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Shiloh

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Posts posted by Shiloh

  2. Posted

    The Bristol Fighter is a joy for bombing! Fast and furious you approach and attack railyards,

    and when you get attacked by fighters, you have a two-seater you can use like a fighter to fend them off.

     

    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?

  3. Posted

    Hi Shiloh, do you use a modded OFF ? If you don't, Lothar's mods work quite well in solving the keeping-up problem although, in my experience, not completely. Other than that, warping is the only solution. It's a bugger because flying as a wingman imo is the best experience OFF has to offer. One downside is that after a long patrol of keeping formation, looking out for EA etc, I am bloody exhausted - I kid you not. Another way of rationalising the situation is just to consider yourself the FNG who copped the most clapped-out crate in the squadron - works for me :smile: . Hth (sorry abt the lack of pars, can't seem to format)

     

    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.

     

    Hi, Shiloh!

    I also recommend to switch all aids off. Suddenly you see the real events then, and it works fine.

    Throw away your crutches, brother - you can walk!

     

    I never had that problem to keep up with my flight - so I recommend: Albatros!

    (Mmuahahahahaaa!!!!)

    But seriously:

    maybe it helps when you do NOT try to climb as well as them, but rather concentrate on good

    forward speed. Only climb a bit, then line up with horizon, until the crate has the full speed again;

    then climb a bit again, and so on. I call it "staircasing".

    Once the flight reached their altitude, they won't climb anymore, and you may reach them.

     

    Another thing you could do is (for the price of loosing personal skins): fly with limited fuel.

    Of course you must know how much the journey takes to return safely...

     

    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.

     

    Limited fuel helped me.

     

    How is it that you adjust fuel again? And do you find you're able to keep up?

  4. Posted

    Glad I read this thread. She is a good turn fighter and carries a med-large bomb load too.

     

    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.

  5. Posted · Edited by Shiloh

    Just last night, I started a new campaign with the Lafayette Escadrille at their inception in 1916. Flying the Nieuport 11 has been an adventure as it has virtually no gauges, questionable visibility, no reliable way to aim my bursts, and only 194 rounds. Despite all this, I did enjoy my first flight ever as a wingman and I was able to down an Einie. I am flying with no visual aids as well and this has made the experience even more challenging. This is a totally different experience altogether and I recommend it to those who haven't tried it.

     

    I've found that one of the biggest challenges for myself has been to just stay in formation, let alone be looking around me in all directions for enemy aircraft. I suppose I'll get better at this as time goes on and fortunately I'm not facing anything too dangerous out there in terms of aircraft.

     

    The one thing that I've found frustrating is that at times, even though I'm full throttle I can't keep up with my flight. They just zoom away and leave me alone in the dust and I have to warp to get back with them. Has anyone else experienced this and what should I do other than warp to keep up?

  7. Posted

    Another book I have yet to read.

    Shiloh, you read "Sagittarius rising", I saw. Did you read "No Parachute"?

    A very brilliant read I can promise.

     

    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.

  10. Posted

    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

  13. Posted

    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.

  15. Posted

    There was a reason why the Brisfit was kept in service until the early 1930s.

     

    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

  16. Posted · Edited by Shiloh

    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! :salute:

  17. Posted

    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.

  18. Posted

    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.

  20. Posted · Edited by Shiloh

    I was surprised to find out yesterday just how formidable the Brisfit can be in an aerial dual. I was flying my Fokker D.VII with Jasta 5 when we happened upon 6 Brisfits against my flight of 5. They dove on us without hesitation and took out one of my flight within 10 seconds. The fighting quickly became scattered and I found myself in some of the most challenging fights I can remember. The Brisfit easily out-turned my D.VII and was able to get behind me multiple times on right-hand turns in particular. I was dumbfounded.

     

    With a D.VII I can get the best of Spads, SE5a's, Camels and Triplanes but this Brisfit gave me as much as I could handle. I was able to get behind them often enough only to be pelted by the rear gunner. Then they would out-turn me to the right and get behind me again. Their turn radius was much smaller than mine - for such a large craft? I was able to down 2 of them before getting engaged in a low-level slug-it-out with 2 more. I finally collided with one as I was trying to prevent it from out-turning me on the inside again and I was captured for the remainder of the war.

     

    I started up another campaign with Jasta 5 and 15 minutes into my first flight the Brisfits jumped us again. I was able to down one but took some damage from the rear-gunner. Than I got pelted from the side and I went into a steep dive to almost ground-level and the Brisfit stayed on my tail and pelted me some more. I was able to crash-land in a field. I can't remember being roughed-up like that in a D.VII.

     

    I started a campaign with RFC-48 just to test this bird out and I did well before colliding with an Alb.D.III in my first scrap. I may try a QC fight against some D.VII's and see what happens.

     

    A few questions: Is this an accurate representation of just how tough the Brisfit was? In real life can they out-turn a D.VII?

  22. Posted

    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!

  25. Posted · Edited by Shiloh

    The man who saved the world...

     

    50 years ago, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasilli Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain's order to launch nuclear torpedoes against US warships and setting off what might well have been a terminal superpower nuclear war.

     

    The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to 'blast the warships out of the water'. Arkhipov refused to agree - unanimous consent of 3 officers was required - and thanks to him, the world was saved from yet another horrid war.

     

    His story was finally told - the BBC aired a documentary last fall and PBS did a segment on "Secrets of the Dead" (see video on third link).

     

    Raise a glass to Vasilli Arkhipov. :drinks:

     

    http://en.wikipedia....Vasili_Arkhipov

    http://historicity-w...saved-the-world

    http://philnews.ph/2...world-from-ww3/

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