Good day folks. Last night I had one of the most hair raising moments, or the latest one anyway, that I can remember. Flying a Pup in May 1917 we were tasked with destroying a balloon southeast of Monchy. I was flying #3 in a flight of 4 armed with rockets. All went well with no contact while descending toward the target. About 5 miles away at about 10,000' I looked around and my wingman and #4 were gone. The flight leader was still headed toward the balloon. I kept looking around and soon saw 5 planes mixing it up behind me and at a little lower altitude. 3 against 2 so figured I would even things up. I peppered one and he went packing. Above, my mate was going round with a DIII so in I went and scored some hits. He went down and away with my mate after him. Looking around again I found my other mate in a tangle with the third one. I went to join and was soon on his tail. My accuracy is about 24% but with the new head shake it is more spray and pray. Close on his tail and shooting in long bursts he finally nosed over and went down. I pulled up and before I could have a good look around tracers fly by my head and audible hits on my machine can be heard.
Now it gets real interesting. I find myself in a circle with 5 DIII's about a mile the other side of the lines. "this might be it" me thinks! We circle and circle. I finally get a line on one and when I press the trigger there is dead silence. Out of ammo! This is not good! While circling around with the 5 wondering how in the world I can get out of this mess it dawned on me I still have my rockets. During the next few circles I pulled back hard on the stick until my machine was pointing in their direction and let loose with my rockets. I didn't hit anything but they scattered like a covey of quail! I took that moment to head west at full throttle and even remembered to hit "full rich" on the mixture as we had lost altitude. They did not stay scattered for long and 4 soon were gaining on me. I would turn and go head to head with them, narrowly missing a collision, wing over and head west again. I lost count of how many times I did this, gaining a few yards west each time. On one bluff when I turned into them and came around I saw two of them have a slight collision. One went down and the other left. Now I am left with 2. One of them soon gives up but the last one will not give up. I finally reached out trenches and the ground fire sent him back home. Once safely across the lines and no EA in sight I let out a sigh and noticed my stick hand was cramping up. Swapped hands for a bit and made it back to our field.
I learned upon landing that my wingman and one of my flight mates would not be coming home. The other, an HA was wounded but will be back.
You got to love this Sim!
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
#4349002 - 04/04/1704:16 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Joined: Jun 2012 Posts: 7,993Robert_Wiggins
BWOC Survivor!...So Far!!
Don't you just love those moments!! Nice report Sir, I enjoyed it thoroughly!
Last edited by Robert_Wiggins; 04/04/1704:18 PM.
(System_Specs)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper PSU: Ultra X3,1000-Watt MB: Asus Maximus VI Extreme Mem: Corsair Vengeance (2x 8GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, Unbuffered CPU: Intel i7-4770K, OC to 4.427Ghz CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Cooler Vid Card: ASUS GTX 980Ti STRIX 6GB OS and Games on separate: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD Monitor: Primary ASUS PG27AQ 4k; Secondary Samsung SyncMaster BX2450L Periphs: MS Sidewinder FFB2 Pro, TrackIR 4
#4349104 - 04/04/1711:29 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Great story! I agree with the 'head shake' change. The 'head shake' definitely changes how I shoot, now. I used to use the open sights (or the telescopic sight on Allied birds) but not any more. It's too hard to line them up. I shoot like I do archery. It's a Zen kind of thing. Sorry to get off topic but is there a way to reduce the 'head shake'?
Last edited by ARUP; 04/05/1712:36 AM.
#4349121 - 04/05/1701:20 AMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 3,727Rick_Rawlings
Senior Member
Thank you for the comments Gents! I don't know if anyone ever used rockets against a flock of Albatri but it was the only trick in the bag. Rick, I checked my accuracy for this pilot and it is down to 14%! see you all in the skies.
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
#4349260 - 04/05/1703:38 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Joined: Oct 2011 Posts: 740Ace_Pilto
Livestreamer/YouTuber
Sorry to get off topic but is there a way to reduce the 'head shake'?
Robert Wiggins created a JSGME mod that allows you to easily adjust it. Or you can just entirely eliminate it by changing the "headshake" value in the file to zero, which is what I've done. You can find it on Sandbagger's mods site: http://www.thatoneplease.co/indexWOFF.html
Its the "WOFF UE custom settings for the d3d8.dll file" one, quite a ways down the page.
#4349364 - 04/05/1709:14 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
#4349392 - 04/05/1711:29 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Joined: May 2012 Posts: 4,879RAF_Louvert
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
RAF_Louvert
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
L'Etoile du Nord
.
Ripping good yarn MFair, describing another one of those white-knuckle rides this wonderful sim is famous for.
Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked. _________________________________________________________________________
Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
#4349459 - 04/06/1712:35 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Great write up - I have posted before about Sir Gordon Taylor's write up in his book Sopwith Scout 7309 with a similar situation, many Albatros aircraft and all he could do is out turn them whilst in his Pup low over the lines, and try to gain a little ground towards home on each turn. He was also very lucky though as he had tail damage but stil made it back as his mechanic had fitted extra tail controls (without his knowledge).. Great stuff!
#4349612 - 04/06/1711:43 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Joined: Jan 2013 Posts: 157RAF28Jenks
Barmy Aviator Ordinaire'
RAF28Jenks
Barmy Aviator Ordinaire'
Member
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 157
Kentucky
Riveting Read Mfair! Thanks for sharing. Too often (well, few and far between when it happens) I fail to share some interesting tales of my own. However its nice to see others are! Gotta watch those close scrapes!!! Statistics will catch up with you and one day it'll be a hard smash!
RAF28Jenks
RBWL 3 - 2002
#4349686 - 04/07/1701:01 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Thanks Gents. But the real question is did anyone ever use rockets against other aircraft! Jenks, yes, statistics will catch up with me, they always do!
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
#4349802 - 04/07/1710:59 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 3,727Rick_Rawlings
Senior Member
Wait, are you asking if any historical pilot ever used rockets, or if it's possible to use rockets successfully in game? If it's the former, I don't know. If it's the latter...
The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
[quote=Rick_Rawlings]Wait, are you asking if any historical pilot ever used rockets, or if it's possible to use rockets successfully in game? If it's the former, I don't know. If it's the latter...
Well I think, one of your bullets richochet off of the side of a rocket and hit him in the vitals!! Excellent deflection technique Rick!!
Ok, Ok, I can't prove it, so I will abide by your judgement!!
(System_Specs)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper PSU: Ultra X3,1000-Watt MB: Asus Maximus VI Extreme Mem: Corsair Vengeance (2x 8GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, Unbuffered CPU: Intel i7-4770K, OC to 4.427Ghz CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Cooler Vid Card: ASUS GTX 980Ti STRIX 6GB OS and Games on separate: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD Monitor: Primary ASUS PG27AQ 4k; Secondary Samsung SyncMaster BX2450L Periphs: MS Sidewinder FFB2 Pro, TrackIR 4
#4349866 - 04/08/1712:33 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
I read somewhere that Albert Ball once let his Le Prieur go at a formation of Albatri and broke up the formation without hitting anything. To my knowledge that's the only use not involving a captive balloon or airship.
#4350228 - 04/10/1703:05 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: Raine]
I read somewhere that Albert Ball once let his Le Prieur go at a formation of Albatri and broke up the formation without hitting anything. To my knowledge that's the only use not involving a captive balloon or airship.
Thank you Sir! I was wondering if it had happened in real life. Nice to know. Had never used them against planes before but it was my only option and was in a bit of a pickle!
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from either end. BOC Member since....I can't remember!
#4350259 - 04/10/1704:53 PMRe: Still another WOFF moment.
[Re: MFair]
This question reminded me of an after action report I read back in 1982. A British battalion during the Falkland War came under air to surface attack from Argentinian jets. They had not landed their AA weapons yet and found that their most effective defense was firing paraflares in volleys. The Jets broke away, not wanting to suck a flare into their intakes.
I've wondered why HD fighters didn't use LePrieurs to break up Gotha formations over England.