Canvas Wings

Yeah PanzerLeader - the sequel to Panzerblitz. Still have them both, along with about 60-odd other boxed games from Avalon Hill, SPI and a few miscellaneous game companies - including Richthofen's War, Dawn Patrol and yes, Ace of Aces too. You're right - I dunno if I could ever slug my way through the rule books of the more complex games any more. Great times, tho' CW

Geez! I think that was you screaming past my nose in the cloud about ten yards out. Scared the crap outta me! LOL! Welcome the war. ...now the trick is to collide with *enemy* aircraft. CW

Well I'm technically on Facebook by family request, but I avoid it like the plague and dispise it with a passion... what with people I barely new 15 years ago wanting to be my "friend" - and the ongoing lists of entries announcing that so-an-so just brushed their teeth and are now going watch a movie, or pictures of their dog with a ladies' bra on it's head... and 10 daily requests to join some mindless game or find out what kind of a animal I would be, etc, etc... I pretty much think FB could rightfully be considered an global-wide, cheerfully publically supported virus. That given... an OFF Facebook fan page? Maybe Ive been a little hasty.... CW

Fabulous news! You guys, as always, ROCK!

Thanks, will do, Baldric.

Thanks Olham, that's what I needed to know.... better scoot over to the hangar and get up while there's still light. BTW - is posting reports to "K&C" all that's required -or do we still have to email hours/kllls direct to Siggi so they are added to the Campaign site, as was the original plan? Thanks CW

I've been off for a bit and I'm playing catch up with all the posts re: the DiD campaign. The last I knew, we were to start active missions Nov 5/16 and fly in synch with the R/L calendar. I've got FSubLt Matt Cutter who just transfered in from RNAS 5 with 25+ hours on the Strutter cooling his heels over in the mess, ready to have a crack at the hun (I know -he starts over a clean log)... but it seems like every one is up and at 'em already. Did the start date get moved ... or is this just a training session and everyone resets for Nov 5? CW

I'm a mostly freelance writer. Instead of a respectable, if under fed, author, I'm the literary equivalent of a hooker. Most of my years of scribbling has been for radio/TV however, there's probably not many things I *haven't* been paid to write -magazine/newspaper articles, speeches, jokes... I also write fiction, fantasy, songs (part time musician as well) -and even poetry, on the side; but that's a personal hobby for the most part. After hitting the keyboard 8 hours a day, the last thing I want to spend much time on is more writing. So instead I strap myself in to the cockpit of my trusty Sopwith Tripe..........

I've been out of the loop for a week, Sig- and I've only read through about half of the ten pages of replies in here already - but it sounds like a fantastic idea. I'd love to be in on it, British side, flying the Pup, Tripe, and Camel in that order. Not that I'd last long. Without Track IR, I imagine I'll be fodder for the AI... but what the heck. CW

Let's see... OFF has recently dominated most of these; but in random order... computer gaming - music (guitar mostly) some performance & singer/songwriter board games (I must a 60-70 titles in the closet including the old Richthofen's War & Dawn Patrol) writing -sci fi/fantasty/general fiction/poetry travel -the more "out of the way" the better Dart league reading history long time AD&D roleplay/game mastering (though as Baldric said co-ordinating people makes it tough nowadays)

Excellent, WM. Twelve years old, eh? Fabulous stuff. I make a living as a scribbler myself. The kid's got a great ear for dialogue, a natural flow and an instinct for the little touches that give a scene it's realism. If sticks with it, he's going to do well. CW

Downloadable... UPS... Snail mail... find a 120 year old WWI vet to fly over my house in an ultralight and drop off tied to a rock; I don't care! Want it, want it, want it!!!

Pretty much my observations too. In addition... 1. Taking off You have to pilot yourself, even if you're not flight leader, and switch back once airborne. 2. Looking around I don't have TIR, but I do have a POV hat on the stick. Moving the stick directs your machine gun, using the POV moves your view only- with a wider range of vision than the firing arc. 3. Cruising along Can get very unsettlilng- unless it just happened I got a ham-fisted pilot with a spastic twitch. Not only does it occasionally do the porpoise thing. Sometimes it verges on stalling (force feed joystick) for frightening periods of up to 10 seconds giving you the impression you're about fall out of the sky- but sometimes the pilot throws the plane around in wild contortions for no apparent reasons (ie: no nearby enemies or flak) sometimes losing a thousand feet or more and ending up way off the flight path. I don't why this happens, but it always seems to recover and return to it's orginal altitude & heading. So far.... 4. Flight commands Most don't work from the back - as mentioned, Warp does. However throttle does not. Ergo, you can cut the throttle back prior to warping. That may account for some of the odd gyrations in 3 above... I can't remember now if it only happened during/coming out of warp or in normal flight. 5. Bombing You definitely need to jump back into the pilot seat to drop drop ordinance 6 Combat The EA do seem very reluctant to attack at least as long as you hold formation and as long as you're riding shotgun, your plane will stay in formation. They don't seem to attack your flight mates either. Maybe if you lose a couple to flak the EA might come for you, I don't know; but otherwise, even if they have sizeable numerical superiorty they don't seem to want to attack from the rear -or even come within range. (Which, considering what happens to me when I try to take a 2 seater from behind, doesn't surprise me. - Fortunately they don't know I cant hit the broadside of a barnstormer with the tail gun.) 7. Shooting Right. See above. On the rare occasion an EA comes close, good luck. Forget deflection shooting, there's too many variables, at least for my skills. Either fill the general area with lead or, preferably, restrict your shooting to EA coming directly at you so there's little/no deflection. On the upside, you don't have to worry about shooting your own ass off. I'm still here. 8. Landing. Once back at the field, I never rode the plane around that silly 7 mile out and back landing approach. (I never do in any of my missions) I just kill all my altitude and land immediately. I jumped back into the pilot's seat to land. Never dared to see if it will land on autopilot - but I'm betting it's the same as on take. You fly or you die. Besides - even in single seater -ever sit on the field waiting an watching your buddies come back after their 14 mile loop. Even *they* can't land without crashing about half the time. CW

LOL Damn sporting of him! Thanks, Olham....

His Majesty’s government regrets to inform you that your son, 276509 Captain Jones, Kerry, 54 Squadron RFC, was killed in action February 1st 1917 while leading an attack against an enemy airfield. Man that sucks. “Kanuck” Jones was my longest surviving pilot yet. Flying a Sopwith Pup with 54 RFC, he had over 36 hours in the air, with 10 confirmed victories, been promoted twice and awarded the DFC and bar. His flight of four was sandwiched between two groups of four Albatross from Jasta 17. Jones himself spotted the trap being sprung and was climbing out of the fray. He turned on the tail of an enemy who appeared to be the highest opponent, fired a burst and then broke left to start climbing away. BIG explosion and fire. Black screen. Was it flak? I hadn’t noticed any ground up to that point. Was it a collision? I was sure everyone else was well below. Did someone fire one lucky burst and hit the fuel tank? I’ll miss flying with Jones… but the worst part is not knowing what killed him.