outfctrl

I looked it up on Wikipedia because all this is new to me. Very interesting! The flaming onion was a 37 mm revolving-barrel anti-aircraft gun used by the German army during World War I, the name referring to both the gun, and especially the flares it fired. The American 'balloon-buster' ace, Frank Luke, was a prominent victim of this device, and it was mentioned in Eddie Rickenbacker's book Fighting the Flying Circus and in many "Biggles" stories. The term could also be applied to any sort of anti-aircraft fire that used a visible tracer, appearing in reports of combat from the Battle of Taranto, for instance. The actual weapon was a Gatling type, smooth bore, short barreled automatic revolver called a 'lichtspucker' (light spitter) that was designed to fire flares at low velocity in rapid sequence across a battle area. This gun had five barrels and could launch a 37 mm artillery shell about five thousand feet (1500 m). To maximize the chance of a strike, all five rounds were discharged as rapidly as possible, giving the 'string of flaming onions' effect. Because most other rounds were fired slowly due to the nature of anti-aircraft artillery at the time, this gun's rapid rate of fire left many fliers thinking that the rounds were attached to a string and they feared being shredded by it. Because all launchers were located well behind the lines, none were captured until the last days of the war on the Western Front. Because the weapon was not designed for anti-aircraft use, it did not have purpose-designed ammunition, but the flares would have been dangerous to fabric-covered aircraft. It appears that the design of specialist ammunition took place in tandem with design of higher velocity automatic anti-aircraft weapons; which may explain why the standard heavy automatic AA gun used by the Germans in World War II was of 37 mm caliber. The name "flaming onion" was also used for a number of unrelated military topics. One of these was the mythical German device that exploded in such a way that it resembled a bomber being hit,although these also went by a variety of other names, including "scarecrows".

Now that's hardcore!! ROFL

Sent you a PM earlier. Mission accomplished, sir.

Hey, no problem then. I didnt know thought they forgot something. Thanks.

Just received my copy of OFF. I was surprised that all I got was a CD in an open case. No shrink wrap, no manual, nothing but the case and CD. I thought I would at least get some paperwork with it. Is this normal? I am a little disappointed, but not to the point that I am mad. I am looking forward to the game. Anyways, thanks all for listening to me gripe. 4 days to receive it, not counting Sunday. WOW, that is fast!

Sorry for a stupid question, but what kind of setup was that? Was that a real cockpit, but a video game environment?

I saw that on the news and couldnt figure out why they got in trouble. For Gods sake, its only a pose. I am sure it wasnt loaded.

I am no expert in strategy, but I found this little jewel doing some research. Check it out. The training helped me in another game. Dicte Boelcke video Excellent training

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and feelings on this. I had no idea that a game like this can mirror the real life of a pilot back during that time period. I hope I will get hooked and start experiencing even half of what most of you have showed. *Salute*

I am not worried about my computer specs. I have a duo core, 4 gigs of ram, and a NVidia GTX 285 with 1 gig. I basically can run FSX on the highest settings and I get no stutter. I dont think I have ever experienced, as mentioned above "paranoid and haunted, fearing every new blip on the TAC or distant shape in the sky". I sure dont get that in IL2 Sturmovik 1946. The more I read the posts on here, the more I see a tight comradery amongst pilots from all over the world sharing their passions for this game. Then after reading the posts, I say to myself "Is it really just a game or is it reliving a bygone time"? BTW. What is my commission for starting this post, getting people to buy their new life?

I see a passion from everyone for this game and I must say, I am very excited. Now it's the wait for the game to arrive. As stated above, I dont have much time to play myself, thats why I quit RoF. Spent too much time trying to get it to work right and the missions were not that user friendly. I have already downloaded the patch and the mini patch on my flash drive at work (ooops) and will be ready for the game when it comes. Everyone here has been so much help for me to make the decision to buy this.

It would seem that by being on Amazon, sales would go up. I mean, look at the exposure the game would get.

No flaps? I thought some of the aircraft do.

Ok, everyone knows I am new to this biplane experience. I have flown The f4U corsair, F6F Hellcat and numerous others in IL2 1946. In FSX I have flown airliners, helicopters, Piper cubs and other aircraft. Most of these aircraft are very complicated to some extent and require allot skill to control them. In OFF, is it very easy or does it require allot of skill to fly? I mean in IL2, there is the radiator, combat flaps, mixture controls, prop pitch, etc, etc. What is the magic that draws people to the simple biplane? I guess I will find out when I get the game. I was just curious on some of your thoughts.