I have a program on tape (Wing's 'Flying Coffins') in which a historian quotes someone about Fonck.

"..not only would he(Fonck) not let you forget he saved you, but make you wish he didnt..."

Makes you wonder how many hoped for or were tempted to have a friendly fire incident.

Or the old water in the gas tank bit.

Or even the classic bananna in the tail pipe.

As long as he doesn't shoot at you, he's another gun on your side when you might be outnumbered tomorrow.

The one I'd worry about flying with was the guy with the fiddle and the pyro tendencies. He was wound about 2 turns too tight! Neat guy, and I kinda wished he had lived but still I think he'd make me a bit nervous like "what's next?".

I used to read a lot of the stories back in school, even went through the Brittanicas for them. I remember on Brit ace it was wrote took up sacks of empty cans from the mess and emptied the out at ceiling alt then chased them down and shot em up to see how many holes he could make. The man trained well, he was known for his shooting.


Neal

Can anyone see parallels with our modern world here? There's the infantry, trying to get on with their job and being rained on with unwanted SPAM cans...

I think it was Albert Ball. Could be wrong.

Would you join after this speech?


"They're asking for volunteers to learn to fly and become officers for the bloody RFC. So if any of you feels like committing suicide step two paces forward out of the ranks and I'll take his name. But remember it's a hell of a long way to fall and you only fall once."

Unknown Sgt Major

Fiddling while walking around a flare planted in the ground--definitely Albert Ball. It's still a controversy about how he died, since no witnesses actually saw him go down. IIR, Lothar von Richtofen was given official credit for his downing, even though it was doubtful that he did it. I wish I had my books with me here.

BTW, how many of the poster here are members of the League of World War One Aviation Historians? I highly recommend this group. They put out a very high quality quarterly magazine called Over the Front (Cross and Cockade is the British, sister publication) that is full of articles on WWI aviation.

Zatoh

Sunscream wrote:

Now there's a real case of flagrant spamming!

Hey Zatoh......but of course, on both sides of the pond......btw did you enjoy the ladies in the last issue of C&C?

Hi FlyXwire,

Yes, I realize that I was kind of crossing the line with that plug of OTF/C&C. Since everyone on this forum is probably interested in WWI aviation, I didn't think anyone would mind.

Because I live in Japan and get my issues by surface mail I get them several months late, so I haven't seen the most recent C&C yet.

Zatoh

I think you'll enjoy the centerfold!

I have the Black Adder 4th season episode where he joins the Air Corps thinking that the name 20 Minuters meant 20 minutes work and the rest off every day.

Then he finds out that's the expected lifespan once you get airborn.

Lt. Flash -- Treat your plane like you treat your woman! Take her up to heaven and back 5 times a day!


Neal

Neal

It was Billy Bishop who would take the empty cans into the air then shoot thaem as they fell.
Just read that

Hi guys !

For the sake productive discussion, I've just been reading as I didn't care to deal with the Baron, at least he can't blame me this time

Like it or not, for good or bad, KOE will indeed be compared primarily to RB3D enhanced by 1000's of vocal people who will also compare it to recent combat flight releases

That much is unknown about KOE's scope or MP, doesn't bother me yet ...

- Marketing costs a ton, if your looking at an Oct release, no reason to push it hard till Sept mag - preview releases in July/August

- The flight sim community , and in particular the Red Baron , WWI community , can be a difficult crowd .. so difficult it was a consideration as to why Dynamix's flight sim division was folded .. I'd avoid a bunch of details for all of you to critize untill the latest reasonable time

- I think KOE has much more they are not yet talking about , than keeping quiet for lack of scope .. IMO, this is is a much more logical possibility that a cynical view at this time

- I suspect KOE is *bigger* then most imagine , and there are , or soon will be , alot more people working to finish this up than what's listed as staff now (probably already are) ... again, we have no clue what kind of money the publisher is now putting in to make it a BETTER game , and a smart publisher/developer would hire the *finishing* crew in the last 6 months

I like what little I've heard , and not yet ready to make conclusions about what I don't know

The team looks extremely well qualified and I bet they've all flown RB3D extensively , or they wouldn't likely be making a WWI combat flight sim, would they ?

Pretty sensible advice.

The new screenshots look hot ..

Looks like being the front gunner in a big bomber will be fun ..

The ground objects look mighty detailed just to be flying over , I'm wondering if they might be doing independant pilot 3D characters that can walk around a bit , or walk over and climb in the plane , rather than start in the cockpit

Is the CO looking at the upcoming sim with anticipation of prosecuting an upcoming online war?

An how ya gonna feel when I/WW gets the big share of Wing members?


WWMG

The screenshots don't show any ground personnel. . . .yet. I got the impression that they were making the guns do their thing, and were planning to add the people in later. I wonder if they'll have a slider to add more people into the game as necessary, or something similar? Those with the most powerful machines could move a lever and get more ground movement. Maybe that's a way to handle FPS concerns.

I do think that horses and people moving in convoys should be done. They don't have to be done in some tremendous way, just done for recon and strafing reasons more than anything. We shall see.

Droops

I hope it makes the grade for WingWalkers Neal

WWFlybert_CO I/WW

Since 1992 .. once .. always

Droops,

If they do player characters at the dromes .. should we warn them not to use the phrase "Living Aerodrome" ?

Zatoh

According to MvR's diary, and Floyd Gibbons' book 'The Red Knight of Germany', the day Ball died Manfred was in Berlin. And Lothar was in a hospital recovering from wounds received on May 5.

Ironhand, thanks for looking that up.

I knew that there was a reason why Lothar v R could not have downed Ball, just couldn't remember what. Do your sources say whether anyone was given credit for Ball or not? I seem to remember that German high command tried to credit LvR at first because they wanted to credit such a famous English ace to a famous German one.

Zatoh