Wayfarer

Yes. I liked to use Bletchley's missions. I hadn't mentioned them because I wasn't sure if he had mods for UE.

jeanba, I don't know the actual altitude requirements for a successful reconnaissance mission, but I used to fly allied recon aircraft in OFF/standard WOFF (alas my old PC could not keep up with the latest versions but I still lurk here) and managed to get 'successful' results once WOFF started recording them. I hope the following is not too out of date.

 

IIRC, keeping above 3000' kept you safe from machine gun/rifle fire whilst for actual anti-aircraft guns I used to regularly change altitude or make minor changes in direction. I believe this was an actual tactic of WW1. There was a discussion about whether this genuinely worked in WOFF (e.g. were the shell trajectories modelled or were hits determined statistically) but I felt it worked - i.e. it seemed to reduce the frequency with which I was hit!

 

I don't think I went over 10000' often, keeping at more like 5000' to 8000'.  Of course it depended on what suspicious aircraft were around, and how well the AA seemed to be doing at a particular altitude. As I say this seemed to get me successful results as long as I didn't go too far from target location for the mission.

 

 

Of course there may be differences now, with UE.

THE Battle? Weren't there more than one?

Olham, yes, I think in official British army histories, at least, there were a number of periods that were classed as battles of the Somme, from 1916 to 1918 (and possibly before, I am no expert).

In Britain, when people mention the 'Battle of the Somme' they are usually thinking about the operations that started in July 1916 (not counting the preliminary bombardment), and often particularly the attacks on July 1st, when the the British army suffered so many casualties.

 

I am guessing that the date may not have quite the stand out significance in France (compared to, say, the battles at Verdun) and Germany that it has for the British, although I know the overall period saw severe casualties on all sides.

I don't know if there is a particular period of WW1 that has a similar significance in Germany, so that it is more generally known that most other periods or actions during the war?

Two fine videos.  Thanks Olham. I liked seeing the three SE5s in line.

Pretty good for an early Christmas present!

Not, when it looks like you cannot stop it from doing so, Wayfarer!

Which I assume it DOES look like to your CO...

 

Ah ... I knew it was too much to hope for.

By coincidence, my RE8 always does that when I come in for a landing ... does that make me an ace pilot?

(Great video by the way).

Interesting photo Hauksbee. My wife pointed out the likeness to some photographs of our youngest daughter at a similar age.

 

My dad was born in 1930 and there was a toddler photograph that my grandparents kept on their piano of him with long curly locks and quite girlish clothes.  I don't think it was common by that time but his family were very old fashioned in some ways and I guess the clothes were probably passed down from a previous generation.

It was always a great source of embarrassment to him!

The "Frogs" and the "Limeys" - what a wonderful friendship that should be! The French know a lot about

good cooking, good wine and good cheese, and the British about good beer, good pop music and good

humour! In two world wars the "Tommies" helped the French - now, John Lennon would say:  come together!

 

 

 

Olham, would you consider applying to be head of the UN if the job becomes vacant?

Well!

 

Thanks for posting that Olham.

 I always liked IL2 for WWII, but I never went beyond '1946'.  That video has me genuinely considering it now.

Olham, perhaps unusually for WOFFers, I am not a petrol head in any way.  Cars don't move me at all and I don't know anything about motorbikes (although vintage ones have a certain something), but that engine sound is gorgeous!

 

Typhoon, I have a friend who's all time favourite aircraft is the Mosquito.  He was a leading proponent of it in the CFS3 community at SOH forums at one time and he gets the DeHavilland museum newsletter - which he passes on to me sometimes. He probably knows about your project already, but I'm sure he'll be interested in your photographs.  I'm going to send him a link to this post. 

I still look in most days, usually.

Just been on holiday and not seen a computer screen for a week, so I didn't see this until today.

Hellshade I think that is a very valid point about the impression it might give of WOFF and it's community. I still check in here after looking at SHQ but I hadn't thought of it from the point of view of someone who might only know of WOFF from this forum.

I'm sorry to say it because, although I was only a modest poster, it was a lot of fun here when I first started OFF - even if Uncle Al could be a bit cutting - and it's where the BOC was born.

 

RJW that also seems a good point to me, if it's feasible.

Well that's interesting Olham, I have only ever seen two of this particular sequence of photos at most.

I wonder what happened to the crew of the Felixstowe.

Tranquilo, not sure how useful this will be but I seem to have a copy of part of an email (presumably from the forum) regarding OFF uninstall.  It mentions a couple of folders you need to delete.  The location is given for the specific user so I don't know exactly how it would equate to your computer (may not even be the same operating system) but I'll quote it here in case it helps at all:

 

 

 

"Uninstall OFF;

2) Then go to Users/ "Owner" or in your case "woodmj" and under Documents delete the CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields folder;

3} Go to Users/woodmj/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/ and delete the CFSW1 Over Flanders Fields folder.

Reboot.

1) Re-install OFF, do not patch at this time;

2) Run CFS3config.exe to do initial config and then exit CFS3config. Don't make any changes to the CFS3config file at this time;

3) Run OFF from CFS3.exe. in OFF root folder;

4) When OFF starts, you should shortly be presented with a Successful Config box to check off;

5) If OFF starts properly, enlist and activate a pilot and then go to Quick Combat and do a short Free Flight;

6) Exit OFF and close program;

7) Install both patches and run OFF.

If you don't encounter any problems, go back into CFS3config and make all the changes you want."

Now that's good to hear!

Hello Typhoon, how are you now?

 

I still check in here nearly everyday, but the focus of attention has shifted to SimHQ rather.

Found this on Netflix Instant: "The Wipers Times". Seems the boys of the BEF found a printing press in the rubble of a building and put it to good use needling the General Staff. Michel Palin plays General Mitford who has their backs and protects them from a vicious Colonel of the Black Adder/ Captain Darling stripe who wants them all court-martialed for insubordination and Anarchy. (That's him on the right)

 

They published the complete series of "The Wipers Times" last year, to coincide with the programme I think. You can still get it on Amazon.

Some of the humour is period, of course, and it's possible that a lot of it might be too 'British' to travel well (if that is possible)  but I've found it entertaining, and some bits are really funny.

Very black humour at times, of course, but that was one of their ways of dealing with everything.

As someone who crashed a BE2 twice ... during training ... I am also ready to consider I may lack a certain finesse at the controls!

 

It was actually in OFF that I tried out the CII on a whim, and was positively flying sideways for a few moments - I was quite mesmerised.

... the C.II wants to slew sideways ...

 

Ah ... so it wasn't just me then.

I still can't work out how they passed him cups of tea.

Thanks Hauksbee, that is a timely one.  I am just reading James Barr's 'A Line In The Sand', about the dealings of Britain and France in the middle east during WW1 and afterward.  Very intersting book, both for the events themselves and and their ramifications for the situation today.

Glad to hear it - but no sneaking flying time until the MO gives you the go ahead!

Just caught up with this.  Hope the operation has gone well.

I recently started reading Solzhenitsyn's 'August 1914', which has just been republished in the UK.  Having only a superficial knowledge of the Eastern fronts in WW1 I am quite engrossed in it. Like 'War and Peace' some characters are civilian and some are army personnel. It deals with both their personal and professional lives so it's not a purely a 'military' novel, especially in the first few chapters - you read, for example, why one girl really wants to go to ballet school instead of training to be an agronomist.

Other characters, however, include general Samsonov and a young staff officer who personifies the most modern thinking of the young Russian officers.  Their chapters deal with the problems inherent in the organisation of the Russian army of the time, the hurried mobilisation, and the unrealistic strategic plan for the invasion of East Prussia.  I am finding it fascinating.

I think that that this theatre of the war is not always that well known in the West, so If you don't have an extensive knowledge of these particular times and places - and aren't averse to the non-military sections - you might find it worth trying.

(The only mention of aeroplanes so far is that they can't use them for messages because they are all being repaired!)