JimAttrill

What with Viruses and stuff I have some time on my hands so will have another go at UE. The bottom has fallen out of the Rand - it has gone from 14: USD to 19: USD recently so I don't think I can afford PE at that rate. However UE is good enough for me!

I've been away for about a year, not playing any games at all. Anyway, I've finally got fed up with reading about Brexit so have reinstalled WOFF UE and the patch up to version 4.21. I'm a bit out of practice and never was a good pilot anyway but will have another go.

I haven't been around for a while but quite fancy joining in a new DiD campaign run from here. Like most of you I am not keen on SimHq at all. Anyway Happy Christmas (a bit late now even if it was my birthday!) But Happy New Year for tomorrow.

Good to see you are still around Olham!

I did a lot of work for the DID Campaign revival mostly with Olham who was very active at the time. When Nov 11th 1918 came around a lot of people lost interest in WOFF and this was before UE came out. So I also miss the good old days!

I am still around occasionally. But I don't post as much as I used to. Sorry about that.

I thought I would start the easy way in a BE2c but the first time I tried to land it I crashed and died. The second time I crashed and wrote off the aircraft but didn't die. I seem to be a rotten pilot. I suppose I could let it land itself under autopilot but that is cheating. Maybe I'm using the wrong throttle setting or something like that. As a proud ex-member of 4squadron RAF (with Harriers 1969-1973) I would like to fly the whole war with that squadron. Could be a bit boring though, as they only flew BE's and RE's ...

What has happened to Simhq? The site is now unreadable. Not that I care. I had a terrible time with WOFF UE. It would crash all the time so I decided to reinstall. I then found my installations didn't work - they stopped at some sort of British Medal. However, eventually I found a backup installation that actually worked. Lots of crashes still so I reinstalled DirectX and C++ runtimes and at least I can now fly (sometimes). The trick seems to be to do a QC until it starts flying then Quit that and go to the campaign. I also had fun and games with TrackIR - it didn't seem to want to load a driver at all. Eventually at about the twentieth installation it actually worked. TrackIR would run up and not find the hardware and the red led's didn't come on. Now it seems to work again. The thing I don't like about all this is that I usually manage to fix things but can't remember what the latest try was or have any idea about why it suddenly worked. Such is life with pooters....

And best Xmas wishes to you also, Mr Hood over there in Sydney Oz. To Celebrate I am going to fly UE for the first time this new year and see how it goes. Dangerous, I think!

Well I am going off to fly WOFFUE or whatever it is called. I may try some of the new aircraft as well.

"If 3 workers dig a ditch with a length of 8 meters, a width of 2 meters and a depth of 3 meters in 4 hours - how long would 8 workers need to build a house with 4 walls 4 meters high and a roof?" Easy question really ....

Hi Olham, it shows the differences between aircraft that took place in a very short period, from first flight to Mach 3 or so. My father was 'old school' RAF served from 1922 to 1958 with some time off in the 30s after his first enlistment ran out. He never really understood jet engines so although we were both the same trade we had little in common. He was still in the RAF when there was conscription and couldn't understand the modern all-volunteer service that I was in. That I would leave work on Friday afternoon and only have to be back on Monday evening without a 'leave pass' to my name he found very strange. (This was when I was going from day shift to night shift and gave a long weekend). I could even leave Germany, go back to the UK for the weekend and then be back at work on Monday. I don't think he had much to do with aircraft in his last years and was senior by that stage so didn't do any spannerwork. In fact he ended as the NCO in charge of the Para training hangar at Abingdon, watching army paras being thrown about in harnesses etc. They also used to throw them out of an ex WWII barrage balloon with a basket underneath and I as a kid used to watch this. He did tell me some interesting things sometimes, like this one: How do you grind the crank on a RR Eagle V12 engine with nothing but a big block of lead, two long bolts with nuts and two long pieces of wood? I found that hard to believe but it showed how things had changed since those days.

Hi Olham, yes I was an old aircraft mechanic, but engines only. To me the airframe was something that got in the way when trying to service the engine! I had read that the V-strut allowed the lower wing to flex (obvious really). So I reckon the best choice is the DII in 1916? From an engine point of view, the early DB and BMW straight-six engines were a good bet until the Hispano V8 in its various versions started to appear. Of course the best engine of the first war was was most likely the RR Falcon V12 of 14 litres as used in the Bristol Fighter and the RR Eagle V12 of 20 litres capacity. Unfortunately they were both hard to make in large quantities. My father worked on RR Eagles from the Vimy and later the Napier W12 Lion in the Virginia. He told me some amazing stories about how these engines were serviced in those days.

I still fly occasionally in a Camel and some German two-seaters. As an ex-member of 4 Squadron RAF ground crew on Harriers I had hoped to run a campaign through the whole war. A bit boring though as they flew BE2s and RE8s. I do miss the DiD campaign which was my main reason for going to the 'other' forum. Maybe I should try an Albatros. Which is the best one and what time is the best? Olham will know that of course. Hals und Bein bruch!

That seems to be an about-turn of sorts.