Hasse Wind

That's definitely interesting information. 500 rounds should be enough ammo for most situations, and it makes the aircraft lighter.

I installed it an hour ago. Everything seems to be working fine, so far.

Yes, not all of them are the same. They have different personalities, very much like humans. But both dogs and cats do have some behavioral traits that are shared, at least to some extent, by all the individuals of the species.

Both cats and dogs can be master manipulators. They quickly learn what is the best way to gain their owner's (or other people's) attention. And once they know it, they won't hesitate to use their power.

And yet many of those crates were really tough. Like the Pfalzes in the pics. Wood is a wonderful material. And those carpenters and other workers were masters of the art.

Great pics. They don't make aircraft like that anymore.

You Britons and your humour. It would be a very dull world without you.

Dogs are easy and can usually be trained well without any problems. Cats on the other hand mostly do as they please. I had a cat in my youth (it died many, many years ago) and I remember well the look he had on his face when I quite diplomatically tried to make him do something that he didn't like all that much. It was a strange mixture of amusement and contempt. Damn bugger must have been laughing at me in his shifty mind!

No special story I'm aware of. Jasta 10, an elite Staffel, was the most famous German unit that used the Pfalz. They were the first to receive the new fighter in the summer of 1917. Jasta 4 also used the Pfalz and was one of the Staffeln in JG1. But most of them went to the Bavarian Staffeln. I think Bavaria had a deal with the company or something. Also the Pfalz wasn't meant to replace the Albs, but to keep another type of fighter in service for reasons of safety and production capability. The Albatros was the main fighter, but the Germans didn't want to put all of their eggs in the same basket, so to speak. Even in 1918 when the Fokker D.VII became the fighter plane number one, production of other fighter models was continued (including the new Pfalz D.XII), though some other factories in addition to Fokker were indeed ordered to build the D.VII. Some pilots preferred the Pfalz, because it was considerably sturdier than the Albatros. You could dive fast and long with the Pfalz without breaking its wings, which couldn't be done with the Albs D.III and V. This made the Pfalz excellent for balloon attacks. But the Pfalz was also somewhat heavier and more difficult to fly than the Albatros. Overall the Pfalz was no improvement over the Albatros, but then I don't think it was supposed to be something completely revolutionary. I like the Pfalz's toughness as an energy fighter, and there's no better unit to fly them than the elite Jasta 10 (I also like the yellow and white colour combinations in skins, which happens to be Jasta 10's trademark).

During busy times (Entente offensives) and when the days were long in summer, the Jasta pilots often had several missions each day. Jasta 11 was no exception in this.

You can also see the frontline areas with Google Earth. I sometimes spend time trying to find old forts and things like that from the satellite photos. The Verdun area is particularly good for such searching.

Best of luck and many more years to you and your dog, Widowmaker.

I like to have pilots from all nationalities and mostly from the earlier periods so that I can try to progress through the war with them and have a long career. Usually they aren't that long though. I often have SPAD pilots in the American 13th Aero for some exciting late war action. I'm something of Pfalz fan, so Jasta 10 is one of my favourite German fighter units. FA(A) 250 is for bombers pilots (I love the DFW!). My British and French careers are more evenly spread among various squadrons/escadrilles. I've flown Quirks and Strutters a lot in the early war careers, and as the French it's possible to fly Strutters even longer, well into 1917.

You're a hot-headed fighter pilot. You're not supposed to be a strategist. Strategy is boring and should be left to the old mustachioed men with strange Prussian von names and wearing Pickelhauben.

Great photos. I really must do a trip to Verdun or some other important WW1 battleground before I become too old and incapacitated. Maybe a tour or something. Looking at photos is never the same as seeing things with your own eyes.

It was not necessary to cause heavy damage and numerous casualties - the bombings of British targets forced the British to devote considerable resources into creating a major air defense organisation that employed a large number of people and required massive material resources. All those men and resources could have been used on the front directly against the Germans if there had been no bombings. The same happened in Germany during WW2. The air defense measures put a heavy strain on the already limited German resources, and of course the bombings themselves were much more destructive than any strategic bombing of WW1. Strategic bombing always has both direct and indirect consequences. The direct ones are always more visible, but not necessarily more important than the indirect ones. This was the case in WW1.

You don't have to dig deep to find the ugly remains of the war from the ground. Each year, after all these decades, plenty of shells and other ammunition is found from the former frontline areas. Some of the explosives are still dangerous and unexploded. Around Verdun, there are villages that were completely destroyed in the extremely heavy fighting that took place there in 1916. Nobody lives in those villages anymore. They ceased to exist in 1916. I've never been to that part of France, but I imagine a visit to Verdun would be a spooky experience, especially for people who know about the history of the war.

Okay, that proves Olham was indeed right. A beautiful map. Thanks for posting it, Lou.

Yeah, you must be right Olham. Lou, you have the original books. Are the map volumes printed in colour? Are they thick? If they are, they alone must be more expensive than the rest of the books put together!

That's true, Olham. Books can be an expensive hobby. I often feel exactly like that myself. I wonder why they don't reprint the map volumes? Won't they sell enough? My War in the Air has all the other volumes, but not any special map books. There are maps sprinkled among the text though, but I guess the actual map volumes have better quality and bigger maps. Unless they scanned the maps and included them in the reprint (not very likely). My version is by the Imperial War Museum.

Don't forget this phrase attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, when she heard about the starving peasants of France having no bread: "Let them eat cake!" Nicely describes the attitude of the robber barons, though the phrase itself is probably fictional.

And you will never run out of reading on this subject if your memory is as bad as mine. I don't remember anything about the first books I read about WW1 aviation, so it's like starting the hobby all over again when I get back to them after all these years.

Damn! That's a nice set of books and I've always been interested in those histories. But I imagine the shipping costs to Finland would be millions, and I really need to save money for a new PC. Thanks for the map offer, Lou.

It does look very nice.

The events in Egypt and elsewhere have definitely shown the power people have when they join together for a common cause. No politician can stop the combined power of the people forever, not even a dictator. What the politicians count on is the general apathy and the lack of solidarity among the people. It's always easier to rule a divided people. That trick is one of the oldest in the book. Looks like you guys are doing a good job in Wisconsin.