Check Six

Hi guys, Check Six here. Long term (?) OFF: BH&H user, new to WOFF). I haven't done much flying for some time (other stupid things interrupted me (real life included), but I recently purchased and received WOFF by mail (DVD format). I had recently upgraded to a new gaming PC (my ninja stealth beast is awesome, as it should be for the price - AUS$3200 without peripherals) and despite the fact I had WOFF DVD sitting on my desk, I didn't install it until I got my beast up and running. I went for my first mission yesterday, and thought I'd best go back to training, as it had been a while, I couldn't remember many key bindings (and had since taken down my copy from the wall). I had also just reconnected all my joystick and rudder and TrackIR, and was not sure if they were working or not. So, old Capt Triggers took me up in the BE2, and I was a bit disappointed that I could not take the controls, because that was one of the reasons I was on this training mission. However, the scenery was beautiful, running seamlessly with no problems on maximum settings. My TrackIR worked just fine. We landed, and I could not exit the aircraft. I tried every key and every combination to no avail. The ONLY thing that worked was my last resort - Ctrl+Alt+Del to the Task Manager to close the sim. Eventually I got to a screen telling me my flight was complete (it was complete 5 minutes ago!). I have since chased up a key binding chart that tells me perhaps I should try Escape then Enter. I'll have a go at that tonight. I loaded up Microsoft Flight Simulator X and tested my TrackIR again, and this time to see if my joystick and rudder pedals worked. Joystick yes, pedals no. At least I have the twisty joystick control in the meantime until I wrangle my pedals into life. My new Specs you ask? I'll BRAG about them now, but someone will laugh at me in a few weeks time telling me it's obsolete. Intel i7 4770 3.4 GHz/3.9 GHz CPU Intel DH87MC ATX Motherboard 16GB RAM 480 GB Solid State drive, 2TB Hard drive Gigabyte NVIDIA 3 GB GTX780 PCI Express Card Creative SoundBlaster Recon 32 PCI Express BENQ XL2420Z monitor Saitek X-52 Joystick, Saitek Pro rudder pedals Logitech G35 Gaming Headset Logitech G-19 Gaming Keyboard Logitech GX9 Gaming Mouse Check Six (Steve)

Is this current for WOFF? I cannot exit a mission. I tried ESCAPE then ENTER, but I have read that after pressing ESCAPE, a drop down menu is expected, from which you make a selection to finish the mission. This isn't working in my sim. I am running the vanilla DVD version (I haven't downloaded any patches yet, I wanted to get the sim up and running first). Can anyone help me? Sure, CTRL+Q may exit the mission AND the game, but does it actually save the results, such as adding flying time to Pilot's Log Book, and recording any "victories" etc?

I have just loaded up WOFF after some time since I flew OFF:BHaH and am having some trouble. I hope some kind soul can assist me. The first problem I'm having is how to end the mission. I did the right thing and enlisted early on in the war (as Sgt Test Pilot). I was ordered to go on a training mission. Sadly, I could not fly the BE2c, just observe how Capt Triggers flew it. We had an uneventful (yet stunningly beautiful) mission and landed safely. But I could not exit the aircraft or go to Ops room for a de-brief. No key worked. I pressed EVERY single key on the Keyboard. Drastic measures were needed, and I started to press every key combination I could think of. I resigned to the fact that I was stuck, and in desperation, I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to enter Task Manager to close WOFF. When I selected WOFF and clicked "End Task", it somehow didn't kick me out, but took me to the "Done" screen. I was relieved, but confused. This has plagued me ever since. I have checked out a OFF Key Bindings card that some very nice person made up and made available for his comrades (thank you!!). I suggests I press ESCAPE then ENTER. Stupid me! Ok, thanks. Next mission, I waited until I landed, and pressed ESCAPE (the game pauses) then ENTER. It did nothing. Hmmm...perhaps it meant Keypad ENTER. Tried that, then with Num Lock on...Nothing. Sitting on the aerodrome looking stupid! It seems as if a menu is supposed to appear in the top right of the screen, but this doesn't seem to be happening. Please help me end a mission properly. I also would like help with a Virtual cockpit. I can mess around with some views, and eventually get in a virtual cockpit, but my aircraft is invisible (great for scanning the skies for enemy or friends, but not for flying). The Key Bindings card suggests it isn't mapped, and I need to work it out myself. Can someone tell me how? I can Map this key or combination of keys to my joystick, or programmable mouse, or programmable keyboard macro, but first of all I need to know HOW to achieve a virtual cockpit (what buttons need to be pressed). Any help is gratefully received. Steve (c/s Check Six)

Some time ago, there was a skin posted by our good German comrade Olham that had a tail message similarly placed on the tail of (I think) a Dr.1 to Udet's "Du doch nicht!" that Olham said was translated as "Kiss my a$$". I tried to find it, and to get a confirmation of the translation, because I want to add this "motto" to the tail of one of my planned model builds, but was unsuccessful. Can anyone point out the thread to me, or provide a screenshot of the tail motto (hopefully close-up and in detail), or could Olham re-post it here for me? Can one of our German speaking friends confirm the translation? Also, it was written in the older style (is it Gothic?) script. Can anyone tell me what the "font" is called, and where I could get an idea of how to reproduce it? Thanks gents.

The ONLY reason not to speed.

By far the funniest ever roadside sobriety test. (OK, it's not real. From "Reno 911"). But still hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wajrQBtbb-c&feature=related

I work as a Security supervisor in Sydney's old GPO building, which is immediately next to the Cenotaph, our most sacred memorial to the fallen in Sydney, and the centre of our Rememberance Ceremony on Anzac Day (Aussie's equivalent to Memorial Day). Unfortunately, I worked this day, but am blessed in that I can rotate our surveillance cameras and turn on the staff entry intercom, and so see and hear the ceremony. As supervisor, I also got my roving guard and briefed him to man the phones and equipment whilst I wandered amongst the crowd. I was happy to escort Scouts and Cadets to our basement, where we keep the chairs for this event stored, and assist the dignitaries to park their vehicles in our Loading Dock, and show them how to exit the building. I was pleased at the HUGE turnout. There was some discussion in the leadup to the event where some were suggesting that we should only allow veterans to march in the parade after the solemn service, preventing the kids marching with their granddad's photo and maybe wearing his medals (on the right side of the chest of course), alongside his granddad's mates. Sadly, a march with only veterans in it would be VERY short (we did not have a huge Vietnam contingent, and mostly Vietnam vets are the only ones fit enough to march, the WW2 vets are getting very old now). All the city's taxis are commandeered to ferry the very elderly or infirm or not greatly mobile along the march route. We don't have any Memorial Cemeteries here in Australia. The only remains repatriated to Australia after WW1 were General Bridges (killed on Gallipoli, and luckily able to be returned here to Australia, now buried on a hill in Canberra), the Unknown Soldier's remains, interred in the Australian War Memorial, and Sandy the Waler, the hide of one of Australia's famous Light Horse, who is now stuffed and on display in the Australian War memorial. The same goes for WW2, and other conflicts. Whilst we do repatriate some of our warrior's remains (Yesterday, two soldiers returned from Afghanistan for burial), we don't have rows of soldiers killed in battle. Our solution is to have the general populace whose loved ones didn't return to grieve at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier (perhaps secretly hoping it is Uncle John, or brother Fred).

I visited many Commonwealth War Graves in France and Belgium. So many things to sadden you. The sheer size of the cemeteries. Massive! The number of cemeteries. Such a waste of life. Sad epitaphs from loved ones. Saddest of all... "A soldier of the Great War. Known unto God". But one thing struck me. These cemeteries were pristine. Perfect even. As if every single blade of grass was placed there carefully with tweezers. You could not ask to have them better cared for. I visited Wavans cemetery to pay my respects to R A Little DSO* DSC* CdeG. I was stunned at how small it was. Just 44 souls interred there. (And amazingly, also the final resting place of J T B McCudden VC - two of the greatest ever Commonwealth pilots in one tiny cemetery). Behind R A Little, in the last row on the right, is the grave of a German machine gunner, Otto Wolter. How he came to be buried in a Commonwealth war grave I don't know (and believe me, I've tried to find out). I don't have a pic of his headstone as I'm at work, but you can see it in this photo. Rear row, last on the right. (You can tell as the top of his headstone is different...Allied have curved tops, the Germans have two straight edges. Please don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge Otto resting there. I am just curious. By the way...Otto's grave is ALSO perfect. How these people could desecrate the final resting place of these men astonishes me. People? No. Not human. They are less than creatures.

jerryc, You might while away the hours/days it takes before you receive your discs by reading the stickies at the top of this forum and also the General Discussion form, and check out the knowledge base. It will be invaluable to you in that there will be no hesitation, you know exactly what to do and how to proceed. It is extremely frustrating to have to come to this forum and ask our good friends here a simple question, but have to wait 24 hours for a reply, then if you need to clarify that reply, another long wait. Welcome to the skies Over Flanders Fields.

jerryc, I bought my copy from Amazon. Beware though of exchange rates and postage. All up, my copy of CFS3 cost $AUS61.67. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy at all. To fly Over Flanders Fields it's well worth it. Perhaps you are ordering from Amazon UK or Amazon US. Try Amazon Australia, or different variations and locations of Amazon.

rabu, I tried both and found the extra cord hanging from the headphones was not really a hassle. It really depends on your environment. I live alone, so I don't have to worry about putting up heavy black plastic to blackout the room, so the lighting conditions wasn't a factor in my choice (though if you DO have marginal lighting conditions or other factors to consider, the clip might be useful to you). I also don't require headphones as the sound is not a bother to others, so there's no need to wear headphones (but if you fly offline, and audio transmission between pilots is possible, you might need headphones, or if your loved ones are asleep or watching TV, you might need them). So the only consideration to me was the cable from the headphones. You can attach it to your headphone cable with a few cable ties so that it isn't getting in your way (of course the headphone cable gets in your way too). It isn't "heavy" and putting an extra strain on your headset or your neck muscles. The cable is long enough so that it you won't have to adjust your seating position or worry about anything else. It really comes down to choice. I have both. I tried the pro clip once, never used it again. I'll be truthful, that was largely due to the desire to not wear headphones. If you prefer (or need) to wear headphones, this device might work well for you. But all other variables aren't a problem. The proclip works well in light or dark conditions, but so does the hat clip (as long as you don't have any light sources directly behind you). You felt strongly enough to ask the opinion of your good friends here, so it wasn't a case of "I'll buy it and try it out". That to me appears as if you are happy with the performance of the cap clip, and might be not real flush with cash (as that factor entered into the equation). My recommendation... don't buy it. What you have works well, and it might be a sacrifice to cough up the extra bucks. Save your money. This is of course only my humble opinion. The pro-clip works perfectly straight out of the box...nothing wrong with it at all. It's jus a matter of preference, and from my experience, it seems as if it might be a waste of money to you.

I've had great success flying Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter against rail yards. Generally, you are given command of the flight on these missions. My approach is to arm with bombs and keep your flight close to you by applying the command to form up on you about 1-2Km's out. I line myself up on the rail line and approach along the rails. I dive sharply, but not as steep as a dive bomber, and after you have begun your dive attack, give the order for your flight to attack as well. Don't shoot off your machine guns at boxes, come in low over the train, and release your bombs just as you pass the rear caboose (depending on the length of the train of course). STAY LOW. No more than 100 feet, fly out about 300-400 metres. By then your wingmen will be engaged in their attacks. Turn and approach along the line again, staying low. You'll be able to watch your wingmen attack if you're lucky. If it appears as if you've done enough damage, turn away and head for home. For pity's sake, don't overfly the station to get home, fly around it. If you feel they haven't done a good enough job, I find that the ground gunners are concentrating on your flight at that time, so I can come in low and give them one good long strafing run. After that, stay low again until 1 Km out, then climb for all you're worth, command your flight to join you, and keep a sharp eye out for enemy scouts. I haven't yet been shot down using this method. I think it might be that I'm a little way ahead of my flight as I begin my attack, and I don't shoot until I've released my ordnance, and maybe on the second pass if required. Given that you aren't given the option of carrying ordnance as a German, I'd try to follow that method and not fire until the last split second. As both you and your flight aren't carrying ordnance, it's doubtful that you'd do much damage just with your spandaus, so I would begin my dive, count to three, order my flight to attack, wait till the last second, make one long strafing pass, then get the hell out of there staying as low as possible fopr a Km or so, then climb as high asyou can and hightail it home. Best of luck.

I've always flown Over Flanders Fields using Auto Mixture "On" because I didn't know the answers to these questions. Can anyone help me out here? I have a few newbie, uninformed questions to ask about fuel. If you can't answer all of the queries comprehensively, I'd appreciate your reply to single questions I pose here. Firstly, I would like to know about fuel mixture. I understand that any particular engine "prefers" or runs better with a certain percentage of atomised fuel and air mixture. Do you require a "richer" mixture [is that the correct term?] (ie more fuel than usual) to start the engine, and then gradually decrease the fuel percentage as the engine warms up (similar to a "choke" in a modern engine... And the term "choke" - is the fuel/air mixture altered by decreasing the air (choking), and not increasing the fuel, and if so, why the heavier fuel smell when starting under choke on winter mornings, and problems of "flooding")? At sea level, your percentage of fuel to air is higher I would suppose. As you gain altitude, the air gets thinner, do you then feed the engine MORE fuel to compensate for this, or LESS to keep the percentage of fuel to air roughly the same? When you start to return to earth, do you need to constantly adjust the mixture again, and if so, do you add or subtract fuel from the formula to keep the engine running smoothly to compensate for the higher percentage of oxygen? If you enyered in combat, and jinked and manoeuvred to either get on your opponent's six, or to prevent him getting on your six, do you need to adjust the mixture any further to gain more power (assuming for example that the combat stays at the same altitude, so that losing several hundred feet doesn't enter into the formula)? I guess all this adjusting was by feel, and that there were no "Fuel/Air Ratio" gauges in the cockpit, but did they have any fuel gauges to assist (even just an "Empty/Full" guage, or did this take the form of some sort of clear gravity tube visible from the cockpit)? If this method was employed, how did inversion during combat affect the gauge? I suppose a few aircraft had a spare tank, and that when their main tank ran out, and they were forced to switch on the reserve tank, that warned the pilot to get his craft home quickly. How was the problem of flying inverted solved? I understand carburettors have floats in them that are forced to obey the laws of gravity (as all things do), and that fuel injection solved this problem, but was it available in WW1? (Interestingly enough, this was an evasion tactic used by the Luftwaffe in WW2. As Spitfires and Hurricanes had carburettors and Messerschmitts had fuel injected Mercedes engines, the evading Luftwaffe pilot simply nosed down abruptly; if the RAF pilot attempted to follow the manoeuvre, his engine would cough and splutter due to the carburettors starving. They developed the counter manoeuvre of inverting their aircraft, and pulling back on the stick to follow the Luftwaffe pilot. This also took a second or so, and enabled the Luftwaffe pilot a small window of escape. But how were they able to fly inverted with carburettors?). And lastly, which of these mixture problems and carburettion problems were "solved" by inline engines, and which were only present in rotaries? A long, complicated question, and I apologise for my ignorance, but these questions would help me to understand the problems faced by a scout pilot who was forced to manage his engine as well as try absolutely everything to escape being shot out of the sky by an opponent. I would appreciate any help any of you people could give me.

Here's mine...well, only as far as the screen shot allows me to show. On the throttle: Fire D = Mixture Cut-Off (Ctrl+Shift+F6) Fire E = Screenshot (Ctrl+;) On the Joystick Hat Switch: Up arrow = Virtual Cockpit Down Arrow = Chase View Left Arrow = TAC Range Right Arrow = Player/Target View

Congratulations CJ. All the best to you and yours.

You can feel a great difference in the gyroscopic effect when riding a motorcycle with the usual chain drive and one that utilises a shaft drive. Very hairy if you're not prepared for it.

Thanks Olham, I have seen probably hundreds of the British form (known as a CITAR - Combats In The Air Report) but I have never seen a German one.

Yeah, I HATE it when that happens to me!

Posted without further comment. Sorry about that.

Cool! I've been in a stunting Tiger Moth, and it was brilliant. I organised for the pilot to overfly the Lamington ranges in Queensland, and specifically the gravesite of Rex Boyden, an Aussie WW1 RNAS pilot who crashed there in the 30's. Quite a remarkable story of survival of the passengers, and the ordeal to get them out from the middle of a very remote rainforest. As we overflew the gravesite, the pilot asked me if I wanted to do a bit of stunting. Quite unnecessary for me to answer, I just grinned from ear to ear, and he put her through her paces. Morris, you're going to love this. Anyone else that has the opportunity just HAS to do it.

I've sat in the PRO (as it was known then) for a few days running my fingers down the lists in ADM273, which is the service records for RNAS Officers during the Great War. Sadly, they aren't alphabetical, and I had to rely on my memory to recognise the names of Aussies. And the photocopying costs from the PRO were pretty prohibitive, but I got maybe 100 or so done. I am working on a project with a mate of mine, and we're researching all Australians who served in the RNAS in the First Great Unpleasantness. As it stands, our website has short biographical information on all the chaps (almost 200) we've located so far. http://ozrnas.org.au/index.html We haven't included any service histories or anecdotes or letters home etc because we are hoping to get that information from living relatives. No. we're not lazy. We have got loads on some of these chaps, but unfortunately we have very little on others. That is what the website is about...collecting information from relatives and friends etc. When we publish the book, it will all be in there, and maybe eventually on the website too. But you CAN check out brief bios and photos of these chaps for free. Members of the ASWW1AH will soon be able to access the Barry Videon Database, an extensive database of all the Australians who served in any air service in WW1 (AFC, RFC, RNAS, RAF, GAF). (That's right...German Air Force for want of the correct nomenclature...there were a few Australians that flew for "the other side") There are some things that are freely given in this world.

I believe it was simply to keep the mud out. I don't think that anyone thought it would improve the aerodynamics or reduce drag.

I swear I had nothing to do with this apart from posting the pic (which already makes me a target to UK_Widowmaker). I recently undertook to scan all the Society's negatives, and found this amongst them, just after reading the post by UK_W about the plant at Ham.

Umm...would that make you a hamster?? Ahem. Sorry about that. I don't know about the other aircraft, but I know the pup was so nicknamed when the new aircraft was seen parked next to a 1 1/2 strutter. "As for the name "Pup", your memory is correct. The name is attributed to Brigadier General W. Sefton Brancker, stemming from an incident when then Colonel Brancker had recently taken up his post as Director of Air Organization. Shortly after the first very successful flight of the new Sopwith Scout, Col Branker drove down to Brooklands from the War Office to inspect the new machine. He found the scout parked alongside a considerably larger Strutter, and exclaimed: "Good God! Your 1½ Strutter has had a pup." And so it remained, despite official reluctance to recognize what many in high places deemed an undignified, flippant, and slangy name for a fighting machine" From The Aerodrome Forum I think we all know that the Camel was so named as the fairing covering the machine guns gave the machine the apperance of having a hump. As for the Snipe, Tabloid etc, mostly these were names thrown about usually initially by the designers themselves instead of calling their new aircraft design the "War Department Order 002341 Scout" or some such ridiculous name. I dare say the Snipe was nicknamed by a bird watcher in the Sopwith Factory design office. Much more good info on the Pup and Tripe from that thread http://www.theaerodr...lane-pup-2.html

You so lucky! Jammy bleeder.