JRT,

That's a relief! Just seen your pics... reply e-mail on the way.

Toodle - oo!

Folks,

Old Dux:

Good deal! Time to check my e-mail. Willingly risking way overdoing my words of appreciation, I'll thank you again.

We are sorely missing our regular writers these days...and nights. I see Bader and a few others posting here and there but nary a sign of SNAFU. Has anyone seen any portion of SNAFU recently?

I suppose he is busy at work somewhere in deepest, darkest Maryland, soldering iron in one hand, giant heatsink in the other, building his dream computer.

Anyway that was the gist of his last communication sent out to me. There are no known tribes of blood thirsty canibals in Maryland so I guess he is safe enough.

Perhaps I can contact him? Calling SNAFU, calling SNAFU. JRT here. How is that digital assembly going? Do you have that multi-impossi-Gig chip installed? SNAFU, do you read me? No answer? Only growls and static.

Perhaps he is offline for a spell or, like that commercial on TV, he may have such computing speed now that he's reached the end of the Internet, seen every page, and had to start over?

------------------
"Blessed are they who expect nothing.
For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-15-2002).]

Folks,

Old Dux:

Another tediously drawn (and tedious to download)illustrated e-mail is on the way. It should still be spinning on your POP server right now.

You have just been not so handsomely rewarded by Monarch and Realm for actions above and beyond the call of duty.

Yes, I thought that you might appreciate seeing your own handwriting looking back at you from 3,000 or so miles away. I would. It is a rare privilege and denied to most.

"Fighter Pilot" is a mighty romp and I was tempted to devour it at one gulp. Because it is so good, I am rationing it out in dribs and drabs over several evenings. I already suspect that, like you, I shall be reading this again and again.

Merci, Mon Ami, merci.



------------------
"Blessed are they who expect nothing.
For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"

Folks,

We are at 12,000 feet just off the coast of war scarred England. The sky is pitch dark below us save for a brilliant flame that swiftly falls out of sight into the yawning void. It once was a Spitfire.

To our right, in the gloom a parachute harness snaps with a CRACK so loud and so vicious that it must feel to the poor pilot much like that which is felt on the sudden jolt experienced by a hanged man just a nano second before plunging into dark eternity.

Let us observe the man dangling there in the pelting rain beside us. We must listen closely for he is thinking out loud as he plunges toward the angry sea far below.

Twisting in the whistling cold air beneath the singing, untangling shrouds and a broad popping canopy of white silk, SNAFU had one last miserable thought. In a voice ripe with emotion we clearly hear him mutter, "No one will ever know what happened....."

We hope you find your way back soon Old Man.
------------------
"Blessed are they who expect nothing.
For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-16-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

Folks,

It is a warm and humid summer's afternoon. My heavy steps upon the gritty, overgrown sidewalk make a grinding, crunching sound. Not at all like the clip, clip, clap sounds I remember from treading this same walk back in Fall 1940.

I look around me at what is left of the abandoned RAF airfield. My mind is instantly flooded by memories of what happened here. The derelict buildings are in an advanced state of decay. Like dark eyes set in crumbling skulls the broken windows stare at me. I must avert my gaze.

Everything is breathlessly still save for some bird song in the giant oaks. The oaks were smaller then, I remember. It is all together too recognizable to me. My memories are as crisp and fresh now as ever and I have been holding my breath without noticing. A deep sigh escapes my pursed lips and then catching my breath, I continue my nostalgic stroll.

Turning a bushy corner, I find myself abreast of the old Opps building. What I see before me is a wretched , broken down shadow of what once was the thriving nerve center of this WW2 airbase.

From here wrestless, stone-brave pilots gently coaxed their powerful Spitfires or jolly Hurricanes aloft to do fearsome battle with a determined foe. Later, the lucky ones floated gently down, sun at their backs over the distant oaks to easily make a soft 3 pointer on their prayed for return.

I can see them now rolling to a breezy halt on the once grassy field. Some men are wounded others are not. All show grim determination on their grimy begoggled faces. I was one of them and proud of it.

Where are they all now, I wonder, these young warriors? Some are more easily found than are others. These brave lads may be visited where they forever rest beneath little snow white crosses that are as pure as were their youthful souls. They will go to war no more.

I have stepped beyond the broken door now and crunch across shattered glass and rotted floor boards. There against one wall I notice amongst the dirt and blotches of mould a dangling notice is still posted.

Though it is yellowed by time and quite crumpled I can just make out several names scrawled in a familiar hand under the ominous title "Missing and Presumed Lost". These names written in my own hand so many memories ago evoke ghostly names and friendly conversations from a time gone by.

Their names are: SNAFU, Bader , Pijlie, Arch, Old Dux, Grief1, and there are several more written there that are smudged now and quite illegible.

Salute, old friends. You are missed.

------------------
"Blessed are they who expect nothing.
For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

Jolly Roger,
I have now spent a joyous hour or more consuming your most wonderous and awe inspiring writings. I am humbled. I will pay well deserved homage to one so richly endowed with talent as yourself. Please keep them coming.
ZS2

Folks,

Zeorsan2:

First, thank you for reading my simple stories. I love to write about the BOB, and on occasion about other things. Now, if only I could make an honest buck doing this.

Certainly, my scribbles are no better or no worse than all the others posting here. In fact, I believe they are surpassed by many. Called elsewhere by more pressing matters, few are posting here at the moment. As you can tell from my laat three posts, I miss that.

When they return, as I hope they all will, you will really see some well written stories. A good BOB yarn from the likes of Bader, SNAFU, Pijlie, or Grief1 always makes my day.

As for you. Your readable style reminds me of that of the great Grief1. Your story line reads more like a well crafted historical novel than one of Grief1's well structured and exciting combat reports. I'm impressed. I wish I could write like that.

Being human, more or less, I do so appreciate your kind compliments although they are undeserved.

A day in which I receive such unexpected praise as yours and from a writer whom I respect will be long and pleasantly remembered. Thank you.

------------------
"Blessed are they who expect nothing.
For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jolly Roger Too (edited 01-17-2002).]

All.

Great posts...

It may be a good idea to lock the original topic to avoid people posting on older stories, don't you think??

all,

being busy flying IL2 I step in here from time to time for reading your stories! Always a joy! Keep up your great work!

TY

Z.

------------------
HGefr. Zakalwe
Pilot 1. Staffel Stab / I. Gruppe EJGr.Ost
Die "Weisse Vier"

Folks,

Drakho, Zakalwe:

Thank you both for your continued support. I'd love to read another story from you fellows soon. I am happy to see you check in now and then. IL2 has taken its toll on several forums.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading here anymore, particularly when the regulars have even stopped posting for a while and we get no posted feedback from anyone.

It is worth doing if special folks like you are posting and reading and other non-posting or so called "lurkers" are reading. I do not know about the others but I need occasional encouragement to exude the necessary creative juices.

As for locking the original thread? Anything new posted there is just dropped on the bottom of page 1 of the seventeen pages. We reached the limits of the software it seems with 600 plus posts.

I know of no new posts on the old HWH thread. We continue to "bump" that thread up now and then so those stories won't be lost to any new readers and because we are all justifiably proud of SNAFU's accomplishment of accumulating so many posts with nary a flame. Remember this all started as a counter to the "flame wars" scorching this forum prior to the BOB source code release announcement.

It would be a shame then to lock the old thread and have it drop off page one forever into obscurity, I think. If the Admin has an opinion regarding this thread I know nothing about it. According to "Crash" there was nothing they could or would do to the SimHQ software to allow us to continue the old thread. We had to start a new one.


------------------
"Blessed are they who expect nothing.
For they will not be disappointed." - Edmund Qwenn, "The Trouble with Harry"