Hauksbee

Indeed they were. Not for nothing did I dub them "the Great Glacial Dev's". They let nothing leak out until the 'two weeks' are properly over. If you can tough it out, the Dev's never disappoint.

Ah, those rascally DEv's, I just knew they were up to something! Isn't it wonderful how they made an announcement and, at the same time, managed to say nothing?

You're spot on, Hellshade. Most everybody agrees that Fighter Command was on the ropes just before that 'unfortunate incident' of bombing London. Winston Churchill described that night as the one that lifted his spirits most during the Battle of Britain. As he and his staff stood on the rooftops watching London burn, he said he knew that this would bring America in. England's fortunes had just taken a turn for the better. Britain's tit-for-tat bombing of Berlin was the perfect stroke to drive Hitler into a rage. Fighter Command was off the hook. The problem with the Luftwaffe was that it was always seen as an adjunct to the Wehrmacht. It's fighters would attack enemy airbases and establish air superiority. The ground troops would advance. When they hit a hotly defended point, they'd pause and call in the Stukas to destroy the enemy position and the Wehrmact would pour through the hole. Bombers were for knocking out airfields, rail hubs, truck convoys, etc. It was strictly tactical, support-the-ground-troops thinking. There was no long range strategic thinking. The same held true for the Navy. The Nazis hadn't a clue about naval warfare.

Well, it's been a week since we decided to breath new life into the old airfield. I'd say that it's proceeding nicely. So, Jim, who wins the banana?

I've always wondered why, during the Battle of Britain, Goering gave in to the bomber pilots and ordered his fighters to fly close in. Being a former fighter pilot himself, he must have known that it only made them low-energy targets.

C'mon, Robert. It's only a short walk.

Sounds great, Jim. Consider me first in line, got my money in my hand.

Another book on von Richtofen? What is left that hasn't been published yet?

Awwright! Good to see you again, Typhoon. Seems like there's more than a few of the old gang hangin' around.

A much more complicated affair than I had thought. All that work, and still, one careless dive gets you this: . .

Looks like Widowmaker has moved on to other pursuits. His reply... Thanks Kell..but i'm so far removed from all that these days...I don't even play OFF/WOFF anymore :(

Thanks, mate. PM sent.

Bad luck. JFM's e-mail address has disappeared from my address book. Very strange, because I had a conversation with him (within the year) when I was looking for information concerning the Sablatnig pontoon triplane. We'll just have to hope he stops by.

I just happen to have his e-mail address. I'll poke him with a vstick.

This gets stranger and stranger. The one photo shows tape applied before the fabric goes on, and speaks of it as "reinforcing tape". Is it really beefing up the wood structure? And what would have been used as a glue/adhesive in 1917? The second pic. shows tape being applied over the fabric, over the ribs. Perhaps if it were tacked down to the rib itself, it might have stopped the fabric from tearing away in a dive. (and we've all experienced that). But still, the fabric could just as easily be stitched to the rib, or glued, or tacked down. Why the tape? .

Actually, I'm happy to hear that. The D.V is an elegant airplane and I was always sorry to think of as a bit of a dog. I'm pleased to leave that bit of misinformation behind. ( besides...if it were a dog, why would our very own Olham be so passionate about it?) I think too many people have heard von Richtofen's comments, not knowing that they were made at the end of the Albatros's operational life. (me among them).

...and how does one collect on this fine banana?

Their attachment to day jobs would indicate the strategy is working. But I'd like to see a day in the near future when WOFF would support them. Imagine what they might do if they had all day to work on WOFF?

One telling bit of info was that 777 has been acquirred by, or, is "under contract to" 1C. The latter is a big company and 777 must take their marching orders from the big dog. I'm willing to bet that the 777 dev's and modelers do not have 'day jobs' like our guys. I've often marveled at the fact that our guys do. I don't know how they pull it off, but the fact that they do means it's a labor of love and they need not answer to anyone.

As I suspected. Laying out, and painting, those long straight lines would be an enormous amount of work. But why the tape in the first place? Was the fabric only loosely stitched to the airframe and the tape sealed it? It seems to be a practice that didn't last too long.

Seems reasonable. Who wants to write the pointer?

I know that feeling! I spent many years on the San Francisco Penninsula trucking up and down Highway 101. Somewhere, down around Mt. View, there was an overpass that crossed 101 at 90 deg. Just before you crossed over 101 there was an entrance ramp that peeled off and dropped down to the highway. Every time I started down that ramp, my VW morphed into a Hawker Hurricane and all the traffic on 101 became He-111's. Every time.

It would appear that many others do too. If we can get them to post a 'hello', perhaps we could start to re-build the community.

Do I detect a nostalgia for Combat Ace? I am restoring it to my bookmark list...right above SimHQ, and I shall be checking in here on a regular basis again. 'Hope to see you all.

Incurable romantic that I am, I'd like to see the good fellowship of the OFF days gravitate back here, and Sim HQ can be resevered technical questions where the expertise of the Devs is needed. I loved the breadth of subject matter that people were interested in, the wealth of WWI history discussed. But...that's not going to happen.