Finally Got WOFF

[Catfish]

The weather must be poor, with fabric soaking, cold, and rain.


For which side are you flying currently, and with which plane type? I mean it's still 1914

[Sailor Steve]

It was a brutal winter. I refer to Oswald Boelcke's letters to his parents for that information. He is constantly describing fog, rain, and snow.

As for the types, start at the beginning of the thread. I currently have two French pilots - one flying with Escadrille 13 and destined to remain a two-seater pilot forever. That's Noel Kay. In reality the escadrille was flying Farman MF-11s at the time, and would later move to Caudron G.3s and the G.4s. The Farman and Caudron G.3 are not in the game, so I'm flying a Caudron G.4 well over a year before it came out.

My other French pilot, Filimor Hance, is flying a Morane-Saulnier 'L' with Escadrille 26, and will end up as a fighter pilot.

British pilot number 1 is Corrigan Aujla, with Number 3 Squadron RFC, is currently in a BE.2c but will soon be in the Morane 'L'.

My second British pilot, Ries Meismer, with No 4 Squadron, is also in a BE.2c and will remain there until a better two-seater comes along.

Finally I have one German pilot, Odis Först, flying with Feld Flieger Abteilung 13 in an Aviatik B.I. The brothers Wilhelm and Oswald Boelcke were with FFA 13 during this period. I didn't realize that until after I had chosen my squadrons, and didn't plan it that way.

If you read the thread from the beginning you will find quite a few misadventures involving training and the beginning moves of the war, including Corrie Aujla getting separated from his squadron for several weeks and almost captured by the Germans. Despite the lack of flying, and the boredom of routine patrols when I do get into the air, there has been more than a little excitement along the way so far. I'm really becoming attached to all these guys.

[Sailor Steve]

26 November 1914

Nothing has changed. The entire region is still either rained out or fogged in.

[Sailor Steve]

27 November 1914

Gonneham, No 3 Squadron
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0905: From our new field it's a bit further to reach our starting point, but closer to the finish. Routine patrol. 1 hour 24 minutes."

Gonneham, No 4 Squadron
Ries Meismer writes: "0920: First flight out of new field. Much shorter flight time to patrol area. Clipped a hedge on landing. Tore off landing gear and wrecked plane. I don't know which is worse - coming so close to crashing or being put on report for carelessness. 54 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1017: Sun came out. Set out on routine patrol. Engine started acting up. Made it back to base 47 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1223; Got to fly today. Routine patrol. 1 hour 13 minutes."

Pontfaverger
FFA 13 is grounded by the fog for the 13th day in a row.

[Sailor Steve]

28 November 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "0815: Nice day. Very quite over the lines - no artillery at all. 1 hour 6 minutes. I've been promoted to Sergent!"

Gonneham, No 3 Sqdn
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1043: Routine patrol. Nothing happening. 1 hour 25 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1053: Clear sky. Routine patrol. 1 hour 18 minutes."

Gonneham, No 4 Sqdn
Ries Meismer writes: "I've been grounded for two weeks. My time is to be spent studying procedures for a week, then helping the mechanics."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Two straight weeks of fog now."

[Sailor Steve]

29 November 1914

The situation becomes somewhat reversed, with rain once again covering the Flanders area, but now Pontfaverger sees a rare day with high overcast but no fog. However...

Odis Först writes: "1552: Fog lifted. No patrols, but everybody got in a little flying time, some more than others. We were barely airborne when the engine started running rough. Our first time to fly in two weeks and we only got 15 minutes in!"

[Sailor Steve]

30 November 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0815: Got to fly again today. Routine patrol. Very little fighting going on. 1 hour 21 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "0935: Sun came out. Routine patrol. Some fighting south of Arras. 1 hour 6 minutes."

Gonneham, No 3 Sqdn
Corrigan Aujla writes: "Exciting time today. It stopped raining. Took off at 1222 into a light fog. No sooner had we left the ground than the BE started to roll to the right. The angle was too steep to set ;her down again. At an altitude of about fifty feet we turned right towards the hangars. The plane kept turning to the right and I was able to apply enough rudder to get her on the ground again. We were both pretty shaken up. It turned out that one of the control wires had worked loose and the mechanics had somehow failed to spot it.

Gonneham, No 4 Sqdn
Ries Meismer writes: "Third day on the ground. It's harder today, as the weather has cleared enough for everyone to fly. Except me."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "The clouds are still high and the fog is gone. Only trouble is, now it's raining."

[Sailor Steve]

1 December 1914

The weather has closed in again. Ground fighting on the Western Front goes on in the rain and mud, while the air squadrons are grounded throughout the region.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Sorry I haven't posted in four days. I had my first cataract surgery and I'm still not fully healed.

Not that it matters. As of November 21 1914 it's still raining everywhere.

Did not notice this; I hope you are doing well, Steve!

I am pleased to see you take care of your men. Whenever I play OFF or RB3d Career Mode, the French countryside is infested with my pilots' burned-out Camels.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Did not notice this; I hope you are doing well, Steve!

I'm not really. They said the first eye would be seeing perfectly after two or three days and the second one would be done on the 17th. Tomorrow I have an appointment to find out why the first one still hasn't healed.

I am pleased to see you take care of your men. Whenever I play OFF or RB3d Career Mode, the French countryside is infested with my pilots' burned-out Camels.

When my pilots finally see an enemy airplane I'm sure I'll have the same experience. So far they've all had four months of wartime flying and it's been nothing but patrol after patrol...except of course when it's raining, which is a lot of the time.

[Sailor Steve]

3 December 1915

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1124: Gloomy, wet, gusty day. High winds blowing us all over the place. 1 hour 14 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1222: Gloomy weather. Standard patrol. 1 hour 13 minutes."

Gonneham, No 3 Sqdn
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1433: Routine patrol except for the part where we were hit by machine gun fire. No serious damage but still something to worry about. 1 hour 24 minutes."

[Sailor Steve]

4 December 1914

Yet again the entire region is enveloped in driving rain. Nobody is flying today.

[Sailor Steve]

5 December 1914

Gonneham, No 3 Sqdn
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0913: Rainy patrol. No fighting going on anywhere. 1 hour 23 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1252: Raining still, but not quite enough to stop us. Sector quiet today. 1 hour 19 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1349: Patrol in the rain. No activity at all. 1 hour 15 minutes."

Gonneham, No 4 Sqdn
Ries Meismer writes: "Eighth day on restriction. Squadron is flying again."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Weather has turned nasty. Blowing wet snow."

[Sailor Steve]

6 December 1914

Gonneham, No 3 Sqdn RFC
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1050: Skies clearing. Some artillery near Passchendaele and heavy fighting around Messines. 1 hour 22 minutes.

1426: My turn to take the Morane up today. After one last lesson on using the "blip" switch and a warning on the machine's quirks, I was off. All the descriptions and warnings in the world don't tell you how much the plane wants to fly to the left. Constant right rudder and working of the stick are required just to maintain a straight course. The French gauges don't help either. I did one circuit of the aerodrome and a touch-and-go. A second circuit and I landed too far to the left, right towards some trees. I didn't quite touch down when I decided that breaking off now might be a good idea. I climbed out and circled the field again. This time the ground crew were waving a red flag, meaning that my landing should be final. I brought the machine in safely, thinking I might be in trouble. Actually they wanted me out of the sky to avoid confusion. A pilot from Paris brought us a second Parasol! If the weather holds I should have twice the opportunity now to practice on the new aeroplane. 17 minutes."

Saint -Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1425: Nice day for a flight. Big artillery exchange near Nieuwpoort. 1 hour 20 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1518: Partly cloudy. Some artillery around Athies and Arras. 1 hour 16 minutes."

Gonneham, No 4 Sqdn RFC
Ries Meismer writes: "Ninth day on restriction. Squadron is flying again.12/6/14 Ninth day on restriction. Lovely day out today. Quite cold, but partly clear. Watching the boys fly is getting harder and harder. Capt Wimund came to visit today. He actually apologized for not making it sooner, but he's been busy flying with another pilot. He says he doesn't hold the accident against me at all. It could have happened to any of us. No 3 Sqdn has a new pair of aeroplanes – a pair of Morane parasols. The second one arrived today. They've been taking turns getting used to the new machines. I wonder if we'll get something similar soon."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Still snowing."

[Sailor Steve]

7 December 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "0948: Much nicer today. Constant artillery all down the line. 1 hour 11 minutes."

Gonneham, No 3 Sqdn RFC
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1258: More time in the Morane. Some more touch-and-goes. 22 Minutes.

1352: Took off for patrol. Engine quit over Houthulst Forest. Tried to turn back to Ypres. Couldn't clear the trees. No injuries sustained in the crash, but the BE is stuck up in the tree and we both fell while climbing down. Capt Williamson and I will both be in hospital for at least a week. Flight time 29 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1600: Another nice day. Some artillery, but not as much as yesterday. 1 hour 16 minutes."

Gonneham, No 4 Sqdn RFC
Ries Meismer writes: "Tenth day on restriction."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "The snow has lightened, but is still coming down."