Finally Got WOFF

[Sailor Steve]

23 April 1915

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0533: Assigned Artillery Spot west of Lille, Lt Stewart leading with Lt Harvey-Kelly and myself supporting. Extremely high winds aloft. Could not climb higher than 3,000 feet. After an hour of trying we returned to base. Winds still too high for afternoon mission. 1 hour 15 minutes.

Across Flanders the story is the same: Overcast skies, extremely high winds, dust blowing everywhere. Takeoffs are treacherous and landings even more so.

The Verdun sector is plagued with pouring rain. No one is flying today.

[Sailor Steve]

24 April 1915

Warmeriville
Odis Först writes: "0507: Photo Mission over an encampment near the French airfield at Senard. Ltn Soltau leading, Ltn Boelcke and myself in support. 2 hours 40 minutes.
1454: Photo Mission over a factory southwest of Soissins. Ltn Müller leading. 2 hours 48 minutes.
More bad news, for us anyway. Ltn Boelcke has finally received his long-awaited transfer. He has been requesting this repeatedly since his brother was moved. He leaves in two days for Berlin for special duty and then he’ll be moving to FFA 62.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "0558: Patrolled the lines near Varennes-en-Argonne. 1 hour 40 minutes."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "0602: Weather is good enough to fly, but just barely. We were assigned an Artillery Spotting mission, but not long after takeoff the motor started running rough. We barely made it back to the field, and clipped a tree on landing. We are both unhurt, but the machine is pretty much ruined." 33 minutes.

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0906: Offensive Patrol with Adj Barault, over Ghistelles. 1 hour 38 minutes."

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "After two days in the air the rain is back with us."

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "The wind has died, but left rain in its wake."

[Sailor Steve]

25 April 1915

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "0501: Artillery Spot with Lt Griffiths in the lead. Trenches east of Paaschendale. Gloomy overcast weather. 1 hour 26 minutes.
1157: Leading my own Artillery Spot over the trenches east of Niewpoort, with Fred Aldaine supporting. Weather somewhat better, but still a lot of clouds. Aldaine suffered an engine failure on the way home and came down in a field outside Ypres. 1 hour 43 minutes."

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0502: Foggy weather. Scouting mission over Combles, south of Bapaume. Lt Stewart leading, Lt Harvey-Kelly and myself supporting. Was almost home when my engine failed. Managed to land at Hesdignule. 1 hour 38 minutes.
1341: Much nicer. Clear skies. Artillery Spot over trenches west of Lille. Lt Murray leading, myself in support. 1 hour 27 minutes."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "0503: Photo mission over the trenches near Miraumont, with Vfw Leffers supporting. 1 hour 44 minutes."

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "More rain today."

Warmeriville
Odis Först writes: "Raining again. We had a party for Ltn Boelcke, and tomorrow he leaves us. It was a fine party, but tinged with sadness. He will be greatly missed here at No 13".

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "We have rain again. It seems like we only fly every other day."

[Sailor Steve]

26 April 1915

Warmeriville
Odis Först writes: "0505: Photo mission south of Epernay with Ltn Soltau. Motor quit just as we were crossing the lines. From 2,000 metres we made it about halfway back to Warmeriville. 59 minutes.
We were back in time to say a final goodbye to Ltn Boelcke, as he left at 0900."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "0604: Photo mission, Vfw Leffers supporting. Motor quit while climbing for altitude. Landed just shy of making it back to Bertincourt. 35 minutes.

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0609: Offensive Patrol with Lt Harvey-Kelly. Nothing worth seeing. 1 hour 44 minutes..
1453: Trench Mapping near Neuve-Chapelle. Lt Murray leading. 1 hour 26 minutes.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "0753: Short test hop around the area. No assignments today, so we get what we can. 33 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "Raining again."

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "It is still raining."

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

26 April 1915

Warmeriville
Odis Först writes: "0505: Photo mission south of Epernay with Ltn Soltau. Motor quit just as we were crossing the lines. From 2,000 metres we made it about halfway back to Warmeriville. 59 minutes.
We were back in time to say a final goodbye to Ltn Boelcke, as he left at 0900."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "0604: Photo mission, Vfw Leffers supporting. Motor quit while climbing for altitude. Landed just shy of making it back to Bertincourt. 35 minutes.

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0609: Offensive Patrol with Lt Harvey-Kelly. Nothing worth seeing. 1 hour 44 minutes..
1453: Trench Mapping near Neuve-Chapelle. Lt Murray leading. 1 hour 26 minutes.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "0753: Short test hop around the area. No assignments today, so we get what we can. 33 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "Raining again."

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "It is still raining."

I like how they included random engine failures in the WOFF; a common risk when aviation was young. Never ceases to amaze me how, in nearly every "realistic" combat sim game, the player's unit is 100% pristine, all the time, performing to exact specs, and you never suffer non combat mechanical issues. In real life sometimes the mechanic left a wrench in your engine, your fuel was contaminated etc etc.

Anyways carry on.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I like how they included random engine failures in the WOFF; a common risk when aviation was young. Never ceases to amaze me how, in nearly every "realistic" combat sim game, the player's unit is 100% pristine, all the time, performing to exact specs, and you never suffer non combat mechanical issues. In real life sometimes the mechanic left a wrench in your engine, your fuel was contaminated etc etc.

Anyways carry on.

Always good to hear from you. Sometimes I wonder if it happened as much as it does in the game. Or maybe I'm just afraid of going down behind enemy lines through no fault of my own. Then again I read several books of accounts in my work on the '100 Years' thread, and a lot of them didn't make it back. Fortunately that was a good way to get captured, which meant you didn't get killed.

Thanks for checking in, especially when it's on my thread.

[Sailor Steve]

27 April 1915

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "0608: Artillery Spot over the trenches between Bethune and Lens. Lt Griffiths leading. 1 hour 43 minutes.
1321: Scouting Mission over a balloon north of Lille. Lt Griffiths leading. While we were climbing for altitude Lt Griffiths disappeared. I continued on the mission alone. They keep hinting that we should attack this balloon. I consulted Capt Shaw, and he was willing. We dropped through the clouds and circled the balloon. The carbine was totally ineffective, as was their Archie. Their machine guns, however, put several bullets into our aeroplane. Fortunately none of them hit the engine or petrol tank. When we returned home it was raining. All we got for our efforts was a lecture on not getting our machine shot up. 1 hour 50 minutes

Warmeriville
Odis Först writes: "0640: Long-distance Scouting Mission over a factory about two-thirds of the way to Paris. Ltn Müller leading, Ltn Soltau and myself in support. 3 hours 37 minutes.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "0841: Photo Mission over Charleville. No DCA, no trouble at all. 1 hour 45 minutes."

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "It's raining again."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "It's still raining."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "Raining again."

[Buddahaid]

Finally promoted to 2nd Lieutenant after 117 or so hours of flight time. Still flying Moraine Saulnier L type in Flanders and it's now June 11, 1915. I don't seem to ever get cancelled for bad weather and the missions are moving to more bombing runs on Hun airfields.

[Sailor Steve]

The game does have the occasional cancellation, but I modify my own outcomes with die rolls. I've read about how severe that winter was. I've been following Oswald Boelcke's letters home, and it's hard to believe how much they didn't fly that winter. The game doesn't come close.

[Sailor Steve]

28 April 1915

Warmeriville
Odis Forst writes: "0424: Nothing happening today, but it is absolutely beautiful out, so Ltn Soltau led Ltn Müller and me on a check-flight over to Martincourt and Stenay and back. 2 hours 53 minutes."

Saint-Pol-sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "05 Scouting Mission over Paaschendale, S/Lt Derobert leading. Nothing to see. 1 hour 45 minutes."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "0503: Special Mission today. Led Vfws Leffers and Fricke on a Scouting Mission south of Arras. We scouted enemy positions, wrote them down and flew down to 100 metres and dropped them over local headquarters. On the way home we took note of our own troops’ positions for report to the General Headquarters. 1 hour 55 minutes."

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "1040: Patrol up and down the lines from Sillery to Varennes-en-Argonne. 1 hour 42 minutes."

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1040: Patrol up and down the lines from Sillery to Varennes-en-Argonne. 1 hour 42 minutes."

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes "It's raining again."

[Sailor Steve]

29 April 1915

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "0500: Led Lt Aldaine on a Scouting Mission over the lines west of Lens. Very cloudy. Heavy German artillery barrage on our boys. The are using that and the weather to build up behind that area. We could see a lot of vehicles and tents, and some extra guns. 1 hour 45 minutes.
1220: Fred Aldaine and me together again to Bomb an enemy airfield. Weather still miserable. 1 hour 28 minutes.

Saint-Pol-sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0607: Defensive Patrol over Abeele. Lt de Flassieux leading. Horrible weather. 1 hour 13 minutes.

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0619: Led Sgt Burr on a Scouting Mission over the front lines near Paaschendale. Overcast weather, dodged a couple of rain showers. Nothing of importance going on. 1 hour 49 minutes.
1034: Led Sgt Alford on a Scouting Mission over a balloon position north of Lens. They’ve been after us to attack the balloons for a while now. I couldn’t resist. We dove down to attack. I was too far away and Capt Williamson didn’t bother to fire. Alford managed to pull up very close, and Lt Harrity got off a good burst. I was amazed when the thing actually collapsed into a ball of flame! I circled once to make sure, and headed home. We had taken off into gloomy, cloud-filled skies, and by the time we were done it was pouring rain. I made it home alright, but without any sign of Alford and Harrity. I filed my report, saying that they should get all the credit as we hadn’t even fired a shot. It turns out that they came down somewhere near Givenchy. Whether they took a burst of Archie, suffered engine problems or just got lost in the rain and mist we’ll never know. What we do know is that we lost two good men today. At least they’ll have garnered a victory between them before they left us. Tonight we drink to Sgt Nicholas Alford and Lt Andrew Harrity.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "Raining today."

Warmeriville
Odis Forst writes: "Heavy rains sweeping through."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "Another storm is upon us."

[Sailor Steve]

30 April 1915

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: :0504: Photo Mission over the trenches south of Arras. Vfw Leffers in support. 2 hours 6 minutes.

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "0619: Scouting Mission over the trenches east of Ypres. Lt Weller leading. 1 hour 30 minutes.
1320: Artillery Spotting over the lines west of Lens, Lt Lehman leading. We had just reached altitude and were turning south toward the target area when Lt Lehman’s engine caught fire. We followed him west toward home but then his BE flipped over and plunged 6,000 feet all the way to the ground with no attempt to pull out. We marked the place where they came down and headed back to Bailleul Town, which was only four miles away. We fired a red flare as we crossed the field and landed. After making our report. Captain Shaw asked Major Lewis if he wanted us to resume the mission. The major said we both seemed pretty shaken up, which was to be expected, and he had three crews sitting around waiting for an assignment. We’ll be taking tomorrow off as well. In Memoriam Captain James McTavish and Lieutenant Edgar Lehman. 51 minutes.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "We are still drowning."

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "This infernal rain has us under its thumb again."


Warmeriville
Odis Forst writes: "The storm isn't over yet."

Saint-Pol-sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "It's raining again."

[Sailor Steve]

1 May 1915

Saint-Pol-sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0426: Offensive Patrol over Ghistelles. Adj Barault leading. 1 hour 45 minutes."

Gonneham:
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0501: Photo-Recce over the lines west of Lens. Lt Murray leading. 1 hour 17 minutes.
1318: Directing Artillery at the same place we photographed this morning. Sgt Adlam supporting. 1 hour 29 minutes."

Bailleul Town
Dugan Vystavel writes: "Our day off today has suddenly turned into a 5-day pass. We packed our bags and Capt Shaw found us a ride into Bailleul. He also found us a room for the night, and then we proceeded to see the sights. There’s not much to see, but we took our time and took it all in. It was nice just to walk around doing nothing but enjoying the crisp spring weather. After a nice dinner at a small cafe we found our way back to the tiny hotel and made our plans for tomorrow."

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "There seems to be no end in sight for this storm hanging over our region."

Warmeriville
Odis Forst writes: "We are still suffering under this never-ending rain."

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "The pattern continues - one day of flying, one day of rain. This is our day of rain."

[Buddahaid]

We've been clearing out my parents house this past week and I picked up the photo of my maternal grandfather from WWI. I don't think he flew but it's pretty cool nonetheless.

[Sailor Steve]

2 May 1915

Warmeriville
Odis Först writes: "0507: Solo Check Flight, up to Vaux-les-Rubigny, over to Thin-le Moutier, down to Thugny and back to Warmeriville. Lovely day after all this rain. 1 hour 18 minutes.
1331: Long-distance Reconnaissance over a factory at Château-Thierry. Ltn Lehnert leading. 2 hours 52 minutes.

Gonneham
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0549: Scouting Mission north to Bapaume. Lt Murray leading. 1 hour 13 minutes.
1442: Bombed the German airfield at Phalempin. Lt Harvey-Kelly leading. 1 hour 19 minutes.

Senard
Noel Kay writes: "1601: After three days of rain we’re flying again. Line patrol over Varennes-en-Argonne. 1 hour 34 minutes."

Bailleul
Dugan Vystavel writes: "Pouring rain today. Not much to do in Bailleul. We sat around our little hotel for most of the morning. Supplied ourselves with umbrellas and found a nice little cafe recommended by our hotelier. We then explored some shops and found a great restaurant up an alley that seemed to go nowhere. They also featured a small review with dancing girls and all. Considering that it’s such a quiet, small town Bailleul had more to offer than we had first thought.

Saint-Pol-sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "Once again it's raining.

Bertincourt
Lennart Altendorf writes: "The rain is still with us."