Yeah, she must have been a strong girl! But maybe better than to hear nothing for weeks?
Cecil Lewis wrote a bit about his mum, and how she tried to hide her fears from this young, dashing and daring son of hers - I cannot find the quote right now, but it brought tears into my eyes - another top read: "Sagittarius rising".
Arthur Gould Lee also wrote "Open Cockpit", which is said to be great, but I haven't read it myself yet.
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
Ive got Winged Victory by Yeats on hold at the library. I hear it's a solid work of fiction. Ive heard good things about Sagittarius Rising. Ill have to give it a try as well.
Are you a great reader? The winter can be long - here are more interesting reads: - Ernst Udet: "Ace of the Iron Cross" (English translation) - James McCudden: "Flying Fury" - Otto Fuchs: "Flying Fox" (English translation)
Vice-President of the BOC (Barmy OFFers Club) Member of the 'Albatros Aviators Club' - "We know how to die with Style!"
Honestly, I haven't read much in the last decade, but I am currently on paternity leave from work (we had a second boy in June). He likes to sleep on me during the day, which gives me ample time to read and it beats surfing the internet all day.
Yikes! Patrole de Fronte's first mission in a Nieuport 16 was almost his last! After a nice Railyard Attack, his engine started making funny noises over a big bunch of fence-ridden fields. He needed to get that bad-boy down fast! Well, the N16 did its usual and his newly painted "Chant du Canari"-liveried one was totaled and he was about bonkers! He came back from a month's much needed R&R to find everyone else had graduated to N17s but him and his Ailier! So he's stuck in a crappy leftover N16 when then two of them run into a tenacious Roland CII. Olham, those two-seater boys are good!
At the end of the first part of the video, he was All Shook Up!
The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
Well I doubt I will ever be the wordsmith like some of you gents that frequent these forums. Any reports I do will most likely not be as entertaining as a lot of the posts I have read here. Maybe with many more years of WOFF flying...
Anyway, this is an excerpt of a note I sent a friend of mine. He got us both going in ROF a couple years ago - but we both quickly lost interest. I have been trying to get him going in WOFF.
I showed him my cockpit I have been working on the past few months and had him try out WOFF in QC. He was impressed, still trying to get him back to try a campaign mission or two. However he has started his own cockpit now and seems eager to finish it. Hopefully, he will complete it early next year and join the WOFF family.
Dieter, my first German pilot, flying the Halberstadt for 11 missions finally got a DII. I started in in March of 1917 - to get a bit of experience before Bloody April. Wow, you can really appreciate the DII after having to fly a Halberstadt.
Unfortunately Dieter got a bit too aggressive in his second ride in the DII and got killed by a rear gunner. Was not the first time a rear gunner got me, seemed like they were a bit too accurate – so I turned that down a notch.
Learned that flying for the Germans in March / April 1917 is not at all like flying for the British in summer of 1916. You want action – you got it – every mission. And the German fighters, least my Jasta so far, do not fly far from base maybe 20-30 miles at most.
Created new Pilot Bernd Bohme Started him late March, when I knew the Jastas would be getting Albs, so I would not have to fly that darn Halberstadt again. Ohh, and the weather sucks in Spring 1917 – Seems to be raining or heavily overcast every day. Bernd first mission was great. Got confirms on TWO Strutters in a single mission, one a flame.
Second Mission – Escort. We meet planes and complete escort – Bernd kind of strays away from formation. Flight starts heading for home – Bernd gets jumped on by a Spad VII – He shoots Bernd up and does some engine damage. The rest of the flight apparently did not see anything – they all just kept heading home. Bernd manages to dive away and keep his plane in the air long enough to get to home air base.
Third Mission – Patrol behind our lines. Well this the flight did not see anything – again weather was horrid. Ended up do a return to base much quicker that I thought we should. Flying – arrive over our base – Start circling to come down from 10000 feet. One of the other planes in our flight turns to start his landing and runs into Bernd. That’s all she wrote – straight down from 10K feet.
This would have been the time to use the restore pilot mod – if I had installed it. Oh well, lesson learned..
Time for Carsten Crossmann, going to start him, same Jasta 3, same time end of march 1917.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. A. Einstein
I hear this is being called “Bloody April”, not sure who’s blood is being refereed to, ours or theirs. It’s April 27th, I’ve only been here a month now. Recently it seems we are constantly outnumbered in the skies. We used to take off with two flights of six to seven planes each. This afternoon it was me and Schlenker alone. It was strange seeing only a single plane to the left of me and none to the right. Half of the other pilots in our squadron are either dead or in the hospital. I just got back after spending five days in the hospital myself.
Mission today calls for balloon defense, weather is clear with blue skies and clouds on the horizons, nowhere to hide today. Off we go to start our patrol, as we climb and get to altitude, the sky is empty. I am thinking maybe we will get lucky today and not run into the enemy. The patrol continues uneventful, I have a hard time keeping up with Schlenker in my DII. His DIII (early) is just a bit faster, I find I have to keep turning on his inside or he will quickly be out of sight. Certainly do not want to be alone out here.
Nearing the end of our patrol, I am thinking ahh, will be heading home soon, then off in the distance some dots appear. Schlenker starts heading for them and I follow. They are a pair of N23 and a pair of Strutter 1B1’s. The N23’s are a bit closer and we go after them, hoping the Strutters will just continue on home. Such is not the case and it is soon four against two. I find myself separated from Schlenker, weaving and dancing, I occasionally spot him off keeping one N23 busy. I have both an N23 and Strutter paying me attention, the fourth enemy decided to head for home.
Going around in circles for what seemed forever, I never really get a clean shot at them but they only manage a few holes in my plane. Eventually they both decided to go home. After breathing a sigh of relief, I look for Schlenker and see he is still occupied with an N23. As I turn to help out, the N23 breaks off and heads for home. For a short second I think of pursuing, but see Schlenker has already turned to the East. I follow, maybe tomorrow we will be able to put up more planes.
I keep hoping I will soon get a DIII assigned.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. A. Einstein
Well, It's been a few months since I have had any flight time due to a serious medical issue with my son, that is fortunately no longer an issue. I fired up WOFF amd promptly went through three pilots in less than an hour. Glad to see I didn't lose any skills :S
