Hello chaps,

I've had the chance to enjoy a bit of WoFF time again. Flying the Bristol Scout in Feb 1916 is proving to be a lot of fun. Fokker scourge my backside, I've become the scourge of Fokkers with my little "cock-eyed wonder". I tried to make a basic skin edit labeling my steed with this title such but Photoshop seems to want to change the dimensions of things and I have no idea where to put the dds texture after I'm done anyway so more effort is required on that score. Nevertheless my pilot Sgt Pilto has scored two victories, (one confirmed) over the Eindecker and destroyed a balloon. He would have scored two balloons but I forgot that over eager wingmen like to take the fight to the enemy balloon corps in a somewhat up close and personal way and, unfortunately, I lost my faithful lackey on my last sortie due to this bit of negligence on my part. (As well as a chap from "A" Flight who managed to get himself shot down somehow, or maybe it was the other way around??? I really think that both of them died from balloon fever actually, but without any identifying markings to differentiate between them it was difficult to keep track of everything while being preoccupied with not ending up the same way myself.

The Bristol Scout is quite a lot of fun, F6 view makes the offset Lewis gun usable and I'm getting quite used to the offset arrangement and, to an extent, there is the advantage of being able to aim the gun without the nuisance of having the engine cowling in the way all the time which makes tracking targets a lot easier. I think you have to be a bit mad to make this kind of thing work for you, somewhat obsessive so that works in my favour. According to google, Maj Lanoe Hawker had a bit of success with the aircraft after mounting a twin Lewis arrangement on the thing, which seems to have been engineered to fire outside the propeller arc and directly ahead in a more conventional and pedestrian fashion. I think that sort of takes the fun out of it but doubtless the good Major knew what he was doing. (It may have been the aircraft he was flying when he earned his VC. The fact that WoFF provoked this curiosity has been a gratifying and enlightening experience.

I hope this pilot will make it through the 50 hour barrier and gain his commission, there seems to be an alarming number of Sgt pilots in my squadron. Out of all of us only two people are commissioned Lts which is somewhat odd. One day at a time though. Sgt Pilto has to go now as he has been invited to mess at a Be-2 Squadron up North after saving two of their kites from the tender affections of three Eindeckers. He hopes that their mess staff know some way of preparing corned beef in a manner that is fit for human consumption or that they have been able to accquire victuals of a more local origin. The chaps have loaded him up with a crate of passable red as a gesture of inter squadron diplomacy, in the hopes that he may broker some type of exchange that would result in less monotonous fare for a day or two. The CO has given Pilto's junket his blessing and told him to go easy on the vin rouge and to bring his Scout home in one piece in time for the afternoon show tomorrow. Things are very cavalier at 11 Sqn, with a young Lt commanding and no real discipline about the place outside of the basic expectations of RFC life. If you want to take a Scout across France for lunch, here's permission for a test flight and good luck to you so long as you're home in time (and sober enough) to do your chores!

EDIT: Sgt Pilto is also very keen to investigate rumours of this Platinum business. It seems that the WoFF gods have not been idle in his absence!