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Personal Achievment!

Posted By: Nowi

Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 02:49 PM

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
Posted By: DukeIronHand

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 03:29 PM

Well done.
A cautious audacity is definitely the way to go.
Posted By: Hellshade

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 03:32 PM

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!
Posted By: carrick58

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 04:27 PM

Very Good. I have had WOFF for about as long and never got that far. Some day ?
Posted By: dutch

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 07:00 PM

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.
Posted By: Nowi

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 07:02 PM

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 picture 250px-Jan_Olieslagers_1909.JPG
Attached picture 66_5.jpg
Posted By: MFair

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/11/18 11:01 PM

Nowi,
Congratulations! That is one heck of an achievement. I hope your pilot lives through the war. Keep us posted.
Posted By: Raine

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/12/18 01:32 AM

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.
Posted By: ARUP

Re: Personal Achievment! - 09/25/18 11:07 PM

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!
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