Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate This Thread
Hop To
#4438320 - 09/11/18 02:49 PM Personal Achievment!  
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 475
Nowi Offline
Member
Nowi  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 475
Florida
I've been flying around in WOFF, on and off, since "Between Heaven and Hell." So what's that, about a decade?

For the first time ever I survived 100 sorties! Willy Kaunitz, flying with Jastas 2 and 8. Twenty-seven victories and a bunch of medals.

How did I finally make it so far? I'd point to two things.

First, my Track IR. It's so much better flying with it than it was with views, no matter how well they were set up. I hardly ever get surprised from behind anymore.

Second, I've learned to get out of dodge. I always make of note of where I'm at, and in which direction I need to fly to get back over my own lines. If the EA has a better machine than I ahve, or if the pilot's better than me, or a combination of the two, I do not force it; I dive away and head home. If I get pinged over the lines, I head home. No point in waiting around to see what, if anything, was damaged. And, damn it, it's usually your fuel tank! If the situation looks grim, egress!

I read somewhere details about some Allied ace. He survived the war and had a record of each of his sorties. These were broken down into those that he had engaged in combat, and then there were the few where he achieved an aerial victory. He had flown hundreds of sorties, but only a small proportion had actually ended in combat. And, of those, even fewer led to a score. I had come of WWI air sim age with Red Baron. Basically every sortie led to some kind of action. And if you wanted to run up a big score, you almost had to score when the opportunity presented itself. And then I flew on line in Air Warrior. And there, every hop was expected to lead to a kill, or several kills.

That's why WOFF is more realistic. I started the Kaulitz career in September 1916. It's now February 1917. So in six months I've flown 100 sorties. In Red Baron I would have long since reached the Armistice. In Air Warrior I would have had a hundred kills and been shot down 25 times. (I was pretty good and ended up as a flight instructor.)

Reading about this guy's record, I realized that I didn't have to score every time I went up, or even every time I got into a Kurvenkampf. At the rate I'm going, with about 24 months left in the war, I could conceivably fly 500 sorties. An average of one kill per five sorties would get me well head of the Red Baron!

I suppose most of you are saying: "Duh! Nowi! What took you so long to figure that out?" And, yes, it shouldn't have taken me ten years. I guess if I'd been an actual WWI aviator, I would have been one of those poor schmucks who died in a fortnight.

Better later than never.

Nowi


Nowi
#4438329 - 09/11/18 03:29 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 7,532
DukeIronHand Offline
Hotshot
DukeIronHand  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 7,532
High over the Front
Well done.
A cautious audacity is definitely the way to go.

#4438330 - 09/11/18 03:32 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,433
Hellshade Online content
Hellshade
Hellshade  Online Content
Hellshade
Senior Member

Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,433
Florida
Deciding when not to fight and how to get out of one that is rapidly turning bad are the big keys to sirvival. Comgratulations on your incredible achievement!


Flying Wings Over Flanders Fields: Between Heaven & Hell II
videos at www.youtube.com/hellshade68

#4438352 - 09/11/18 04:27 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 6,659
carrick58 Offline
Hotshot
carrick58  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 6,659
Very Good. I have had WOFF for about as long and never got that far. Some day ?

#4438399 - 09/11/18 07:00 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,910
dutch Offline
Member
dutch  Offline
Member

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,910
EURO-zone
Only there is one problem if reading your story, is that you have to stay in your flight, like in real life. You can not decide, good bye flight mates but I’m going to the leave this wrong side of the line, or I avoid every fight.
Think Mannock and Berthold where very clear on this subject when leave a flight.

#4438400 - 09/11/18 07:02 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 475
Nowi Offline
Member
Nowi  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 475
Florida
The ace I mentioned was Belgian--Jan Olieslagers, the "Antwerp Devil." He was a pre-war aviator and flew throughout the war, having volunteered himself and his plane in 1914. He flew 518 sorties, and was involved in 97 aerial combats. So that's roughly one fight every five sorties. Or, looked at the other way, 80% of the time his sorties DID NOT involve combat. (How WOFF-like!)

Apparently, this guy didn't give a #%&*$# about confirmed victories. He just wanted to kill Germans. He only had 6 confirmed victories, and another 17 unconfirmed. But there were reportedly many other EAs he brought down. So he engaged in only 20% of his sorties, and in those in which he did engage, maybe a third of the time he actually scored.

1 12 Sep 1915 1011 2me Nieuport 10 Aviatik C (FTL) Oudstuyvekenskerke
2 17 Jun 1916 1515 1ère Nieuport 11 Fokker D.II (DES) Pypegaele
3 14 Jun 1917 1800 1ère Nieuport C (DES) Schoore
4 15 Jun 1917 1115 1ère Nieuport Fokker D.II (DES) Keyem
5 03 May 1918 1750 9me Hanriot Fokker D.VII (DES) Westende
6 19 May 1918 1740 9me Hanriot Albatros D.V (DES) Woumen

Attached Files 250px-Jan_Olieslagers_1909.JPG66_5.jpg

Nowi
#4438444 - 09/11/18 11:01 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,086
MFair Offline
Senior Member
MFair  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,086
Nowi,
Congratulations! That is one heck of an achievement. I hope your pilot lives through the war. Keep us posted.


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!
#4438454 - 09/12/18 01:32 AM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: Nowi]  
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 2,105
Raine Online content
Member
Raine  Online Content
Member

Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 2,105
New Brunswick, Canada
Well done, Nowi! If you can survive long enough to become a flight leader you can start to pick your fights. Your victories can wait until then.

#4440816 - 09/25/18 11:07 PM Re: Personal Achievment! [Re: dutch]  
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 415
ARUP Offline
Member
ARUP  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 415
Kentucky
Originally Posted by dutch
Only there is one problem if reading your story, is that you have to stay in your flight, like in real life. You can not decide, good bye flight mates but I’m going to the leave this wrong side of the line, or I avoid every fight.
Think Mannock and Berthold where very clear on this subject when leave a flight.


I've had the flight leave me up the creek without a paddle so I reciprocate if things get pear shaped! I'm always ready to face a reprimand but never an enemy bullet!


Moderated by  Polovski 

Quick Search
Recent Articles
Support SimHQ

If you shop on Amazon use this Amazon link to support SimHQ
.
Social


Recent Topics
Carnival Cruise Ship Fire....... Again
by F4UDash4. 03/26/24 05:58 PM
Baltimore Bridge Collapse
by F4UDash4. 03/26/24 05:51 PM
The Oldest WWII Veterans
by F4UDash4. 03/24/24 09:21 PM
They got fired after this.
by Wigean. 03/20/24 08:19 PM
Grown ups joke time
by NoFlyBoy. 03/18/24 10:34 PM
Anyone Heard from Nimits?
by F4UDash4. 03/18/24 10:01 PM
RIP Gemini/Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford
by semmern. 03/18/24 02:14 PM
10 years after 3/8/2014
by NoFlyBoy. 03/17/24 10:25 AM
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.6.0