Jasta 11 Fokker D.VII paint schemes?
It is known, than Jasta 11 identification was a red colored nose + wing/wheels struits.(+individual pilots colours on fuselage wings).
So the question is - did anyone know any Fokker D.VII variants exept the only profile and photo of Willy Gabriel`s early production D.VII known to us?
If not then maybe Jasta 11 pilots kept their individual identification colours (such as on Dr.I`s for example) thru all their D.VII`s?

Sources:
Windsock Richthofen Flying Circus
Windsock Datafile Special Fokker D.VII vol.1
Osprey: Fokker D.VII aces part 2

PS: known Jasta 11 identification colours we have for are:
Red - Manfred von Richthofen
Yellow - Lothar von Richthofen
Yelow/red - Ltn, Werner Steinhauser
White/black - Ltn. Richard Wenzl
White - Ltn. Hans Weiss
Orange/Sky blue - Ltn.Willy Gabriel
Red white stripes - 502/17 (unknow pilott)
Sky blue + swastika - unknown pilot

If anyone have any interesting info on this subject - pls contact me:)
Thank you!

There's a multi-view color profile of Lothar von Richthofen's Fokker D.VII in August 1918, from Kagero's Richthofen's Eleven, Jasta 11, by Andre R. Zbiegniewski.

The plane has a yellow upper wing surface (top wing), red nose, decking, struts, landing gear, axle foil, and wheel covers. The rest of the fuselage and the upper tail surface is yellow also, except for the standard white field on the rudder. The rest of the wings and the bottom of the tail are 5-color lozenge camo fabric.

We are searching any photographic images of historic and known places in the following cityes:

Vimy Ridge
Aisne
Messines Ridge
Ypres
Passchendaele
Cambrai
St.Omer
Laon
Lens
Nieuport
Lille
Douai

We are mostly interested in "inside the city" buildings or memorials dated 1914-1918,
and also in tourists guides by these cityes places.

Thank you!

VikS,

I believe Ypres was substantially in ruins by 1917-18 (?)



(print out of copyright protection circa 1919)

Here's links to aerial/overhead photo and map views of Ypres circa March 1918:

Ypres German Photo Recon Picture

Map plan covering Ypres (1:10000)

(red underlines show approximate locations of the Cathedral and Cloth Hall locations in above photograph)

Nieuport picture

Ypres

OK, so don't want aerial views like these (of the St.Omer Aerodromes)?

St..Omer Photo Recon Picture

Map plan covering St.Omer Aerodromes

But more like major buildings and structures of the towns/cities from the street-view perspective?

Vimy - Place Republic


Vimy - Boys public School


For Cambrai, you can have 24 pictures There

For St-Omer, 19 pictures There

For Laon, 24 pictures There

For Lens, 32 pictures there

For Lille, 66 pictures there

For Douai, 34 pictures there

I found nothing for Messines, Ypres, Passchendaele and Nieuport

For The Aisne river, there are many towns or villages from which you can also find pictures on the same Site (dedicated to postcards of France in 1900)

Great resources Rama!

Yep... I would love to buy these postcards in full resolution (and send them to GT), but they are too expensives (19.8 Euros for 3 pictures)... so I'm afraid GT can only get them in reduced resolutions.

I'm in the process to scan old 1900 pictures for GT, with lots of pictures of 2 villages (Challerange and Grandpre)... but they are in the Ardennes theater, near Suippes, Mourmelon and the Argonne river... so don't fit actual Viks request.

nono, its quite enough to get architecture style/filling in the cityes even in these small pictures
And thank you!



And thank you again!

Pics like these could help?

This one is especially interesting for the right ground texturing of the front area:



An idea for a vehicule, a van for postal-birds:

An example for a generic damaged house:

Yes!
Thanks:)

Here's a few more views of St.Omer.



A view at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in St.Omer.



Of the main square in St.Omer.

VikS,

The village of Vimy was largely in ruins circa 1917:



The German-occupied lines on Vimy Ridge were heavily bombarded during the war, and many/most
of the towns in the battle area were devastated.

Do you want photos of the ruined towns and trenches along Vimy Ridge (and Messines Ridge)?

yes please

Some pics of ruined towns and trenches areas:


















In my opinion, one thing which is extremely important to get the right feeling of the front area is to make ground textures with mud, bomb craters and plenty of different dead trees with no more leafs.

Perhaps two pics for generic small railway stations:






And one pic for a generic german hospital base:






P.S. Make "show image", as the pics are sometimes not entirely shown on the forum page.

And two more pics to show that the front areas, where the artillery barrages fell, were very different from the untouched countryside areas:





The design of the trenches, with many curves to avoid shrapnells, is also here very visible.



P.S: Btw, Laon pics coming :-)

Note the tree lines in the upper part of the first picture and that second picture is priceless - perfect!!! Can you pin-point these locations?

I unfortunately don't know the location, but as these two pics were in a stuff of pics around the Laon area, it could be supposed it was in this area. But anyway, the arrangement of the trenches is pretty typical.

Btw, as promised, the Laon cathedral with plenty of details :-)

Question to Viks: have you thought to use Zbrush for the baking of the ground textures? It could be amazing for the trenches and the holes.

Btw, more of Laon coming :-)

I'm not sure if these webpages have been linked before, but they have a nice selection of aerial photos, aerodrome shots, front line views, artillery/armor pics, as well as some showing architectural details too:

http://www.omaha-beach.org/WWIPic/WWI.html

Here'a a nice panoramic photo taken near Lens:

http://users.telenet.be/aok4/dose/ballon.htm

And to it's website "the History of the German 187th Infantry Regiment in the WWI" (be sure to use the arrows at the page bottoms to advance the materials, or the theatre URL links for more coverage):

http://users.telenet.be/aok4/ir187_1.htm

Some good WWI aerial views of trenches areas here:

http://albindenis.free.fr/dossiers/page3.2.html

Excellent site... many thanks

Gengoult US94 squadron AF?

It was a home field of US94 squadron, and it looks like it was somewhere close to Toul?
Where is it located on map?

Thanks!

A little bit NE of Toul. place is actually a commercial center

48°41'43"N
5°55'05"E

On your EM map (10m version), from the NW corner, coordinates are approx:
X: 29000
Y: 26000

I'll send you tomorrow the map with the exact perimeter added.

Some background info I found on Gengoult Aerodrome:

The 94th Aero Squadron was the first American pursuit squadron to fly patrols from Gengoult Aerodrome, starting in April 1918, which was the headquarters of the First Pursuit Group of the U.S. Army Air Service, eventually comprising the 94th, 95th, 27th, and 147th Aero Squadrons, and all under the control of the French Sixth Army at the time. The 95th Aero Squadron joined the 94th at Gengoult Aerodrome in May 1918, and was located at the far side of the field with facilities identical to the 94th's accommodations. There was also a French photographic squadron located at Gengoult, very close to the 94th.

Gengoult Aerodrome was located around 2 miles east of Toul, near the base of Mont St. Michel, and the quarters there were sturdily built of cement, and included finished two-man rooms, enclosed sanitary facilities, and showers with hot running water. The landing field was long, flat, and grassy, the roads were good, mud was nonexistent, and the surrounding countryside was beautiful.

Here's a link to a picture of the 95th Aero's Nieuport 28 fighters lined up at Gengoult Aerodrome:

U.S. 95th Aero Squadron at Gengoult Aerodrome with Mt. St. Michel in the background

More pictures of Gengoult Aerodrome can be seen in the book First To The Front, by Charles Woolley (and The Hat in the Ring Gang also by Woolley), which show some ground and aerial views of the buildings there.

Here's a link to the aerodrome's location and general airfield shape during the 1930's:

Michelin Guide to Aerodromes and Seaplane bases

Finally, an evocative arwork by Frank Wootten titled First Victories for the 94th, depicting Lt. Douglas Cambell's downing of a Pfalz D.IIIa right over Gengoult's airfield on April 14, 1918:

Frank Wooten's Gengoult aerial combat scene on Over The Front cover

VikS, I'll also send you what I can.

Small correction (on your EM Map, Version 6)
Column: 29100
Lig: 26000

Now an extract with Gengoult perimeter added (best guess based on cadastra references and street names)



And same exercice on Google (in red):



On the southeastern part, it's possible to see on the satellite image the emplacements of old hangar (different green tone), probably of the air base.
depending on the wind, the airfield was probably on the NortWest part (along the road), an approximate would be a 03/21, and on the Northern part (shorter) with an approximate 09/27.

Hope this help

Thanks!

One more question:
Where is "Ivontsec" located? (its somewhere NE from Toul, close to the September 1918 frontline).

PS:
Foret-de-Spincourt?
Billy? its noted as "Billy, France, but actually i found few towns with "Billy" name, and feelin myself lost

Sorry for "Ivontsec". I searched our most extensive database (1.7 Millions toponyms on France).... and found nothing.
It's either a bad writing... or a name that disapeared (abandonned village)

For Spincourt, coordinates are:
5°40'E
49°19'40"N
and on the EM map:
Col: 27000
Lig: 19100

For Billy... I take the correct toponym is "Billy-sous-Mangiennes" (there are many other Billy in France)
Then coordonates are:
5°34'25"E
49°20'N
And on the EM map:
Col: 26300
Lig: 19150

I think that "Forêt de Spincourt" is in fact "Forêt domaniale de Spincourt" which is located between Spincourt, Senon and Loison
Here an extarct of the EM map where I coloried the forest in Green.
(you can also see Billy on the extract)

VikS, perhaps "Ivontsec" is "Montsec" (there being a font issue, where the word's first letter "I" and the "v" should combine to be the letter "M")?

Montsec was a German strongpoint defense around this town's wooded heights due east of St.Mihiel, utilizing the Butte de Monstec. There's a memorial on these heights to the American combat effort during the St.Mihiel offensive.

Oh... I think you had a very good guess FlyRetired...

Yes, Montsec is 14 Km W of St-Mihiel, and coordinates are:
05°43'14"E
48°53'23"N

BTW, for searching French locations, an easy way is to use the GeoPortail
It's a "Google Earth Like" site, limited to French territory, but who has access to the full toponym database for the search (the 1.7 Millions toponym I was talking about).
Another plus is that you can display the French aerial photographs and the 1:25k scale map on the same screen with transapancy effects.
It's in French, but I think the few tools are quite easy to use for anybody.

There's an example of the output you can have (with map on 50% transparancy and aerial photographs behind)

This is just awesome stuff Rama!

Thanks for the link, and thanks for lending all your expertise to this project. It will be all the more accurate because of it, and I can imagine how much VikS and the guys at GT have probably enjoyed your continued support!

Thanks guys!

One more question:

Aviators Cemetery at Sebastapol

Its location? Maybe there is any photos of it?

Sébastopol? ... in Krimea as far as I know...

In France, it could be the name of a street or a place in a town.... but if we don't know the name of the city, it won't help much...

Well, the place where Raoul Lufbery buried - is this "Aviators Cemetery at Sebastapol", dunno which city is...

Raoul Luftbery was first buried in The airbase cemetary at Issoudun
He is now buried (since 1928) in the Lafayette Memorial at Marnes-la-Coquette (near Paris, in the Southeastern suburbs)

I'll try to find some pictures if I can.

VikS,

Lufbery was laid to rest the day after his death in the American Cemetery at Sebastopol Barracks, 3 km. (1.8 miles) north of Toul. This was the location of Evacuation Hospital No. 1.

His body was re-interred in the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, Villeneuve, France outside of Paris in 1928 (as Rama mentioned above).

Aha, all these things are hidden around Toul, kinda sneaky place

PS: any fans of No.56 squadron here? if yes - pls contact me.

The area was really dotted with military installations.

Here's a map showing the location of Barrack Sebastopol (Caserne Sebastopol):



(E.A.C.=Evacuation Ambulance Company-Motorized, M.H.=Mobile Hospital-Motorized)

A view of Evaculation Hospital 1 at Barrack Sebastopol, with Mont St. Michel in the background:



An example of the installations at the site (E.H.1 building plan):

If anyone know anything about these medals:

1st Class Military Award or Military Decoration

2nd Class Military Award or Military Decoration

Warrior Merit Medal

please give me an information on them - awarding criteria, and its history if possible.

Thanks!

I take it that you've seen this (scroll down): http://home.att.net/~david.danner/militaria/prussia.htm
which I just Googled. No expert on German medals myself, but it's nice to have a thread to respond to once more.

My excellent family gave me this book for christmas.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battlefields-First-World-War/dp/1841197459



Really some great panaroma's and maps in it. Mine cost my family $100 in Australia.

It also has two CD full of panaroma's and maps, showing where the pictures were taken and when.

Looking for information on WWI antante (GBR/FR) steam locomotives (1435mm gauge) which ones where mostly common for the era.
If you have any drawings/pictures - please help!


PS: the ones which where used in Europe during WWI

I don't know what "1435 gauge" means

On this site (not only at the linked page) there is a number of pictures for ww1 french steam loco's (but if you turned the Internet upside down searching, you know about it already )

http://appeva.club.fr/cfcd2_e.htm#Vapeurs

Also:

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/loco_list.html

This site is about french steam engines. It offers technical datas, too.

http://thierry.stora.free.fr/english/pic_gal1.htm

I just did a short research (wiki and a few other sites) for the French steam locomotives used between 1914 and 1918.

There are a huge variety of different type. Focussing on the North and Eastern region, here a list of the most common models:
030 Est - "Mammouth"
130 A Est - "Mogul"
130 B Est - "Mogul 8s"
230 A Est - "Ten Wheel"
230 B Est - "Ten Wheel"
230 J Est - "Ten wheel série 11 S"
140 Est - "Consolidation"
232 T Est - "Baltic"
140 C ALVF
050 T Midi - "Ten coupled"
220 Nord - "Outrance"
221 série 8v - "Atlantic"
230 Nord - "Ten Wheel"
230 G PO - "Ten Wheel"

The first 3 numbers means, form first to third:
- number of wheel boogie before motorized wheels
- number of motorized boogies
- number of wheel boogie behind motorized wheels.

Some pictures of some models:

030 Mammouth


130 Mogul


230 Ten Wheel


140 Consolidation

(The coal tender is not original, it was replaced later)

232 Baltic


140 ALVF

(mainly used in WWI for artillery transport)

220 Outrance


221 Atlantic
A full page about the Atlantic There

230 G PO
Wikipedia page about this locomotive There

And to finish, a very good site with lot of other locomotive picture of this era: There

Some more pictures
(From French railway museum)

An old one, which was still in use in 1914-1918 in mountaneous areas:

120 Parthenay


220 Nord "Outrance"



230 Nord "Ten Wheel"

Is it the width of the track or something like that?

Rama, please remove those pictures and just insert links, this thread has become illegible because of them. (Too wide)

Dear Viks,

It is not spelled "antante" but ENTENTE (the French word for "Understanding", pronounced more or less as you spell it).

I have seen that mis-spelled word a few times now in KotS material and it is really necessary to correct it, it looks terrible!

You can make the technically best sim in the world, but if there are embarrassing spelling mistakes in it, it will just undermine the the whole professional look you are striving for. Il-2 did that mistake, and that was why many people in the English-speaking world had a hard time taking it seriously. I REALLY hope you guys avoid the same mistakes. PLEASE use spelling software and PLEASE involve the community in ensuring good quality of the textas of the sim.

It is not great if your sim turns out to be involuntarily funny to a lot of people. suspension of disbelief goes out the window with bad or frequent spelling errors.

I know you guys are mostly geeks and computer nerds. And on top of that, you're mostly non-native speakers of English. You maybe do not attach as much importance to texts as "humanistic geeks" like myself. But it will be a very bad idea to neglect the area. So, please have somebody focus on the texts in the sim!

yes

VikS knows this Freycinet, that first impressions matter and that words are all we have and he knows that he can send me the scripts and I will sub-edit them for free. We would ask him to correct our Russian without embarrassment wouldn't we

I asked an engineer friend VikS, a builder of locomotives: some notes on the rolling stock loans

Six feet = 1828.8mm

Railway Operating Division
A division of the British Army Royal Engineers, largely recruited from railway companies, which controlled and operated standard and narrow gauge railways behind British fronts in France, Belgium, Greece, Egypt and Russia during the First World War. Formed in 1915.

http://www.lner.info/locos/O/o4o5.shtml



British locomotives were quickly conscripted, and early loans included a variety of engines from Britain's railways

http://www.experiencefestival.com/railway_operating_division


http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/GoodsLocos/Loco22.php

http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/GoodsLocos/ex015.php
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums...rt=#entry170877

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=5134475
Possible eye-witness

http://www.gcr-rollingstocktrust.co.uk/articles_output.asp?id=12&checkSource=sitemap
http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_260.htm

http://www.theworkshops.qm.qld.gov.au/ed...et_20071212.pdf



Ming

My bad, oftenly was somewhere but not in school during english lessons

six feet is an English one
1435mm is a mainly used in the world, and in the europe, also called "stephensonian"

I got a little more information about the number of vehicles of the different French Locomotive types:

- Most numerous is the different types of the 230 "Ten Wheels", with more than 850 units
- 2nd most numerous is the 140 "Consolidated" with around 270 units, 70 of them (the "ALVF" type) used for artillery transports and artillery train (see picture below)
- 3rd a last numerous is the 232 "Baltic", with 119 units

The other were much less numerous.
- 220 "Outrance" - 32 units
- 130 "Mogul" - 24 units (but more than 100 used by Germany...)
- 030 "Mammouth" - 18 units
- 221 "Atlantic" - 2 units
I found also that none 050 "Ten coupled" where used on French side during WWI. Around 180 were used on German Side, then captured and used by the French after the war.

To end, a picture on a French artillery train


Viktor... I suppose that you will modell only 1 or 2 of the types... could you tell which ones, so we can focus on and find more documentation about ?

Most widely used - will be the best to get info on, so it would be good to start from the top of your list, and if there will be any drawings of 230 "Ten Wheels" - its gonna be a winner!

PS: thanks for help Rama!

Ok

Everything I could grab on the Web for the 230 "Ten Wheel"

This Link with some pictures and the technical description (I can help with translation if needed)
This Link with pictures of different type of the 230 (you can see the differences, especially in the front)
This Link with 5 picture of the 230 at the top of the page
This Link with some nice good photograph of a "saved" 230 that will be rebuilt
This pdf Link for picture of the same machine, some details + a side drawing
This picture of a saved 230 in the French railway museum

I will try to see if I can find a book to get 3-side drawing and scan it for you. But if others can find some stuff about this machine on Internet, I guess it would be helpfull too...

2 more pages on different 230 "Ten Wheel" subtypes.

- This one, on the 230 used in East of France

- This one, on the 230 used in West of France (but quite close to the others in some sub-types, particularly in the second par of the page.
In this last page, there are some picture of the driving compartment... could be helpfull to built some textures.

I continue to search for the drawings. I send some messages to the re-building associations, and contacted a friend of mine worling in the French Railway infrastructure company (RFF).

And if needed, 2 sound samples of a train tracted by a 230

First Sound with a locomotive 230 T + 2 flat wagon (sound regestered from one of the wagon)

Second Sound taken from a passenger train (Special Persan-Beaumont-Creil-Beauvais-Persan in 1983) tracked by a 230 G

It's not really on topic but probably it helps. Here is a map from 1908 showing all the raillines:

http://www.mapy.blink.pl/pomorze/staatsbahnen_1908.jpg

There are tons of other maps on that site from different periods.

Here's a document that's related, but on the system of German supply and movement logistics using railroads on the Western Front (addresses supply of German army divisions, main rail lines, and a few other details, like Allied bombing of German rail yards):

Germany's Railroad Facilities On The Western Front Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6

Quote from the site ( http://www.firstworldwar.com ):

"American locomotive for war service in France":



and "An Austrian benzine locomotive for railroad or road":

http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/graphics/cpe_benzine_loco_01.jpg

They seem to have had a great variety of locomotives

We are looking for weather statistics for 1914 till 1919, if anyone know where to get it, or maybe have it, please help!

If you download ReLoad 1.166 from my signature link, and open ReLoad.chm, section 'Bletchley's Weather Settings', you can get Bletchley's, Greybeard's and Mark's (from SWWISA) table results about temperature, wind and pressure, together with a dice setting system. You can see their sources and also you can try to contact them at SWWISA forum.

Regards,
US95 Gabi/Laser

No time to translate them now... but following are 6 page about exceptionnal weather events in France, one page for each year.

1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919

It also gives the variation to the climatology normal, both for temperature and rainfall for each month of the different years.
(but you need the climatology normal to use them)

Here, you can find a monthly climatologie for France (Normal 1960-1990... but for rainfall distribution, it's not very far from 1900-1930)
You have:
- Monthly total rainfall
- Monthly rainfall days
- Monthly sunny hours
- Monthly sunny days
- Monthly winddy days

I still have to find Monthly temperature normals maps for 1900-1930

Viktor

I found a page where you probably can find what you're asking: Here
This is daily meteo, including Air Pressure, Cloud Cover, Humidity, temperatures (min, max and mean), Rainfall, Snow and Sunshine hours.

If you want, I can sort the data per station location (on the map) and years and send you the result.

The translation of the previous pages I linked would be also usefull to retrieve exceptionnal events.

yes please!
As about map location - it would be enough to split front by sectors, as channel coast/flanders/center/Verdun - it would be more than enough.
Thanks!

I sorted the data... it was quicker than I expected.
..... not much data is usefull...

Only 1 station get full daily data for daily Minimum, maximum, mean temperature and rainfall from 1914 to 1919, it is Paris.
For Rainfall, there are 2 more stations with usefull data:
- Bretigny-sur-Orge (N 48°36'00", E 2°19'36"), too close to Paris to really help
- Chatillon-sur-Seine (N 47°50'54", E 4°34'54"), who could be representative of the Southeast corner of the map.

My guess is that for rainfall, the 2 usefull stations would be sufficient (cut the map in 2 in diagonal and it will tell if it's a rainy day in each part)
For temperature, Paris only isn't sufficient to represent to whole map. In order for the Paris series to be usefull, a map (showing big regions, around 5 areas to represent the different climate zones) with average temperature differences with Paris per Month could do the job... I'll try to find that.

Anyway, I'll send you the files I sorted (and reduced to the 1914/1919 period) by mail this WE.

I also still have to translate the previous links

I finally translated the links for the exceptionnals weather events on the period.
I put it there... in case if anyone interested.

Rainfall is given in mm, tempeature in ° Celcius and ground pressure in mercury mm.

*** 1914 ***

January: very dry and exceptionally cold in particular in south of France - the cold wave reaches its maximum bewtween January 12 and January 31 - 27 consecutive days of freezing are observed in Toulouse where the temperature reaches -15°.
On January 15, a snowstorm paralyses Roussillon (25cm of snow recovers Perpignan where the trams are stopped during 3 days) - many rivers are frozen during all second half of the month - in Paris region, the temperature goes down between -10 and -14°.

February 20: a tornado devastates the village of Blénod, close to Toul - the church and of the historic buildings are destroyed.

February 21 and 22: a very violent storm sweep all France, in particular in Rhone aalley - the wind destroys most of the buildings of the international exhibition of Lyon.

March: exceptionally rainy - 30 days of rain in Brest, 28 in Besancon and 27 in Clermont-Ferrand are observed.

25 at May 27: big storm in the Mediterranean sea and very bad weather on all France - it snows abundantly on the high ground of the Massif Central.

June 15: a storm of an exceptional violence causes several collapses of roadway in Paris; this one being weakened by work of the subway a few years before - 11 dead.

July: many weather measurements are stopped by the war.

26 and July 27: cold and autumnal days - the temperatures are extremely low for the season.

October 29: a violent storm causes damage on the southern half of France.

December 7: the temperatures reach exceptionally high levels - more 15° on all France (16° in Paris, 18° in Besancon, 19° in Clermont Ferrand).

*** 1915 ***

January 21: a deep depression crosses France and causes a spectacular fall of the ground pressures - from 775mm to 737mm (mercury) in only 24:00 in Paris.

22 at January 31: cold wave - a true snowstorm paralyses south of France -14° in Toulouse.

End of March: abundant snowfalls in the west and on east front - 16cm of snow in the streets of Nantes.

May 14: a true “cyclone” start on Pas-de-Calais (north of France) - a 200 km broad depression (mercury 740mm) generates extremely violent winds - the damage are considerable.

May 19 to June 21: absolute dryness on many areas, in particular in Paris.

June 30: a storm causes very intense rains in Paris - it falls 11mm in 5 minutes.

October 26: the equivalent 4 months of rain (378mm) falls in 24:00 h in Perpignan - serious floods in the area.

November 28: the temperatures reach -8° in Paris, -10° in Lyon, -11° in Besancon, -12° with Clermont Ferrand.

December: mildest and most rainy december month since 50 years - on December 5, temperature is 24° in Bagnières de Bigorre (Southwest of France) and on December 10, the temperatures reach 16°5 in Paris, 18° in Lyon and 20° in Clermont Ferrand.

*** 1916 ***

January: extremely mild- in Paris, it is the mildest january month since at least 1851 (date of the first regular observations). The vegetation grow is very early - at the end of the month of the apricot trees in Nantes are in flowers.

25 and February 26: abundant snowfalls in the west and the center - 16cm in Paris, 7cm in Nantes.

March 1 to 11: cold wave - the temperatures reach very low levels for the season, in particular in the East - temperatures reach -9° in Belfort and Besancon, -14° in Pontarlier and -22° in Mouthe.

June: it is the coldest June month since at least 1851 on the northern half of France.

August 2: heat wave - the maximum temperatures reach 33° in Nantes, 37° in Bordeaux and Toulouse.

29 and August 30: very bad weather conditions - an automnal storm causes damages in the west and snow falls on the Pyrenean mountains above 1500m altitude.

November 18: during of a depression, the barometer reaches extremely low levels with 717mm/hg in Nantes and 718mm/hg in Paris.

December 1: Violent storms cause 275mm rain in Port Vendres and 184mm in Perpignan in 24h time (equivalent to 2 to 3 months of rain).

end of December: floods in north of France.

*** 1917 ***

January 20 to February 15: exceptional cold wave - the majority of the rivers transport ice then freeze completely starting from the end of January - the coldest period takes place between the 2 and on February 4 -
the minimal temperatures reach -26° in Bonneville, -23° in Commercy, -22° in Montbrison, -20° in Grenoble, -18° in Lyon, -17° in Chalon on the Saone, Troyes, Alençon and Clermont Ferrand, -15°5 in Paris and -12° in Dunkirk -
February is comparable with 1895 february month. Coal becomes very rare in Paris.

March 7: abundant snowfalls occur in Paris - this snow disappears only on March 11.

April: coldest since 1837 - it snows frequently and sometimes abundantly over the northern half of France between April 1st and April 4th.

September 6 to 8: pouring rain occurs in the south and east of Franceand - rainfall reach 150mm in Biarritz, 140mm in Sette (2 months of precipitations) and 70mm in Besancon.

16 and December 17: a snowstorm paralyses the north and the east - 13cm of snow falls in Paris and will disappear completely only on January 15, 1918.

Night of between December 19 and December 20: the Eastern pyrenean mountains undergo serious bad weather - 255mm of rain in Amélie les bains (2 months of precipitations) and 1m15 of snow in 24h in Maury. Many occurences of fatal floods and avalanches.

Last week of December: intense cold wave - the thermometer show -24° in Mouthe, -15° in Clermont Ferrand, -14°5 in Lyon, -14° in Besancon, -12° in Paris and -11° in Toulouse. 40cm of snow covers Perpignan.

*** 1918 ***

1st half of January: the cold wave which began at the end of December continues - on January 5, temperatures reach -17° in Lyon, -16° in Nancy, -15° with Clermont Ferrand, -14° in Paris region.

April 17 to April 19: the winter continues - it freezes practically everywhere and of very abundant snowfalls paralyse the Franche-Comté - snowfalls reach 30cm in Pontarlier and close to 50cm in Mouthe.

July 16 to July 23: important heatwave - the temperature reach 37° in Belfort, 35° in Toulouse, 34° in Paris and 33° in Dunkirk.

August: the dryness, which began in May, is accentuated with strong heats - August 22 and 23, the temperature reach 37° in Clermont Ferrand and 34° in Paris.

October 23: very abundant rains in south of France - it falls 236mm in only one day in Perpignan (3 months of precipitations).

December: exceptionally mild and wet - serious floods occur at the end of the month whereas on December 13, the temperature reach 17° in Paris.

*** 1919 ***

January 18 to February 13: cold wave - abundant snowfalls occur on January 26 and 9cm recovers the streets of Paris - on February 8 and 9, the temperatures frequently reach less than -10°, reaching -13° in Dunkirk.

March 20: snow whiten the three-quarters of France.

April 28: it snows on a big eastern half of France (from Paris to the Eastern border).

June 25: exceptionally cold time - snowflakes are observed in Puy de dôme and in Risoux (Doubs).

July: remarkably cold - in Paris, it is about the coldest July ever observed - snow is observed on the Vosgean tops on July 16.

August 7 to August 23: heatwave - the temperatures reach 37° in Lyon and Toulouse, 36° in Toulouse and Perpignan, 35° in Nantes, 34° in Paris.

September 9 to September 18: new wave of heat - temperature reach 33°à Paris on September 11.

October 10 to October 16: time is exceptionally cold - snow is observed in flat lands in the East of France - Snow cover reach 43cm in Pontarlier and 49cm in Mouthe.

October 29 and October 30: violent storm in south-west - it snows again in the east and in Paris region.

November 1919 is coldest november month since at least 1 century - frequent and very early snowfalls occur almost everywhere between 1st and on November 3th - a true snowstorm paralyses the northern half of France on November 14 - Snow cover reach 24cm in Paris and 25cm in Besancon - they are the most abundant snowfalls for this period of the year since 1887.

End of December: important floods in north of France and in Lorraine - railways are destroyed.

Maybe some usefull info from Belgium there (in french) :

http://www.meteo.be/meteo/view/fr/1078912-Evenements+marquants+depuis+1901.html

The useful links are on the left. I don't know anything about climate so I didn't know what to look for. I hope it could help for the northern part of the front

Boosher posted a nice info link at IL2 UBI forums:

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/23110283/m/4631043886?r=4631043886#4631043886

We have a question about british awards:

Britans 2nd highest award is O.B.E. - Order of the British Empire (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire).It has 3x grades:

M.B.E. - Member The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (silver)
O.B.E. - Officer The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (gold)
C.B.E. - Commander The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (gold with details)

so the question is - we know, that M.B.E. and O.B.E. is the same in size - does C.B.E. size the same as prev one grades? Also - how does C.B.E. wears? On the neck or on the chest?

Thanks!

Were OBE, MBE and CBE given as Military awards in WWI?
They are normally a public service award these days. I would have expected they were the same back in 1914-18. The sort of thing you'd give to someone not in the military who excelled at what they were doing.


ADDED:

Got this from Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire


Off particular note in the Wiki article, that I think is relevent for you Viks

VikS, to support what Brigstock has added above, I checked the book A Contemptible Little Flying Corps, by I. McInnes & J.V. Webb, which list the commissions, appointments, and awards for over 1400 RFC/RAF personnel who fought in WWI, and of the 55 men with references to having received an M.B.E., O.B.E., and/or C.B.E., all were awarded post-war (the earliest coming in 1919).

It would appear that WWI RAF veterans only received these awards after the end of the Great War.

These are medals awarded for service in peacetime VikS, awarded to civilians. You may be looking for military medals like the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Military Medal

http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/aagloss.htm

Ming

Not sure if this is the place for it but I was told to post it here instead of in a thread in the community hall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiq64mmUHyE

At 1:58 if you look in the top right corner you will see the OAW built Fokker D.VII (4598/18) Flown by Ltn. Josef Mai of Jasta 5. His fokker dvii used the standard cammo for the wing top and bottom. The black/white stripping was only on the fuselage and tail sections.

This is a very good example of how it should look.

http://www.rodenplant.com/Gallery/029/029.htm

I have historic pictures too if you need them

Good job on the game sofar. I love where it is going and can not wait for it's release.

Viks, we can't have a wrong camouflage like that...

- So, I second Masters' posting, if there is a mistake!

It is entirely possible that I have the wrong plane

Actually we have an Hans Kirschtein D.VII of Jasta 6
Also, imho - this one D.VII which kit is by your link - is an Ulrich Neckel airplane, also of Jasta 6.

I'll pull the photos when I get home just to be sure.

This is hardly going to be acceptable research but I have real photographs at home.

You are refering to this kit

http://www.modelingmadness.com/scotts/w1/d7oawpreview.htm

Which lists the pilot of that plane as "Ulrich Neckel." The kit does list him as the pilot but that was not his plane. That plane belonged to Josef Mai pictured here.

http://www.military-art.com/mall/more.php?ProdID=14747
http://www.russellsmithart.com/Small%20pages/Josef%20Mai.htm

As far as I know there are no historic photographs showing Ulrich Neckel in a black and white dvii. He is shown in a black and white dr1 though. I have also never seen a photo of Hans Kirschtein in a black and white dvii. He again did fly in a black and white dr1.

You guys might have photos of these planes though so I am not trying to say you are wrong just that I have never seen it. I would love to see what you have (but you are obviously under no obligation. Dont feel like you have to prove every paint scheme to every schmuck that drops in )

Hello.

Indeed, that video shows Kirschstein's machine. Everything was striped--struts, wheel covers, fuselage, wings, etc. Mai also had a striped mount as you described, but so did Neckel. Here are a couple (grainy) shots of him with this machine:





You can see these photos and a zillion other in Greg VanWyngarden's von Richthofen's Circus, Colours and Markings of Jagdegschwader Nr.1, 1995.

BTW, there is a shot of Kirschstein standing next to his striped D.VII in GVW's book Richthofen's Circus, Jagdgeschwader Nr.1, Osprey, 2004. Page 99.

Obviously I stand corrected Those are some great shots too S!

JFM, great contribution, thanks for posting.

We are looking for any info about WWI river shipping.
Mostly interested in western front river ships, any of them, military, civilian, transports.
Thanks!

VikS,

I think you'll want to model the towed and motorized river barges that have navigated Europe's rivers for centuries. River and canal barges were also pressed into service by the warring nations as machine gun platforms, obstruction booms (at Zeebrugge), artillery platforms (outside of the ROF world though, along the Danube and in Mesopotamia), as troop ferries, and widely as hospital vessels.

Popular manufacturer's would be Freycinet and Luxemotor (our forum members in Europe might be able to find line drawings and more photos of the period's barges perhaps).

Here's a website with some brief history on France's barges:

http://www.riverdancebarge.com/history.html

Here's photographs of WWI barges, showing how they looked, and a few showing details of barges converted as hospital transports (all open source):

Dear Viks,

After the river boat standard gauge from 1822 proved too small, the FREYCINET GAUGE was chosen in 1879.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freycinet_gauge

All the French and Belgian river barges made after that date have a size that make them fit that gauge, which is the size limit for river locks.

"In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many French canals were modernised to conform to the Freycinet standard". The French name for these 300 ton river boats made for that standard is péniche. That is the type of river boat you should make.

Photos of péniches:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:P%C3%A9niches

It would also be magnificent to have the Old Hydraulic Boat Lifts on the Canal du Centre in Belgium:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifts_on_the_old_Canal_du_Centre

(UNESCO World Heritage site)

Barges eh? Moving barges along canals and rivers would be a nice touch, maybe even a first in flight sims! The train is totally cool, barges would be great too especially if they were "target quality", if you know what I mean.