Trotski

no on the BE2 the mount for the observer, who stupidly was in front of the pilot , and therefore couldn't hit jack shit, was a Strange mount designed by Captain L.A. Strange from 10 Squadron RFC. and it was basically a ratcheted l bracket mounted half way between the front and rear cockpits, some BE's also had a mount on the interplane strut to the observers right or left hand side, and the Lewis could be lifted off the strange mount and mounted on this alternative one, still really more of a morale boosting exercise rather than a practical and effective system. Quirks never had Scarff rings to the best of my knowledge. however the BE12 , which of course was just a BE2 with the observers office faired over , and used for home defence had several different Lewis installation options for beating up Zeppo's an early sort of Foster mount you could describe it as. Sometimes with dual Lewis mounted. The poor old BE 2 was a deathtrap, totally unsuited for any action once the Hun had the Eindeckers in service. There were questions raised in Parliament about the suitability of the aircraft , and it was implied that the crews were not killed in action, rather they were murdered........The aircraft itself was not a bad machine, it was reliable, and well made, but totally useless in a non escorted role.

Speaking of Quirk observers, the Lewis was mounted on a device called a Strange mount, and I didn't know this, but the pilot actually had access to it, and was able to engage with the Lewis , at odd angles to be sure, however he could do so. Crowood Press books are so useful !!!

Absolutely, Balloons were winched down at a moments notice, also the observers could jump, and did. Dont blame 'em really. Most fighter pilots stayed away from them as the Archie was particularly nasty anywhere near them, as well as "flaming Onions" being sent the way of any intrepid balloon hunter. They were that nasty to take on, that downing a balloon was regarded as a legitimate kill, and counted as such. So yes, winching and parachuting please !!

Oooh ya dancer !!

We do, however I think Adger maent more of a working camera ( such as the one mounted on the BE2 ) which you have to insert a plate into, then sight, so similar in some respects to a bombing mission but in a recce mission you have to actually take a photo, or photos of a specific feature. I think maybe it could be shoehorned into the sim, but it would maybe a lot of work that the devs may not want to do, and I kind of get why . Art Obs, is handled completely incorrectly in WOFF, it was generally a single aircraft, not a flight , and the poor sod flying the mission would have to fly in figure 8's over the arty target, and send via morse where the fall of shot was going......a thankless and exceedingly boring, and no doubt horribly dangerous job.

Ahhhh, you have created the beast I see !!! My Wishlist. We all know my suggestions for a bombsight, and pilots wings on completion of training. 1. Maurice Farmans of varying types 2. Morane Bullet 3. Voisin 5 & 8 4. Vickers Gunbus 5. Albatros 2 seaters 6. RAF FE 8 7. AEG G IV and C IV loads of German 2 seaters which were commonly seen and used. 8 Hanriot HD 1 9. Belgian Squadrons. 10. Maybe some British bombers HP 0400, or Vimy, maybe . 11. Spad 2 seaters . (Spad XI) An addon DLC for the Eastern Front, or the Italian front would be nice to see at some point as well.

Oh no, I have reached my quota of poo stirring for the day, I expect I am already flavour of the month as it is, my name no doubt being cursed from behind gritted teeth. Which of course is a positive, rather than a negative, as it means maybe I am reaching those spots no other irritatin' git reaches !!! However, it is still a good idea, and as you had said idea, please feel free to implement it old chap.

Good idea mate......I'll leave that to you to do lol

Yes that would help indeed. Either that or implement it into the Flight school, as gunnery and bombing was indeed taught early in the war.

Where are you finding these pearls mate ? I assume they are postcards ? Loving this 504

Seriously though, the guys who flew Caudrons must of had some sort of rule of thumb about how to bomb relatively accurately, all be it with a general level of accuracy at least. would be interesting to find out how it was achieved. I assume , as you modelled the aircraft, you have modelled the bomb window accurately, so I wonder if they made their own "cheat" lines on the glazing, to aid them.......a very interesting subject.

hahahaha yup, its a bitch at times, especially if you are a ground pounder being bombed by your own damn air force.

Yes at least on the Caudron you have a nice view, but no means of judging how or when to drop your ordinance. a case of drop 'em and hope for the best, and make sure you dont drop anywhere near friendly forces, as you are just as likely to spoil THIER whole day.

Yes I did test it myself, however it certainly does not work on the Be2, and it sends the f10 and f11 selections into turmoil. it never worked on the Caudron for some reason, but it did used to work well on the BE not sure about on Aviatiks, but I would imagine it is the same as the Be2 where it fails to work and messes up the controls ........So it needs to be tweaked, however, as I said, the facility for a sight should be in game, without the need for a 3rd party mod. and yes, sorry, but that is a criticism. Although a gentle one !!

No palava here. Unfortunately Smithers the Batman, is on jankers, he was caught selling the Mess whiskey ( the CO's Single Malt by the way) to the Froggies, and trying to stock up on Gaulioses to sent home to his Mum. So there is a slight Whiskey shortage at this time, the Adjudant has managed to procure some Ricard, but as this is nasty French muck, I am afraid we shall just have to put up with it until the new shipment of Scotch is delivered hopefully this time next week. Jolly rotten show if one asks me !!

Of course , you are correct, not everyone is as picky as myself lol. The wings though, can they not be awarded in a similar fashion to a medal for instance ? so it shows up in your log book as an award, just throwing ideas around, and I know the wings issue, isn't actually an issue at all, rather it is just an immersion quality of life thing, I am also aware that some peeps do not do the training, so it is obviously not a huge priority. But, it would be nice to see it implemented. Please do not think I am being deliberately annoying, I am merely throwing my hat into the ring so to speak, and, without feedback, you as devs do not get a feel for the thoughts, wishes, and desires of the people who are keen to see this sim develop and grow. As I previously mentioned, I am aware of your limitations of time etc. as you are a small team, and let me say you have thus far done a sterling job on Woff in all its iterations !! It is just some things NEED to be in here, the bombsight for one, they were used, and developed, yes I know early war there wern't any really, however from '16 on, they were a thing. and by that premise, should be there, as not all of us are fighter jocks, and at least having a better chance of laying ones eggs in a generally accurate fashion is rather desirable. Ther was a 3rd party bomb sight developed for the last incarnation of WOFF, so the system is there, it just needs to be tweaked so it works in this version. I know I can be a pain in the arse , but if all of us piped up and made CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions to you guys, you could see what is more pressing and enable you to judge what and when you add new content etc. Keep up the great work, and please do not take my comments personally, as they are not meant in that manner .

As am I , if pilots do not make a little noise about the "missing" aircraft, and other stuff too, then it may be overlooked. As far as I know though the Dolphin is in sim isn't it ? Other essential aircraft would be the Voisins and the Albatros 2 seaters, Most of the important German aircraft are there already, but 2 seater Albatri is a must for Western front operations. Also it would be nice to have Belgian Escadrilles as well, and give us the lovely Hanriot .

No, they are aircraft that just aren't in sim yet, there is a Farman, F40, the Caudron G3, Morane Bullet, and others as well. those are just the French ones. it is a minor irritation I know, however there are types which should be in sim, which just are not. If we as the end users do not say anything, then nothing will be done/added so a gentle pressure on developers is a good thing, as long as it is respectful, and constructive. For another example....Why no bombsight ? why no pilots wings/badge earned after training ? why no Log editor, these are all things that should be in sim as default, and the work has already been done by 3rd party modders , they just need to be adjusted to fit the new iteration of the sim. I dont want people imagining I am just moaning or whinging, I am not, I am merely pointing out stuff that aint there that should be there. The devs no doubt will get annoyed with me. But sometimes a Devils Advocate is a good thing !!

War is random, doesn't matter how experienced, or good you are , eventually yer toast !! Richthhofen, a prime example, many factors also contribute to the outcome of a fight, technical problems, just having a shitty day, terrible hangover from that knees up in the mess last night, battle fatigue, overworked and under payed mechanics, bloody infantry taking pot shots at any aircraft that is unfortunate enough to fly over them ...Richthofen !! Yes of course if you have a superior machine, then you have an edge, as long as you go into the fight with a tactical advantage, if you get bounced by Snoopy in his dog house though whilst you are pootling around in the clouds minding your own business , then chances are you are buggered. So, the answer to your question is a resounding yup !!!

Well, touch wood, after a full uninstall, and a good scout around, I did find a few bits and bobs from my previous WOFF PE that hadn't been removed when I switched over to BH&H . so I am unsure as to whether that may have had some bearing on the problems I had yesterday. So, as I said I deleted everything I could find that was OBD related, including WOTR ( just in case) and re installed a fresh version , on my SSD this time as well, not on my HDD . of course that meant the pilots I had issues with yesterday were of course deleted. Anyhow, to get to the point, I re rolled a new pilot, and he has completed training, and has been posted to 1 RNAS , which although it is a fighter mob, as I am playing from 1915, they are of course flying BE's and Parasols, so they need observers, and much to my delight, the Squadron has a full complement of pilots and obervers !! .......Well at least they did, until after my very first mission 3 of the buggers piled in all on top of each other on the airfield whilst landing.....Hmmmmm....is this a problem ? dunno......anyhow all is working as it should compliment wise at least. I also think the Froggy pilot I had issues with yesterday had been posted to a squadron, where the correct aircraft are STILL not available YET this is a thing that you guys at OBD need to get on top of, I know it is a lot of work, and that you are a small team etc. However, these are aircraft that were "NOT AVAILABLE YET" in WOFF UE/PE so maybe it may just be an idea to develop these important and glaringly obvious by their absence aircraft ( The French trained in Farmans, the first allied ace flew a Morane Bullet, in fact he was the man behind the propellor deflector was he not ? ) . Just a little constructive critique there, I am not getting on your backs about it, however............ Anyhow, I shall try and make a Froggy cloud hopper tomorrow and see what happens. Hopefully nothing if todays efforts are anything to go by.

ok, I just wanted to make sure there was no problem with the overwrite message coming up. I have experienced such issues with Silent Hunter in the past, so I was a little leery.

Quick question if anyone see this , I have re downloaded and installed the above mods, in the correct order as per the readme . first query is, does one install Havrincourt wood, then Verdun forts, or is it one or the other ? second is, if I install either of these mods, if I then install the Consolidated Custom Airfields Mod. I get a conflict message........or am I not supposed to put either Havrincourt, or Forts in if I am using the Consolidated Custom Airfields Mod ? Or does the conflict not matter ?

Are you sure it isn't a vehicle convoy ? those have that sort of effect when you turn labels on.

Roger that, I am going to try something first before I send any files to you, as you say it may just be those particular escadrille/staffels........I shall send you the logs if is re occurs. so fingers crossed.