Waldemar Kurtz

1/;6/;1915 ;8h;19 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;east of Lens, at 8:30 I noticed that anti-aircraft shells were bursting at around 5,000 ft. I lead my flight to go investigate. as we followed them for about 10 minutes, we caught up with them several miles north of Douai. they turned to engage us and a lengthy battle began. these were British machines of the single-bay biplane construction. all of these machines bore a black "1" on the upper right wing to the left of the British roundel. additionally there was a union jack flag behind the roundel on the fuselage. I battled with these three without results for about 10 minutes. turning did no apparent good. I saw that these machines had inferior weapons to ours: a single Lewis gun mounted on the left fuselage off-set to fire past the propeller. so finally I allowed one to get on my tail. I knew that if I zig-zagged in front of him he would have great difficulty hitting me even though he had the superior machine. I signalled to my men to attack him. they dutifully jumped right on the Briton's tail and opened fire. he broke away and I was able to jump on the tail of a British machine chasing one of my men. I fired over 100 rounds at a range of 300 ft and saw his lower right wing tip break away. he then fell behind our lines north of Douai at 8:46. my witnesses to this victory were Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener, spotter Status : Rejected ;74 1/;6/;1915 ;8h;19 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;over Douai aerodrome at 9:30 I spotted anti-aircraft shells bursting about a mile or two away. when I approached the unknown aircraft they were clearly British biplanes. they had a long thin fuselage and thick wings. two of them were brought down by anti-aircraft fire and fell in a crumpled smoking ruin. I caught up with the last one, which was of the ubiquitous BE2c type, and got ready to open fire. this machine was dark green all over and had a white stripe running along the fuselage. it also had a serial number in white on the tail fin, just in front of the rudder, which read "7631". I fired over 100 rounds into this machine at a distance of less than 100 ft. he burst into flames and fell behind our lines north of Douai. this victory was observed by a German spotter scarcely 3,000 ft away.. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener, spotter Status : Rejected ;74 2/;6/;1915 ;7h;59 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;at 8:10 I spotted anti-aircraft artillery shells bursting several thousand feet above our position. the most intense activity in front of us at 1 o'clock high. I could faintly make out three little specks in the distance and decided that even though there was four of us, I would rather withdraw from the attentions of these three machines. I hoped that if I flew away from them that the bursting of AA shells would distract them from our presence. after reversing direction I saw that the shell bursts were still drawing nearer to our formation and I decided to climb. I wanted to gain as much altitude as I could so that if the enemy were to overtake us we would have more options. by 8:15 it had become clear that one of the machines had been blown out of the sky by shell fire. I now saw the familiar sillohuettes of two BE2c approaching. so my attempt to climb proved advantageous. I swung around and got on the tail of the trailing machine and got within 100 ft of him before opening fire. after I had fired 60 shots he began spewing a thick black trail of smoke. I took this chance to attack the lead BE2c before resuming this combat. I made two more attacks on the trailing BE2c before it burst into flames at 8:18. this victory was witnessed by Herbert Ruge and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 2/;6/;1915 ;7h;59 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;after I had successfully attacked the trailing BE2c and left it staggering through the sky I turned my attentions to the flight leader. I pressed in below and behind him within 60 ft before opening fire. after I fired 60 shots the BE2c burst into flames. this victory was witnessed by Herbert Ruge and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 2/;6/;1915 ;7h;59 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;at 8:25 our flight was attacked from 10 o'clock high by three Bristol Scouts. after a long battle with much frustrating turning fights I found myself having fired off most of my ammunition with little to show for it. the Bristol Scout climbs faster and turns more readily than my Fokker. however, I soon found that if I favored right-hand turns that the Bristol Scouts were nearly powerless to hurt me-- and since the battle was happening on our side of the lines I waited and waited for a good chance to strike back. finally I saw that one of my men was in trouble. I got in behind one of the Bristol Scouts and fired on him. he turned away and after a lengthy series of nose-to-nose engagements I finally damaged him enough where he leveled out and began to descend. I must have attacked him a dozen times or so from 5,000 to 50 ft. finally as he was a few hundred feet above the ground I put in a long burst at him from his 2 o'clock high. he crashed into a forest north of Douai at 8:37. this victory was witnessed by Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 3/;6/;1915 ;12h;42 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;at take off we see that there is flak bursting directly over our heads. the time is 12:40 and we fly off in pursuit of these shell bursts hoping to intercept the enemy. after some 14 minutes of pursuit I catch up with a BE2c north of Houplin aerodrome. I have to circle back one so that my comrades can get closer. I then approach the BE2c from below and behind and get within 50 ft before I open fire. after firing 50 shots the BE2c bursts into flames and falls. it crashed north of Houplin aerodrome at 12:56. victory witnessed by Fedor Ruehl.. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Fedor Ruehl Status : Confirmed ; 3/;6/;1915 ;17h;27 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;at 17:40 I observe flak bursts at 10 o'clock high a few miles behind our front lines in the vicinity of Douai. I lead my men to investigate and discover that there are three BE2c in the area. they are flying in a V-formation and drop their bombs south of Douai. we meet them at nearly 8000 ft and attack. I select my first opponent and get in behind him and use the blind spot under his tail to get within 100 ft of him. I fire a 50 round burst and he begans to slowly descend. after this I turn around and attack another machine and send it down in flames. I return to the first fellow and set him on fire with a 100 round burst. after several long minutes of gliding he burned all the way down. he crashes south of Lagnicourt at 17:58. witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herberg Ruge, Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 3/;6/;1915 ;17h;27 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;attacked a BE2c over Lagnicourt. he went into a series of zig-zags and I followed him. after I had fired 100 rounds into him he fell south of Lagnicourt at 17:55. this victory was witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Rejected ;68 3/;6/;1915 ;17h;27 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;at 18:00 I spotted the last remaining BE2c and saw that it was struggling to evade falk bursts. it was gradually descending, so I decided to dive on it's tail and send it down. after firing over 150 rounds into this machine it fell south of Lagnicourt, utterly destroyed. victory witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 4/;6/;1915 ;12h;16 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;fought with three Bristol Scouts south east of Lens at 7000 ft. after ten minutes of turn-fighting I got behind a Bristol Scout and fired over 200 rounds into this machine. it crashed SE of Lens at 12.37. victory witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 4/;6/;1915 ;12h;16 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;spotted three BE2c flying towards the Front east of Arras. pursued them all the way to Hesdigneul aerodrome. got within 30 ft of the trailing BE2c and shot it down in flames. witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Rejected ;67 4/;6/;1915 ;12h;16 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;shot this aircraft down in flames over Hesdigneul aerodrome after firing 100 rounds into the enemy machine. witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 6/;6/;1915 ;10h;51 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;attacked a Bristol Scout north of Douai at 11:10. fired about 50 rounds into it and it went down in flames. it crashed north of Douai a minute later. witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 6/;6/;1915 ;10h;51 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;over the front lines east of Arras, we spotted three BE2c heading west. we dove down on their formation and attacked. I selected the trailing machine and shot him up until he started burning. he crashed behind enemy lines at 11:28. witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener.. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 6/;6/;1915 ;10h;51 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;attacked the second of three BE2c over Arras. got within 50 ft of the enemy machine and shot him constantly until he began to burn. he crashed north of Arras at 11:28, mere seconds after my previous kill. this victory was witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 6/;6/;1915 ;10h;51 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;attacked the third, and final, BE2c over Arras at low altitude. we had passed over the trenches and had suffered from machine gun fire in our pursuit. I was fortunate that I wasn't brought down in flames as I was a few days ago. I got in very close, perhaps 30 feet, and fired about 100 rounds in one long burst. the BE2c erupted in flames and left a thick black trail of smoke behind it. it crashed at 11:29 north of Arras. witnessed by Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, and Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Fedor Ruehl, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 7/;6/;1915 ;6h;4 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;encountered three BE2c west of Lens. approached from below and behind and caught my first victim completely unawares. I got up at point blank range and fired 150 rounds into the British two-seater and it burst into flames. witnessed by Moritz Frank. Witnessed by: Moritz Frank Status : Confirmed ; 7/;6/;1915 ;6h;4 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;after destroying my first adversary I turned my attentions to another. once again, I closed within point-blank range of the enemy two-seater, and shot at him until he began to burn. the BE2c crashed west of Lens at about 6:30. witnessed by Moritz Frank . Witnessed by: Moritz Frank Status : Confirmed ; 7/;6/;1915 ;6h;4 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;our flight was attacked from above by three Bristol Scouts around 7 o'clock. I lost sight of two of my men. but Moritz Frank skillfully shot down two of the Bristol Scouts during our battle. I picked one Bristol Scout and fired 200 rounds into him at a range of 300 ft. he crashed at 7:05 west of Lens. witnessed by Moritz Frank. Witnessed by: Moritz Frank Status : Rejected ;69 29/;6/;1915 ;12h;3 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;at 12:35, east of Arras, I spotted a trio of British two-seaters at low altitude heading towards Arras. I dove on this formation and attacked the trailing machine. I fired over 50 rounds into the BE2c which promtply crashed at 12:40. witnessed by Udo Eisermann, Waldemar Diener, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge. Witnessed by: Udo Eisermann, Waldemar Diener, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge Status : Confirmed ; 29/;6/;1915 ;12h;3 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;attacked a second BE2c immediately after the first vicitm. I opened fire when about 200 ft away. after having fired 200 bullets the enemy crashed just inside of enemy lines at around 12:43. this victory was witnessed by Udo Eisermann, Waldemar Diener, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge. Witnessed by: Udo Eisermann, Waldemar Diener, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge Status : Confirmed ; 29/;6/;1915 ;16h;29 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Reconnaisance ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;found a Bristol Scout attacking a balloon south of Cappy. I dove on the enemy and fired over 200 rounds into the enemy machine, which burst into flames. it crashed south of Cappy. witnessed by Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Rejected ;72 1/;7/;1915 ;7h;4 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Balloon Busting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;attacked a Bristol Scout at a height of 4,500 ft east of Etrun at 07:22. after firing over 200 rounds into the machine, it crashed at 07:23. this victory was witnessed by Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge, Waldemar Diener Status : Confirmed ; 5/;7/;1915 ;15h;35 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Patrol Behind Friendly Front Lines ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;after a very long pursuit of several BE2c our flight was then attacked by three Bristol Scouts. one of our men was shot down and we were in a bad spot. I attacked on Bristol Scout at close range, firing about 75 rounds into him. he crashed at 15:58 east of Phalempin. witnessed by Phillip Lauffer. Witnessed by: Phillip Lauffer Status : Confirmed ; 6/;7/;1915 ;7h;31 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;while our flight was battling Bristol Scouts at 07:50 I saw a flight of BE2c high above us. after Moritz Frank and Waldemar Diener both shot down a Bristol Scout in flames we went hunting for the British two-seaters. after nearly 40 minutes of fruitless searching we saw flak bursts east of Bapaume. I began to climb and headed towards the lines in hopes of cutting off their escape. I attacked an olive green BE2c from RFC 7 squadron at a range of 35 ft. I fired about 50 rounds into the BE2c and it burst into flames. witnessed by Waldemar Diener, Moritz Frank, Peter Schaefer, and Herbert Ruge. Witnessed by: Waldemar Diener, Moritz Frank, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge Status : Pending ;72 6/;7/;1915 ;7h;31 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Artillery spotting ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;RAF BE2c . ;I attacked the enemy BE2c north of Beugnatre. I pressed in very close to the enemy two-seater and fired over 50 rounds into him. the BE2c burst into flames and crashed near the trenches. witnessed by Waldemar Diener. Witnessed by: Waldemar Diener, Moritz Frank, Peter Schaefer, Herbert Ruge Status : Pending ;72 6/;7/;1915 ;12h;20 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Balloon Defense ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;our flight became involved in a large dogfight with Bristol Scouts south west of Douai at 12:30. after a long battle I finally got on the tail of a Bristol Scout who attempted to evade me by going into a high speed diving turn. I fired 40 rounds into him and he straightened out and dove straight into the ground at terrific speed. he crashed at 12:38. the enemy machine was utterly destroyed. witnessed by Otto Parschau, Oswald Boelcke. Witnessed by: Otto Parschau, Oswald Boelcke, Konrad Eberle Status : Pending ;78 6/;7/;1915 ;12h;20 ;Flanders ;Douai ;Balloon Defense ; Flying: Fokker EIII. On this day claims: ;1 ;Bris Scout A . ;close to the front lines we found another flight of enemy machines. Max Immelmann attacked one who promptly dove away. since my flight was lower, I took this opportunity to prevent his escape. I got on his tail and fired 200 rounds or so into him over the course of a one minute battle. the Bristol Scout burst into flames at 13:00 and crashed later. witnessed by Konrad Eberle. Witnessed by: Otto Parschau, Oswald Boelcke, Konrad Eberle Status : Pending ;78

I've been flying the FE2b for awhile now-- and, for the life of me, I can't remember the AI ever bothering to fire on enemy machines with the tail gun. the chin gun is a lively fellow-- but I've never seen the tail gun do anything UNLESS I manually operate that station and open fire. so something I was wondering about-- would it be possible to "move" some of those Lewis drums to the chin gun instead? if there are 388 bullets for the chin gun and 388 bullets for the tail gun-- I'd find that it was more useful to put 6 or 7 drums (582 - 679 drums) on the forward gun. that would still leave 97- 194 bullets for defending the 6 o'clock position. since the plane flies in a straight line once you hop on the observer's station-- there's not much benefit to the thing. scouts always just sorta drift into the lattice-work and it becomes counter-productive to even try and operate the tail gun except in the most fortuitous or unusual circumstances! anybody else have some advice or thoughts on this tail-gun station for the FE2b?

German fighters should NEVER be assigned ground attack missions. with the French I'm not so sure-- but it seems unlikely given just how many two-seaters the French had at their disposal. on the whole, having fighters attack ground forces should be a distinctly British form of entertainment. sometimes you just have to wander around for a good 5-10 minutes and something will show up. if not.... just start strafing trenches. the sacrificial enemy ground forces in CFS3 would be purple on the TAC-- that way you could make your "burnt offering" to the gods of war in a manner that was pleasing to them. I've never seen this during campaign play-- so if you attack anything that's considered "good enough". if you feel like attacking trenches do it as fast as you possible can. always use bombs first. one or two bomb hits can take out three to four times as many trenches in one pass as your machine gun could. for the best results line up directly over the trench lines and look for the tightest concentration of entrenched troops and drop your bombs. if you managed to get away without too much trouble keep your speed as high as possible and extend about a mile or two away before climbing up and attempting to repeat the process. I like to get up to at least several thousand feet before I try attacking again-- if I can help it, I always try to attack ground forces at a speed of no less than 150 mph. finding little green men marching around, a column of trucks is to be preferred... but if you've really got no other choice and WANT to attack something-- that's how you'd do it. personally, I don't think I'd have a problem not attacking ground forces at all if the only thing I had at my disposal was a single machine gun. it's not like I've got trenches to hide in! after about 1916 attacking ground forces without using bombs becomes crazy, if not outright suicidal.

so then the 388 rounds at both stations is a magical courtesy of the game, eh? I guess I can live with that then. so the critical aspect about flying the FE2b in battle is to fly in such a way as to limit the times when your observer opens fire-- often times they fire at longer ranges, or at twisting and turning aircraft with mixed results. it reminds me of the WFP2 patch in Red Baron 3D... where sometimes you had to fly so that your observer COULD NOT open fire-- thusly conserving ammo for definite kills instead of mere intimidation or torment. good info to know. thanks

I'm not sure if I have a bad install or something-- but I've noticed that if I get closer than 50 ft with the DFW C.V-- that my front machine gun won't register any hits on enemy aircraft. I just got within 25 ft of an Airco DH.2 and fired nearly 100 rounds to no effect at all. that seems very odd I thought the 50-foot dead zone got fixed. or perhaps I need to get a new patch?

wow! that's really sad. I knew that the French were trying to pawn off a bunch of Strutters to the USAAF (who wisely decided that they were not worth using in front-line units)... but I didn't realize the French were still sending people out in those machines so late in the war... with the Fokker D.VIIs just arriving no less!

I used "best" to just hammer home the point that even good aces could get shot down (and killed) by two-seaters. if we're only going to look at in terms of the entire war-- then, no, we wouldn't have any of the "best aces" of the whole war-- but if we consider the time periods in which they fell, and the contexts of their death it becomes more clear. Manfred von Richthofen was nearly klled by a two-seater pilot in the spring of 1917, as I'm sure most people here will already know. it was merely extraordinarily good luck that he lived long enough to die later. Erwin Boehme (shot down by British two-seaters in November of 1917). he was not a very high-scoring pilot-- but he had the respect and friendship of Oswald Boelcke and Manfred von Richthofen. he's also the man who brought Jasta 2 out of it's doldrums in 1917 and made it one of the best German Jastas again. Raoul Lufberry (the American ace-of-aces at the time of his death, was shot down by a two-seater in 1918) Max Immelmann was likely shot down by an FE2b (two-seater) although there is debate on this point. what is not open for too much debate is that Immelmann was either the top-scoring German pilot at the time of his death, or a VERY close second. in fact, had he not been killed in action in his final battle-- he would have made the two additional claims that would have regained him the top-scoring fighter pilot status at that time. Jean Navarre, the French ace of aces at the time he got shot down (with a head injury, much like Richthofen) was taken out of action by a two-seater. Robert Little, the highest scoring RNAS pilot of the war at the time of his death-- was shot down and killed by a Gotha at night. Wilhelm Frankl was killed in action against Bristol Fighters in April of 1917. at the time of his death Frankl had 20 victories. for a long time he was one of the top five German pilots active on the Western Front and a recipient of the Pour Le Merite. Gustav Dorr was shot down in flames in May of 1918 by Bregeut XIVs on the 28th. had he not been so lucky he wouldn't have become a 35 victory ace by the end of the war. Adolphe Pegoude, the very first French ace, was shot down by a two-seater crew-- ironically it was a pilot he helped train before the war that led to his death! when you contextualize each death and major injury -- the significance of aces being killed or wounded by two-seaters becomes more important. Immellmann and Navarre are minor aces when compared to the huge tallies at the end of the war-- but in the spring of 1916 when both men were taken out of action while fighting enemy two-seaters, the impact was tremendous-- so much so that Boelcke was taken off active flight duties for fear of losing him in combat as well.

I guess I'll just come out and say "I strongly dislike the idea of two-seaters which are not player-flyable." part of what makes OFF so interesting for me is that if there's an aircraft featured in the game you can most definitely build a pilot career around it. I know that most people here love flying fighters-- and that's perfectly understandable-- but this sense of scale that's been addressed prompts me to ask for two-seaters. there were more two-seaters out in the sky than any other type of plane. scouts/fighters were invented with the specific purpose of thwarting or destroying enemy two-seaters. on top of all of that many of the best aces of the war died at the hands of skilled two-seater crews.... and for the first year or so of the war-- scouts didn't even exist! I've already made lots of impassioned arguments in favor of more French two-seaters like the Voisin, Salmson 2a2, and Morane Parasol. I don't want to revisit those specific arguments right now, no matter how strong I feel the case for them may be. I just find myself losing that sense of "immersion" when I'm flying an Albatros D.Va or a Fokker D.VII in the summer of 1918 and find myself mercilessly sending Sopwith Strutters down in flames when I know full well that this was most certainly NOT being used in large numbers by ANY air force on the Western Front. seeing dozens of Nieuports in 1916 in Alsace when we should be seeing dozens of Farmans or Voisins is also a bit disconcerting. the Snipe, Pfalz D.XII, S.S. D.III, and Dolphin were all very fine aircraft-- but most of these only saw action in the last half of 1918! likewise, earlier in the war-- to not see a single German two-seater until March 1916 seems very odd! I am very grateful for all of the hard work that has made Over Flanders Fields possible. I just don't want the development team to lose sight of their original vision-- part of which, I believe, was that if the aircraft showed up in the game at all-- you could fly it.

my best advice on this matter is this: NEVER complete any time-based mission objectives. for example: if you're supposed to patrol over a waypoint for 18 minutes, leave after 15. if you're supposed to loiter over an infantry position on an arty spot for 15 minutes, fly back and forth between the two points and don't loiter for more than a minute or so. the game treats time-based mission objectives like a finish line. once you've crossed that finish line nothing else seems to matter. people have complained that pilots get promoted too easily-- so my solution was to NEVER finish the assigned patrol times. this way I don't get promoted too hastily... I dont have to manually edit missions (and this is especially frustrating on longer two-seater missions). another problem is that if your wingmen are all killed-- the game will consider the mission a failure (depending on the mission) and will stop recording time. if any primary mission objective is either accomplished or considered a complete write-off, the game will stop recording time. if I feel I've been robbed completely I will go in and manually edit my pilot (logbook and dossier). but since I like to fly two-seaters with longer mission times... I've found it's much easier to simply "fail" to meet all of my objectives this side of staying alive.

yes, the air activity has been intense. I can only guess that since Verdun and the Somme battles are in full swing by July of 1916-- that the game makes it very active all across the Western Front. although there was considerable bombing activity on behalf of the French in 1916-- so while it might not have been lots of scouts-- that sector should be swarming with Farmans as they launch attacks into Germany and occupied France. I have no problem with the level of activity-- it's just that the French two-seaters that would have been active in large numbers in this sector just aren't modelled in the game yet. well, that and the Lafayette Escadrille sorties I've flown at this time have been very eventful too.

if you complete your mission objectives the clock stops. I noticed this right away when I finished a recon or an arty-spot (don't remember which) to be honest. but once the primary mission objective was finished it didn't record ANYTHING that happened afterwards. which, if you think about it, might explain why the flight time on the pilot's log only reflects about half of the in-game time. there are two options: don't complete your primary mission objectives... ever. and this won't be a problem or you manually edit the time in your pilot's log.

damn! a lot of old timers must be passing away! I felt absolutely lucky to find this thing for $70 five or six years ago! for a long time the cheapest availabe copy was just over $100... and that was after looking at amazon, borders, and abebooks every month for the better part of a year! it's considered one of the best books every written on the subject of aircraft armament prior to 1918. so even though you guys could get the book for half the price I paid for it-- it still felt like it was worth the money I invested in it. the other book cited on this thread, by Williams and Gustin, is also a good find. I still prefer the Woodman book because of the schematics, the chapter on gun-sights, and the fact that it's just all-around well researched. he even takes several paragraphs to tackle the mythology of the "dum dum bullets".

my guess: Sopwith Salamder. I think the tip-off is the unusual paint-scheme. the British were very parochial about that sort of thing. and the only aircraft I've seen painted like that is the "Salamander" which was supposed to be used for ground-attack missions. to my knowledge it never saw service in the war, as it arrived too late.

Buckingham was first used by the RFC on the Western Front in July 1916 when they were used to attack ground troops. page 165, column 2, paragraph 2 of "Early Aircraft Armament" by Harry Woodman.. the Pomeroy was restricted to British Home Defence squadrons and seems to have been put into action in mid-1916.... no exact date. for the sake of simplicity, one might guess than June or July of 1916. there was an order of 500,000 rounds placed in this year-- which were almost certainly dedicated to anti-zeppelin flights., the Brock zeppelin bullet had an order placed in October of 1915 and a follow-up order on May of 1915. interestingly enough, the order was completed in December of 1916. so it's possible that incindiary could be introduced as early as... perhaps... actually, this bullet was considered mediocre so... June - July of 1916 is still the time when incendiary starts getting used in combat with the RFC. an external link helps explain http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%200895.html additionaly, Woodman points out on pge 167 of his book that one of the reasons the over-wing Lewis was used for so long is because it was the most effective mount for anti-zeppelin sorties. it helped prevent the pilot from being blinded by the muzzle flash, it helped keep the ammunition from cooking off. syncrhonization gears were still prone to failure. if there was cook off (the shells exploding in one's face) it was safer if it were above the pilot on the wing. Harry Woodman's book is very good-- and also very expensive and hard to find. I felt very luck to get a used copy for less than $100 from South Africa. however, right now, there are some pretty great deals on this book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0874749948/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1280168881&sr=8-1&condition=used

http://combatace.com/topic/54322-help-me-not-suck-at-flying-the-eiii/page__p__398105__hl__fokker+e.iii__fromsearch__1?do=findComment&comment=398105 I think this will cover most of what you're looking for

on recon sorties. I just use screen captures. in the DFW C.V I look through the bomb-sight view and take screen-captures. for other aircraft I'll just look out of the side of the aircraft and take "oblique" screen-captures. it gives me something to do. besides which, if I spend too much time looking for the best screen captures, I might get surprised by enemy fighters (just like pilots in real life). as much as I would love a real-time interactive artillery spotting mission I just don't think it's going to happen. the strain on the game engine would be pretty fierce. it would have to keep track of all of the range-finding information. the best way to think of it is this... you would have to integrate that old PC-Game "Cannon" into the existing CFS3 structure. we'd have to find ways to input the data directly into the game for the battery to open fire, wouldn't we? apart from myself and a handful of other people-- I don't foresee too many people actually using that feature! the other thing to consider is would this feature apply to the player's flight or to ALL of the aircraft in the OFF world conducting the same type of mission? I'm afraid my computer would probably choke on that sort of data. I guess a primitive method would be that if a special 'flare' got dropped on the target, after a certain delay a bunch of explosions would be set off randomly around the point of impact. sure, it would still end up being your ordnance doing all of the work. but maybe that would be a substitute for a fully functional artillery barrage. the added benefit is that if you're flare causes a significant number of targest to be destroyed it would be added to your score. historically, if people successfully called artillery strikes on enemy targets it would go on their record. so I think a specialized ordnance for "artillery spotting" might be the best alternative if a interactive artillery-spotting mission is impossible. cluster munitions and delayed fuse bombs should be possible with the CFS engine, right?

haha, as soon as I posted that idea I thought "what if the game manager can't recognize the towns anymore and it just causes game crashes on start-up?" saw plenty of THAT with testing RB3d patches.

if we could have "town nation ###" changed into the historical name for that location... that would be nice. (I think that troop positions and balloons probably change over time-- but towns remain static throughout the war, right?)

scope out the target first. look for concentrations of enemy machine guns, anti-aicraft artillery, things of that nature. I try to set my attacks to move from "dangerous" to "safe" areas. I'll use a hill-side or a forest to mask my path of departure. I start up from about 5-6000 ft and descend towards the target as fast as I can. I try to level out at speeds of 120 mph or more before I start my attack. I only use one method of attack per pass. if you're dropping bombs you need to fly straight and level. if you're using guns you'll have to constantly adjust your line-of-flight to keep your guns lined up with the target. with rockets all you have to do is make sure that singular moment (instant) that you're launching rockets, that at least one of them will hit the target. while it's possible to do rockets and machine guns at the same time... it's usually not worth the trouble unless you've got a lot of densely clustered targets. my reasoning is this, you can only AIM for one of those weapons at a time. trying to bomb AND use machine guns is a recipe for disaster IMO. the best ranges for cutting down enemy troops and positions with machine guns means that you're SO low and SO close to the enemy that dropping a bomb could well be a self-destructive action! morever machine guns only work well when you're within 1000 ft of the target, by which time you have very little time to make corrections. I find that using multiple weapons for attacking a single pass means that you're exposing yourself to danger for longer periods of time. to minimize the dangers I only use one weapon at a time. if you're leading a flight remember that it can take up to 15 minutes before your wingmen attack the target. you can use the TAC display and command keys to tell them what target to attack. I have no problems doing this because it's the ONLY way to get them to attack ground targets at all! besides which, as a flight leader you'd be talking to your men about the most valuable targets anyway. same problem with CFS3 you have to give your flight members a command to attack ground targets---otherwise they blissfully ignore anything and everything on the ground (so far as I can remember) there are lots of ways to make ground attack missions work-- I've just found that knowing your path of escape, going in as fast as your plane can handle, picking one weapon and sticking with it, and getting out of there is the best way to go. if your first attack run is successful and you still feel eager to push your luck even further... I repeat the same method. I'll climb up to several thousand feet, and then attack again (sometimes from the opposite direction, if I'm running along the trench lines) but for most targets deep behind enemy lines, I always try to use the safest approach. I guess I could have kept this really short and said, "attacking ground targets is the same as balloon busting, it's just with ground targets you can actually destroy them with bombs"

are you really talking about the Fokker E.V, the late-war German parasol? or the E.III, which is an early war wing-warper? (if you do a forum search you'll find other threads on the Fokker E.III) the E.V feels pretty good to me. it has a pretty abrupt stall, and there's not much warning to when that happens. but if you put the nose down and apply some rudder it recovers quickly. it's worth remembering that the E.V uses the same engine as the Fokker Dr.I so if you're trying to fight the enemy you can either try to climb with them or turn with them... but not both. the SE5a, the SPAD XIII, Bristol Fighter all have more horsepower (some have almost three times that of the E.V!!!) so I remember this-- because my aircraft's engine will "tap out" long before theirs! the E.V gains it's speed from aerodynamics rather than horsepower. if you climb after something don't expect to catch up with it! it's better to lure the Allied energy fighters into a turning battle and then climb above them. don't follow Allied E-fighters into a zoom-climb. this is a trap that you will never escape. you need to anticipate when an Allied fighter will try to zoom... conserve your energy. when I tried following them in zooms I always stalled out before I could even fire a shot. when I held back from trying to match their zoom climbs I did much better. as long as I was below and behind them it didn't matter if I couldn't match their zoom-climb... because sooner or latter they always have to come back down. it just means waiting a couple of extra seconds. they usually have to turn when they've bled off all of their energy... because to go into a straight descent would be crazy. fortunately, going into a descending spiral is good for the E.V which can keep up with the SE5 and SPAD in tight turns providing it's not TOO fast. if they drop down into a 200 mph diving turn leave them alone! against the Sopwith Camel I've shot them down (almost) effortlessly by going into fairly mild left-hand turns and keeping my speed up. the E.V easily over took them with high and low yo-yos. it enjoys about 10 mph advantage over the Camel... so use that speed to win your battles. it IS twitchy, but the problem comes from flying lots of very docile British aircraft OR expecting the German parasol to behave in the same way as late-war German fighters with inline engines. it sounds like you need to amp up your "rotary engine time". I've put in hours and hours on the Fokker E.III which is, in many ways, good practice for the E.V. the Fokker Dr.I is also a good "lead in" plane for the E.V the Albatros D.Va is rock-steady because of the inline engine, as is the Fokker D.VII and the Pfalz D.III (which is so rock-steady it flies like a rock! :p ) once you get used to it the Fokker E.V is actually pretty good (for a rotary engined fighter.)

I'd like to see an FE2b variant that has a fixed Lewis gun mounted on side of the nacelle. I've seen several photographs where this took place, presumably of the same machine. it probably allowed the pilot to still use a weapon for dogfighting even if his observer got killed.

regarding RB3d, I actually planned my missions around kill-poaching. I would deliberately start attacking an enemy machine, putting only 50 or so rounds into it, and then break away and wait for my men to start the inevitable poaching. it enabled my flights to destroy more enemy machines than if I shot down everything myself. some AI in RB3d weren't very good about taking initiative-- so as soon as you run out of ammo a lot of your wingmen were as good as dead against even mediocre adversaries. but there was a bright-side: I had one wingman score over 50 victories in this kill-poaching manner. but he eventually got better. once, I put him in charge of the flight and he shot down 4 British two-seaters inside of 5 minutes as I stood by and watcched. that's pretty good for AI. I also found myself living longer (always had enough ammo for unexpected guests) and eventually racked up more promotions with fewer kills. to answer your last question. yes, it IS possible to kill an enemy pilot in their machine. it's a bit tricky... but you need to get in very close. I frequently get within 30 feet of the enemy and see pilot kills about 30 percent of the time. it's more likely to happen with single deck-mounted machine gun types like the Eindecker, Nieuport 17, or the Sopwith Triplane. the convergence of two machine guns makes it harder to get pilot kills without a bit of rudder to spray the lead around a bit.

Kill Poaching: this hasn't bothered me in years, to be honest. it bugged me during the first 1000 sorties or so of Red Baron 3d, but after that I figured it was nice to have the AI actually shooting down enemy machines. it's not like I ever run out of targets! and it helps me save ammo for unpleasant surprises from the enemy. I've only been killed by friendly poachers once in OFF. that first time was enough. I check my six even if no other enemy machines are around. however, I have had my engine shot out three or four times and been forced to land. usually if I see one of my guys moving into a kill position I'll do one of several things. 1. drop down several hundred feet and then launch a zoom-attack into the belly of my intended victim. this gets me out of harm's way (AI wingmen always seem to use pure pursuit when going for the kill) and allows me to keep attacking the enemy. (although half the time, when it comes to dealing with two-seaters, I'm already doing this-- so my wingmen are more likely to get roughed up by the observer) 2. I fly off to one side and allow them to attack directly while I go for a deflection shot from one side or the other 3. keep attacking and over-shoot the enemy, preferably by going below and in front (if it's a two-seater) or climbing above if it's a scout if I haven't seen my wingman approaching I treat bullets flying past my machine as if they were enemy bullets and get out of there. [before any sort of battle begins I put on the TAC display, and scroll through the entire enemy flight and give the order to attack. I save the highest or lowest enemy machine for myself. this helps negate the friendly kill/damage potential. ] remembering that the AI favors pure pursuit, I try to avoid turning directly with (and in pursuit of) the enemy for more than one or two turns. I'll break out in the opposite direction and try to force things into head-on combat or a deflection shot. high and low yo-yos are another good method because it reduces the time you spend in front of "friendly guns"! this keeps me from getting shot up by my own men. (given that most of my pilot careers have been in Fokker Eindeckers there's ANOTHER reason why I haven't been in a lot of turning battles! :p ) constantly checking my 6 o'clock to make sure it's "clear" is my best solution for those who play by the Dead is Dead rules.

I just got a copy of "Oh! It's a Lovely War" in the mail today. I've got one of the CDs, but it was getting the sheet music that I found most exciting. one of the things I like to do in my spare time is to compose and arrange music. so I was looking forward to doing some arrangements. I enjoy the music that came with Over Flanders Fields, but I thought it would be exciting to have some period pieces arranged as new menu music. I've had the good luck of finding hundreds of French folk songs and classical songs from this time-period at my local libraries. but the big gap I'm seeing is that it's difficult to find any sheet music for German music from this period. does anybody out there know of any?

File Name: West of Colmar File Submitter: Waldemar Kurtz File Submitted: 27 Mar 2010 File Category: Maps, Missions, and Campaigns this was scanned from Baedeker's Northern France as published in 1909. I've tried locating the local aerodromes as much as possible. but there aren't all that many there. I've used Hugh Wynne's aerodrome research to help me plant the aerodromes there. there is an aerodrome on Wynne's map north and south of Colmar. I've included both of these fields. if there are any aerodromes that I've missed feel free to point them out. it's a bit tricky finding some of the right places on these old maps. Click here to download this file