Hasse Wind

Bruno Ganz did some amazing work with this most difficult character in Der Untergang. Definitely one of the greatest living actors currently. Some of those Hitler parodies on Youtube are indeed very funny (this one also!). By the way, the only unofficial recordings ever made of Hitler's speech were taken in Finland in June 1942, when Hitler visited Marshall Mannerheim on the Marshall's birthday. Ganz used these recordings to practice for his role in Der Untergang. They used to be also on Youtube, but I can't seem to find the full original recording there anymore. This is just a part of it: It's kind of creepy to hear the man talking calmly and not shouting in anger as in all of his public speeches...

It's amazing to think there are still people left who have actually experienced the First World War. For a human being to live that long - it's almost like a miracle. But it must also be very sad to know you're one of the last of your generation - a generation that did great things and soon will be no more.

Interesting thread. I have a book with a picture of the real Fokker interrupter mechanism, but I don't have a scanner so unfortunately I can't post it here. The book is very good, Fokker Flugzeugwerke in Deutschland 1912 - 1921 by Peter M. Grosz & Volker Koos. (You'd think I work for those guys - I end up advertising their book in almost every thread!)

Welcome, Mike, you couldn't have made a better choice. OFF is wonderful - I've been playing it for months now and there's no sign of me becoming bored with it. That is something that happens VERY rarely with computer games, at least to me. Before getting serious with the Spad, I think you'd best wait for the next patch, which will improve their flight models. Then it should be more enjoyable to fly those powerful French monsters. Olham, don't forget that the Spad XIII also has two machine-guns, making it more effective in boom and zoom tactics than the Spad VII. :yes:

Griphos, I get scrambles quite often. It doesn't seem to depend on the squadron or its quality or aggressiveness, unlike patrol mission seem to do. Heck, I've even seen one as a bomber pilot (Strutter). No, I didn't take off on that occasion, even though the Strutter is great. :yes:

Hah! What a coincidence! My current wingman in MFJ I is Leutnant zur See Ernst Wittkowski. Guess what: I also thought for many missions it was Willkowski and wrote that name on several claim forms. But I did get about 75% of those claims confirmed, even though the name was spelled wrong.

I agree that we have a very nice community here. And it's all about helping our fellow pilots to get more enjoyment out of the sim. What's the point of having a forum otherwise? :yes:

Wonderful support, as always! I'm especially looking forward to the Spad fixes. Should make flying those bricks more enjoyable...

The AI in OFF is good. That will come as a big surprise for many, because it's not nearly as easy as in most other sims to shoot down hundreds of AI planes with your other hand tied behind your back and holding the stick with two fingers. The AI fights back. There's no shame in learning the game with easier difficulty settings and gradually moving on to more challenging levels. If one plays OFF with maximum difficulty it's best to try to imitate what the real pilots did in order to survive. The most important thing to learn is when to fight and when to fly away to fight another day. Being too aggressive will get you killed eventually, probably sooner than later. Another important thing is to concentrate your efforts into learning to know you aircraft and how it behaves in various situations. And the wingmen can be very useful, especially if you're flying in an elite unit. Don't try to win the war single-handedly. It takes a lot of hours to master all this, so if one is not willing to make that kind of personal investment in OFF campaign mode, it's best to stay in quick combat mode. But the campaign mode is VERY satisfying when you learn the tricks and get your pilot to stay alive mission after mission. Then it's not the kills that really matter, but trying to survive. Good luck! :yes:

I just can't imagine how freaking cold it must have been to fly even at ground level sitting in an open cockpit, not to mention going up to several thousand metres altitude. Driving a bike in winter is freezing enough for me. But then I don't have that kind of face protection. Maybe I should buy one for the next winter...

Thanks for expanding the map, Olham. You're a jolly good fellow. (Or was that too much krumpet-speak for you, Kamerad?) Those maps do indeed make it much easier to realize just how international this little community is.

Just start an OFF campaign in winter and pick a squadron that is stationed close to the North Sea. Then you can enjoy flying in the rain (and maybe singing!) to you heart's content. See my avatar's equipment.

Hah, that galaxy map is hilarious! Nice to see one of our OFFers lives on another planet. Playing OFF - an interstellar hobby. Olham, I'm afraid your map is inadequate to correctly show my location. I currently live in Rovaniemi, way up in northern Finland. Rovaniemi should be familiar to some old Germans veterans, as tens of thousands of Wehrmacht troops were here in Lapland during the Second World War. I haven't been living here for long though, just a couple of years ago your current map would have shown enough Northern Europe for my location back then. And there's really no need to change your map for my sake only. Who knows when I move to another town if I get a better-paid job than I currently have. :yes:

If only these men had been more critical of the Nazi rule much earlier than when the ultimate defeat was rapidly approaching in 1943-44, then maybe a lot of bad things could have been prevented. We'll never know. But it's interesting historically what happened to Göring when he became the head of the Luftwaffe. He was a capable and quite well-liked squadron leader during WW1, and not a bad pilot either, but as the Reichsmarschall he was a failure and in the end was with very bad terms with most of his subordinates when things started going badly for the Nazis. His chief of staff, General Hans Jeschonnek, committed suicide in 1943. It is believed one of the reasons behind this was the bad relationship between the two men, but definitely not the only one, as Jeschonnek had other problems not related to Göring.

Nice idea, but your map doesn't go far enough up north. I'll let my location remain a closely guarded secret.

I don't whether or not we have (m)any Frenchmen here, but Happy Bastille Day from me too! Viva la Revolución! Sorry, I don't speak any French...

Yes, the same book (Fokker Flugzeugwerke in Deutschland). Now somebody should write a similar book about the Albatros Werke...

The Fokker book I bought has made me even more interested than I was before in the early phases of aviation. The pre-war aviation industry was surprisingly wide-spread and some real geniuses worked in those small factories. Fokker himself got his pilot's licence before the war, which later made him very respected among the front pilots - they knew he wasn't just some ambitious engineer who never had to fly in his own designs. For example the development process of the Dr.I greatly benefited from Fokker's good relationship with famous pilots like Manfred von Richthofen. Unfortunately I don't have a scanner, there are so many good and probably very rare photos in the book about many interesting situations, such as the first test day of the Fokker interrupter gear with Fokker himself with an Eindecker. History of the Albatros Werke would be equally fascinating reading, I imagine...

Nice pic. After the war Fokker had to quickly switch their production to civilian models. They also built some very fast sport planes using the lessons learned from their WW1 fighters. Yep, I've been reading my Fokker book again. Fascinating stuff! :yes: PS. I fly in the same Jasta as Herr Osterkamp.

Impressive, Macklroy! So many kills in 20 hours. Are you trying to win the war single handedly? Olham, the rear area pen pushers clearly don't like you. Maybe you should take you Albatros for a flight over their office and strafe them? It's a war out there after all, accidents do happen.

Now I'm just waiting for the first picture of a real WW1 aircraft cockpit that somebody has modified just for playing OFF!

Yep, the Pfalz D.III and D.IIIa weren't the best of fighters when they were introduced. But they were used by quite a few Jastas (Bavarians mostly, but also the Marine units and some quite elite outfits, like Jasta 10) because the Germans needed all the planes they could get, and the Pfalz was a tolerable fighter with the right tactics. I've found they fight well against two-seaters and the Spads, but turn fighting must be avoided at all costs. The Pfalz D.XII that came into service with the Bavarians in 1918 was clearly a better fighter, quite fast and tough as a Spad. I hope to see the D.XII in OFF some day - those Bavarians who don't get the D.VII need something newer than the older Pfalz or Albatros. :yes:

I've flown a couple of missions with this new damage model using normal gun settings and have yet to see anything abnormal. None of the planes (3 in total) I've shot down while using the 2.1 in campaign mode have lost their wings, but one of them went down in flames. So far so good...

The Pfalz has even better visibility, or that's how it feels to me at least. The upper wing of the Pfalz is very cleverly designed, providing the pilot with great forward visibility. The Albs are of course better in every other way, except wing strength and maybe stability. What I like perhaps the most about German scouts in addition to their extra firepower is their excellent cockpit visibility compared to almost every Allied plane. :yes:

Hey, great to see you develop your excellent mod so quickly. I'm going to download it ASAP and give it a try in campaign. IDM 1.6 has so far worked perfectly in my OFF, so there should be no reason why this new version wouldn't be the same. :yes: