Fliegers of all nations come forth!
In this sequel to our other challenge, Eindecker Challenge , we will be avenging the fallen from MFJ 1 from the year previous:






In order to participate in this challenge you must:
1. Declare your interest and intent in this thread on or before Saturday, April 26 2014.
2. Create a pilot using the manual squad creation option flying for the Germans in MFJ 1 with a start date of June 1, 1917 with the rank of Flugmaat.
3. Commit to flying 4-7 missions per week with this pilot, but no more than one per campaign day.
4. Report at least every weekend in this topic thread with his current successes or failures.
5. Faithfully communicate to your brethren the falling of your avatar when such event actually transpires.


We’ll be starting exactly one year to the campaign date after our last challenge. This gives us the continued opportunity to explore the water mod by AnKor and also to report on the new Albatros flight model that came out a few weeks back. From a story standpoint, we are avenging the death of our overzealous younger brother, so enlisting in the same squadron is a symbolic gesture as well…and, we should survive for more than 2 missions!

Reporting can be by any of the following methods:
-Text is good
-Pictures are better
-Videos are what this sim is made for!

Check out some of Louvert’s journaling from the last challenge if you want to see some top of the line work on reporting!

This is single elimination, so one death and you are out. Keep in mind that even if you are not playing "dead is dead" in the workshop, at the end of each mission it will still tell you that "Sadly, your pilot has died" if his injuries were fatal so you don't need to switch your settings for this. If you land behind enemy lines with less than DID workshop settings, use these guidelines: in or on the edge of No Mans Lines, you escape. Within 5 miles of the front, 50-50 (flip a coin). More than 10 miles behind the lines, you are captured, war over!

When you set up your pilot, click on "Manual Squad Deployment" in the lower right hand corner of the enlistment page. Set up the following screen so it looks like this:




Scoring- I changed a few values based on recommendations from last time.:

Missions: +1 point each
Time survived: +2 points each week
Confirmed kill: +3 points each
Becoming an ace: +5 points (only once)
Promotion: +5 points each promotion
Medals: +3 points each

Remember, this is not a cakewalk! Be careful out there, “Bloody April” is over, SE5a’s and Camels are ascendant, not to mention SPADs!

Based on the last challenge, I think we can have a hard end date of Sunday, May 18. That gives us three weeks and a day. Then we can tally the points and declare a winner. You are certainly free to continue to fly your pilot after that if still alive, but for point determination, we need a cut-off date. MFair has generously offered to supply a WWI Russell Smith print as first prize!!!


Permissions:
You may use whatever aids you are used to using. Flight model should be realistic and you should have weapons jams and limited ammo and all that jazz... The point is to have fun and we had outstanding support and sportsmanship from all fliers last time and we would love to see some new faces!

As far as time advancement, please follow these guidelines:

Allow time to advance as normal except fly no more than one mission per campaign day (time advance manually as necessary)

For every month of campaign time, you can advance two days on the calendar. (48hr pass to visit mum)
For every promotion, advance five campaign days.
For every five kills, advance 3 campaign days.
For becoming an ace, advance 3 campaign days (cumulative with 5 kills above)

Well, that's it. I had a great time in the last challenge and even though I died on my second mission, I really enjoyed reading about the exploits and hardships of everyone else, especially since I felt like I lived through the same missions, as far as the N11 scourge is concerned.
RR

Official challenge start time is Saturday, grab some QC time in those Albatri and we’ll be (W)OFF!

List of Pilots:
Rick Rawlings 27
Robert Wiggins
gecko 34
Rover 27 55
77 Scout 18
loftyc
MFair 57
Leaf85 22
Nefaro
nbryant d.n.p.
RAF Louvert 85
Shiloh
pkpowers
Al Lowe d.n.p.
Leadtail 9
Glubber
corsaire31 11

Strikethrough indicates a pilot's demise, d.n.p. = did not participate, number to the right of the pilot is the final score
Last edited 5/16/14 2:00 PM US Pacific time

I'm in Rick. If I'm still alive (which will be highly unlikely) I may have to cut off my exploits as I will be unable to continue from May 9th for a week. I will check in on the 18 May to see what happened.

Best Regards;

Count me in!

Hi Rick. Thank you for yet another event. I really enjoyed the video intro and the Hun Solo portrait)))

I think I'll join it even though I have no brother from part 1 to avenge. All of us Fliegers are like brothers anyway. Count me in.
Btw, do we start April 26 or it doesn't matter?

Ha! Great video Rick. I am totally 'in' as well. These challenges give me an extra boost to get flying some missions. Looking forward to it.

Nice flying and shooting Rick!

Good stuff... what with Star Wars and Star Trek in the mix it's going to be very dangerous out there!

Loved the editing on that last line of the video - I'm in!

Yes, create your pilot now, rum some quick combat practice flights (click "Pilot Never Dies" or whatever that setting is) and official missions start on Saturday!

I'm glad you guys liked the video, we had script problems from day one and our lead actor was a total prima donna and we ran out of funding for the great CGI farm scene we had planned, but I figured you guys deserved some production value!

Otto von Fair has just completed flight school and is on his way to the front to avenge his dearly departed brother Rudolf. Add one more pilot to your roster Rick. I'm in!

Hey guys, I just got confirmation that MFair will be generously donating a Russell Smith WWI print as first prize! Let's hear it for the Fair-est of them all!

RR


edit: I sux at spelling!

The print is a limited edition print. "The Eagle and the Butterfly" with Remarque. Russell Smith Studios. If you are not familiar with his work you need to have a look. He is not only a good artist but he "feels it" if you now what I mean. Good luck to all pilots, get your game face on and watch you rear!

I'm in like flint! Thanks for organizing this again RR, and thanks to MFair for the prize!

Kind regards,
Dave

Ahhh! Now you guys are reaching my favorite time frame! I'm in!

Got a good laugh out of the end of that video. Thanks for setting this up guys, and thanks for the generosity MFair.

I will throw my hat in the ring and try to give this a go.

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I'm in! And well done MFair on providing that fine prize. I'd like to sweeten the pot and offer a custom paint scheme for the winner's favorite WOFF mount.

Best of luck to all brave fliegers who are giving this a go.



Lou

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If I had the time I'd be in just for Lou's paint job. The man has skill. Best of luck to everyone. Sounds like a really fun time.

Now I am really stoked. My Pup is in need of a new paint job! Thanks Lou. To quote my favorite movie, "got it all figured out. Right up to the part where I don't get killed!"

Now I am really stoked. My Pup is in need of a new paint job! Thanks Lou. To quote my favorite movie, "got it all figured out. Right up to the part where I don't get killed!"

Thanks for setting this up guys and for the generous grand prize offerings. Well, I have final exams coming up and I'm really behind but what the hell, I'm in!

Sign me up sir ; PK von Powers <salute>

I'm in.

I got to the padreland just as soon as I received that Zimmerman telegraph.....

Well looks like modeling will take a little longer to get started as Muttley must avenge his masters fall! I'm in hopefully longer than 3 missions lol.

Bummer. I'm in nursing school and working every day I'm not in school, and consequently have zero time for this.

So sign me up!

My sentiments exactly Glubber. Balance is key in this life and what's a little less sleep in the whole scheme of things?

Horst Spieler brother of Did Spieler has signed up for revenge:

Unfortunately, I'm traveling for business next week, so I think I'm going to have to pass on this one. Good luck, guys! I'll be watching your progress.

I need to practice a bit as I haven't flown an Albatros in maybe two years since my early OFF days. I do remember the Alb.D.III tends to want to stall while turning at higher altitudes and I tended to take my fights lower. Am I thinking of the right craft?

All FMs have been updated since OFF and, on top of that, the Albatros has recently gotten an extra dose of update sauce, so it should be new and exciting for all of us!

The Albatros isn't bad right now. Some of the earlier models are definitely a bit sluggish at high altitude so it takes a little practice to find their limits, as with any model. There are even small differences between different sub-types, methinks. Luckily they're easy to get out of a spin and I've definitely resorted to spinning them when I couldn't shake an AI on my tail.

I think they turn fairly well, once you're familiar with them, but their biggest strength compared to Nieuports and Fokker DrIs is their sturdiness. I can hold a tight & steady turn with the Albatros wings screeching and moaning for an endless amount of time. The other aircraft will similarly moan, but only for a brief time and then silence.. surprisingly followed by a 'Snap!' and wings being broke off, putting the plane into a death spin. The Albatros doesn't have that odd silent death, and almost never snaps wings in a turn anyway.

I have occasionally experienced the right-rolling stall behavior, as if it's a rotary, in the "D.V (uprated)" but I think this only happens sometimes when at low speed and high altitude while turning left. With the specific start we have, I'm hoping to avoid flying that specific one. Much rather have a D.III OAW.

We should probably take time in our first 'orientation flight' mission to fly around and get familiar with our new mount. I'm always worried about straying too far off from my flight because your autopilot will only stay on mission within a certain range of them and trying to catch up from a long distance can end up with you getting pounced without support nearby. But immediately testing a new type's limits can't be a bad idea, even if you miss out on something, right?

Q:

We're using the Engine Failure option too, right?

I've had it on for awhile.. just wanted to verify.

I'll be using it for sure!

My new pilot starring in this big show about vengeance: Burk Willitz!

He'll probably die soft.

We're also using gun accuracy set to normal across the board too, I suppose? Just the TAC, Padlock & Label stuff to preference?

That's a good point. I have been using "less accurate" on rear guns, because those rear gunners are brutal, but we should all be on the same page. So I will switch to "normal" for the challenge.

I was also thinking of lowering it in my campaigns, but I'll wait until this challenge is over before doing so.

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I've got everything set for 'Full Real' and my pilot is ready to go.

Karl Heusinger, younger brother of the great E.III ace Kurt Heusinger, reporting for duty.




.

Well, it's April 26 in Siberia and I'm ready to report on my first mission.
First of all, let me introduce myself. Martin Uberflieger, Flugmaat, 24 years old.
This is my photo after my very first mission which was a success. Being a bit superstitious, I didn't want to take picture before my first flight.



Now, here's what happened that day







I hope the text is readable on the images.

Alright, gone bagging. Will be back soon.

Good luck everyone and see you in Aertrycke. After all, we're flying in the same squadron.

Regards,
Martin

Didn't really try the Albatros in WOFF yet, so it seems to be a good reason to start !

Funny, neither of the two FE2's exploded in front of me were subject to claiming. No. 1 was stolen by another Flieger and no.2 by somebody else.

You ran into DH5s?!?! Awesome, I've never seen them in game before, this is going to be fun. Love the neat captioning idea too, welcome aboard!

RR

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DH5s would be fun I should think. Well done Rover_27.


Rick, in an effort to get even more folks to join in on your stellar invitationals I've taken the liberty of designing a participation medal that you could present to all those who give these a go. Each event would generate a new bar attachment for said medal.





What do you think? You know how much we WWI flyer types like our bling.

Lou

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I think that is made of solid Awesome. My certificates are starting to feel under-dressed

Good show!

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Glad you like it Rick. If there is something you might wish to see adjusted on this just let me know. It is your show after all.

And I like your certificates.



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Ah, that must be the so-called Ehrenkreuz für WOFF-Flieger.

I won't participate (too busy with my Jasta 1 career), but as always, I'll enjoy reading your reports. You should have better survival rates now when you're no longer flying Eindeckers!

ooooooh!

Hey, wait a minute!! Is that a WOFF medal in an OFF box??

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Yes Hasse, the Ehrenkreuz für WOFF-Flieger, a rare and most-coveted award.

Robert, WOFF is still OFF and the devs still use the same logo on all their product placement shots. It is, after all, "WINGS: Over Flanders Fields". The colon makes all the difference, (just ask a gastroenterologist ... oh, wait ... wrong colon).

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Horst Spieler's Revenge Begins:

First two missions on board

When you open the following link, select the "OPEN" option:

Horst Spieler's Journal and Video clips

Notes of Flugmaat Hermann Schuster - June 01, 1917

This morning is my first mission with MFJ 1 from Aertrycke airfield. Weather is nice and sunny, except for a low cloud layer around 2000m. A 6 knots light breeze blows from the NNW and brings us fresh air from the North Sea. We are five pilots in our Albatros DIII, under command of Oberleutnant zur See Paul Kunstler. This is my first combat flight in this plane and I feel a bit nervous. The mission is to reach the front lines some 30km away and patrol for a half hour. We have a couple of observation Drachen in the air behind several of our infantry units and they could attract some enemy planes, besides the usual reco two seaters the Brits are sending daily over the front.
The noise of the five 170HP Mercedes engines really wakes me up and we roll down the airfield one by one. Take off is easy, we form up in two groups of 3 and 2 planes and head northeast for a long circling climb close to the sea. Once we break through the cloud layer and reach 2500m, our flight leader heads to the front, still climbing. It is only a few minutes flight and we reach our northern infantry unit at 3000m. From there we are supposed to head southeast along the front, flying above our Drachen.
Instead of respecting the plan, ObltzS Kunstler keeps on flying straight west, crossing the frontline and heading into enemy territory. This is totally opposed to the general instructions we have received to stay on our side of the lines, and moreover I'm not ready to go on a foolish raid on my first mission. I decide to fly back to our side of the front and follow the patrol path over the Drachen. In case of problems back at the field, I can always pretend I had a mechanical failure of some kind and had to return to base... Soon the four Albatros are little grey dots against the white clouds underneath and finally disappear. Once I reach the southernmost Drachen, I turn around and fly another leg along the front. As I reach the northern waypoint and prepare to head east to Aertrycke, I spot two planes coming back from the other side of the lines. They are too far to identify and are flying apart from each other, and I hope they are from my flight. Some 10 minutes later I land at our homefield. Unfortunately noone is to be seen on or around the airfield.
I will finally learn that all my Kameraden from the flight have landed at another field closer from the front. One of the airplanes was destroyed on landing and written off, but its pilot, the ace Oberflugmeister Josef Rohe was only lightly wounded (being an ace has many good points...) They all have been in a fight with some DH5. Oberflugmeister Michael Löwenhardt claims two, and Flugmaat Kaspar Winkler one (his own airplane has a few holes in it and will need two days of repair). Nobody asked me anything about why I had lost contact with the flight, they all knew it was my first mission ! I won't tell anyone either they have broken the rules and flown deep into enemy territory...





* Personal notes : I found the Albatros DIII relatively easy to fly, tried a few manoeuvers with it before landing. Found it was nose heavy (with 95% throttle it keeps going very slowly down) this was different from the Strutter I had flown right before, where I had to lower throttle a bit to have it fly straight.

Flugmaat Gunter Schlick reporting for duty. Unfortunately he will not be able to go on active duty until Tuesday. Happy hunting to those already in action!

Burk Willitz has a raging cold virus, but may sneak into the cockpit against his better judgement. With the help of pharmaceuticals.

Suggest 1 extra point for surviving the fence ! This was the most difficult part...

Thanks Gott ; survived the first mission, but no excitement

Great reports and great shots lads..And Lou THAT medal is awesome..Im a busy busy Man at the moment but i hope to take part in the next WOFF challenge,Its a fantastic challenge Rick

I'm back from mission 6 and I really don't know how I'm still alive!!! It's a flipping massacre up there! I have my air activity set to medium but the sky is just swarming with all kinds of enemy planes.
Excellent choice of period and region, Rick. Thank you for unforgettable experience. My palms are sweaty - I'll take a break. Stay tuned for more reports and good luck to you all.
Btw, how many planes give me an ace? Is it five? So, I can have 3 days advancement after every five kills?

Wow. Rover was a very lucky man!

LOL!

Have you only been playing early war lately?

You should see it in 1918! They're everywhere and in larger groups.

And still am

And yes, I must admit I usually start most of my careers as early as I can hoping to go through the war. It's probably because I never had such opportunity in RoF.

My first mission started off similar to Rover's 3rd mission.

Three Sopwith Tripes were circling high above our airfield. What was supposed to be a patrol behind friendly lines quickly turned into a scramble mission against enemy scouts overhead.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all that interesting other than a couple Tripes taking a pass at me and when I reversed on them and fired, they climbed away. After a short pursuit, I realized I couldn't catch my man and the rest of my flight had disappeared, so it was back home.

If this is the way my initiation into the Jasta goes, I'm afraid to see what the future holds!




I have also finished my second mission, but I will be uploading the video for that one as it was more interesting. Hopefully I can get some better quality from YouTube's compression on this one compared to the last.

First mission 1 June 1917:

I was in flight B with 6 other fellow pilots. Our mission was to patrol a friendly airfield. We took off at 8:19 in the morning. Weather was good, flight was short! As we were climbing to our mission altitude we were jumped by a flight of Spad VII's over our field. As i was the tail of the formation I was targeted by the lead Spad. I waited as long as I could before breaking out of formation to give my fellow squad mates a chance to engage the Spads on better terms. I waited a little to long a show by the picture of the damage to my left wing!


Luckily I was able to land at our air field in one pieces. Stats for mission 1.


I wonder how long I can survive if this is what is in store for me? Nevertheless I shall soldier on for the father land but mostly for my master!

Burk Willitz' second mission, on June 2, ends up with a dogfight against a flight of Pups.


Video:


I felt the heat off some of those tracers!


Result:




One Pup claimed after putting 48 rounds into him. Better than my last video's ~70 it took.

Since we fly from 4 to 7 missions a week (from what I understand of the rules), you can have a break until next week end !

So we're allowed to do seven per week? Or do we just go until our virtual pilots are dead?

The 1 mission per day thing was for the WOFF campaign days (make sure to turn on the Time Advance option in the workshop!). Didn't see anything about RL limits.. do we have some?

Yeah seven per week max, that way we don't get too far out in front of each other, and we also have some range of equality for point determination (not that I think anyone is obsessed with winning). Great video Nefaro, those Pups were tenacious, and it cost one of them that last flight!

Horst Spieler's Revenge Begins:

First two missions on board. When you open the following link, select the "OPEN" option:
Horst Spieler's Journal Missions 1 and 2

Horst Spieler's mission 1:
Horst Spieler's mission 2:

Third mission:
Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 3

Horst Spieler's mission 3:

Fourth mission:
Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 4

Horst Spieler's mission 4:


Fifth mission:
Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 5

Horst Spieler's mission 5:

Sixth mission:
Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 6

Horst Spieler's Mission 6:

Seventh mission:
Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 7

Horst Spieler has no video for mission 7 due to tech problems.

Eighth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 8

Horst Spieler's Mission 8:

Ninth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 9

Horst Spieler has no video for mission 9 forgot I hadn't turned on FRAPS DAMIT!

Tenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 10

Horst Spieler's Mission 10:

Eleventh mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 11

Horst Spieler's Mission 11:

Twelfth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 12

Horst Spieler's Mission 12:

Thirteenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 13

Horst Spieler's Mission 13:

Fourteenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 14

Horst Spieler's Mission 14:

Fifteenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 15

Horst Spieler's Mission 15:

Sixteenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 16

Horst Spieler's Mission 16:


Seventeenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 17

Horst Spieler's Mission 17:


Eighteenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 18

Horst Spieler's Mission 18:


Nineteenth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 19

Horst Spieler's Mission 19: [/video]

Twentieth mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 20

Horst Spieler's Mission 20:

Twenty first mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 21

Horst Spieler's Mission 21:

Twenty second mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 22

Horst Spieler's Mission 22:

Twenty third mission:

Horst Spieler's Journal Mission 23

Horst Spieler's Mission 23:

So, as Saturday is winding down, here is my current list of pilots:
Rick Rawlings
Robert Wiggins
gecko
Rover 27
77 Scout
loftyc
MFair
Leaf85
Nefaro
nbryant
RAF Louvert
Shiloh
pkpowers
Al Lowe
Leadtail
Glubber
corsaire31

Let me know if I am missing anybody. I will add them to the first post so we can keep an easier track on the body count this time!

Robert, I just got a chance to watch your (1st one, I'm not that fast!) video, I like that faded label effect, nice and subtle. Also good to see a Spieler back in action!

Point 3 of the rules in the first post :

"3. Commit to flying 4-7 missions per week with this pilot, but no more than one per campaign day."

Oberflugmaat Hun got through one so far. Objective was to go down to Paschendaele for a bit, with Schwarm Eins flying top. Now, as we were circling for height, I looked back and there they were, But I wondered how would I know if they were friend or for if I hadn't been told? I mean, wouldn't it be just wonderful if a saw a plane behind me that was supposed to be ours, but wasn't? Sure enough, down by P, we were flying around some black puffs, and my buddies were behind me, except that you know damn well that it started to shoot at me, and was in fact a Spad that no else seemed too interested in. Got away, and got in line as the rest of my 'friends' were circling to land at the field SW of P., except that there were two more Spads just flying through them, with no one on either side concerned! Two days to patch my wings, I'm told.

Well, here is Mohr Fahnn, Jhastfur's older, wiser and hopefully more successful brother:

On his first combat mission schwarm zwei is tasked with intercepting enemy aircraft spotted on our side of the lines! It seems some bombers were spotted en route to the deodorant factories in Menen, so off we went. Here's our flight patrolling in force:

We patrolled around for quite some time but no one wanted to come out to play. I began to think that after just one mission, this war was going to be a bust! Here's a particularly steely portrait of Mohr:

Could'a been Russell Smith's model for the Red Baron looking so chiseled, eh?
Just when I was sure that no enemy forces were actually going to arrive, some dots appeared over the front headed our way! Better yet, my flight seemed interested in the dots, so off we went. Once we got close enough, turned out the dots were just friendly dots...

So we went home...
So far, alive to tell the tale!

Yeah, it definitely makes sense.



The one I had concentrated on was purple on the TAC, so he was an Ace. For some reason the aces usually come after me.. they must smell the green blood.

June 2, 1917

Phone call in enemy flight spoted inbound to friendly airfield. We have been tasked with intercepting it. We lifted of at 5:12 in the morning! I haven't even had my coffee yet! They shall pay for that! Target are of reports to where they enemy flight is headed is Wasquehal. We made good time heading to the area to find nothing, not a single plane in the sky friend or foe. Our flight leader had us circle for 25 min. before giving the signal to head back home. We landed with no troubles. Next time "Yankee Doodle pigeon" next time.

Ah! Mohr's second flight was more like what I thought the first one would be from the intercept orders. This one was supposed to be escorting reconnaissance, but as soon as we took off we were jumped by about a half dozen or so DH5s. I got the video, but the sound was porked for some reason. I will still show it, as it is reasonably exciting what with me trying not to get shot down, collided with (failed on that attempt), crashed into the deck or killed by our ridiculously persistent a.a.

Here you go:


Long of the short of it, a good day for MFJ1. We shot down 3 of them with no losses to ourselves and Mohr gets his first confirmed kill and his Ehrenbecher!

Added pilot list to first post

Sounds fair. I'll do one more this week then and take a break for reporting

Mission #3 was quite a hairy one in the end. I wasn't sure if I would be having tea with the British for the rest of the war.

It may end up being a 2-part video set. Stay tuned.

Cool! Can't wait

Burk Willitz' June 3rd Mission #3.

Our flight encounters a group of Sopwith Strutter two-seaters and engages.




(Part of my extended tail chase of the second craft was cut to save time.)



Final Outcome:







Q: If I spend 15 days in captivity, or wounded, does that mean that I don't run missions for the same amount of real world time? Or is it still a solid 7 Missions per week? (I didn't do the Eindecker Challenge so I'm not familiar with some of the finer points).

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Outstanding reports and screenies and videos everyone, well done! Nice to see that none of our comrades has fallen as of yet. I'll be getting in some flying today as I was away from my 'mount' all day yesterday.

So then, with this new item of only 7 missions per real world 7 days it would appear that we all will be flying 23 missions regardless of anything that happens in the sim, apart from our pilot actually dying. Also, unless some folks are using the easy settings, (or unless you end up in hospital for extended stays), there will probably be no promotions in only 23 missions. That should tighten up the race considerably and likely result in one or more ties. Any ideas Rick on how a tie will be handled in this event?

Keep flying smart, Gents!

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@ Nefaro

I would say you advance 15 days in sim time (will be done automatically) and keep on flying, but I will let the organisation confirm...

The funny part of this report is that you have landed behind enemy lines, but your plane needs 1 day for repair and workshop is going to work on it right away ! (do they send special teams over at night ?)
You also are requested to fill in a report form for your claims (that you will have to send by mail from the other side ?)

Corsaire, THAT is called German efficience! Mmuahahahahaaa!!!

Baron von Muttley, Burck Willitz, Mohr Fahnn?
The family names you guys are come up with are ridiculous! But funny!

I would have loved to join you guys with MFJ I, as I am from a coastal region
and really feel at home there. But I will be on vacation for two weeks
from 12 May on. I will fly my own MFJ I pilot like a one-man sideshow
and feel related to you guys.

Thanks for clarifying the mission thing. I'm sure the scoring will be tight, so it's good that you thought of that.

My concern about the captured & injured days off is that we score points for how long we survive. So 15 days away would mean an extra +4 (at +2/wk rate) which would end up rewarding us for being shot or captured. Perhaps such days shouldn't be counted towards scoring? Or better yet .... the length of survival should be measured by number of missions completed instead of number of weeks?

Another problem will be people who get more than one kill confirmed at the same time as their first. In these cases, WOFF doesn't reward German pilots with the Goblet "medal" for their first kill as the trigger doesn't fire when they receive more than one on the same day. So the +3 for that one should probably be awarded to anyone with one confirmed kill, amiright?

I suppose we're refining the campaign challenge stuff as it matures? Sorry if I'm over-analyzing but that's how my brain tends to operate. The developers probably cringe when they see me posting in the Tech Issues section.




LOL! Yeah.

I laughed about the repair message after I ended my mission. Considering I parked the thing right between the allied trenches and a long line of barbed wire a ways out in front of it, they must've been a pretty damn good recovery team!

My inspiration for Burk Willitz and his mission of vengeance:

Well, THAT name was obvious of course!
"Willes" is a German family name, by the way. Bruce Willis was even born in Germany,
in Idar-Oberstein. But I wonder "Mohr Fahnn" was coming from?

"Mohr" is an old German word for "negro" - it came from the first dark tanned
men the Europeans had seen back in the days of Crusades; those were "Maures".
But "Fahnn"? No idea what inspired the whole name...

I figured there was a name related to "Willis" in German, but I didn't know how it would be spelled. Now I do!



They were the Moors. That's the English version of the word, anyway. They were the Muslims from North Africa, some of whom were pushed out of Spain in the Reconquista of course. Not sure if they used that term during the Crusades or if it came later, however.

Well any way you look at it, it is "More Fun"

Good flying so far mates! I cant' wait to go through here with a hot cup of tea and really read these all carefully. But right now I only have time to fly and report. Introducing Erich Amsel and his all black Albatros. Amsel translates to blackbird, hence the color of my crate. Amsel is flying naked as they say (no aids), and his first mission of escorting DFW.CVs over the front went off without a hitch...almost.


Mission 1 / 1 June 1917
My 4 mates and I took off from Aetrycke airfield at 0818 hours with a mission to escort DFW.CVs from Bosta 5 over the lines. Things were going well as we provided top cover 1,000 or so feet over our cargo when suddenly I looked down over the side and saw some white craft attacking. Wind through the wires on a spiral down I flew making up ground with every second as I saw a Nieuport 23 circling and chasing one of our 2 seaters.

I maneuvered to get behind him but found the Nieups turn very well indeed. Finally, I got into position until I was so close I could smell his exhaust and ripped some bursts into his tail and body. I fired until I thought we might collide then pulled up at the last second. When I circled about I saw him start to nosedive into the ground and that was it for that scrap. We were right between Passchendaele and St. Julien at this point. No other enemy craft were to be found so I proceeded to climb and find the rest of the DFWs and my mates as well.



I located my mate Osterkamp but none of my other flight were to be found. We located the DFWs again and flew top cover for them for the next 20 minutes or so until we started running low on fuel.



We made our way back without incident but as we descended on our airfield I saw some black puffs down through the clouds. When I got through the clouds I spied a lone DH5. Osterkamp and I gave chase at around 2,000 ft. but we lost him in some heavy, low clouds. When I finally caught his scent again he was close to the lines and too far to pursue. Low on fuel and exhausted we turned back and landed at Aetrycke without incident.

Three of our flight crashed, but we're all alive and we managed to take down two enemy craft. All the DFWs made it back safely I later heard, so first mission accomplished.

I'm dead after mission 2 ; Mission was defend balloon. Formation attacked by Pups . I left formation (mistake). A Pup got on my 6, followed me all the down, I was wounded , landed in no mans land, but died of wounds.

Hey, that's exactly my case and I'm now an ace without a goblet which is kinda sad.

Anyway, since we have everything calculated I think I'll fly my 23 missions while I have time (and if I have the brains to stay alive, of course) because I finished my number 7 today and found it pretty difficult to stop at that point.

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Bad luck pkpowers, but know that your death shall be avenged by your comrades still in the fight.


Karl Heusinger's first mission with MFJ 1 was an intercept flight along the lines down towards Passchendeale. It did NOT go as he had imagined it would, despite the morning being beautiful, clear, and bright.




Midway along Karl and his comrades caught sight of a group of enemy buses returning to the west and they decided to give chase. As they crossed over the lines northeast of Poperinghe the rest of the flight gave up the chase but Karl, likely due to his greenness and youth, continued to close the gap.




He got within gunning range of the trailing enemy two-seater, which he had determined was one of three RE8s, and opened fire. Funny thing about being in gunning range, he quickly learned, was that it works equally well both ways. As his target keeled over in front of him his petrol tank was suddenly holed by shots coming from the remaining two hostile craft and Karl had to quickly turn tail and make for home.




He was losing precious fuel much faster than he'd first realized and when his mount went silent it was all the young flieger could do to glide into No Man's Land, settling down on what he was sure was the friendly side of the trenches.




But a raiding party of Tommies quickly grabbed him and hurried him off to a nearby trench. As luck would have it though, not 30 minutes later a troop of about 50 German soldiers made a raid of their own and freed the young flieger, bringing him back to their own trenches, (along with a lot of souvenirs). Two days later Karl was back at Aertrycke where he learned his plane had been somehow returned to the flugplatz and had been repaired. He'd also had a claim submitted on his behalf for the RE8 he had shot down. German efficiency indeed!


Lou

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Try to be more careful, gentlemen! Otherwise my prediction of you suffering lighter casualties when you don't have to fly Eindeckers will turn out to be completely wrong.

I regret to inform you sir that Erich Amsel has succumbed to wounds received today in a heroic fight near Zemelden. We were tasked to defend the factories there from an incoming flight. Just as we arrived we ran headlong into a flight of 9 Bristol.F2b's. I was quite engaged myself as we were outnumbered by almost double but let me retell what I witnessed.

Amsel engaged with no less than 4 Bristol F2.b's and put bullets into all of them. As they ran for the lines he continued to fire at them - which infuriated those pilots no doubt. Each time they came back to fight he gladly engaged them in some of the most dynamic low level fighting I have ever witnessed. Amsel was noted to have skimmed the tree tops with his craft at least once, yet he continued to fight.

On one occasion, he had an F2.b in his sights and as his bullets hit home, the enemy craft jerked straight up into the air. To my horror I watched Amsel do everything in his power to pull up but then there was a terrible sound which meant only one thing...a collision. His craft did not seem so bad off as compared to the F2.b but nonetheless he could not pull up and went head-first into the ground. He lay not too far from the enemy he had downed. When I landed and examined the wreck it seemed like he might have survived. Yet, as I inched closer I could see that he died with his eyes open and with a curious small smile on his face. It seems odd now, but he appeared contented with his fate.

Amsel fought like a lion, and died like a man. I am saddened to report this sir yet feel honored to have served with him.

Your obedient servant,
Theodor Osterkamp

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So much promise ... so young. Sorry to learn of your flieger's untimely demise Shiloh.

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It's quite alright Lou. Nice job by you in staying out of enemy hands. I'm actually relieved as I'm prepping for final exams and it will be a busy week. This craft doesn't suit my style of fighting anyhow and if I had a nickel for every time I almost stalled it on this last flight, I'd have about $1.15.

Nooo! The disappearances have begun in earnest. The enemy two-seaters seem to be the most deadly at the moment.


I fear that my capture & escape may only be a short reprieve from a future, more permanent, fate.

Wow, if I'd known all this was going to go down at night for me, I never would have gone to bed...



Yeah, 7 mission per real week tops, wounded, grounded whatever you don't need to stop if you have less than 7



That's right, it was the same system last time, only you were the only one to make it that far!
My gut feeling is that there are enough wildcards built into the scoring system and the randomness of sim life itself that a tie is pretty unlikely. If it does come up, we can have a fly off or something like that. Sudden death with Morane Parasols at 1000 yards...


Olham, we are ending on May 11th!!! We would have loved to have you!


Robert got it; More Fun
His brother's name from the last challenge was Jhastfur Fahnn. Say that one out loud and think of the English words...


In real life, survival was a reward, so I wanted that to count for something. If you weren't captured, you would do something like 10 or more missions in those two weeks, so you would get more points for that. It's another little sim wild card that we just have to deal with.
Good point on the cup. There seems to be still a bug for how medals trigger. The first one we can tell for sure, but the others not so much. Let's shelve this one for now and discuss it as the challenge gets closer to the end...


Most definitely!



Well, obviously we won't know when you fly them and it is hard to stop when you are on a roll! Be careful though, that is when it is easy to drift into "just one more kill" mode and make a mistake! I fly a few and then take some time to live vicariously though all the other great stories on here. Good work guys and keep it up!

@pkpowers and Shiloh, no shame in an early death, you put up the good fight! Who knows what young Voss or Mannock, Richtofen or Nungesser never got a chance to shine because they were unfortunately cut down after only a few missions!

Wow, I think I got through all the posts!


edit: Oh Shiloh, I wanted to mention your last picture. That's like lawn dart brutal! If you're gonna go, you went out about as hard as you could!

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"If it does come up, we can have a fly off or something like that. Sudden death with Morane Parasols at 1000 yards..."

Brutal. I like it, it speaks to the masochist in me.

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Thanks, I feel honoured - but my MFJ-I pilot flies earlier than you guys; in May 1917.
I'll continue him as a side-show to your deeds. I guess your end it's harder - with
the real nasty planes like the Brisfit and the Camel.



Ouch!
Well, almost - but not really. With German writing it would have to be something like
"Dschust Forfann" and "Mohr Fann". The "h" makes it a loooong "a".

Horst Spieler just finished mission #5 and downed an N23 for his first kill.

Just click on the following link to see my progress:
Horst Spieler's Revenge - Ongoing Career Progress

Don't forget that the "RED TEXT" is a clickable link in all my posts so don't forget to check them out because they hold all the journal text.

June 3, 1917

Flight B was to patrol enemy lines. As we where climbing for altitude a flight of 5 Morane L's came flying by. Our leader made no attempt to engage these planes. So I dove out of formation to attack the group alone. One of the observers hit me and my fuel tank I was soon out of fuel and hurt so I glided back down to the field and managed to land safely. I now must spend 10 days in the hospital.



So to under stand the rules can I still fly 4 more missions for this week or do I wait till next week before I fly again?

@ Robert Wiggins :

Didn't notice before, but it looks like my pilot has a twin brother ...
When shooting the Nupe, you almost got the wings in your teeth ! There was another close call during the earlier fight.
Well done !

@ Leadtail :

You can keep flying 4 missions, it's only sim time which will advance 10 days.

Mission 1: Escort mission, six in flight. We got to the rendezvous but no two seaters. We circled for about 20 minutes headed in the direction they would be taking. Near Haggonmuller I noticed a fight going on down below to our left. Diving in I spotted a lone Pup trying to get out of the action. I went after him and soon wondered what was up because this pilot was good! We had a turning battle with a few head to head runs but I could not hit the mark. Finally saw pieces fly off his plane on the last head on pass and when I turned 3 of my flight went on him like vultures! He spun into the ground in a heap. The fight all over we headed home without any other enemy being sighted.

Thanks CXorsaire! Did you notice I ducked my head into the cockpit on reflex?

Too close for comfort as in the song!

Flugmaat Karl "Schnurrbart" Muller
3April 1892, Hamburg



Total Flight Time: 23 minutes

Notes: engine failure x2

Sorry to hear 2 of our brethren have fallen. Otto von Fair has flown 6 missions with 6 confirmed kills. As soon as I get my screenshots sorted out I will post missions 2 through 6. Having a great time on a rainy Sunday!

Some great AARs folks! My condolences to the fallen and well done to those still alive!

Kind regards,
Dave

June 2nd. Otto von Fair. Mission 2 was Patrol Friendly area. 5 in Flight. Spotted 2 Nieuports closing on 2 of our 2 seaters north of Lille. Dove on them and they climbed to attack. I got on the tail of 1 and sent him to the ground in a spin. My flight got the other and we returned home a happy bunch as we had lost 2 pilots on the 1st mission.

Otto von Fair, June 3
We received a call for incoming HA. climbing into our crates we quickly climbed out. Over St. Maria-Aalter I spotted 5 Spads at 11 oclock and 6 Neiuports at 2 oclock at our elevatin. Boy, is this going to be fun! We attacked the Spads as they were a bit closer. After a few turns the Neiups joined the fight. What happened next is pretty much a blur. Turn, climb, short bust at fleeting target, avoid collision, shoot again, check my tail....Wow! Then all of a sudden everyone had had enough and turned for home. I was pretty sure I had downed 1 or 2 but upon returning to base no one saw a plane go down! On the other hand, none of ours had gone down either so it was a good day.

Otto von Fair, June 4th. Patrol Enemy Lines. Uneventful flight.
June 5th, 7 in flight. Intercept mission. Climbed out and intercepted 7 Spads 6 miles east of Diksmulde. Claimed 2 on this mission.
June 6th. We were to patrol our airfields. We intercepted 3 FE2's near Ostende. Closing in from below and behind my guns jam. I manage to clear 1 gun and sent one down in flames. Closed in on the next one and he exploded in mid air nearly causing me to mess my flightsuit!. The third was a sitting duck for my last rounds in the unjammed gun and he exploded as well.

Well I have spent the day flying my 7 missions. All is good with Otto so far. I will be looking forward to seeing all of your progress and reading you flight reports and will be rooting for you all from the back of a horse the rest of the week!

BTW... Congratulations on reaching Ace MFair!

I'm not sure what everyone's kill total is at the moment, but you must be in or near the lead.



I need to remember to occasionally post a screenshot of my pilot's personnel page. Unfortunately he hasn't had his three claims confirmed yet, even after two weeks of vacation with the British. *Taps feet*

Notes of Flugmaat Hermann Schuster - Aertrycke Flugplatz - June 2, 1917

This afternoon, HQ has decided we should show our strength to the Brits. Schwarm zwei, still under command of Oblt zur See Paul Kunstler is about to take off with 7 planes, while Schwarm eins, led by Oblt zur See Bertram Heinrich will follow us with 7 other planes. We are tasked with the defense of our Drachen west of Passchendaele. Feeling safe to be surrounded by 13 other pilots, I take off at 15:20 as number 6 of Schwarm zwei, with Flugmaat Kaspar Winkler as Rottenflieger. Weather is almost the same as yesterday, with only 3 knots of wind. There are still some scattered clouds at 2000m, but we can see much more blue sky. We form up with five planes in a forward wedge and our two planes trailing. We climb near the sea until we are above the clouds and fly towards the two Drachen close to the front. I can see Schwarm eins right behind us flying in the same formation. I guess the bad guys will think twice before attacking us ! It only takes a few minutes to reach the front and we follow it down to Passchendaele, overflying the two Drachen. I think we are going to turn around to patrol the front some more, but suddenly all the Albatros in front of me go to a trail formation and take the landing pattern above Passchendaele airfield. Probably our leader had some problem and want it fixed before returning to Aertrycke... I look behind to see what Schwarm eins is doing, but can't see any of them, could be a cloud is between us ! I land with the other
planes of the Schwarm. No encounter with enemy planes for the second mission.

We will return later to Aertrycke and discover that Schwarm eins had left the mission path to engage some enemy planes over the front. Flugmeister Alrich Hauber has not made it back yet and is reported missing, Flugmeister Carl-August Holck has been killed, and Oberflugmeister Gotthard Sachsenberg had to make a crash landing in our lines and is only lightly wounded, although his Albatros is utterly destroyed. Three other planes will need a couple of days to be able to fly again. Noone of the returning pilots has claimed a victory.

Not a good day for MFJ-1, the show of strength did not turn out as the HQ had expected !

Well, missions #3 and #4 were uneventful for Mohr Fahnn.
Mission 3 was a jaunt to the south of Kortrijk. The exhaust from our engines made it hard to see the field:


Schwarm Zwei had 8 planes take off and one turned back with engine trouble, but that left a considerable force of 7 Albatri to be reckoned with.

Still, we returned with no enemy contact...

With mission 4, we even poked our noses out at the front lines trying to entice the Entente forces to come play as we made our way to Roubaix. Still nothing though, which was hardly surprising I guess, as we were out in staffel strength. 15 Albatros DIIIs would make anybody think twice about getting out of bed. The only other thing I saw in the skies were the thunderheads we had been warned about in the weather reports:

Finally after 78 minutes of flight time, we returned home:

Oberflugmaat Hun is dead. In the 2nd mission, he lasted maybe 30 seconds in his first dogfight before being shredded by a pup. That's actually longer than I expected, given that I got shot down during QC practice every time. Seriously, how do you fight with a plane that only turns one way?

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Don't try to turn with him. Yo-yos work quite well to keep yourself above him while allowing you regular gun solutions. Sorry to hear of the loss of your pilot, loftyc.

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Horst Spieler just finished mission #6 No enemy encountered except a software problem with "sticky Keys" assignment which bumped me out of the WOFF screen with WOFF still running. Fortunately I was on autopilot but I lost the tailing end of my vid capture. When I got back into WOFF my mission ended safely with me returning to base but the debrief said I was still in the air when the mission ended. I HATE those damned "STICKY KEYS". I've got to find a way to disable it.

Just click on the following link to see my progress:
Horst Spieler's Revenge - Ongoing Career Progress

Don't forget that the "RED TEXT" is a clickable link in all my posts so don't forget to check them out because they hold all the journal text.

I was being a good boy and following my leader, figuring there must be a good reason why he was taking the particular path he was when the pups came in. And they just plain flew circles around us. Well, at least around me, anyway; I can't say I have any clue what might have been happening anywhere else. I decided to leave my formation and try to save myself, but too late: a pup was already on my six, and I may have heard him laugh at my meager 'maneuvering' to try to lose him. His first burst blew up the engine, blew off all the wings, and hit me. Pretty anticlimactic.

Sorry to see I end LoftyC. Well now you can spend more time in QC working on your technique. You will figure it out I'm sure. You can't turn with them so just don't go that route. Like Lou said, break in shallow dive and use your energy to gain alt. Your turns should be elliptical with intention of keeping him in front of you as you come down on him and if he passes you use your energy to climb. If you have lots of energy then go over the top in loop and come back down on him and repeat if necessary you need to keep the energy and height advantage. It's hard for me to describe it properly but I hope you get the gist of it.

Also loftyc, you may want to check your joystick sensitivities in the workshop. I had a much easier time not stalling after I lowered the sensitivity a bit. And make sure that you are up to date on patches? The Albatros FM got an update a few weeks ago and most people say that the climbing tendencies have been reduced quite a bit. Let us know if we can help anymore...

Hmm, Mohr Fahnn is not living up to his name... So far he is Lehs Fahnn...
Mission #5 Balloon defense!

Sounds like there should be some action, huh? I mean, who wouldn't want to send our juicy sausage down in flames right? Well, first of all, the front that was threatening yesterday showed up today, so the weather was miserable:

Nevertheless, the balloon needed defense, so off we went. At 11,000 feet we leveled off and headed southeast, skirting the front lines towards the Balloon about 15 miles north of Lille.

At about the halfway point, suddenly Oberflugmeister Knustler and his wingman dove away to the west. Thinking this might be a fight, I looked all around for some possible enemy scouts but saw nothing. By this time they had dove into a cloud and I could not find them. Not having anything better to do but still feeling saucy, I headed south towards the balloon. About 15 minutes later, I could see it below me. A single a/c was above it. Approaching cautiously, I was surprised to see it was Alex Kulbe, our high cover from Schwarm Eins. Amazingly, we arrived at the balloon at almost exactly the same time. I took up position on his wing and we circled above the drachen for about 20 minutes:

If there were any enemies in the area, we didn't see them and they apparently didn't see us. After burning some gas and making some pretty circles in the sky, we headed home, thoroughly soaked from the rain...

June 13th 1917

After 17 mins of flight I had a runtime error and game crashed. It does show up in my pilot dossier as a completed flight. This is the first time I have had this error. Do I refly a mission on this same day or advance it a day?