the VW Golf - the numbers show "kilometers per hour". (But, to complete the confusion: all Tachometers DO of course gain their shown values from the revolving speed of the engine).

elephant, that's what I also found out - thanks! Bullet, in Greece and in Germany, Tachometer has never been used in the term of RPM counter. That confusion must belong to the British (who passed it on to America) - they always have a bit of their own ways in Europe (driving on the left side of the road - imagine I would try that here... !)

Lou, we have on German motorbikes a Drehzahlmesser (RPM-counter) and a Tachometer (Speedometer).

"Revolutions-counter" so to say. Counts the RPM.

Drehzahlmesser. When I enter "Tachometer" in German WIKIPEDIA, it gives me what you call speedometer. When I click on "English" then, it also says "speedometer".

...or both?

Damn - and I always thought the tachometer shows your speed??? On my motorbike, or in German cars, a tacho is for showing your speed. Seriously.

...and last not least: he invented the "Rolling Stones" Logo. Well, his name says it: he was a "Stone" really, wasn't he?

So - the tachometer here is rather an instrument to show the RPM of the engine?

Did you know, that the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was so inspired by the camouflage on the Austrian planes, that his paintings showed this influence? (He even made a painting called "Fliegerpfeile" or similar, after those nasty iron darts which could be dropped from aeroplanes on ground tropps).

...and the devs will release a calender, in which the time may often warp like the whole space, according to Einstein...

Here is a pic I just found - no knowledge though, where this tank is exposed. They look frightening, but tank warfare was yet to be fully invented. Without the effective shielding by well-trained infantrymen, the tanks could easily get destroyed, or atl east their crews get killed. The second photo shows the victims of flame throwers. They simply blew their burning oil through the gun openings and sight holes, and the tank crews had neither sight nor air to breathe left, after only seconds. Then the fire was inside the tank. A deathtrap...

Hahaha - all that egghead research seems to explain something many people here are wondering about. But if it comes to the hard facts - I bet the devs would say they never ever promised anything to be ready "in two weeks" - be they Gregorian or WOFFite weeks. I guess, Professor Dr. Whaddajahoo, Professor of Thinkology at the University of Research Nonessentials and Urbane Thought Sciences will have to prove, that his quote about the "two weeks" was ever made by any of the WOFFfites at all? .

Well, this one is a bit better - still looking like a kid's candy box. But I guess it did very well, what it was made for - to shatter any form. Especially in B/W photography. You caught that camouflage very well there, Bullet! Here is Jerry Boucher's painting of Linke-Crawford's Aviatik D.I.

My same thought. I have been flying in a motorised sailplane, and even piloted it for a bit, and I couldn't only see when we got too slow (climbing to steep), but also kind of feel the forward energy drop towards zero. I know that this seems to get lost without visual confirmation (in clouds), but combined with vision it is present. Even worse here: I only need to know my Altitude occasionally, and the compass. Flying an aircraft with fragile lower wings makes you learn to be careful with airspeed (in dives). You just KNOW, what you better not dare. The only "gauge" I am missing in these kites is a coffee machine. .

Just checked RODEN MODELS for Austrian OeFFAG Albatros; they have the D.II, and the various D.III types - only in 1:72 though. What I would NOT have liked about the Austrian mid-war fighters is the 60s-wallpaper-type of camouflage - arghhh!!! http://www.roden.eu/...ery/026/026.htm

So an Albatros pilot could even have started his craft alone again from any meadow? Could he do the compression-turning of the prop, then hop into his cockpit and "fire" the magneto?

Thank you guys for all the info. Perhaps - one far away day - we will have the Italian front. Then I'd surely start a campaign as an Austrian fighter pilot - in an Albatros of course!