homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

Dux:

Hmmmm. Those Fokker Tripes were said to be able to reverse on a dime and give 9 cents change. All the screenies, in fact all the planes in my FCG are the default version. The game has been patched with all official patches but has not been modded. You can visit the "paint Shop" and change some of the paint schemes though I have never used that. I believe that there is a mod floating about somewhere that will change the slow revolving prop and make it more realistic. I might install that.

Folks,

All this talk of RoF and those lucious screen shots got me excited so I began a campaign in FCG. I chose the British "Spring Offensive" thinking I might get in some balloon busting. I didn't. I did successfully complete a number of missions and shoot down a goodly number of the Hun before a crash ended the whole thing for me. No, my plane didn't crash, the whole game crashed and it was a doosey.

I in my Camel had dropped out of heavy cloud and was just closing in on a little Fokker. When I could see the dial on his genuine Kaiser Wilhelm brand chronometer I began to fire. I was rewarded with several hits and a loud grunt presumably from the displeased enemy pilot. At that instant the gun sounds went into an infinite loop and the game froze. I was able to back out of the thing by using the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys and the Task manager.

The game would not restart so I figured the OS was unstable and I re-booted. After re-booting the game re-started for me but I did not play anymore. This is the first crash I have had in FCG since I ran it under Win 98 SE. It might be DX, memory, sound device or something else. I'll try again tomorrow. Secretly I suspect it might be a dastardly fifth column intervention of some sort to save the indangered Huns from my wrath. I will post sentries around my crate tonight.

Folks,

Dux:

I don't know what it may be like in RoF but in FCG I find that formation flying is a tad on the wrong side of fun. I find it tedious and on long patrols I keep eying the time compression key as if I could just will it to be depressed. This causes me to lose concentration and I fall behind and below my flight. I have to power up and close up and it all starts again.

As far as I can tell the only damage done in the crash yesterday was the loss of my joystick configuration settings. I discovered this the hard way. You haven't lived until you take off in a camel and find none of the controls work right, no throttle, no rudder and the ailerons and elevators are suddenly incredibly sensitive. Upside down with the prop end of the camel facing dangerously downward, with all the detritus, dirt and beer bottles from the floor of the cockpit falling past my head or into my eyes; I managed to exit before the enemy died of laughter or I augured in. In a few minutes I had it all put right again.

Mon ami, we will fly again Lafayette.

Gents,

JRT,

I fly all the way out and all the way back which usually takes about an hour on average, often meeting intruders on the way!

My new Nieuport 17 is fragile but teaches you not to be ham-fisted. It gathers speed very quickly in a dive and heavy stick handling will shed your wings. However, you soon get them back with a harp as a bonus. It took five trial take-offs and crashes before I learned to get the tail up - almost immediately.

First patrol, lost my wings in a tight turning fight with the E.III. Second, ran out of fuel after damage from 'archie' ( which is what they called flak in WWI). Despite the damage which must have punctured the tank I had a long battle with up to three Albatros chaps without result. Had to put down in 'no-man's-land' then taken to hospital. I am determined to complete at least one patrol in the Nieuport 17.

Have spanking new S.E.5a too! Completely the opposite. Robust, very fast and throaty. Requires different tactics to the Camel. High attack speed, break away and come in again at speed. I can't see anything catching me in that.

I have encountered white 'Very' flares on two occasions and assume they mean 'give way' to another aircraft on landing, so, I do.

Folks,

Dux:

As I have mentioned before the Nieuport was a notorious "wing Shedder". And indeed I am familiar with "Archie" too. That is modeled in FCG though I have never been downed by it.

From "Black Adder" regarding the reason for the Great War.

Baldrick: The thing is: The way I see it, these days there's a war on, right? and, ages ago, there wasn't a war on, right? So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away, right? and there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?

"Edmund: Do you mean "Why did the war start?"

Baldrick: Yeah.

George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.

Edmund: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.

George: Oh, no, sir, absolutely not. [aside, to Baldick] Mad as a bicycle!

Baldrick: I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry.

Edmund: I think you mean it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot.

Baldrick: Nah, there was definitely an ostrich involved, sir.

Edmund: Well, possibly. But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war.

George: By Golly, this is interesting; I always loved history...

Edmund: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war.

Baldrick: But this is a sort of a war, isn't it, sir?

Edmund: Yes, that's right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.

George: What was that, sir?

Edmund: It was bollocks.

Baldrick: So the poor old ostrich died for nothing."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dux, I believe 'Flak' is short for 'Flieger-Abwehr-Kanone', literally 'gun for defence against flyers', ie. anti-aircraft gun.

I have always thought that the British used the word "Archie" for AA fire in WWI and that was derived from the phonetic alphabet at the time where A=Archie? Am I correct?

Folks,

Dux:

Flares? A fantastic touch. I have never seen flares modeled in a sim before.

Actually white flares mean "Mind the tree and remember to land right side up this time".

JRT,

Brilliant scripting for the Blackadder series, which is the main reason they keep showing them.

I've been informed by Leroy that the white flare means 'Priority given to distressed pilots who have overdue mess bills.' Which makes sense, I suppose...

You learn something new every day in his game.

Another bum Nieuport patrol. I lost my lower left wing to return fire from the accursed DFW.
Managed a heavy crash landing but survived. Next patrol, attacked ground target and crashed with dead engine and survived again. No...I didn't...just been informed by HQ; I am dead.
I'll leave the Nieuport alone for a while. Need new tactics.

Folks,

Dux:

The most common type of flare gun is the Very (sometimes spelled Verey) which was named after Edward Wilson Very (1847�1910), an American naval officer who developed and popularized a single-shot breech-loading snub-nosed pistol that fired flares (Very flares). They have a single action trigger mechanism, hammer action, center fire pin

While not intended as a weapon, flare guns have been used as such in some situations. In 1942, at Pembrey Airfield in Wales, a German pilot mistakenly landed at the field. The duty pilot, Sgt. Jeffreys, did not have a conventional weapon; he grabbed a Very pistol and used that to capture the German pilot, Oberleutnant Arnim Faber.

Priority for pilots with large un-paid mess bills was always the custom however even those men were forced to give way to pilots noted for their volatile temper whose planes were still carrying bombs.

Folks,

Dux:

The Nieuport 17 incorporated ideas of Eduoard Nieuport and Franz Schneider, who hoped to arrive at the optimum combination of the best features of monoplanes and biplanes in what was termed the "sesquiplane" (one and one-half wing) configuration. The Nieuport 17 featured a large top wing and a smaller and narrower lower wing, joined by a V-shaped strut. This combination gave most of the great visibility and low drag of a parasol monoplane, plus the structural bracing of a biplane. It was powered by a Le Rhone/120 Rotary engine.

The Nieuport 17, which like the later Sopwith Camel had its pilot, fuel, engine, and guns concentrated in a small area, had excellent maneuverability and was a pleasure to fly. When the Nieuport 17 first appeared in March 1916, the French had not perfected a suitable synchronizing device to allow safe firing through the spinning blades of the propeller, so the Lewis gun was mounted over the top wing. A synchronized gun was fitted later

The Nieuport 17 was beloved by its surviving pilots for many reasons. It was a sleek, deadly looking bird indeed. And, flown by a good pilot, it caused terror to swell in the breasts of the enemy when they saw a formation of the silvery planes falling out of the sun toward them.

The problem for some Nieuport pilots falling upon a formation of the enemy with fear in their breasts was that when they dove steeply in an attempt to attack they kept on going toward the green grass or pock marked desolation of "No man's land" below sans their wings and unable to bring their guns to bear.

With that difficulty in mind perhaps, one Alphonse Klulass attempted the rather creative feat of diving backward or tail first sadly for Ms. Klulass without much success. The wings came off his Nieuport anyway however as he sailed past his intended target, a Rumpler, he was actually able to get a few telling incendiary shots up at it presumably taking that gratifying knowledge with him as he passed below into eternity.

Remembering that the explanation for the term "Archie" was mentioned in McCudden's Flying Fury, I Googled around a bit and found the full story here.

Now, going back to your musing Roger, regarding the state of the world and how we arrived at the current mess, I'd wager you a stale beer brought over from France in my kite, that my new economic theory, soon to be known as "bubble-theory" will make all other economic theories seem obsolete and far fetched.

The basic element in this theory is a bubble which expands or inflates during boom times and deflates or bursts in times of recession.

Going back in time from present day we had the;

Housing bubble a.k.a Sub-prime
dot.com bubble
a techincal glitch, as the trading computers went into a loop telling them to sell all stock
Rebuilding from WW2
A war (WW2 or "Great War" Act Two)
The stock bubble leading to the crash of �29 and the great depression
A war (WW1)
The industrial bubble
More wars
The Gutenberg printing press bubble
The Dark Ages
The Roman Empire bubble
The Agricutural bubble
The "walk on hind legs" bubble

So basically, the only thing interrupting bubble-theory is war and none-too-bright programmers.

So there you have it. I shall now humbly await my Nobel Peace Price for invaluable contributions to the understanding of economic theory.

Folks,

MG:

I'll alert the media. Your much deserved prize will soon arrive from Stockholm by post in a plain brown wrapper.

In theory bubbles have been around forever. Before the earth had cooled there were bubbles in the magma . You would remember that Dux. There are all kinds of bubbles. Scientists have studied soap bubbles for decades. They have made bubbles in all sorts of convoluted shapes not just round. They have taken bubbles into space and scrutinized them from every direction ad nauseam. In economics there are the trickle down and the bubble up theories. The bubble up idea can't possibly work and I am still waiting for David Stockman's trickle down theory to work.

There are bubble gums, bubble dancers and even bubble brains. There are stinky bubbles in the hot tub and sometimes a soothing bubble bath in the bathtub. Eons ago two Neanderthals were seated in a cool spring and one noticed a few bubbles around his grinning companion. His nostrils flared, his beady eyes crossed, he hoisted his heavy wooden cudgel and soon there was only a pool of reddish bubbles where his friend once had been. Yes, bubbles go way back.

If for some unbelievable reason the prize committee should overlook you it will definately burst my bubble too.

Folks,

Jens:

Sure enough, here it is all bright and shiny and so suitably wrapped. You deserve congratulations!

Gents,

It's a late 1916 career and I encountered an EIII formation at low level. After a dogged chase, the Eindekker started slowing down, presenting an easier target. Soft-hearted sod that I am, I just hadn't got the heart to finish him off on such a fine day - especially after he turned and looked straight at me!

Lower and lower he went until I finally turned away and allowed him to take his chances has he headed down into no-man's-land.

Folks,

Dux:

What a gallant fellow you are. Killing a helpless enemy might not be considered "cricket" in 1916 however let us hope that if and when that lucky Hun returns to the sky he will offer British and French pilots the same courtesy. Otherwise it might have been better to finish him off.

The eye candy is delicious and as would be expected it far out shines the aged FCG. Despite that I am still able to enjoy that elderly game. I began the "Hat in the Ring" campaign and had some fun with that. Oddly enough you begin flying in a Camel and not a French kite. I had some training exercises to get through. I had to find my aerodrome and land. That was a piece of cake even though the Camel is a sensitive bird. Then I had to stick to my CO like glue as he tried to shake me off. Is this sounding familiar to WoV fans? Actually I never could manage that well in BoB or WoV but I did in FCG and I was much impressed with me I can tell you. The CO seemed less impressed and suggested I might need more training. My face is still red.

Finally as I was getting a bit tired of it all and yearned for combat and certain glory (I'd show tha bastids what a great pilot I really am) they made me try to sneak up on the CO without his catching sight of me. I found it was surprisingly difficult catching sight of him. I managed that and may I add more than satisfactorily. As I slipped up on him from behind and below it was all I could do not to shoot the pompous fellow down. As you indicate from your experience with the hapless Eindekker pilot, I was sorely tempted but I did nothing but fly up beside him and give him a two fingered wave. Old 'eagle eye' must have missed that or I'd be flying a petrol lorry by now.

At last we went upon our first patrol and, as before, I found it tough to keep formation but I did so right up to the point where my son needed the computer to look up the wiring diagram of the family car he and a friend were repairing. Thus I ended my first promising patrol smeared with grease and covered in caster oil but little else. Down with the bloody Kaiser....I shall return.

Gents,

JRT,

Bought three new planes today because there is an RoF sale on at the moment.

'Get yer planes! Get yer lovely planes here! Lovely factory fresh planes! Get yer...etc.

The Fokker Dr1 triplane is a delight to fly and very manouverable. The E.III Eindekker rather turgid and climbs like a housebrick but the cockpit panorama is extensive. You need plenty of height in advance because you just can't climb to intercept unless all you have to do is make up is a couple of hundred feet. Also, the opposition can steadily draw away on the level. Dives swiftly. Finally, the Sopwith Pup seems sturdy and stable as well as nimble.

Hello,

Like everyone here, I am an avid appreciator of BOBII, and well over anything favorable about Cliffs of Dover. I also much appreciate Rise of Flight. With that I was drawn back to the late 1990s and Flying Corps Gold which seem mentioned here, but with which I am having endless setup and reinstallation problems. Many of the solutions have been disclose elsewhere, but the FCG and Rowan sites appear to have evaporated.

I attempting to run/reinstall FCG on a XP S/P3, Geforce7800GT, Intel Core Duo system. The progam "should function" However, it is either not recognizing the CD when run from existing installs or it fails to install whatever density size or DX or not due to unavailable hard disk capacity. It should be able to copy over itself or establish a new directory in C Drive where there is at least twenty gigabytes of free space.

Does anyone have any miracle dust that will help remedy this frustration from the past? Note that it will not even respond under DOS, crashing to desktop.

Lastly,

HOORAY AND CONGRATULATIONS TO MCGONIGLE (Emeritus Motorius)

But will he be able to save the Irish, Spanish, Greek, Italian and French economies? The American economic problem appears hopeless as the children keep fighting over whose crayons are the best.

5555

Allow me to extend a warm welcome on your visit to our forever variable thread!

JRT is our resident FCG scribe. I'm sure he will have something to say in the way of advice.

Folks,

5555: ( that's my old phone number )

Welcome new friend. I can only say that if you can get RoF running FCG is a great step backward. On the other hand any Rowan sim has its merits far beyond its sell by date and since I am unable to run RoF on my ancient system I am pleased to have that elderly sim to fly.

I know just about everything about almost nothing so I will probably be unable to help. This has never kept me from trying to help others in the past so it will not stop me today.

All I can say is this is what I did on my XP system. I haven't a clue about what hoops you may have to jump through in the Win 7 environment.

Here are two FCG sites still functioning; perhaps you missed them?

http://web.comhem.se/carlberg/fcg/main.htm

http://www.wingsofhonour.com/flyingcorps/tipsandtricks/html_woh_flyingcorps_tipsandtricks.en.html

1)Get a replacement smack32.dll file
2)On the FCG Install disk go to sub dir fly\
3)R-click winststb.exe
4) select win 95 in compatibility tab
all check boxes "ON" except the last one
5) Dbl click winstmstb.exe

Hopefully it will install

Replace the smack32.dll file that comes with the game with the new one found one one of the above sites. Apply all official patches.

If you get the game to load setup your controls. You may have some difficulty with the joystick settings but perseverance will bring success. Good luck.

MG is also familiar with Win 7 and FCG so he may be of greater assistance.

Folks,

Dux:

In an attempt to foil that pesky fifth column I am now flying under the pseudonym of the well known ace Pierre d'Inchy. Yes "Ace" Dux you could spell that with two 's'es instead but I choose not to thwart convention.

We took off at 7:20 hrs. from Bertangles airfield in heavy fog going on a patrol over the lines. We were flying SPAD IIIs and I was now as the ace pilot of the squadron I was in the lead.

A flight of Camels passed high and to the West. I had had nothing to drink for a fortnight so it was definitely the aircraft and not the humped type beasties that I saw.

We spotted and though outnumbered attacked a flight of 24 Dr1s that gave us a very good scrap at altitude. I managed to set one smoking and followed him down just above the clouds before riddling him with shot and blowing him up. I had become separated from the others and had to follow my compass to catch them up. On the way I fell upon a straggler Dr1 and sent him smoking down through the cloud base.

Our flight regrouped below the clouds and we continued to the next waypoint. Soon after we encountered a flight of Bristol aircraft. In the mist I mistook them for more Bosch and buzzed them breaking up their formation before recognition set in. I could not see however I assume we got some startled and angry looks.

There were no more incidents on this patrol. We returned to base and landed having sustained 3 casualties in the furball with the Dr1s. They outnumbered us yet we acquitted ourselves well. They lost 6 craft. To date we have lost:

Barat
Deglise-Favre
Brasseur
Dutley
and Latapie

Gents,

JRT,

24 Dr.Is you say? Crikey! That hardly bears thinking about.

NEWS FROM THE FRONT...

Pascal Petit has bought it on his tenth patrol. Beastly weather with cloudbase at 900 feet. Checked out 'Brisfit' and then flew on. Spotted DFW being harried by squadron pal and closed in to expose himself to the rear gunner (not in that sense JRT) and delivered a two second burst. Pascal pulled away with petrol tank ablaze and dived vertically to earth.

Poor bugger would have been done to a turn before hitting the ground.

Pascal's final fleeting glimpses of life included this view of his rain-splattered windscreen...