Robert, if you managed to show only your flight members and no enemies, that should be okay. Even better though: additional symbols on your wingmates' planes (you should back up the original skins first then).
I wished the enemy planes would also pass me and my people by - but they always go for us. Maybe that's why Flanders North is "medium", and Flanders South "hotspot"?
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
0550 hrs cranked and rolled as #4 a/c in 6 a/c flight to Finish Bombardment of Loos Rail yard. Hit by enemy Scouts as we crossed the lines. Nasty little fur ball down to 1000ft. I fired off 127 Rs Vickers and my backseater cut loose with 42 rds. ( we didnt hit anything.) As everyone was scattered I took Target of Opportunity a Factory and made 2 hits out of 4 dropped. Then spotted A Flight 4 a/c coming down. RTB.
Results: 3 a/c from B flight went on to Target, They are Missing. A flight None lost but 2 Lt Damage.
Robert, if you managed to show only your flight members and no enemies, that should be okay. Even better though: additional symbols on your wingmates' planes (you should back up the original skins first then).
I wished the enemy planes would also pass me and my people by - but they always go for us. Maybe that's why Flanders North is "medium", and Flanders South "hotspot"?
Olham; I made the changes to the labels so none show now, and I added symbols to the squadron wings and body for easy identification. My custom skins are JSGME enabled so no need to backup the originals. I can just swap the custom ones out by JSGME in one click.
Regarding the AI activity between Medium and Hot spot I cannot comment until I get to a Hot Spot. So far I am happy they don't always attack. They seem to avoid contact when they are outnumbered, and if it is the other way around my leader seems to make the correct decision to leave. Only the devs could answer that ?
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Flight Lt Alex Ackworth - RNAS 4 - Coudekerque - 25 July 1916 (Mission 25)
This morning my plane has been flown back from Bailleul and I am in the afternoon mission. We take off shortly after 12:00 before lunch ! I am third in a flight of three Strutters lead by Flight Cdr Edward. With us is Flight Cdr Channing, lot of experience with these two guys, which is good because the weather is still very cloudy. We are sent on a reconnaissance mission on the frontline near Nieuwpoort.
Flight A will be the two remaining available planes and will follow us. We pick up an escort of three DH2s from RFC 29 in Abeele on the way and as usual they fall behind. I start wondering who in fact is escorting who...
As we near the front, my flight leader keeps on climbing and at 7000 ft we start entering clouds. This is not for me, I decide to leave the formation and drop down to 5000 ft, under the cloud cover. I reach the reco zone and make wide turns there for more than 10 minutes. I have lost sight of the other planes, and some big clouds are approaching. I have enough for today and I tell John we are going back.
I land in Coudekerque just in time for lunch. Later in the afternoon, my two flight mates are still not accounted for and are considered missing, with one of the flight A guys. We are now down to 4 airplanes able to fly !
Let's hope the bad weather forced them down somewhere and that they will rejoin later.
Last edited by corsaire31; 07/25/1409:21 PM.
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Flight Lt Alex Ackworth - RNAS 4 - Coudekerque - 25 July 1916 (Mission 25)
This morning my plane has been flown back from Bailleul and I am in the afternoon mission. We take off shortly after 12:00 before lunch ! I am third in a flight of three Strutters lead by Flight Cdr Edward. With us is Flight Cdr Channing, lot of experience with these two guys, which is good because the weather is still very cloudy. We are sent on a reconnaissance mission on the frontline near Nieuwpoort.
Flight A will be the two remaining available planes and will follow us. We pick up an escort of three DH2s from RFC 29 in Abeele on the way and as usual they fall behind. I start wondering who in fact is escorting who...
As we near the front, my flight leader keeps on climbing and at 7000 ft we start entering clouds. This is not for me, I decide to leave the formation and drop down to 5000 ft, under the cloud cover. I reach the reco zone and make wide turns there for more than 10 minutes. I have lost sight of the other planes, and some big clouds are approaching. I have enough for today and I tell John we are going back.
I land in Coudekerque just in time for lunch. Later in the afternoon, my two flight mates are still not accounted for and are considered missing, with one of the flight A guys. We are now down to 4 airplanes able to fly !
Let's hope the bad weather forced them down somewhere and that they will rejoin later.
Corsaire; The weather you are getting is consistent with my missions. Socked in and rain. The rain stopped over the front but lots of heavy cumulus.
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July 24 In our most successful mission to date, a Leutnant Heinrich Geigl (HA) and I went to recon the front lines in a pouring rain. We reached the front safely and performed several lazy circles around Allied troops. Two E.IIIs, who actually kept their rendevous this time, followed from a distance.
This, of course, woke up the local squadron of Nieuports. I'm proud to say I saw it even before my flight leader did. I ran like a little uhm... Hun pilot.
There were four of them, and in a surprising show of sportsmanship they split up one per German, so one of them went after Geigl, two chased the Eindeckers, and one pursued me.
I had the distance advantage, but still he slowly gained. Like normal for me now I hit the deck and on he game. I flew as low as I dared, turning back every few seconds to see how much ground he gained. 1.7 miles ... 1.2 miles... 2000 yards.... 1700 yards...
About two miles from Spincourt, with the Nieuport still 1200 yards back, he gave up and I landed without trouble.
Geigl crash landed, killing his observer. Thanks to his HA armor he bounced on impact, flew 1000 yards in the air, then landed on his chair in the mess hall without missing a beat.
Losses: Entente 0. Germany 1 plane, 1 observer
July 25:
Today I led a mission of three to go artillery spotting. We were at about 4000 feet over Mercy de Haut aerodrome when I noticed two planes coming towards us.
I'm kinda tired of running. I ordered the attack: 3 Rolands versus 2 Nieuport 11s.
My initial barrage missed, so as seems to be standard procedure lately he ended up at about my 7:00, trying to shoot me while my observer fired wildly at him. My observer couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. The Frog tore into me pretty good, and the sound of crunching wood and tearing fabric convinced me to run.
He couldn't (or didn't try) to keep up with my full power nose dive. I was worried for my wings, but they held and I flattened out at about 160 mph and 1000 feet. He stayed close though.
I passed right over the aerodrome hoping their gunners would convince him to go away. They nearly answered for me instead: The thumping of their guns shook the air and forced me into a near stall as I tried to turn on him. In fact, I touched earth with my engine still at full throttle. I took that as a sign from God that today wasn't my day and completed my landing at the aerodrome.
Losses: None
July 26:
Sigh.
Today it was once more Leutnant invincible and myself reconning over the front lines. It was a beautiful day, which I thought would at least give us the advantage of seeing any Nieuports coming.
Well, we made it to the front without incident and once more began antagonizing the Allies by flying over their troops. After a few spins Geigl turned for home.
I followed, but looked over my shoulder to see if there was a reason we were leaving. I think it may have been too far out for the AI to see (no labels had gone off for one thing), but I saw the four dots. Biplanes, heading right for us.
I broke formation, since right now Geigl seemed to be idling for some reason, and floored it. He headed for Spincourt. I thought about it, but carried on to Brullin Higny, our home aerodrome.
Unfortunately, the problem with Brullin Higny is it's surrounded by forest. This defeats my preferred landing pattern of just coasting in and touching down whereever so long as I stop before I leave the airport.
My first approach was far too steep and hot. I turned around, and my second approach....wasn't much better. Hit the ground, bounced up, threw the nose down..then back up before my propellor hit. Skidding, swerving on the rudder because I was cruising right towards the tree line. Missed a pine by oh...five feet.
But still alive. Which is more than I can say for anyone else. Geigl once more crashed his plane and lost his observer. 'A' flight went missing.
Losses: French 0. Germans: 4 planes, 4 observers, 3 pilots
At the end of the day Jasta 36b was left with two pilots and one observer, which makes more flights out of the question. Fortunately on the 27th one pilot returned from captivity, and two pilots as well as another observer reported for duty.
it was July 26th 1916 and I remember it well . It was cloudy all day with no rain at all, but chilly when one went up. We, “B” flight, had a quick hop 8 miles over to bomb the railhead north of Lens. My logbook says that Lt. Gary Perkins was leading the show, I was his #2 and Lt. Barker as #3. Three N.11’s from 1 Squadron RNAS flying out of Furnes were to meet us close to the lines. It was the early show so “B” flight left the field at 6:44 am and we climbed like hell to 5000ft or so and waited for our escort to arrive. Now that didn’t happen all the time. Sometimes they never showed up, for whatever reason, and so you would have to go it alone, but luck was with us that day and sure enough the Navy arrived. We waved to each other and off we went.
Going over was normally easy as the Hun tended to let us come over and then pick us off when we turned for home. Flak or Archie, as it was called back then, was very little that day. Either that or the Hun couldn’t be bothered about us at that time of the morning. It was at this time in a mission when I started to get very nervous, and look around for enemy Scouts, constantly moving my head looking for any sign of him. But on this particular day the Hun wasn’t around and we reached our target and let him have it…Boooom Booooom. After that we ran like mad for the lines. I can remember always calculating in my head the distance that I could glide at such and such a height, I think most pilots did, as the run home was the worst part of any mission. The relief that I felt when I knew that we were on our side and starting to descend was immeasurable and I’m sure every pilot shared this feeling in one way or another.
After that the strain was gone and flying was enjoyable. We waved the Navy off and landed one after the other. Engines off and we all dismounted and smiled at each other…another day and still alive. So after that we went to the Squadron Office to give our reports for the books. All six of us gave his 2 cents, and the Adjutant would take that mess and make a very clear report for wing. It was then that Major Powell stood up and said, “George by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain of Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas…….to our trusty and well beloved Basel Brush, greetings. We reposing especial trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage and good conduct, do by these present constitute and appoint you to be an Officer in our air Forces…etc etc etc… Well if the King says so then who am I to differ. Congratulations…. 2Lt. Brush on your commission. You certainly deserve it. Now that you’re a Gentleman, you’d better get that tail of yours trimmed by this evening or your duty dog for the week.” Everyone shook my hand and that was that as they say.
CatKnight, you sure were lucky to bring the Roland down alive in some unknown terrain! Congrats! By the way (for more realistic reports): the first Jastas were only installed with the beginning of September. I know the LABELS cannot show the names they had before that (for sim-technical reasons), but the units had different names, and the name "Jagdstaffel" was not yet introduced.
Congrats to your promotion, lederhosen! Your Basel must be the first fox ever, who flew in combat. And now he is even a 2nd Lieutenant! But getting his tail trimmed for that, is a very high price for a proud fox...
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
26 Jul 1916 @ 06h21 Railyard attack at Loos Junction
Escort of 3 DH. 2’s from RFC-29 out of Abeele Soar lead the flight with Mesurier, Myself and Huskisson accompanying. We bombed the railyard successfully without encountering any enemy aircraft. We returned to base successfully with no losses.
26 Jul 1916 @ 14h13 Artillery spotting south of Nieuport
Escort of 5 DH 2’s from RFC-29 out of Abeele. I lead the flight for the first time. Chadwick accompanied me. We no sooner reached the coast to begin our climb when I had another Oil pressure failure and had to abandon mission and head back to base. The engine started to seize before I got there so I had to shut it down and coast in to land using sideslip to airspeed while loosing altitude. I made a successful landing without overshooting the runway and was expremely relieved when we stopped. My observer had to go change his underwear then we both went to the mess for a stiff scotch..
YouTube Video:
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The nasty noise the engine made was quite distinct - you could hear it was wrong. Sometimes I like an unpretentious non-combat video like this - some daily biz. Good to see you made it back, Robert.
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
The nasty noise the engine made was quite distinct - you could hear it was wrong. Sometimes I like an unpretentious non-combat video like this - some daily biz. Good to see you made it back, Robert.
Olham; these kind of failures frighten me more than a combat situation. In combat, you are responsible for what happens and feel in control. It's the unpredictable that makes me sweat. After I landed I sat there with sweaty hands thinking about the "What if" scenarios (hwat if it happened over the lines while in combat, or I had no place to land!). I have had two engine failures in four flights so I am getting a little jumpy. Sure makes you want to have a talk with the mechanic <----That's not my head...You can't see my hand on HIS head!
Best Regards;
Last edited by Robert_Wiggins; 07/26/1412:36 PM.
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Not a lot of flying this week. RL does that sometimes. But Algernon has passed 25 hours. Latest victory was a balloon. We were attacked during our attack by 5 Eindeckers. Don't know where they came from, a complete surprise. We suffered no losses, but once again I found myself circling for the lines, just letting the westwards turn be slightly longer than the eastwards. One Eindecker was shot down and another crashed of his own accord.
Back in the BE2 I was terrified of Eindeckers, but now I find myself pitying them. Until new machines come out, I'm only really afraid of ground fire and engine failure.
Last edited by Maeran; 07/26/1401:28 PM. Reason: added logbook
As long as I'm on "my" side of the lines, such failures never bother me much. The glide-ability of the Albatros is wonderful, and I usually manage to land on an airfield.
For me, the combat is the unpredictable. You never know, if anyone hits you from an angle where you didn't look. I have white knuckles and a hard pumping heart throughout fights - and also the "adrenaline reward", when I'm through the fights.
What you experience much more than me, of course, is the "What if I'm far into enemy terrain?..." I hardly ever have that feeling, cause we never do that. That is IMHO the toughest fear on the Entente side (well, maybe second, after: falling burning).
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
What you experience much more than me, of course, is the "What if I'm far into enemy terrain?..." I hardly ever have that feeling, cause we never do that. That is IMHO the toughest fear on the Entente side (well, maybe second, after: falling burning).
funny you should mention that... as it is quite unnerving. While in No.1 with the morane Basel had a whole week, yes seven days, of very offensive patrols to Zebrugge area, and that was deep. From 7 missions I only had escort for 4 and even then they fly straight to target so its pretty much lonely at 7000ft. Had a few engines go dud but mostly near my field...a dud engine on one of those long flights would of been my end...... but that adds to the suspence. All you Huns pilots complain about are the LARGE number of N11's waiting for you.
I'm constantly far into enemy terrain! You should see some of the missions they send MFFA 2 to complete. Bombing attacks really deep behind enemy lines, usually with no escorts. The couple of times we've had Eindeckers escorting us, they've always fled when EA appeared. Some escorts...
"Upon my word I've had as much excitement on a car as in the air, especially since the R.F.C. have had women drivers."
James McCudden, Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps
I'm constantly far into enemy terrain! You should see some of the missions they send MFFA 2 to complete. Bombing attacks really deep behind enemy lines, usually with no escorts. The couple of times we've had Eindeckers escorting us, they've always fled when EA appeared. Some escorts...
When the escort leave its time for the MMFFA flt leader to bug out as well IMHO.
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Today WOFF wanted to send me on a solo mission in my DH2 behind enemy lines with no escort. Suicide! I tried to get a different mission but without success. Of course I was the flight leader, so set off as per usual but as I reached the lines did a ctrl-R and went happily back to base. No questions were asked. Now the date has moved to the 27th so I'll have to wait until tomorrow before fying again.
I have also put in a request for transfer to no 70 squadron which is (I think) the only RFC squadron with the 1½ Strutter at this time. Is this a good idea? The DH2 worries me a bit but it is easy to land.... I now have 21.75 hours.
When Albert bites the dust I will have a go at a B level pilot. I am already using Lou's maps instead of the in-sim maps. Maybe this makes me a C+ pilot instead of a C? I suppose that if I rename the in-sim .dds map to something else the 'M' key will not work? That would take away the temptation of hitting the 'M' when lost