Jim, whisky and rum are rather bad cures for it, and the service revolver -
well, life is short enough, I say.
Fly many rounds with your new kite behind your airfield, and you'll feel better.
And just between you and me: I guess we all have that shiver from time to time...

Lou, I wish you a good recovery, and for the second part, when you are halfway
through it, I wish you some real cute nurses!

I guess my pilot is almost ready for a transfer to the funny farm! The whole Abteilung has been wiped out twice in the short time he's been serving in its ranks. Maybe I should ask for a transfer to an infantry battalion on the Somme front, I hear it's peaceful there this time of year in 1916... Can't be more dangerous than life in the naval aviation!

Hasse, be happy - you are still alive!

Charles Chatterley was sent to bomb an airfield with 5 others. They were attacked by 5 HA (Hostile Aircraft, not Historical Ace, I have seen this in reports) over the airfield. He and his observer fought a good fight and headed west. They looked like they were in good shape and gaining altitude. They have not returned and have been reported missing. CO, RNAS5

Just go with the shakes Jim. You can't get more immersive than that!

Oh dear! ...

To quote Gregory Peck in Twelve O'clock High, "Your problem is you think you are going to survive this war. You think you are going to go home! From this moment on, you are dead. Once you realize that, you can do your job!"
13 sorties in a Fee is remarkable. I would be proud. Your B pilot awaits!

Drink a little wine then just do it. U will feel better.

Spotted a short film reminded me of returning to the Campaign.

http://youtu.be/T9P3XXvleo4

Olham, by the look on that guys face he seems to be worried about exactly WHERE she is about to put that thermometer!

Haha, Jim, I also had a short story text in my mind about the pic:

Nurse (thinking): '106.6° Fahrenheit??? It cannot just be the light fever...!'

Patient (thinking): 'If only she knew, how much I am glowing for her...'

Just out of interest, these are the numbers of entries I get for each WOFF DID user (not the pilot). I come top as I capture just about every sortie in order to test the system! Some zero entries have been deleted of course.

Thank you, Jim - shows me that I'm not too bad so far with flying sorties.
I'll add one more today and report.

My 15th sortie was a bit of a disaster as I hadn't got very far when my TrackIR stopped working. Anyway I have booked it as 0.35 hours in a Hot area. Will see what happens next time.... Here is my pilot:

PILOT NOTES
Offzstv. Bernhard Harms - Kasta 18
Pronville, 29. Juni 1916

Weather: grey, rainy, huge thunderheads
Wind: 5 Knoten
Takeoff: 09:20 h

We circle over our reconaissance area at Bapaume, when I suddenly hear "Tacktacktack" -
MG round hitting our Roland. Bauer, my observer, fires down the right side.
To my surprise I find a British Farman Experimental, less than 50 meters below us!
Bauer hits them now, and they drive off and turn back towards their lines.
But I am really angry now, push my heavy "Walfisch"s nose down and engage the cheeky
Englishmen. I hit the engine in my first approach. It produces black smoke, then it
drops dead. Hah! Now they are the surprised ones, I think.
The pilot goes into a steep downward right spiral, to bring the craft down quick,
it seems. Maybe the tank is pierced and they fear a fire, or he might be wounded?
They try to land in no-man's land, but the Farman summersaults in the mud and wires
and breaks apart. Bauer and I find ourselves alone now - no sight of the other three
Rolands or the Aviatik. So we fly home without any further incidents.

Haha, I know that feller from somewhere, Jim - could it be he lives in northern England?

When your TrackIR stops working, try this: press "Pause", then unplug and replug TrackIR.
In most cases that worked for me.

That Roland looks beautiful Olham. I may have to try a Roland with my "C" pilot. I believe I flew one in OFF many flights ago but I can't remember her characteristics. How does she fly and how many rounds in the pilots Spandau?

Nice victory. Did you see he remarks section where it said "improbable, witness was not flying at the time"?

My friend JFM made this skin. I have yet to make it more personal.


She behaves nicely; no strange characteristics. Heavier than a scout of course.
But if you know her better, you can boom and zoom quite well in her.
The downward view is quite bad. You have to wagg your wings at landing, to check
if the airfield is clear, and then you let her "drop into the field" blind.
But I got used to that quickly.
The rounds I think are 500 - not sure.


Yes, that came because in the post-flight "Details" board, the first names were not given,
and so I wrote "Hauptmann Baermann".
I'm hoping it will get confirmed. I had such a problem before and wrote "Balloon Troops"
for witness - and it got conbfirmed.

I know she's a stout bird as I've faced her many times and she maneuvers well for a two-seater but thanks for the first-hand experience. I don't like not having a gun in my hands in a two-seater as sometimes the observer can't hit the side of a barn so that's another reason to like her. The white looks so clean and I was never a fan of the green/brown or camo look I've seen on so many Rolands.

On the claims, I usually just put in the last name of the witness on reports and I can't remember the last time I didn't have a victory confirmed. If I don't have a witness I usually put "ground forces" or "observation balloon crew" if I'm near one of them.

I'm going to have to work on my evil laugh if I'm flying on the dark side next time around...Muuuuhooohaaahaaahaahaaaaaaaaaaa!

Well - ll ... almost good... !
Mmuahahahahaaa!!!

Edit: Shiloh, the Roland's forward MG carries 550 rounds.

My 9th sortie went a bit hairy again, after some quieter trips.
We had to do some art.obs. south of Arras, but there were Nieuport 11 or 16 above the area.
They attacked my comrades at 2000 meters, while I was higher up. I counted at least three
of the little devils, and so I rushed down to drive them off.
I really hit one of the Nupes, and the Frenchman was quite shocked and headed west.

Only when I turned, he tried to get after me. I turned and hit his craft hard enough, that
he lost some feathers and turned away again.
But now - Razz! Zapp! Pew! Tonk! Tonk! - I collected hits on my Roland. An Airco DH-2 came
down on me like the devil in a lift!
My engine lost power, and I went down steeply and away from the lines.
I reduced throttle, and the craft sank lower and lower. I wouldn't reach Riencourt, and so
I decided to put it down east of Croisilles.
From the ground we watched how Hptm. Baermann drove the DeHavilland back over the lines.

Later we heard, that Observer Neugebauer had shot one Nieuport down.
Also, my second victory - the one over the Farman - got confirmed! Hptm. Baermann sent our
ZbV Reithmann to organise some Champagne to celebrate our victories this evening!