GeorgeBoles

Hi there Ollie Olham, Thanks for your concern and apologies for the late reply! Yes, all OK now. I am in Townsville and we caught the "edge" of a Category 5 cyclone which caused havoc about 120km to 200km further north. Floods gone from Queensland now, and apparently New South Wales has got them now. But having driven through all of the heavily damaged areas they appear pristine in comparison with the poor souls on the north east of Honshu, Japan. The remnants of their townships look like our local dump after the bulldozers have pushed everything into piles. The areas which were hit suffered total destruction. Regards and a beer, George.

Evenging All, I got the 4, but would now happily pay for the 5. (I also use the 5 software.)The website explains the "higher resolution" and wider angle of view with the newer device which would enhance the "experience". [Do NOT buy the Pro Clip (the LED thingy), just use the cap mounted reflectors which come with the normal TrackIR5. --IMHO see my other posts about this.] BUT you do not need the TrackIR to "survive" in Over Flanders Fields. The Padlock views are excellent and I think they might be even better than the TrackIr for surviving. I just thought I would go with the "reality" thing. Salute, George.

Olham is right though. In the end each of the big wars was won by industrial and economic might. Extreme valour, battles for a hill or a bridge, individual campaigns and technological advances helped sway things backwards and forwards on a small scale, but 2 or 3 or 6 average aeroplanes are usually more than a match for 1 very, very good one; same with tanks; same with soldiers and pilots. Retrospectively there is an inevitability to those big wars which makes the heroism, suffering and losses even more poignant and tragic. Regards, George. (Please note the italics as an important modifier!) I am writing too much with inadequate consideration. Must go to bed.

Evening Chaps, This is a plug for a little museum I came across in New Zealand. I photographed my Sopwith factory photo (hand-held, natural light) at the excellent WWI Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka (near Blenheim) in New Zealand. Is this the best WWI aircraft museum in the world? I do not know, but it blew my socks off. How many Pour le Merite's, complete with citations and ribbons, would you like to look at? Would Ernst Udet's be of interest, or the less formal comemorative version that the local jeweller made him as a keepsake when they could not provide him with a replacement for his lost original medal? A photograph of Immelman actually looking happy? A huge photograph (more than 4' long) of Fokker grinning as if not having a care in the world with Werner Voss standing alongside looking war weary and exhausted at the age of 21 (the same photo is on Wikipedia, but this looks like it has been taken off the original 10"* 8" negative). A flight of flyable DrI's (four when I was there), one of the Pfalz IIIs from the Blue max, a flyable DH2, a DH5 perhaps, or a recently flown Ertrich Taube replica? This is one of Peter Jackson's hobbies (not only Hobbits) - WWI aircraft and memorabilia - and he is a major contributor to the museum. I thought that was good until I saw the Vintage Aviator airshow clips on Youtube ( and ) - and the Vintage Aviator mob are different to the Aviation Centre group, one on the South Island and the other on the North Island! But you can ring them up if you want a NEW Oberursel for your DrI, or a 200hp Mercedes for your Albatross DIII or some spares for your Beardmore. Now I don't know whether to go to the Omaka airshow next year (with a newly built Mosquito +/- a newly restored Fw190 plus WWI plus lots of others) or go to the Vintage Aviator Airshow instead, or both! Those Kiwis are strange birds, but they can put together a spectacular WWI (and WWII) flight experience for such a little country. (I think I will have a rotary powered Sopwith Triplane please, or an SE5a, or perhaps a nice F2b so I can take my surfboard to the Gold Coast in the rear of the fuselage.) Regards, George.

Oops, yes: I meant Dark Blue World - I always get the name of that film mixed up. Loved that film. Regards, George

Dear Widowmaker, This is what I use as my Desktop Wallpaper. I hope you like it. It also makes me think that the Jerries really didn't have much of a chance towards the end really. Regards, George.

Saw it in Oz about 6 - 8 months ago on DVD. It was so unrealistic, I went and did the washing up! My eldest son agreed, but as teenagers do, he was able to stay on the lounge watching the whole thing. a. The flight models and aircraft numbers are unrealistic. b. The characterizations are so uninteresting you do not care who lives or dies. c. Very little bare skin ... Watch Deep Blue Sky instead. It has all of these three in perfect combination. Regards, George.

Rabu, I just posted a little summary of my advice, but it disappeared into the ether. I recommend using the Cap Spring Clip and NOT the LED Pro attachment (the one on the headsets.) The LED's are obscured from the camera when you turn your head to the left, so the range of movement for the LED's is reduced. If an LED becomes obscured, then the view gets disturbed and confused, and my life has enough disturbance and confusion as it is. With the hat clip, the range of movement covered is symmetrical, unlike with the LEDs, and wearing a cap is more intuitive and more stable than many headset fittings. Getting rid of the wires to headphones and LED clip was great, and I think using stereo speakers provides more information about which way you are looking than wearing headphones. I have TrackIR4 Pro, and use Track IR4 and 5 software. The latter make no difference when set up properly. Regards, George.

Hello, Propwash. I am happy to try the new DM but given my time is limited, could you let us know when it will be available for Campaign Mode? That is where I would rather use it. Thanks for the interesting work. Regards, George.

Good Evening, Chaps. Very helpful responses to my questions, and especially to Waldemur for your excellent summary of the things which have concerned me a bit ... about the game, not Real Life. Thanks again, George

Super, Chaps. Thank-you very much. Could you clarify one statement for me please: This doesn't apply to the in-game map "M" though does it. If my icon is over a marker in that map, I am over it in the game too, aren't I? Does that four of five miles "out" account for the variation in Lat and Long data I see compared with Google Maps? Just a thought ... all new to this cartography stuff. MS Encarta, eh. Haven't used that for a decade. I will fire it up and see what it all looks like. Again, Thanks. George.

Hello Chaps (and Chapesses), I have downloaded the maps of the front which are linked to by Uncle Al. I have only just transferred from Alsace and the southern front areas to Marne, so there is a map for that, but there is no map for the south. I did find a poor, large scale map on the internet which did not help. I even downloaded the maps from Google Maps of the area near Chaux (where I was based) and found that the Lat and Long were quite a bit out, and there are a huge number of extra lakes on Google maps that are not in the game map. So my thought of making a map and/or using the same technique on the other areas was essentially quashed. I wasn't going to bother, but what irritates me a bit is that when getting briefed for a mission, there is no name or other meaningful identification of the place we are heading to: is it an airfield, a little complex of buildings or railway station. When I am flying/running away I would like to know where the nearby aerodromes or even flat-lands are to escape to if necessary for a crash landing? The in-game map does not give much of that information. Is there a viewer of terrains which can be used to make make maps with town and road and front positions on them? There used to be a nearly free terrain making program which kept appearing on the front of computer magazines. But I do not know if that would help. And, can you remind me of the viewer one can use to look at the planes in the game. I read it somewhere and cannot find it. So, I am not complaining and of course I will survive without a map and still enjoy the game. The briefing becomes less useful without it though. Also I appreciate that it is not necessary to have the lat and long positions correct in the game: that was just an avenue I thought of to help me modify modern maps to the WWI era. Regards and Thanks, George.

Good Afternoon, Chaps. I wonder a few things about this War we are fighting over Flanders Fields. When I am debriefed and I am told that we "must keep up the pressure", is that a subtle British way of saying that HQ is disappointed with my performance and I am cruising for a court martial? What does the R:-20 or R:-30 message mean at the end of some of my logged missions? Have I upset someone in intelligence there? Are the first two or three way-points around my home airfield critical too keep Head-Quarters satisfied with my performance. My flight around the aerodrome to allow my squadmates to form up is a much smaller radius than set by the way-points. Usually I fly around the airfield only about half a time, and then I am offered to use X to warp to the next waypoint. How do I find these bloody balloons I am supposed to protect or destroy. I can fly to the location as quickly as possible and find no balloon, no troops, no nothing - although there can be strings of balloons two to five miles away all waving happily away. Do balloons show up as "vehicles" on the TAC map? What to troops marching or dug in show up as: also "vehicles"? (They can be VERY difficult to find in the mountains and forests in Alsace. One needs very keen eyes or even a little radar to help find them. :o) When we have to patrol the front, are we supposed to circle the designated waypoint, or patrol between the two waypoints near the front - all in order to keep the Brass happy? Just trying to help with the war effort here. Unfortunately, when I ask my wingman and other squadron mates to lead the flight, they make a right hash of it lots of times. Uncle Al has warned me of that! Salute to you All, George.

As for District 9, I would say it was one of the more enjoyable movies I have seen for a long time. The allegory, although simple to see, about man's inhumanity (etc.) is nicely done with a touch of complexity and ambiguity without being preaching in tone; the acting and humour are subtle and self-deprecating - both virtues being not characteristic of many cultures. Any movie with the line: "I have never had pornographic relations with a prawn!" said with feeling and desperation has to be given at least a 3 stars to before we start counting stars for its other features. I would gladly watch it again. And I would gladly like the two hours of my life back that I spent watching Avatar, whose features are close to the opposite of all that I mentioned in the first paragraph ... except that it has NO humour at all. Regards, George.

Well folks, I have NO idea why my controller was playing up the other day. Perhaps it was a mysterious computer thing. I have taken off a few recent programs including a lot of video utilities that came with my ASUS ATi card. If in doubt blame the thing I least understand. Everything works fine now, with the axes nice and stable again. Salute! George