Heh, I will gladly comply with your request, OldHat, when I get home from work. I have one from late last night that had me speaking some of the choicer German vocabulary words...

If I wanted to see people crashing into the ground, I'd just fly the sim myself. LOL

Ok. Just wanted to make sure that I'm not missing any tricks on how to become immortal.

OK, by request, here's one for OldHat where things do not go smoothly. Watch me completely botch a diving attack on a Roland CII (Which speaks well to Hellshade's comments about the futility of diving in the other thread...) I already have rear gunners set to "Less Accurate", but SERIOUSLY?!? I have to quote Inigo Montoya and query
This guy can fire on a ring more accurately than I can firing forward in my plane... I thought that was the whole point of putting your gun on the front of the plane in the first place...

I guess they need a "Super Weeny Hut Jr." setting for rear gunners for me!



Oh, and even thought the guy was clearly going down, I didn't get credit for him, probably because I quit in a huff before he actually touched down...

I use the blip the same way you did when doing a steep dive in addition to a slip sometimes. You seemed determind to bring this guy down at all costs.... I assume you would have continued the chase if you hadn't run out of fuel.

Oh yeah, after he hit me from that distance and that angle, I was prepared to go Khan on his keister! If I could have set off my own little Genesis device sitting in my cockpit, I would've reconfigured the European matrix right there!

The continuing service of Ernst Ziegler:



18 Mar 1917 @ 07h37 Ballon defense south of St-Quentin

We had clear weather with winds 3 kn from the south. I lead the flight with Sturn, Boevers, Huber, and Mehlig accompanying. “eins” flight sent Berr, Schneider, Theiler, Nathanael and Bussing to follow as top cover.

The flight to the balloon was quiet and uneventful but after having circled the area twice, 5 FE2b showed up and I gave the signal to attack. I sent the first one down smoking and then Boevers and Huber made a run each taking one down. Sturm got another but must have taken some damage as he broke off and I suspected was headed for the nearest aerodrome at Fontaine-Uterte. I heavily damaged another and saw Mehlig give chase.
Having destroyed all the enemy craft I signaled to reform and we circled until that had been accomplished. Suddenly “eins” flight showed up about 2 thousand feet above us. Just as we regained formation and started to continue our mission, 5 more FE2b’s showed up directly in front of us and at the same altitude. I lead the flight sharply down and under them and then came up on their six. We pressed the attack again. I heavily damaged one sending it smoking into a wide circle but took some damage from the front gunner. I cursed myself for staying too high and offering him a parting shot. Huber, Melig and Boevers accounted for one more and finished off the one I damaged. The other FE2b’s headed for the lines. I sensed my engine was running a little rough and suspected it had taken some damage. We reformed up and headed for home but just as I was approaching the road from St-Quentin to Guise, I knew I would not make it back to the nearest aerodrom and so signaled I was going down. I planned to land on the road headed east and did so successfully but somewhat shaken by the landing.

When I got back to base I learned that Sturn had forced landed and was shook up, Huber had taken some light damage requiring 2 days repair and Mehlig had crash landed and was killed. My own Albatros required 2 days to repair bullet damage to the port wing and engine. Mehlig would be sorely missed and had two confirmed kills from this mission. In all we took down 7 of the 10 FE2b’s we encountered but suffered some damage in the process and one loss of life.

YouTube Video:

Nice mission, Robert. I especially liked the long, relaxed tracking shot of the take-off, The FE2b's seemed reluctant to engage. You'd make a run at them and come around for another and they'd still be in formation, tho' I guess they did get some shots in. Your landing took me by surprise. I thought you had just throttled back and were scanning below for stragglers/cripples, and then, suddenly, the prop stopped.

EZ does it mate. Thought you were going to buy the farm on the landing. Nice video.

Thanks, Hauksbee and MfFair.

The landing was the easy part it was coming to a stop that was difficult because the ground suddenly dropped off on the right and I had to fight the tendency to follow it or I might have hit the proverbial fence. I was hoping to stay on the road, but nature took control.

Nice video Robert! Bravo for avoiding the KBF (Killed By Fence). I was surprised your Kette was not right there with you on your first pass. When you circled left and nobody was there tearing into the Lords, I'd let them know about it once I got back to the Staffel.

Just putting it back on Page#1...

Well, initially I wanted to make a Video, that enables a direct Comparison of the Fokker D7 and the SE5a for the upcoming Challenge... it became a Video, that is more for "Entertainment Purpose"
...don't ask me, what exactly happend at the SE5a-Flight in the Beginning... everything happened so fast...
Enjoy

I think the two D.VII's tried to jink out of the way of your fire and collided. Your upper wing obscured the action. Anyway, two good fights against difficult (at best) opponents. I especially liked the artillery duels happening on the ground.

This I call "Head-to-Head Dead". I decided to see which is better, the Dr.1 or the Sopwith Tripe? We met at 12,000 ft. and one mile apart. That distance closed with astonishing rapidity and the two of us just blazed away. I was sure we'd collided, then my first impression was "What the hell was that?" followed by "Where'd he go?" I checked six, and there he was.
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Crank up the volume on this and enjoy!




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Lou, very sweet remote flying, and excellent composition and choice of music!

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Thanks Robert, glad you enjoyed it. Don't know if you noticed, but by the end of the fight, (which lasted close to 15 minutes), my gaming rig was so taxed that I was getting a bit of cloud artifacting as can be seen a couple of times in the last minute or so of the video. I was equally taxed by the end of the fight as well.

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Beautiful piece of work, Lou. 'Great shifting POV 'twixt cockpit and sky. We don't see a lot of long shots. As Robert Wiggins noted, terrific remote flying. Also you lucked into a great 'weather-day'. The clouds formed a perfect bowl-shaped arena for the fight. And it came to a good end. There'd been a good deal of distance-shooting, but not much effect visible. But the last fight solved that. You latched onto him and he couldn't shake you off. He starts to smoke. And then, suddenly, he explodes and the fuselage falls away from the wings! That was a shocker. A thoroughly satisfying encounter. (Hauksbee)

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Thanks Hauksbee, glad you enjoyed it as well. Yes, that explosion at the end startled the bejeebers out of me when it happened.

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