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rjw

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  1. Posted · Edited by rjw

    Widow;

     

    I wish I could help you with this but you have probably done what I am about to suggest.

    make sure the following folder and files are in the "CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields" directory:

     

    d3d8.dll

    d3d8.ini

     

    also be sure the above two files are the latest versions from Ankor and not some other older ones

  3. Posted

    Thanks Robert. If I read this right, I see you changed the dot mode only label colour to red (for enemies anyway). Did you discover a method to change it (back to) black or to dark grey? I'd prefer this as (i) it's likely less visible when seen thru your own airframe (ii) I don't mind the dots being hard to see against the ground, but for realistic appearance and better visibility, I would much prefer to see the dots dark (dark grey or even 'back to black') against the sky.

     

    I can work on this for you and post it in my dropbox with a slightly different mod name.

     

    I will post back here when it is available.

     

    Regards

  4. Posted

     

    .

     

    Greetings All,

     

    It has been quite a while since last I posted an update on acquisitions for my WWI aviation library.  I recently added several very hard-to-find first editions that came available from the private collection of a retired USAF pilot after his passing.  First, a bit about this brave flyer who now soars with the angels:

    Richard A. Lucas was a member of the US Air Force where he served on active duty for 20+ years, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.  He flew B-24s during World War II, and afterwards flew T-33s, F-94s, and F-86s in various theaters and operations.  He was a member of the Quiet Birdmen, the Sabre Pilots' Association, the Retired Air Force Officers Association, and others. He retired from the USAF Reserves in 1984.  He passed away on June 3rd of 2013.

     

     
     
    So many books, so little time.
     
    Cheers!
     
    Lou
     
    .

     

    You sir should make those books available in an institution for preservation, as in institutionalizing them. For that matter some might say that your sir should be... oh lets not go there!! :biggrin:

     

    Like to have my fun!

     

    Cheers mate!

  5. Posted · Edited by rjw

    Some time ago I took "Lothar of the Hill People"'s JSGME Mod Builder Installer Kit and updated it to ensure that mod developers conform to a standard for WOFF.  This tool ensures that the mod directory hierarchy is consistent for all WOFF mods that are developed. It also makes an executable of the mod so all the user has to do is run the exec and the mod is automatically installed in the correct place for WOFF. 

     

    I just thought it might be a good idea to refresh people about this mod

     

    The following link is where the "WOFF JSGME Mod Builder Installer Kit" resides:

     

    http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3920642/JSGME_Mod_Builder_Installer_Ki#Post3920642

  8. Posted

    Here is a pointer to a thread on SIMHQ  I created which offers a compilation of help and tutorials on how to custom skin aircraft. It is applicable to OFF and WOFF. Hope it helps those who would like to try making their own custom skins. Again I'm offering the link rather than regen all the information for this forum.

     

    http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3942945/Re_French_planes#Post3942945

     

    Best Regards;

  9. Posted

    I just thought it might be time to refresh this item for those who do not yet use it.

    I have published this on SIMHQ and rather than redo it all again here I am just going to give you a link to the item.

     

    http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3942958/Tutorial_help_on_how_to_instal#Post3942958

     

    Hope it helps those who do not yet use it or are wondering how to for WOFF

     

     

  10. Posted

     

    So, if everyone who enjoys it only half as much as I do, would donate him ten or more dollars, Euro or whatever,

    he would get at least something back in return.

    The "Donate" button is at the bottom of his post #1 here:

     

    http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3881675/DirectX_8_to_9_converter_March#Post3881675

    Been there and done that proud to say! Likewise for the WOFF dev team!  If it helps to keep them going, I'm in.

  13. Posted

    I doubt Churchill's tome would've included much, if anything. But I've confirmed that Stephenson's story was titled "A Man Called Intrepid". Definitely worth reading, even though I believe it was strictly about his WWII espionage activities. It was where I first heard about Enigma, some of the "Magic" Division's work, and many other things.

     

    For instance:

    Allied bombers took a heavy toll on the supply lines to Rommel's Afrika Korps. The British knew exactly where these convoys would be, thanks to Ultra decrypts. But to prevent the Germans' figuring that out they would regularly schedule multiple recon flights in "likely" areas, knowing full well that all but one would be a waste of fuel. But that one would fly directly over the convoy, thus giving a plausible excuse for its discovery without tipping off the Germans that their unbreakable code had been broken.

     

    Lots of other good stuff in there, too. But I warn you, don't read it if you think Monty was a WarGod and want to go on thinking that. Once you find out how much he was in on it'll become clear that no one could have lost to Rommel at El Alamein and that Market Garden was doomed before it began.

     

    You are correct and I guess the "Magic" division at Bletchley deserve as much credit for Rommel's defeat at El Alamein as Monty's troops, but as we know Bletchley was an enigma in it's own right!

  14. Posted

    Robert, I was only joking - you guys all contribute a lot of good knowledge and background detail.

    Only the coffee was meant serious - tomorrow morning I'll have it ready, before I come in here.

    No need to apologize. I realized you were joking but I just felt I had to explain the value of this thread to me!

  15. Posted

    Geeze, one day away, and I feel like a lecturer in a big edition - catching up needs half an hour!

    Next time I'll brew a fresh coffee before!

    That's my fault for such a long dissertation, but I thought his background was worth the effort Olham;

     

    I find that often we only see the surface of things (you know, like someone is an ace and has a number of kills). Often the other life aspects of the pilot turn out to be even more fascinating. I like this thread because it brings things like this into the open. Things that we probably would not have spent the time investigating.

    Each day on this forum and with those who contribute to it makes my life so much richer, not to mention the comradeship I feel with you all.

     

    I have been more active over at SIMHQ since the release of WOFF mainly trying to stay ahead of developments and tuning WOFF, but I always come back to CA because of threads like this and the enjoyment of all you folks.

     

    Best Regards;

  16. Posted

    Hi Corsaire;

     

    Yes you got it, but I think Lou and Von Bauer knew first! Unless there is objection you were the one to verbalize it here so find a new quiz item! 

     

     

    Here is a little more on his history:

     

    Wiki Data:

     

    On 15 August 1917, Stephenson was officially struck off the strength of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and granted a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.[5] Posted to 73 Squadron on 9 February 1918, he flew the Sopwith Camel biplane fighter and scored 12 victories to become a flying ace before he was shot down and crashed his plane behind enemy lines on 28 July 1918. During the incident Stephenson was injured by fire from a German ace pilot, Justus Grassmann,[6] by friendly fire from a French observer,[7] or by both. In any event he was subsequently captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war until he managed to escape in October 1918.[7]

    By the end of World War I, Stephenson had achieved the rank of Captain and earned the Military Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross. His medal citations perhaps foreshadow his later achievements, and read:

        For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When flying low and observing an open staff car on a road, he attacked it with such success that later it was seen lying in the ditch upside down. During the same flight he caused a stampede amongst some enemy transport horses on a road. Previous to this he had destroyed a hostile scout and a two-seater plane. His work has been of the highest order, and he has shown the greatest courage and energy in engaging every kind of target.
          - Military Cross citation, Supplement to the London Gazette, 22 June 1919.

        This officer has shown conspicuous gallantry and skill in attacking enemy troops and transports from low altitudes, causing heavy casualties. His reports, also, have contained valuable and precise information. He has further proved himself a keen antagonist in the air, having, during recent operations, accounted for six enemy aeroplanes.
          - Distinguished Flying Cross citation, Supplement to the London Gazette, 21 September 1928.

    Interbellum

    After World War I, Stephenson returned to Winnipeg and with a friend, Wilf Russell, started a hardware business — inspired largely by a can opener that Stephenson had taken from his POW camp. The business was unsuccessful, and he left Canada for England. In England, Stephenson soon became wealthy, with business contacts in many countries. In 1924 he married American tobacco heiress Mary French Simmons, of Springfield, Tennessee. That same year, Stephenson and George W. Walton patented a system for transmitting photographic images via wireless[8] that produced 100,000 pounds sterling per annum in royalties for the 18 year run of the patent (about $12 million per annum adjusted for inflation in 2010). In addition to his patent royalties, Stephenson swiftly diversified into several lucrative industries: radio manufacturing (General Radio Company Limited[9]); aircraft manufacturing (General Aircraft Limited); Pressed Steel Company that manufactured car bodies for the British motor industry; construction and cement as well as Shepperton Studios and Earls Court. Stephenson had a broad base of industrial contacts in Europe, Britain and North America as well as a large group of contacts in the international film industry. Shepperton Studios were the largest film studios in the world outside of Hollywood.

    As early as April 1936, Stephenson was voluntarily providing confidential information to British opposition MP Winston Churchill about how Adolf Hitler's Nazi government was building up its armed forces and hiding military expenditures of eight hundred million pounds sterling. This was a clear violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and showed the growing Nazi threat to European and international security. Churchill used Stephenson's information in Parliament to warn against the appeasement policies of the government of Neville Chamberlain.[10]
    World War II
    BSC was housed on the 35th and 36th floors of the International Building, Rockefeller Center, New York

    After World War II began (and over the objections of Sir Stewart Menzies, wartime head of British intelligence) now-Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent Stephenson to the United States on 21 June 1940, to covertly establish and run British Security Coordination (BSC) in New York City, over a year before U.S. entry into the war.

    BSC, with headquarters at Room 3603 Rockefeller Center, became an umbrella organization that by war's end represented the British intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service, or SIS), SOE (Special Operations Executive) and PWE (Political Warfare Executive) throughout North America, South America and the Caribbean.[citation needed]

    Stephenson's initial directives for BSC were to 1) investigate enemy activities; 2) institute security measures against sabotage to British property; and 3) organize American public opinion in favour of aid to Britain. Later this was expanded to include "the assurance of American participation in secret activities throughout the world in the closest possible collaboration with the British". Stephenson's official title was British Passport Control Officer. His unofficial mission was to create a secret British intelligence network throughout the western hemisphere, and to operate covertly and broadly on behalf of the British government and the Allies in aid of winning the war. He also became Churchill's personal representative to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[citation needed]

    Stephenson was soon a close adviser to Roosevelt, and suggested that he put Stephenson's good friend William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan in charge of all U.S. intelligence services. Donovan founded the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which in 1947 would become the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As senior representative of British intelligence in the western hemisphere, Stephenson was one of the few persons in the hemisphere who were authorized to view raw Ultra transcripts of German Enigma ciphers that had been decrypted at Britain's Bletchley Park facility. He was trusted by Churchill to decide what Ultra information to pass along to various branches of the U.S. and Canadian governments.[citation needed]
    The Princess Hotel in Bermuda, home to British Imperial Censorship during the war, and to Sir William Stephenson after the war.

    While it was still neutral, agreement was made for all trans-Atlantic mails from the USA to be routed through the British colony of Bermuda, 640 miles off the North Carolina coast. Airmails carried by both British and American aircraft were landed at RAF Darrell's Island and delivered to 1,200 censors of British Imperial Censorship, part of BSC, working in the Princess Hotel, who examined letters for secret communications before resealing them to leave no indication that they had been read. With BSC working closely with the FBI, the censors were responsible for the discovery and arrest of a number of Axis spies operating in the US, including the Joe K ring. After the war, Stephenson lived at the Princess Hotel for a time before buying his own home in Bermuda.[11]

    Under Stephenson, BSC directly influenced U.S. media (including newspaper columns by Walter Winchell and Drew Pearson), and media in other hemisphere countries, toward pro-British and anti-Axis views. Once the U.S. had entered the war in Dec. 1941, BSC went on to train U.S. propagandists from the United States Office of War Information in Canada. BSC covert intelligence and propaganda efforts directly affected wartime developments in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, the Central American countries, Bermuda, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

    Stephenson worked without salary.[citation needed] He hired hundreds of people, mostly Canadian women, to staff his organization and covered much of the expense out of his own pocket. His employees included secretive communications genius Benjamin deForest "Pat" Bayly and future advertising wizard David Ogilvy. Stephenson employed Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, codenamed CYNTHIA, to seduce Vichy French officials into giving up Enigma ciphers and secrets from their Washington embassy.[12] At the height of the war Bayly, a University of Toronto professor from Moose Jaw, created the Rockex, the fast secure communications system that would eventually be relied on by all the Allies.[13]

    Not least of Stephenson's contributions to the war effort was the setting up by BSC of Camp X in Whitby, Ontario, the first training school for clandestine operations in Canada and North America. Some 2,000 British, Canadian and American covert operators were trained there from 1941 to 1945, including students from ISO, OSS, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, United States Navy and Military Intelligence, and the United States Office of War Information, among them five future directors of what would become the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.[citation needed]

    Camp X graduates operated in Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Balkans) as well as in Africa, Australia, India and the Pacific. They included Ian Fleming (though there is evidence to the contrary), future author of the James Bond books. It has been said that the fictional Goldfinger's raid on Fort Knox was inspired by a Stephenson plan (never carried out) to steal $2,883,000,000 in Vichy French gold reserves from the French Caribbean colony of Martinique.[14]

    BSC purchased from Philadelphia radio station WCAU a ten-kilowatt transmitter and installed it at Camp X. By mid-1944, Hydra (as the Camp X transmitter was known) was transmitting 30,000 and receiving 9,000 message groups daily — much of the secret Allied intelligence traffic across the Atlantic.[citation needed]
    Honours

    Stephenson died on 31 January 1989, aged 92, in Paget, Bermuda.

    For his extraordinary service to the war effort, he was knighted into the order of Knights Bachelor by King George VI in the 1945 New Year's Honours List. In recommending Stephenson for knighthood, Winston Churchill wrote: "This one is dear to my heart."

    In November 1946 Stephenson received the Medal for Merit from President Harry S. Truman, at that time the highest U.S. civilian award; he was the second non-American to receive the medal.[15] General "Wild Bill" Donovan presented the award. The citation paid tribute to Stephenson's "valuable assistance to America in the fields of intelligence and special operations".

    The "Quiet Canadian" was recognized by his native land late: he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada on 17 December 1979, and invested in the Order on 5 February 1980.

    On 2 May 2000, CIA Executive Director David W. Carey, representing Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet and Deputy Director John A. Gordon, accepted from the Intrepid Society of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a bronze statuette of Stephenson. In his remarks, Carey said:

        Sir William Stephenson played a key role in the creation of the CIA. He realized early on that America needed a strong intelligence organization and lobbied contacts close to President Roosevelt to appoint a U.S. "coordinator" to oversee FBI and military intelligence. He urged that the job be given to William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, who had recently toured British defences and gained the confidence of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Although Roosevelt didn't establish exactly what Sir William had in mind, the organization created represented a revolutionary step in the history of American intelligence. Donovan's Office of Strategic Services was the first "central" U.S. intelligence service. OSS worked closely with and learned from Sir William and other Canadian and British officials during the war. A little later, these OSS officers formed the core of the CIA. Intrepid may not have technically been the father of CIA, but he's certainly in our lineage someplace.

    On 8 August 2008, Stephenson was recognized for his work by Major General John M. Custer, Commandant of the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps. Custer inducted him as an honorary member of the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, an honour shared by only two other non-Americans.[16]

  18. Posted

    I read his book many years ago. Fascinating. Where I first learned of Ian Fleming's involvement in...hmmmm, that may give it away.

     

     

    **edit**

    LOL, Lou. I'd thought of saying something like that, but you beat me to it.

    AH!!! You folks are undoubtedly Lurkers!! You would make good spies!! :biggrin:

  19. Posted

    Thank you for sharing your story about how it all got started by this picture, Wayfarer!

    As a graphic designer, I can see it's intriguing qualities; and as a WW1 air combat sim fan,

    I can understand why it impressed you so much.

    But there is more to your story; that first touch with something new and fascinating,

    which we only have "early on", when everything is still new and excitingly unknown territory.

     

    For me, my first contacts with WW1 aviation was an AIRFIX model, and then the film poster

    for "Von Richthofen and Brown" by Roger Corman (1971).

    The poster made me watch the film, and after that I was drawing lots of dogfight scenes,

    but the model was even earlier, and it has it's own story.

     

    At one of my visits to the only model shop in town, I saw in a vitrine two plastic models in the

    scale 1:48, which had been assembled and painted by a real masterly hand - they were an

    S.E.5a and a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I.

    I went in and asked, but they said they were not for sale.

    But I was hooked, and like a hound I came snooping around that vitrine and the two models

    again and again for weeks, until one day the decoration had changed - other models had

    taken that place.

    I went in to ask again, and I must have been quite annoying, so the lady called up the owner

    of the shop, and he was finally willing to sell them to me - for a price I could not afford from

    my small pocket money. So I went home and made my mum lend me the money (I had to pay

    it back over many weeks); and then I went back and bought the two models and carefully

    carried them home.

     

    I still remember clearly, that I was wondering over a long time (and actually still today), why

    these British planes both had a kind of eggshell colour on the undersides, while all German

    craft seemed to have a light sky blue - the S.E.5a more yellowish; the Spit with a tint of green

    or turquoise in it. The upper camo colours were also different. While the Germans used gray

    and dark gray-greens, this Spit was earth and green, which I found more sympathic looking;

    and the S.E.5a had that deep English green.

    I found the Spitfire more elegant looking than the Messerschmidt Bf109; but this bulky S.E.5a

    was not obviously elegant, sleek or hot looking - but I found it sexy somehow.

     

    I was fascinated by that, and it added to my feelings, that the British were somewhat different

    to us; interestingly different; that they had their own ways to approach things.

    And some years later I went over there on my first new motorbike, and found a country quite

    different to Germany - delightfully different actually!

    Olham;

     

    The feelings, emotions and inquisitiveness you express is something we all can relate to. I wonder if you still have those two models. I know some old items from my youth evoke old memories whenever I look at or handle them. The mind is an amazing storehouse of information which is easily indexed by these items resulting in immediate recall.

     

    Thanks for the dissertation sir!

  20. Posted

    Ok, Here is a very interesting one for you. Again it is about a Canadian Ace Pilot who flew for 73 Sqn.

    He was shot down by German Ace Justus Grassman 28 July 1918.

     

    What significant event in his life occurred in October 1918.

     

    What role did he play in WWII.

  21. Posted · Edited by rjw

    Major Roderic Stanley Dallas  of RFC-40 was reputed to have flown over the German aerodrome at La Brayelle where he dropped a pair of boots and a message saying something like "if you won't come up here and fight, here are a pair of boots for work on the ground".  He then bombed and strafed some ground crew. On his way home he bumped into two enemy aircraft, shooting down one Alb DV. This is all according to Royal Air Force Communiques 1918 (Communique no 5, page 56). I believe this happened in May of 1918.

  23. Posted

    Yes, that's what I thought. Then I looked through all Sopwith designs I could find -

    but I didn't get the idea, someone who had been with Sopwith could have left,

    and built his own kites.

    From the angle of the photograph I can see a little of the Snipe heritage forcast. Is it just me?

  24. Posted

    .

     

    The SPAD A series is one of the strangest aeroplane series to have seen service in the Great War, IMHO.  The obs/gunner sat ahead of the prop in the "pulpit".  The particular bus you are showing corsaire31, an A.4, was manned by 2nd Lt Bashinksy and 2nd Lt Huber of the Imperial Russian Air Service, 19th Corps Detachment, and on 6 September 1916 they downed a German 2-seater, accounting for the first victory scored with an SA in the IRAS.

     

    Olham, I am actually home this weekend.  Woo Hoo!

     

    .

    Your the man! Lou!! Now I will go off and find more info on the SPAD A aircraft. I thought the tail looked SPADish but couldn't find the craft on the net.

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