You brought up a good point there, and my opinion is, that even A-LEVEL pilots should be allowed to use the "compass gauge", if their plane doesn't provide them with one.
There is no need to use the compass 'aid'. Any good WOFF pilot will do the same as a real pilot did ... use the sun and shadows to know what direction he is flying, or simply watch landmarks. It is quite easy.
Please, lets not tarnish the 'A' settings by dumbing it down; the whole idea of the 'A' group is to have no aids and be as 'full real' as possible.
As always, just my personal opinion.
I understand using shadows and landmarks. When the sun is out. That is what I have been doing in my non DID campaign. I do not use the shadow mod. BUT, the my last mission was in total dark clouds. No shadows, no landmarks, no nothing. I do not care how good you are, real pilot or sim, with no landmarks or sun, you are lost. If being an "A" flyer means not using the compass gauge I will just make sure the plane I have is equipped with one. No problem. I tried using my hand held compass but no matter which way I turned, it always pointed northeast.
If I were you, I would have thT compass repared. It is obviouz to me the needle is loose and floating Round
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Olham, why don't I just withdraw the question. No compass is the least of your worries flying the early Nieuports. No need to look at a rule change for something I may or may not do in the future. I will be happy in my Strutter until the Pups arrive.
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
MFair, the question is a good one - did all pilots have a compass with them? I hope RAF_Louvert (who must have read a ton of books on WW1 aviation) can shed a light on this.
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
Well, perhaps not a ton Olham, but several hundred pounds of books on WWI aviation to be sure.
To the compasses on WWI aircraft, they were notoriously unreliable. After hard maneuvers they could take in excess of 30 minutes of level flying before they would settle back down, and sometimes they didn't stop spinning randomly until after the plane was back on the ground. Many of the pilots carried small personal compasses in case they went down in unfamiliar territory yet these same pilots did not use their onboard compasses when flying, trusting rather to landmarks, sun, stars, and dead reckoning. And yes folks, they did get lost and then had to rely on God and their own luck to get unlost.
In WOFF, as in OFF, I don't tend to use the compass very much if at all when flying and navigate with the map and Eyeball 20-20.
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Last edited by RAF_Louvert; 08/10/1409:08 PM.
Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked. _________________________________________________________________________
Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
Morning Patrol of the lines West of Beau Humel. No e/a contact. Spotted 2 spots to our East on the enemy side, then 2 more to the West, then 1 dot that became 5 across from us and another 2 dots at lower level. RTB
Posted as B Flight Commander 4 a/c for a hop to the coast Security Patrol. Top cover came from A flight of 3 a/c which we lost sight of in the towering white fluffy clouds. Sad to report that on the hop back My old wing mate Beanlands motor went U/s leaving a trail of black smoke as he spiraled down into a field. Flew at full power to St. Andre A.F. and reported the down machine.
OK, I think I get it. Just flew a mission with lots of grey. As I was not leading all I had to do was follow but kept op with where we were by catching glimpses here and there. After a furball,I was totally separated and alone with no bearing what so ever. Climbed in what I hoped was a straight line until I broke through enough to see the sun. Knowing "about" where I was, set off in the direction of home until time and speed said I should be getting close. Then dropped out of the clouds until I could see the ground, which my guess wa a few hundred ft. Found observation balloon next to a town and wood so I knew I was at Veurne. Turned left for a few minutes and there was Furnes. As usual I stand corrected. I know this mission does not have anything to do with DID. Just wanted to prove Scout's and Lou's point. So did I do it right gents?
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
MFair, you found your way home without the aid of a compass despite the cloud cover and despite being temporarily unsure of your precise location, and you did not get shot down. So yes, you did it right.
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Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked. _________________________________________________________________________
Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
MFair, you found your way home without the aid of a compass despite the cloud cover and despite being temporarily unsure of your precise location, and you did not get shot down. So yes, you did it right.
.
Kind of like, "any landing you can walk away from is a good one."
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked. _________________________________________________________________________
Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
10 August 1916 Achille Coppens Quatrieme Escadrille (RFC 25), Belgium Farman F.40 Pusher (F.E.2b) - Afternoon Line Patrol at Abschnitt
Another line patrol this afternoon. Lt. De Hauwere again lead the five Farmans of B Flight, but this time we were alone with no top cover or experienced pilots in our flight. The afternoon flight started out uneventful with no contacts to be seen during our patrol over the lines near Abschnitt. But as we turned west to go home I spotted 6 contacts. At first it looked like a dogfight as two of the contacts were zooming about while the others remained more stationary. But then as they approached amid AAA puffs I realized they were Fokkers headed straight towards us!
The Fokkers passed over head by just several hundred yards and then dropped in on our heads from above. Lt. De Hauwere maintained formation position as well as the others, so I followed suit. My gunner pepperd his fire to the rear and the Fokkers stayed above us at first and I was hopeful his bullets would find their mark. But as the Fokkers closed they dropped below us and I began to hear their bullets rip into our plane. Finally another from our formation broke, and at the same instant I saw blood spatter in front of me almost before I felt the stabbing pain in my shoulder. I also saw my gunner slump at the same time and knew we were in trouble, so I dove for the deck.
A quick glance backwards gave me a glimpse of one of those devils following me so the chase was on. When I reached the deck I realized I could only make 55 mph and I would be caught. Looking around I saw a friendly airfield just a mile or two away and was able to land with the Fokker still in hot pursuit. That devil then turned away as he apparently wanted no part of the field defenses.
6 days in the hospital for both myself and my obs/gunner Capt. Bouckaert. My plane badly damaged and two planes from our flight destroyed with one claim to show for the lives of 4 men. This has convinced me the Farman is no scout and should be used only in the recon role preferably with a proper escort. I fully intend to talk to my C.O. about a transfer to a squad of Nieuports, Pups or at least Strutters if I am expected to fight as a scout! On the bright side, hope the nurses at the hospital are pretty!
See ya'll on the 17th of August after I recuperate from my wound!
Dogfighting is what you do "after" you drop your bombs and blow something up! Can you say "JABO!"
Thank you, Lou, for the details on compasses - that was good help for making a decision. We keep it as it is: the true A-LEVEL only gives the pilot, what WOFF gives them. For all who cannot live (or better: fly) without a compass, there are still LEVEL B or C.
I must say, the compass never helped me much anyway. Cause, when I still knew vaguely where I was, the landmarks helped me much better. And when I am totally lost, it wouldn't help much to know that I am heading west, when I don't even know if I am west or east of the point I want to reach.
In WOFF, the clouds or hazes are never so overall, that a compass would be useful; and if you fly above a covering cloud ceiling, you have the sun.
One more thing for all A-LEVEL pilots: you may know already, that you don't always have to land at your home field. So, when you are short of fuel, or when you are not sure, which airfield below is your home field, then you may as well put down anywhere else - as long as it's not on the enemy side of the line.
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
I'm practicing to join this DiD Campaign and I'm getting my behind kicked! ...I've been trying for a week now on A settings (which aren't bad) to get past 3 missions (~3.5 hours) in either a BE2 or FE2b career without getting shot down... I've figured that I can't run away at the sight of an EIII (which I can spot at about 1km) before finishing a mission, because I'm assuming that would get me a courtmarshel if it was in RL. My gunner is uselss and I can't take gunner seat and fly at the same time, so I need to use autopilot (which seems to be cheating to me) but still have a hard time shooting at the EA.
I've tried to stay high above my flight, but eventually they get me and shoot me down. I'm trying to rack my fried brains on what I need to do to stay alive in either of those machines. Otherwise, I'll just stick to the strutter as those are waaaay easier to survive...
Heh, I wanted to get back to my DiD campaign that was put on halt June 17 and now my finger hurts from time-skipping sequence)) Still one month to go. Hopefully I'll be back by the end of August.
Welcome back! Yes, skipping one day at a time is a pain but it has to be done. Once you have got to the correct date, backup up your pilots just in case you have to reinstall WOFF then you won't have to do it all again.
Rover, you can be glad that you won't get court-marshalled and shot, for not returning to duties in time. A hurting finger must be a ridiculously small problem in comparison.
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
Interesting that my Transfer Request is still unattended although I filed it like in the middle of June. Of course, I don't mind flying BE2 all the time but a little more of fighter action won't hurt too
Maybe the "transfer request" function only counts missions and days which you have flown? So that when you advance time manually, it is not added? Just a thought...
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
I believe that is the case Olham. I've noticed that nothing else happens when advancing time manually, no claims awarded or denied, no promotions, no transfers, etc. The sim appears to only use days of actual combat missions to move those things along.
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Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked. _________________________________________________________________________
Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
11 Aug 1916 @ 05h02 Recon for enemy Troop and Vehicle movement south of Diksmuide
Hill lead the flight with myself accompanying. “A” flight sent 3 strutters to assist flown by Soar, Parsons and Chadwick. We had Heavy cumulous cover up to 7000 feet. The flight to the recon area was quiet but upon arrival Hill spotted two enemy craft below which turned out to be EIII’s. He signalled to attack and we both peeled of and selected one each. I shot mine down after a short scrap and looking around I saw Hill below circling for advantage on the other EIII. I closed in and caught the EIII as he broke away from Hill and sent him to the ground as well. I saw Hill off in the distance on my port side and then lost him. I circled for awhile and then detected three craft coming towards me from the east. I decided to head for home but two of them kept following. When I arrived over our airfield the two were still behind me so I turned to face them. I sent a few quick rounds into the first one to pass me head on and I suspect I had a lucky shot as he was seen going down well below. The second craft was now my concern and I quickly got advantage of him and sent him down as well. All in all I had 4 claims but upon arrival at base the C.C. expressed concerns for Hill as he had not arrived.
YouTube Video:
11 Aug 1916 @ 13h05 The C.O. has requested a redo of the recon effort south of Diksmuide as the first one was not satisfactory due to heavy cloud cover.
Hill has still not arrived at base and is considered missing. I lead this flight with Soar, Hervey, Booker, and Huskisson accompanying. “A” flight sent two strutters to assist. We had heavy cumulous from 4000 to 6500 ft. The flight to the recon area was uneventful and we got a break in the cloud cover which allowed us to complete the mission. We were un-molested by enemy craft and returned to base safely. Hill still has not shown up.
YouTube Video: None taken
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