Shiloh

Keep an eye out for me. I'll be the single-seater, flying alone with a Death Wish.

Give those Albs hell Mudwasp but don't tell Olham - he's very touchy about these things.

Good stuff Olham and MudWasp thanks! I do fly with automix and I like it just fine. See that, I've been flying OFF on-and-off for 2 years and I'm still learning new things.

I'm currently flying in the Lafayette Escadrille down that way and just love flying low over the hills and mountains. Getting shot down in that area is no treat in my experience as it's tough to find a place to land. Are you that obscure aerodrome that is way further south than any of the other Germans? I do plan on going on a rogue mission to attack it someday - for the scenery of course. I'll have to find those commands and program them into my stick - shouldn't be too difficult and I have a few buttons left. F7...good to know. I think he was talking about you as the original poster as your question pertained to German units.

Welcome back Tranquilo. I took a long leave of absence as well a while back as I moved, then didn't have internet, etc. It refreshes the soul and reinvigorates the passion for OFF I find. Congrats on the VC!

I've never done a German 2-seater campaign so I can't offer any suggestions. How is it that ones drops bombs in OFF? Do you know the key command?

I'm currently playing OFF vanilla. I'm not sure which mod of Lothar's you are referring to? Like you said Sid, I do feel a bit on edge as I'm flying just trying to stay in formation, keeping my head on a swivel, etc. Sometimes my shoulders are real tight afterwards I guess from clenching them so hard and feeling the stress. That's what it's all about afterall isn't it? Feeling what the pilots felt that is. Thanks for the tips Olham. I did try to fly straght-and-level as they climbed but they still pulled away. Hopefully this is remedied in WOFF. How is it that you adjust fuel again? And do you find you're able to keep up?

She's a beast to fight against and if you join up with RFC-48 when they first were assigned Brisfits, you should have some time to get used to her before facing tougher birds. Initially, one of the tougher opponents you'll face are Alb.D.III's and with some experience you should be able to handle them.

Just be careful with that TrackIR MudWasp. It's an awesome product but very fragile. Mine is held together with tape.

I have read "No Parachute"...great book! "Horses Don't Fly" is a great read and maybe half of it (or more) focuses on Libby's life before he became a pilot. He led a very interesting cowboy's life in the American West and that in itself only adds to this amazing man's life. I hope you get a chance to read it soon Olham.

Well, it's been a year and a half since I read this little gem (Horses Don't Fly) and I just contacted my library about reserving it again. It should be here in a matter of days and the time can't seem to pass quickly enough.

101 years ago today the great RFC became active and the rest is history. Here is a wiki excerpt: With the growing recognition of the potential for aircraft as a cost-effective method of reconnaissance and artillery observation, the Committee of Imperial Defence established a sub-committee to examine the question of military aviation in November 1911. The following February the sub-committee reported its findings which recommended that a flying corps be formed and that it consist of a naval wing, a military wing, a central flying school and an aircraft factory. The recommendations of the committee were accepted and on 13 April 1912 King George V signed a royal warrant establishing the Royal Flying Corps. The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers became the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps a month later on 13 May. http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/royal-flying-corps-founded' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Corps

Bravo CaptSopwith! What a great experience for you in a stressful time. I too just picked up the joystick after a 9-month layoff and it feels good to experience the wonderful world of OFF once again. Good luck in your schooling and in the unfriendly skies as well.

Let me know where you'll be Olham and I'll steer 50 miles clear of that place.

Fantastic work! I'll have to go to the website and check out more.

You are a legend Olham and at least 500 of those posts were helping me out. Back to business, I started a campaign with RFC-48, Spring 1917 flying the Brisfit and my first flight was a treat. Just 10 minutes in we were jumped by 10 or so Alb.D.III's from Jasta 3. They were swarming all over us so I dove aggressively after one to the shelf. I found we had an advantage there as the Albs couldn't energy-fight down low. Then I tried an interesting tactic to stay behind them. At times, I throttled way down to stay behind them and my crate was amazingly stable at very low speeds. I was close to stalling and still stable. Perhaps it's because of the large wings? Then the Alb would be right next to or just adjacent to and my gunner would pelt him with bullets. The Alb didn't seem to be able to stay stable at these low speeds and had to throttle back up and I could stay behind. If the Alb turned into me, I was nimble-enough to match his turn. I worked this same tactic over-and-over again and was able down 4 Albs in maybe 10 minutes. I was working on a 5th when I caught a random bullet in my engine and was forced down.

Awesome work Andy.... I'll have to give these a try!

True Hasse Wind. I understand fourteen squadrons were flying it by the end of the war. Here's a great writeup on the Brisfit and I've pulled a few excerpts. Then it suddenly became not merely aggressive but aggressive at both ends, twisting and turning and pumping out lead to targets at front and rear. The crews of these big two-seaters were in the summer of 1917 among the fastest scorers on the Western Front. For example, Capt McKeever and his observer scored almost all their 30 confirmed victories while still flying the original F-2A. Indeed, the Bristol was soon held in such respect that, except for the very top crack' circuses, it became a general rule for German pilots never to attack a formation of more than three Bristols, no matter how great their own numerical advantage might be. One pilot, Major Oliver Stewart wrote, 'The pilot could enter a dogfight and turn almost as quickly and on almost as small a radius as the best single-seater. He could fling his machine about, go into vertical dives, pull it out quickly, turn it on its back, spin it, roll it and generally do every sort of maneuver if the need arose. And all the time there was the comfortable feeling that the observer was there with his pair of Lewis guns, watching and protecting. http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/aircraft/Bristol-F2b.html

As always Olham thanks for the care and attention you put into helping me out. I like how you call it the "beast"...I tend to agree. I'm going to start a campaign with RFC-48 so I can fly the Brisfit on a regular basis. I've found my best learning in OFF has been connected to the fact that I've flown almost every craft in QC or in campaign so I can learn it's characteristics whether flying that craft, or in flying against it. The Brisfit is not a craft I've faced many times so I think it caught me a bit off guard. I can only imagine how the pilots felt when they faced a new craft in the skies and didn't quite know how to go about defeating them. I will report back here with my findings as hopefully I can learn some new tactics through this experience. Thanks again and congrats on 15,000 posts!

Well said Gaw. The layers of this sim and the matchups in the real war are amazing and you never really know how things are going to pan out sometimes. You either go for it or you don't but either way there are odds to consider and experience factors in as well. I hadn't really fought too many Brisfits so I think I underestimated them...until now. That's a good strategy there Olham. I've used that technique before on other craft, but like you said, it burns through ammo awful quick. I think the Brisfit was able to out-turn me perhaps because it was able to stay stable while throttled down. It seems almost as if I was overshooting it when it turned due to my speed but every time I throttled down, I risked meeting the ground because my D.VII couldn't hold it's altitude. With Jasta 5 I've met up with them twice in four flights so I'm sure I'll meet them again and learn more. And then by flying the Brisfit in QC or campaign, I can learn that much more about it's characteristics and capabilities. I'm wondering if there are any stats available that tell how certain craft did against others in WWI dogfights. Such as in 71 engagments, Fokker D.VII craft lost 32 craft as opposed to 45 for Brisfits. It doesn't necessarily account for pilot skill or one-sided advantages in numbers but it could give an indication of how certain craft performed against others.

I just QC'd a 6 vs 6 pitting Brisfits against D.VII's. Flying the Brisfit, I was able to down two D.VII's without suffering any damage to my own craft. I stayed on their tails - for the most part - despite their maneuvers to shake me. My tail gunner's fire was pretty accurate and he definitely contributed to the first kill. I noticed the Brisfit does a pretty nifty flip type of turn to switch directions quickly. I wasn't able to try and out-turn the D.VII as the computer AI never really stayed in a consistent turn long enough for me to test it. I haven't tested this enough to draw a solid conclsuion but my first impressions are the Brisfit is more than a match for the D.VII in OFF. There are many more experienced pilots here than myself so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Awesome guys...thanks for the links! That D.VIa looks real Olham. Here is yet another one. http://mageknightkevin.blogspot.com/search/label/SE5a

Welcome MudWasp! Glad to see your settling in and getting in some flight time. I've been able to get my claims in the 85-90% range by wording my claims a certain way and by being very thorough. Make sure you look at your map when a plane goes down and record where it is (ie; Northeast of Ypres or at Montingen airfield). Also, list all pilots from flight 1 and flight 2 and make sure you put down "ground troops" as a witness. Good luck!

Good show Andy! Here are some shots of Gunther Blau roughing up an RE8. He did manage to damage my engine but it was right above my airfield so no big deal.

Flight Sub-Lt. Jack "Cat" Harlowe just finished off this Alb.DII from Jasta 8 on his first campaign run with RNAS-10. Leutnant Gunther Blau flying his D.VII for Jasta 13 chewed the wing off this Spad in QC just to shake the rust off after 9 months of inactivity.