Hauksbee

Saw an interesting aviation film on Netflix Instant last night: "Memories of a WWII Hero: Captain Brown's Story". Great stuff. Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown narrates his own "there I was.." stories. This guy was everywhere. As a teenager he met Udet in Germany who took him for a hair-raising flight. Brown was so cool about it that after they landed, Udet told him, : "Kid, you'd make a great fighter pilot someday. Learn to fly and speak German". Brown did both. He joined the Royal Navy, flew Hellcats off the carrier H.M.S. Audacity, got torpedoed, spent the night in the water tied to 24 others. As they died one by one from hypothermia they were cut loose. Brown was one of two pulled out the next morning. Got assigned to Farnborough as a test pilot. Flew over 480 different types during his career. Explains the art of sneaking up behind V-1's and flipping them over with a wingtip. Went to Germany right after the war and flew every German prototype 'Wonder Weapon" 'Loved the Me-262. don't miss it if you've got Netflix. For our purposes here, I made screenies from a WWI German newsreel. Here's a few pics of von Richtofen that are rare(ish) and one of Udet.

Here's the Zeppelin/airship hangar at Moffat Field, Sunnyvale, California. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I drove past this at least once a day. Not exactly what I'd call 'snug'.

An idea worthy of the BOC, but you might have difficulty getting your CO on the program.

"Ulp!" indeed. Even with safety ropes and harnesses, I still wouldn't want to be the guy on the left.

Very interesting. I shall view all artillery and tanks with new eyes.

Well, the new WOFF 2.0 has been released, I bought it, and expect I'll be getting some stick time in later today. I really (that 'really' should have been in all caps!) am liking the look of WOFF. After the advent of ROF, I felt OFF looked pale and washed out. Even despite the assurances from Forum members that northern Europe really looked like that. It just didn't satisfy any more. And I must confess, WOFF was a disappointment for me. 'Seems I misunderstood the historicity of it and assumed that if I haunted the area around Vaux-sur-Somme, on or about 21 April, I'd get a chance to tangle with von Richtofen, but it doesn't work that way. And just prior to WOFF's release, I was persuaded to try a two-seater campaign. But I found WOFF's Roland C.II & DFW to be completely unmanageable. Add frustration to the disappointment. Lately, I haven't been flying much. But with the arrival of some brilliant Modders (Sweet FX, Shadows & Cloud Mod) it's a whole new game, a whole new world. It's still vastly different from ROF, but every bit as dramatic. Every bit as aesthetic. Which, for me, is a big deal. Most of what OFF and WOFF have had to offer is lost on me; I don't fly campaigns. I'm strictly a QC pilot. But this is a world I want to fly in. It's darker than ROF, bordering on gloomy, there's a palpable threat in the air. (But...this The Great War, isn't it?) I got it installed last night and after I get a few errands done this afternoon, I think I'll strap on a Nieuport 17 and go chase some Eindeckers.

This is the photo that originally gave me chills about being perched on top of a Zeppelin. It's by Alfred Steiglitz and it's about crew members doing repairs on the Graf Zeppelin in flight. For a very long time I did not know that. I thought it was passengers simply taking a stroll. Most disturbing was the figure on the left sitting down. It looked as though he might slowly slide off into the night. Later, when I discovered they were crew members working, I could see that they had safety ropes.

Got mine!

Actually, this is more like what I had in mind. The British chap is held aloft by helium, the German, on the other hand, is riding a couple'a thousand cubic feet of hydrogen.

I got to looking for 'Pemberton-Billing' Nighthawk when I found this picture. Obviously, this can't be P-B because it's German. Anyone know what this is?

'Amen' to that.

Tail gunner on Dirigible...

Now that WOFF 2.0 will be delivering Zeppelins and Gothas raiding England, I take up the case for the Pemberton-Billing P.B.31E 'Nighthawk'. We must have it, or England will be crushed! This was the stance taken by Noel Pemberton-Billing; a very conservative M.P. who was a 'thorn in the side of government' in 1916-1917, and founder of a company that would become Supermarine when he sold it in 1916. The P.B.31E Nighthawk, the first project of the Pemberton-Billing operation after it became Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd., was for anti-Zeppelin operations and was intended as a veritable 'giant battleplane'. It was built in 1916.was a prototype anti-Zeppelin fighter with a crew of three to five. With four wings generating lift, the designers vision was that of a slow aircraft, deployed in large numbers, that would languidly climb to altitude, remain on station for 9–18 hours and be ready to intercept Zeppelins crossing the coast. The Nighthawk had six-bay swept quadraplane wings and a biplane tailplane with twin fins and rudders. The fuselage filled the gap between the second and third wings; the cockpit, which carried up to the top wing "turret", was enclosed and heated. Along with the intended long endurance, it was suggested it would be able to patrol at low speeds to await the Zeppelins. For armament, it had a trainable nose-mounted searchlight, a 1½-pounder (37 mm) Davis gun mounted above the top wing with 20 shells, and two .303 Lewis guns. Power for the searchlight was provided by an independent petrol engine-driven generator set made by ABC Motors, possibly the first instance of a recognizable airborne auxiliary power unit. Although touted as being able to reach 75 mph (121 km/h), the P.B.31E prototype only managed 60 mph (97 km/h) at 6,500 ft (1,981 m) and took an hour to climb to 10,000 ft (3,048 m), which was totally inadequate for intercepting Zeppelins. Given the Anzani engine's reputation for unreliability and overheating, it is unlikely that the aircraft would have delivered the advertised endurance either. The design included nine separate petrol tanks with 'quick-change' gear, enabling any number of tanks to be used or isolated in case of puncture by gunfire. Another design feature mentioned in connection with this aeroplane was the carrying of all controls, pipes, etc. outside the fuselage in amour-plated casings and a 'special revolver' enabling 'incendiary flares' to be dropped in a stick of one every twenty feet, so that, in straddling a Zeppelin of 65-ft diameter, at least three would strike. The 'perpetual haze of escaped gas' just above the top surface of a Zeppelin was considered by Pemberton-Billing to make it very vulnerable to such attack. The eccentric Noel Pemberton-Billing envisioned a whole fleet of Nighthawks prowling the skies like a wolf pack to shoot down the dreaded Zeppelin. In reality the whole concept was fallacious and it ended in failure but not before one of the oddest aircraft ever designed was built. To top it off, a young Reginald Mitchell was part of the design team; a far cry from his Spitfire 19 years later!

Maybe it's a Rotary Engine and he has to spin the prop to get it started? And a Blip Switch instead of brakes?

1911 Geary Circular Wing Multiplane... "The 1911 Geary Circular Triplane was an updated version of d’Equevilly’s multi-wing design which produced exactly the same disappointing results." Found this on 33LIMS's link. 'Could be the same.

I only know that this pic. is from a German newspaper.

And it's a first for me, too. All in their early 20's. Thanks Olham.

If we ever again see enough postings, then fine. In the meantime, THIS is the WOFF, OFF 3 and OFF 1&2 section.

To satisfy curiosity, I checked out the OFF Forum at SimHQ. It had exactly one thread, and that to mark the passing of Gary Tazman (HouseHobbit). I do not see a great future, or burning need, for a similar OFF/WOFF breakout here at Combat Ace

So that's it? Never heard of it before. Is it mainly a European thing?

I agree. I'd have no objection to the proposed plan if the few of us here wanted it to happen, but...there's nobody posting game news, questions, screenies or videos as it is. What would be gained?

(We're down to a Map 0 because the 'Trenches' graphic got in the mix twice) The Bolshevik revolution sparks civil war in Russia When the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in October 1917, it triggered a civil war. Opponents organized a White Army to oppose Soviet control of Russia. The Whites were strongest in the Eastern parts of the vast Russian empire, and for a time they controlled the bulk of the land — though much of their Eastern holdings were sparsely populated. The White Army was aided by the British, French, and Americans, who didn't want to see a communist revolution succeed in one of the world's most powerful nations. But Allied support wasn't enough to help the White Army defeat the Soviet Red Army in battle. After making gains in 1918, the Whites were driven into retreat in 1919. The White Army had been largely destroyed by mid-1920, though it took another two years for the Soviets to consolidate their control of the vast territory they would dominate for the next 70 years. (There it is:40 Maps. Now you know everything about WWI)

I'm not understanding your use of the word 'caliber'. In the U.S., caliber refers to the diameter of the bullet measured in 1/100's of an inch, i.e., a .50 caliber MG fires a bullet 1/2" in diameter. Thus, it can only have one caliber. What does it mean when you say '40 calibers long'?

Good article. I was about to suggest the death toll might have been less if famine conditions were less severe, but not so. It was the young and very healthy who suffered most. In addition, there's a good section that speculates on why this massive kill-off was so quickly forgotten. I first heard about it in college (mid 1950's) when a friend told me about how he'd heard about in a 20th century history class. I was amazed that it never was mentioned in any fiction, films or reminiscing of grandparents. The internal bleeding and tissue breakdown makes it sound akin to Ebola. Nasty stuff.

Thanks, and my apologies to the Tommies.