JimAttrill

I think we are just about completely ready. Not bad on my side for something I started only a few hours ago. But it looks like it is going to be FUN! Now I must go and fly my FE2b and avoid getting shot down.... By the way, the software I am using copes with the addition and deletion of questions without screwing up previous answers so we will be fine even if we have to change a few things. It costs $US80 per year but I am not paying that....

Hi theultimat I will add you to the website. I have a drop-down list to avoid spelling mistakes! Wait a while and then try again.... I never thought of the different RNAS ranks.... so will put them in. That will take a time. Otherwise go as a Sergeant Maeran and theultimat added - also an 'other' for others who can be added later.

Hi Woffers, I was reading one of my many aviation books last night and came across a photo of a colour painting of Squadron Commander Richard Bell-Davies winning the Victoria cross in 1915 by rescuing a shot-down colleague in his Nieuport. Unfortunately the book does not give credits for any of the photos used which is unusual. The book is "Pictorial History of Military Aircraft" edited by John Pimlott, Bison Books 1987. The Nieuport is shown with the roundel on the rudder, but it is unusual in the the colours from the outer to the inner are red, white and blue. These are more normally the colours of the French Entente forces. Is this a mistake on the part of the artist or did the RNAS use that roundel at one time? This episode happened in Bulgaria when he was in charge of 3 Squadron RNAS. I believe the story was used by Capt. W. E. Johns in his Biggles story "The Rescue Flight". Here is the Wiki article about him. He had an interesting life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bell-Davies I note he was captain of the carrier Pretoria Castle at one time when it was being used for tests, some carried out by Eric M Brown.

Ok, I'll give it a bash (at level C). So I have to enrol my pilot as a Sgt in a two-seater squadron on June the 1st 1916 - is that right? Do I have to do the WOFF training or can I skip that? And I have to have 5 'real' (not training) hours on the 2-seaters before I can switch to a single-seater. I won't use 'padlock' because I have never figured out how to use it anyway The first thing - the workshops settings appear on SimHq but not here that I can find. Also, I enrolled my pilot for summer 1916 but the date it gives is 22 July. How can I enrol a pilot for June 1st? I then deleted that one and tried spring 1916 but it gave me April 1 ....

Dear Rachel thanks for your prompt reply. I did get a bit suspicious when I saw the date of the painting. So I reckon we really don't know as the aircraft could have been delivered with those roundels and left that way. I'm not sure there were any French aircraft in Bulgaria to worry about at the time Kind Regards Jim Attrill On 2014/06/06 04:10 PM, Rachael Casey wrote: Our reference: RRC 2014/0618 Dear Mr Attrill, Thank you for your email enquiry. Bell-Davis was flying a Nieuport Type 10 two-seater Scout with the serial number 3172. This could well have been delivered to the RNAS with French Roundels on its wings and tails – there are photographs of similar. There is one photograph of Flight Sub Lieutenant Smylie posing beside a Nieuport which has tricolour stripes (common to the British and the French machines) with 3172 stencilled on the white. However, the McDonough painting has a machine with the serial number 3163. This is the right type of aircraft but one that only saw service in France. I think we must assume therefore that the aircraft in the painting is purely the product of artistic licence. Kind regards Rachael Casey (Mrs) Information and Enquiries Assistant Fleet Air Arm Museum 01935 842608

I have emailed the RNAS museum at Yeovilton asking them about this picture and especially the colours of the roundels. I'll let you know if there is a reply.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/images/paintings/yeorn/624x544/som_yeorn_e01534_624x544.jpg Here is a link to the picture which is in the RNAS museum. I note it was painted in 1979!

Which WWI aircraft engine was good for the environment?

Olham is back. He has posted on SimHQ. Holiday over

Not quite OT, but I have just remembered that the Ostfriesland was the name of the surrendered German battleship sunk by Billy Mitchell's aircraft. Unfair really as it couldn't shoot back.

Congrats! you win a

Q. Which famous aircraft was also made by the Cunard Steamship Company in 1918? A.

And very similar to the 'albatross' badge worn on both shoulders by airmen which I was for 7 years. Strangely enough, on both shoulders the albatross faced backwards, most likely 'checking our six' for the Station Warrant Officer. (The SWO's and other WO's actually ran the RAF of course)

I am definitely going to give it a go. But to be really immersive you need a big fan that will whip the map out of your hands

Have you tried Nibbo's map update available on the WOFF download page? New WOFF inFlight Map by Nibbio I tried it after I found the place I had grown up (Southend on sea, Essex) had mysteriously moved about 20 miles inland. It's not perfect, but better.

I'll just have to avoid those high-tensile steel fences!

The BE doesn't have much of an angle of fire from the front observer's seat. It's going to take me a long time to get to June 1915 from March 1915 one day at a time. Pity I can't accelerate the calendar Which Pol says is not possible.

Even though I bought a copy of CFS3 in order to get OFF to work I have never tried it on its own! Is it worth having a go at it (I have lots of disk space available). If I do install it are there any good mods available and where do I get them? I rather fancy flying a FW190 against a Spitfire IX which Eric Brown thinks are just about equivalent in performance. (See "Wings of the Lufwaffe" by him).

I'm waiting for them. When should they arrive? I fly the BE2c from the observers seat so I may be able to get them if my AI pilot is any good.

Hee Hee! There seems to be at least one pilot about who is not as good as me! It's pretty hard to crash a BE2c and I have about 50 hours so far. No enemies in sight yet in March 1915 ....

I installed a new version of W7 on another drive, installed WOFF and now it works. The problem was somewhere in Windoze as all versions of CFS3.exe crashed. I have no idea why.

No, every install gets its own cfs3.exe .... and all of them crash

It now seems that CFS3.exe crashes on a call to COMMON.DLL with "APPCRASH". This happens with CFS3 itself, OFF and WOFF. They are all installed on different drives and have their own common.dll's and cfs3.exe's. This is obviously something wrong with my computer itself or with Windoze. Rebooting doesn't help. Any ideas? I am fed up with reinstalling over and over again. I shall post this on the other forum just in case...

Well I never installed it in the first place. Just used it for OFF and then WOFF. Maybe I should re-reinstall it again again. Gets a bit boring really....

Installed CFS3 again but it doesn't work. I get the first flash screen and then it crashes. Can't be bothered with it any more.