Check Six

I have found myself (on more than one unfortunate occasion) to exit warp in the middle of a large cloud bank and in a spiralling nose-dive. Mostly all you can do is go and maks a cup of coffee and await the certain news that your pilot is dead. There is one thing you can try. Turning on your labels (mine are always on, I'm a newbie) at least lets you know the direction of your spin. I don't think this is a "cheat" to turn on your labels temporarily whilst in this predicament, after all, if you were actually in the cockpit you could feel the direction of your spin. (hell...if you were actually in the cockpit in this predicament, you'd try ANYTHING, cheating or otherwise, to survive). At least, once you know the direction of your spin, you can apply opposite rudder and hope that it can bring you out of it before you experience coming out of the clouds, totally nose down, 200 mph at 200 ft. Somewhat fatal. This is, I believe, about the closest you will get in a WW1 sim to an artificial horizon. Sure, watch your altimeter, listen to your engine cough and splutter as you become inverted, watch your ground labels.

Hauksbee, I am a night shift worker, and as such play OFF mostly during daylight hours. I bought heavy duty black plastic and "Command" style connectors (the ones that don't damage the walls) to enable me to put it in place and remove it if neccessary. I too am forced to wear spectacles, though I wear contacts at work and when I ride my bike...but when I have some time off work, I generally wear specs. The blacked-out three rooms (I found) was unnecessary (I blacked out the kitchen window and loungeroom window as well to be on the safe side). Now just one window behind me over my left shoulder is blacked out, I opened up the others and found it worked perfectly without it. Like I said, when I'm playing OFF, I also wear specs, no "dulling spray" necessary. It may add to the atmosphere to play in almost total darkness, but as you said, the keyboard becomes a problem then. I have spent $AUS340 on a gaming keyboard (Logitech G-19) that has backlit keys, and this helps greatly. Of course, you don't need to spend that much to get a lit Keyboard. Perhaps even one of those "itty bitty book lights" that you can clip onto a book and it gives sufficient light to read in bed without disturbing your partner. That may illuminate your keyboard sufficiently. But honestly, I found that TrackIR 5 was not as sensitive as I thought it would be. I also spent the extra bucks on the Pro Clip, but I don't use it any more (perhaps in the future, who knows). If you got the whole kit and caboodle, you'll find there's a cap clip as well. Just three reflectors on a metal clip that attaches to a baseball style cap. I find that wearing headphones with cables hanging everywhere (especially if you're doing a bit of head movement) is obtrusive and a pain in the...head. If you do not wish to disturb your partner or housemates, and wish to use headphones, perhaps it is worth your while trying to fine tune the position of the Pro Clip. The cap clip is great, and works just fine for me. If you have that little device, try that first before you do anything drastic like modify your shelves or specs. Then gradually introduce more light sources (if you wish) until you can see your keyboard, or purchase one with backlit keys, or better still, map the necessary keys to your joystick so they are instinctively placed, and then you can forget about your keyboard except for between sorties.

Happy Fourth of July to all our American friends from Down Under.

Homeboy, Great idea. MUST become a sticky admins. I tried chasing up aircraft performance comparison charts in "The Aerodrome" Forum for this very purpose...can I outrun that Halberstadt? Should i try a maximum rate of climb to get away? How do i best attack an Albatrross DIII in an SE5a etc etc. The actual historical data can be inaccurate due to many reasons, and if you compare, say, rates of climb from different sources, you will receive different answers. As I'm an abyssmal pilot, I won't post any OFF data on that website, but I will pass on everything I have and can find. I have many sources, and what needs to happen is to guage the accuracy of different data sources. For instance, I posted a comparison of "Rates of Climb" graph for various aircraft on the Aerodrome Forum, and was told by a genuine researcher that the data was bogus. He failed to state why, and I eventually got a set or very complex data for SE5a from him. The data source I posted the graph from?...NASA. Who'da thought they'd get something like that wrong? Anyway, for what it's worth, I will post what I have as time permits, and I hope I'll be able to contribute to other's understandings of aircraft performances. Once again...great undertaking. I wish you the best of luck, and I really hope to be able to assist. Do we just post data/findings/observations to you in private?

Olham, My pleasure, Sir! The Aerodrome Forum people are helpful, as are the members here. They are the font of all WW1 Aviation knowledge, unless you have Bletchley and Shredward's telephone number. Hope their replies assist you.

Olham, After suggesting you post your question on the Aerodrome Forum, and not seeing it appear there, I figured out that you might not be a member of that forum, or might be, but unable to post the pics as you need to have posted 10 times before that privilege is extended to you. I took it upon myself to ask on your behalf. I posted a link to this thread and your pics and got this reply. Hope you can click on the link and visit there as a guest, and still be able to view the photographs etc. If you can't, please contact me (here or in private message) and I'll make sure you get all the information. http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft...d-counters.html

uncleal, UK_Widowmaker, There is no margin of error at all. A single miscalculation, or even someone putting their hand out of their window to ash their cigarette, or pulling onto the shoulder to go for a wee...and he's gone. No injuries - severe or otherwise. DEAD. At those sorts of speed he'd probably land in Germany. I've seen most of his exploits on DVD. The Ghostrider is quite insane, and has balls of titanium. Oh, and by the way...sometimes you see his speedometer reading 299 km/h and staying there. That is the maximum reading. The LED display will not read over that, and yet he's accelerating.

Another favourite trick was to unship the weapon into the loading position and fly underneath a two-seater (the only safe way to attack them) and instead of having to pull the nose of your craft up, they just fired the weapon at an angle up into her exposed belly. I was pleased to see the Command Key Card that had "load Lewis gun" command, but (a bit) disappointed to read that it didn't actually load or unload the weapon, it was just for "show".

Thanks for the replies gentlemen, but you seem to have missed the point, at least partially. What I'd like to know is if I can actually target the balloon so that I can order my wingmen to attack it. Sure, most of the time you want them to keep enemy aircraft occupied and off your tail while you do the job, I'd just want to know if I can order them to do it. It doesn't appear to be so. I can easily change my TAC Radar to target vehicles only, and there at the end of the blue waypoint line is the balloon. I can usually see it long before then as I keep my "labels" on, and a "spotter" label appears where the targetted balloon is. And they really are hard to miss, visually that is. Ammunition wise is another thing.

Most members at this forum would happily comply. I'm sure all your hard work will be rewarded soon. Thanks for everything. Good news about the cloud turbulence "problem" too.

On balloon busting missions, when I change my "TAC radar" to "Vehicles", this indicates a vehicle directly at the end of the waypoint line, which to me suggests that the balloon is classifed as a vehicle. If I select Target to player view, sometimes I find this is the ground guns assigned to protect the balloon. Is there any way to select a Balloon specifically? Also, when I'm in "Vehicle" targetting mode, generally, there's 20 or more vehicle "blips" on the radar. I know Tab = Select next Target, and Shift + Tab = Select previous Target, but is there any way to filter out the cars, trucks, and other assorted vehicles out to get just the balloon? I can of course, alter the range so that I'm only looking at vehicles within 1 nM, and that helps, but I still can't seem to target the balloon, just "vehicles" around that location. Also, that entails me fiddling around with the TAC when I should be setting up for my attack. Last night I attacked a balloon and for the first time had "Le Prieur" rockets, and totally stuffed that attack up, and ended up having to waste ammunition on a gasbag, but couldn't target it and have my flight attack it, so I could chase away or fight off the defending aircraft. Ended up going for a dirt nap. Any ideas?

Hmmm, Too many wheels. This is how I get around... But, that *IS* a nice Mustang. I suppose I could work around my preference for two wheels.

RAF_Louvert, Which one of the dev's did the voice acting on that little clip? A very passable Mel Blanc impersonation. Yes. Very humourous. Can anyone point us to the file that we need to replace (with audio of our own, or Lou's funny little clip) so that we can be even more entertained by this great piece of work? And do we simply rename our own audio clip to the name that the original holds and place it back in the same folder to get it to work?

I am intrigued by the photograph that appears immediately after Ringo ...I mean Pol... says "Contact...Clear" (or is it before?). Three RAF chappies strolling down between the huts on their way to the 'drome. Two of them are looking quite happy, laughing even (though it COULD be "nervous laughter"), but the chap in the centre with the fag hanging out the corner of his mouth looks quite grim indeed. (Perhaps its the old wives tale about taking pics before a sortie being bad luck). Is he strangling a kitten? Sure looks like it to me! I guess you have to get yourself in the right frame of mind somehow. BTW Olham... I don't know if it's still there, but there was a vid on YouTube where someone set up a time-lapse camera overlooking the famous pedestrian crossing on Abbey Road, and you should see how many people disrupt traffic by wandering onto it, attempting to adopt the same poses as the Fab Four, get their mate to take a pic, and then leave. Seriously...groups of people are LINED UP and more join the queue. It's hilarious sped up like that. The poor local residents who have to put up with the delays every day must be livid.

Olham, Perhaps you should post these pics on "The Aerodrome" Forum and ask there as well. I certainly had not heard anything about ammo counters in WW1 except for a thread started by uncleal a little while ago.

As an amateur historian, I find that the historical accuracy of this sim is also fantastic. Right down to the weather conditions on any given day, the aces in your squadron that you can fly with (or those you can fly against), the accurate aircraft skins, squadron logos/badges, type of aircraft available and their FM's...shall I go on? OUTSTANDING work gentlemen! At the moment, I'm still in the learning process as a rookie pilot (because I don't seem to live for very long in these hostile skies and these fragile craft), but I'm thoroughly enjoying being able to fly (almost) any craft I want, against any enemy in any numbers and in any theatre in Campaign mode, or to fly in Quick Combat. Brilliant! Just bloody brillaint. Take a bow guys!

I don't know about the "Not invented yet". Two days ago I put $AUS2000 deposit on this system (which I think will easily handle it) Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 CPU Kinsgton 4GB DDR2 800 RAM 300GB 10KRPM SATA Hard Disk Nvidia 1.792GB GTX295 PCI Express Card Inwin MidTower case with high wattage output and cooling fans Dual Layer DVD-RW Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card I already have a brand new Logitech G-19 Gaming Keyboard, and I'm anxiously waiting on arrival of my Plantronics 777 Surround Sound Headset. I fly with a Saitek X-52 FCS and Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, and use TrackIR Ver 5. Like I said, if that system can't handle it, I don't think anything short of a KRAY 2 will. And I'm not so sure about "blowing my rig up" if I set the sliders at 5. Surely, it will just slow the frame rate, would it not? AND...like you said...back to topic....IS there an individual who tracks you with his Mauser?

Olham, Please remember that "secret agents" are masters of information AND DISinformation, sent to distract or delude you. Code books will crumble to dust upon delivery.

To see an individual soldier track you and fire at you with his Mauser would (at first) make me laugh at his pathetic attempt, unless it is after 21 April, 1918, then I might think how MvR was downed by a single round fired from the ground (either by a Vickers machine gun or a Lee Enfield .303 rifle). I think it would just look mighty convincing, because whilst you KNOW in the back of your mind that EVERY soldier in the trenches is firing at you, to actually get visual confirmation would be sickening. Although there is that disturbing WINK [ ;) ] - is this a feature or not? I have all my sliders set at 5 except for aircraft detail at 4 (I believe this is recommended to display damage to your craft), and whilst I have seen soldiers in slit trenches during ground attack missions, I've never seen any advancing over no-man's-land. Perhaps you need to consult the history books to coincide your flights with big "pushes" by either side.

I'm glad you clarified that one. "Heading West" CAN be permanent for some poor chaps. Yes, that's the "big show" they were talking about. Mike Westrop (who I only just noticed is in the credits for OFF - probably for his fine work with Sopwiths or Naval Squadrons) was keeping in contact with the previous "caretaker" of one of Little's log books, but when I last contacted Mike he passed on the sad news that he had suffered a near-fatal stroke and was immensely debilitated nowadays, and also that the caretaker had "gone West" in the terminal sense and his family handed over all his memorabilia and research to the FAA Museum. I couldn't ask Mike to chase it up any further, but the FAA tell me that all requests, whilst being "shelved", have been placed on hold, and they will contact me.

Winder, My pleasure. Always glad to help out where I can. Need any further assistance, please don't hesitate to ask. You guys have provided me with a whole heap of entertainment, it's the least I can do to repay you. I particularly like how he provoked them into a fight, and then allowed the fight to drift towards friendly Archie. Dej, I'm afraid after I was forced ...err...coerced.. by my brother to chase up our family in Lowestoft, and then covering requests of all my fellow aviation enthusiasts for their little projects (one of which was investigating why Little or Dallas weren't nominated for a VC, and if they were, why it was declined...but that file is still closed), I barely had time to copy as many of the RNAS Officer's Service Records as I could at the PRO. I have asked a few times for one of Little's log books from the Fleet Air Arm Museum (my friend Mike Westrop was chasing this for me before he suffered a near fatal stroke), now they tell me that they are not handling ANY requests for information as they are preparing for some big event, and are unable to comply. Some VERY interesting snippets from Little's Service Record... As a pilot he is variable, usually flying well & plucky, but occasionally is very erratic. Hasa trick of landing outside the Aerodrome. Has done about 19 hrs flying on MF, CurtissBleriot, Bristol & Caudron machines. As anOfficer he is not very good, & has a badmanner. Is generally fairly satisfactory; & not good at theoretical work. Recommend him for seaplanes.As an Officer he is quite hopeless & likelyto remain so. As a pilot he displays considerable courage & keenness, althoughsomewhat lacking in skill. Apparently he would prefer to fly land machines. I think hecould be made use of as an aeroplane pilotat Dunkerque, or some other front. I do notthink it would be of any advantage for thisStation for him to remain here.This Officer has been reported on unfavour-ably, & he is to be informed that if a furtheradverse report is received, his Commissionwill be terminated. You are to forward areport as to his progress and ability on 8th June 1916. Sorry about the format gents. I couldn't fix the way that turned out. Of course, it is typed by me and placed on a blank Service Record form I created in Excel. Interesting to see that even the best of them can have an unauspicious beginning. The comments are from various Commanding Officer's Confidential reports. I'd appreciate it if that snippet does not get published or posted anywhere else...let's just keep it between us for the time being, huh?

Dej, I have spent the better part of 20 years collecting snippets of WW1 stuff, and some decades ago decided that I would attempt to write a biography on Robert Alexander Little. This is a most difficult task, as he flew for the British, and there's not much here about him. His relatives aren't pleased at any attempts to write this great man's story either. There is scant information about his pre-war life, and so many anecdotal stories have been invented. This has angered his relatives, and I had no success at all in my pleas to her for at least her blessing if nothing else. I got a hold of some decades worth of correspondence from her to a Canberra gent who was keen on this project for some time, but dropped it either because it was too hard or because of other commitments. In my research, I visited Bob "Windy" Gaele, Curator of the Naval Aviation Museum in Nowra, and he dug out his personal folder of Aussies who were in the RNAS during WW1. I sat there and wondered to myself. Some of the other pilots that he had gained information on were of great interest as well. Discussing it a few days later with a friend, I reckoned that a simple few hours in the NSW State Library to gather birth and death details on these few other chaps...and we had a good book in the making. That was the start of a long journey. From the 80 odd names that Windy gave us, we're now up to some 190. Researching one chap would reveal a few more. And so it goes on. We hope to start writing soon, as the research will never stop. After that...Australians who served in the RFC, the RAF, and finally the big one...Australians who served in the AFC. I don't know if you have read it, but "Australian Hawk over the Western Front", a biography of Roderic Stanley Dallas is a good read, and written by a mate of mine, Adrian Hellwig. Early on, I sent him all I had on Dallas, and then when I travelled to France, Belgium, and the UK, I passed on pics of Pernes Cemetery (his final resting place) and a copy of his service record from the National Archives in London. After Adrian completed the book he sent me a short email "What have you got on Little?" I was reluctant to pass on anything, as a biography of Little was what I had been working towards for some time. After reading Adrian's bio of Dallas, I figured that I probably couldn't devote that much time to the project that it deserved, and so I passed it all on to him (Well, I still have a couple more boxes that I need to check to see what treasures lie within, but everything I've found so far has gone his way). PS. Have a look at the date I joined this forum. Anniversary of the great man's death.

No you don't. The letter was from an Archie Officer who wasn't aware of who the pilot was. It was sent to Little's C.O. and placed on his file.

A copy of a letter from the Officer In Charge of Anti-Aircraft Artillery, Third Army. Australia's greatest fighter pilot, Robert Alexander Little, was alone and ATTACKED 11 Albatros Scouts, most probably Richthofen's finest pilots. And outclassed them. A most remarkable feat. The Sopwith Triplane was a formidable weapon when in the right hands. And R.A Little was one outstanding pilot.

I also look at my fuel requirements before take off, as I did in this particular mission, and generally take 2 x the range of my expected mission in case I get into a fight. But I haven't reduced throttle before warping and seem to do ok on fuel. This patricular mission had a long range anyway, and as it was all on our side of the lines, I figured that at least I could land at any friendly air base and still survive. I didn't really need to fight prevailing winds or cross over no-man's land and the subsequent flak when I was low on fuel. As it was, this was a lengthy chase because I was in a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, and I could only climb at about 50 knots. If I levelled out, my targets would slowly get closer. In a slight dive, I'd start to look like catching them, but I was in danger of being dangerously low to fight two two-seaters alone. I thought I might get some assistance from the gunners at a friendly air base.