Thanks, Banjoman. Just to clarify, I sometimes get tired on the "promotion from the ranks" story for RFC pilots. Sgt pilots were more common earlier in the war, and it seems in 2 seater squadrons, although that's just an impression.

So I sometimes start my pilots as a 2Lt in my stories, even though in the game and in my DiD campaign stats he remains a sergeant. He then stays a 2Lt until his promotion to Lt in the game.

I read somewhere that by mid 1917 there were only about three operational NCO pilots in the RFC in France. The Germans and French had many, and I don't think the USAS had any.

Though I don't have time to participate in the DID, I still enjoy reading the reports you guys write. As usual, they have been very entertaining. Too bad you lost another pilot, Raine. Maybe the new one will make it through the war?

Regarding ranks, NCO pilots were indeed rare in British service, and all the American pilots were officers. However, the French and German air forces did have lots of NCOs, as did the Austrians (who obviously aren't included in WOFF). So historically speaking, it would make a lot of sense to allow some freedom when choosing the rank of your pilot.

I agree that some flexibility in choice of rank would be welcome.

Flt Sub-Lt Benjamin Kincaid

After several uneventful patrols, I began to feel a little more relaxed flying my machine. The skill and calm demeanor of chaps like Kiwi and Army had me feeling almost confident. It was with this confidence that I set out on an afternoon patrol.

It was a nice easy jaunt to the lines, with us schedule to patrol our side. It seemed the Huns were content to let me ease back into the war, as I once again saw nothing but empty sky around the patrol route.

I was just about to turn the flight back to the aerodrome when I spotted two specks on the horizon heading East. We manouvered closer to inspect and sure enough it was a pair of Hun two-seaters scamming back across the lines with valuable information about our boys on the ground.

Nothing for it but to tally-ho and all that non-sense. I signalled to the flight and turned towards the enemy machines, taking care to approach from behind and below like the more experienced chaps said.

I was tense and nervous, sweating profusely as I closed within range of the first hun. I dont believe either of them saw me, and I kicked the nose of my camel up at the belly of the beast.

I sprayed bullets all over the sky like the amature I am, but enough found the mark and off he went spinning downwards. I was quite excited and manoeuvred under the second one who had done nothing to save his comrade. Once again I kicked the nose up, but this time in my tense excitement I made a critical error.

I zoomed up past the craft and exposed myself to the gunner at point blank range. A child could have hit me. For what seemed like an eternity I hung in that moment, waiting for the pain and darkness to claim me.

The first rou d took me through the right thigh. The second through the right arm. The third round passes through my cheek, and out the other side, somehow missing my teeth, but spraying my goggles with crimson.

I wrenched the controls and put the Camel through motions that were unnatural and desperate. The whole craft creaked in protest and I was flung around the cockpit like a rag doll. I lost several thousand feet before regaining control.

Then my motor cut out. I was bleeding heavily and felt myself slipping away. I dove as quickly as I dared and managed to find a road. As I came in for a deadstick landing, I saw the row of trees, the only gap a few meters wide where the road cut through. I screamed towards the gap, and passd through, inches from catastrophe.

I passed out as I felt the wheels touch down. When I came to, I was on a hospital tent with the cruelest looking nurse standing over me. Looks like no flying until the end of October. Guess it is back to the Adjts desk for me until I can regain my strength!

No problem here. I'm in it for the love of the sim and the company!

Nice story Canucks..nail biting!! I could almost feel those wounds!

Yes I am ok with freedom to choose appropriate rank.
Just not sure of the impact on scoring. Maybe that's really not an issue. It certainly isn't to me.

Crud, I forgot about scoring. I don't think anybody really cares about the scoring, I could be wrong, but it just feels that way. I'm going to make an executive decision and say that if you are starting a new British or American pilot you can start at a more appropriate rank and since the French and Germans had NCO pilots we will just leave it the same for those guys. Does that sound ok to everybody? I'll figure something out for the scoring when this situation actually presents itself or as my dad always used to say, "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

Fine with me Bud. I don't really look at the score either. I marvel at number of missions and hours of flight time. Since you may or may not use certain aids while flying and I may or may not use those same aids, scoring is a mute point to me. Just my 2 cents worth. Unlike Playboy, I like reading the stories.

Banjoman: Its ok by me anything U want.

Helmute von Hammer
Jasta 4, JG 1
Macrke , France.


Sep 30th 1917.


I got the new ride painted and took it up for a little Test ride. On the Board for Oct 2nd flight. I heard that Lt. Kluggerman got another one. How many does that make 20 ? in the big fight on the 28th.

https://media.giphy.com/media/3ov9k4DYNvmOIBuNfW/source.mp4

Carrick, I like the traditional approach to the paint scheme. Very well done and believable!

Why thank you , Mr wiggins. I was going to add a lot of colors, but got lazy. I figured that I would use the KISS principle. ( Keep it simple stupid )

Dark Canuck, nice story Bud! At least you are still alive with such terrible wounds.

Carrick, be careful in that new machine.

Edgar Everheart
Mint-St-Eloi

Patrolling friendly territory was a break for 8RNAS. The last few days were barn burners. Yesterday "A" Flight had escorted 3 bombers SE of Monchy and had run into 3 different Hun Squads as far as the markings showed. Edgar was sure he had knocked out 3 but with clouds and the fog of war no one had seen anything.

At 10,000 ft. SW of Arras he spotted 5 machines in a V formation 1000' below headed east. Diving down they turned out to be a flight of Albatros Scouts with green tail surfaces. It was a wild fight. Two near mid air collisions shook Edgar but he finally damaged one with a black and white checkerboard on the side of his fuselage. The Hun tried to disengage but it was no use. After a long burst from Edgar's guns he nosed over and crashed in NML. Pulling up, Little formed up with Edgar and gave him the thumbs up. Victory number 32.

Albert Earl Godfrey

2 Jun 1917 @ 06h01 Patrol to our lines east of Arras

Brief report (no time for details):

"B" flight Godfrey, Berkeley (Wing), Molesworth, Soden, Pope
"A" flight Scott, Caldwell, Horn, Fry (A flight to assist)

Approaching the lines Godfrey spotted 3 Roland CII coming west. "B" flight intercepted
Godfrey damaged two and Berkeley and Pope shot two down. The third had run for home early in the melee.

On way home two more 3 Roland CII's returning home. "A" flight intercepted and downed all.
Fry got 2 and Rutherford the other.

Godfrey, Soden, Scott, Fry and Rutherford all had light damage with 2 days repair

Here is the report for last week's activities. Robert, the numbers you posted look off because they are lower than what you posted last week. I went ahead and added them but you should probably check and if they are you can just correct the next time.

That is quite a ride, lederhosen

Thanks for the stats Banjoman.
I don't mind either way. Whatever you come up with the ranks is fine with me. I personally prefer to start with the lowest rank and claw my way up, even if not historically accurate.

News of the World for the Intrepid Fliers - May 1917:

May 1
The Polish Council of State presented demands to the Central Powers regarding the creation of an independent Poland.
May 2
The first USA destroyer flotilla arrived at Queenstown in Cork, Ireland.
May 3
The Third Battle of the Scarpe and the Second Battle of Bullecourt began during the Arras Offensive.
May 4
French forces captured Craonne on the Chemin des Dames ridge.
May 5
A major military engagement was fought between the forces of the Central Powers and the Entente near Vardar as part of the Allied Spring Offensive, designed to break the stalemate on the Macedonian Front.
May 7
With support from Australian troops part of Bullecourt was seized by the British.
May 8
Germans recaptured Fresnoy on the Arras front.
May 9
French, Russian and Serbian troops launched a coordinated offensive in Macedonia, but Bulgarian and German defenders repulsed them.
May 10
Major General John J. Pershing was appointed to command the United States Expeditionary Force.
May 11
British and French war commissioners paraded down Fifth Avenue in America to celebrate the United States' entry into the war. The slogan "Show your colours" brought forth a patriotic flurry of Union Jacks, Tricolores and Stars and Stripes.
May 12
The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo began when once again Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops battled each other along the Isonzo River.
May 14
The German Zeppelin L22 was destroyed in the North Sea by a British flying boat during a reconnaissance mission.
May 15
Fourteen British drifters were sunk in the Otranto Straits when British and Austrian naval forces clashed.
Philippe Petain replaced Robert Nivelle as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army. He was tasked with turning back an imminent German offensive and quelling the mutinies in the French army.
May 17
Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Germany.
Following fierce German resistance the Second Battle of Bullecourt ended. Few of the initial objectives had been met.
May 18
The Compulsory Service Act became law in the United States. All American men aged 21-30 had to register for the draft.
May 19
The United States Government announced it would send a Division of the US Army to France.
May 20
Thanks to the actions of the French Commander-in-Chief, Philippe Petain, a month of sporadic mutinies in the French army came to an end.
May 21
British troops captured the Siegfried line from Bullecourt to one mile east of Arras.
May 22
Brigadier-General Nash succeeded Sir Eric Geddes as Director-General of Transportation.
Count Istvan Tisza resigned as Prime Minister of Hungary.
May 24
The British Royal Navy introduced a newly created convoy system, whereby all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would travel in groups under the protection of the British navy.
May 25
Heavy casualties were sustained in a German aeroplane raid on Folkestone, Kent on the southeast coast of England.
May 26
HMS Dover Castle was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-67 in the Mediterranean en route from Malta to Gibraltar.
May 28
An Anglo-French conference in London discussed the deposition of King Constantine of Greece and considered the occupation of Athens and Thessaly.
May 29
The French liner SS Yarra was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC-74 near Kreta in Greece.
May 30
The South African military commander General Jacob van Deventer succeeded Major General Reginald Hoskins in command of British forces in East Africa.

(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)

News of the World for Warbirds Rising - September 1917:

September 1
German forces attacked the northernmost end of the Russian front during the Riga offensive.
September 2
German troops attacked and crossed the Dvina bridgehead on the Eastern Front.
German Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and other conservatives founded the Fatherland Party to oppose peace initiatives.
September 3
German bombers raided the Chatham naval station in Kent resulting in over 200 casualties.
September 4
German submarines shelled Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast of England.
September 5
German forces captured the strategic port of Riga as Russian troops retreated and evacuated the city.
September 6
Sun Yat-sen became the Generalissimo of the Military Government of Nationalist China.
September 7
The Harland and Wolff built ocean liner SS Minnehaha sank after being torpedoed by German submarine U-48 off the Fastnet Rock.
September 8
General Lavr Kornilov headed a revolt against the Russian Provisional Government and organised a march on Petrograd.
September 9
French Prime Minister Alexandre Felix Joseph Ribot resigned after losing the support of the Socialists.
September 10
Alexander Kerensky assumed the dictatorship of Russia and issued a proclamation declaring Lavr Kornilov a traitor.
September 11
The first party of British POWs were repatriated through Switzerland and reached England.
September 12
The Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo ended when the attack was halted. Italian troops had captured five mountain peaks before the offensive petered out and the Austro-Hungarians eventually held their positions.
Paul Painleve replaced Alexandre Ribot as Prime Minister of France.
September 14
General Lavr Kornilov was arrested at Mogilev, accused of plotting the overthrow of the Provisional Government.
September 15
The Provisional Government proclaimed a Russian Republic under Alexander Kerensky.
September 17
The British steamer SS Queen Amelia was first stopped by gunfire from the German submarine U-95 and finally sunk by a torpedo from UB-62.
September 20
The third general British attack of the Ypres Offensive, the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, took place in the Ypres Salient in Flanders on the Western Front.
September 21
Count Bernstorff's (German Ambassador in London) correspondence with Berlin concerning German intrigues was published.
September 22
German forces stormed Jacobstadt on the banks of the Dvina river, forcing the retreat of Russian troops.
September 23
German flying ace and rival of the famous Red Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Werner Voss was shot down and killed by British fighter pilots near Frezenberg in Belgium.
September 25
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George committed to an extension of the British line in France at the Anglo-French Conference in Boulogne.
The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge ended in an Allied victory as British troops had successfully held their lines against German counter-attacks.
September 26
The Battle of Polygon Wood was a successful joint Australian and British attack when their forces advanced against the Germans and occupied all of the Polygon Wood.
September 28
The Battle of Ramadi was fought between the British and the Ottomans as part of the Mesopotamian Campaign.
September 29
The British operation at Ramadi concluded after the Ottoman garrison was quickly outflanked and captured.

(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)