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October 5, 2014

A new virtual Romanian squad

We're intending to start a new virtual Romanian squad very soon, that could gather all the Romanian players scattered all over different foreign squads. We're already 5 Romanian guys, playing every day at 19:30 (Bucharest time), on HyperLobby (coop mission), different campaigns on the Eastern Front. For the moment, we use Skype for comms, since Teamspeak has some conflicts with Saitek joystick profiles. We found Skype comms to work better than Steam comms, even if, for the moment, there is no dedicated push-to-talk system on Skype. But we have improvised something. We're playing with the 4.12.2 version of IL-2 Sturmovik 1946.
Foreign dedicated players who like to play missions on the Eastern Front are also welcome.
For contact, please feel free to add my to your contacts. A short description of your intentions for joining our squad would be appreciated.

Skype: beta4good1
Steam: nextpc13
e-mail: beta4good@gmail.com

P.S. (added a few days later) You can also  register on our forum at:

http://aripiromanesti.freeforums.net/

May 1, 2014

One of the best WW2 aerial battle footage collage

This is one of the best WW2 aerial battle footage collage, a tribute to the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crews, and to all the airmen, in general. It's worth mentioning that the sound track is just awsome:


December 18, 2012

Wish for a new start...

I'm getting ready for a new start in virtual flying, at the beginning of the next year. For a couple of months I've been consumed with reading a lot about submarines and the Enigma machine. And playing another great sim - Silent Hunter III (great work done by the guys at Ubisoft Romania), and its expansion pack - The Grey Wolves.
And, man, Das Boot is a killer! The best movie I've watched in so many, many years... And I've watched it for more than 20 times, like a maniac.
The flying (virtual) world should know that the Kriegsmarine also had its aces and the submarine world is another fascinating realm, worth at least reading about. Thus I found that in WW2 the Germans sent 6 Type IIB U-boats to fight in the Black Sea, as the 30th U-boat Flotilla. After Romania switched sides, in August 23rd 1944, these U-boats have been scuttled by the German submariners.
Although it's been more than 2 months since my last post, and I must appologize to my readers, I promise to give it a new boost, starting in January or February 2013.
Much kudos to the guys that are posting WW2 photos on Facebook, at Romania in WWII-Photos. Great work, guys!
My friend Liviu recently brought me a book - The Blond Knight of Germany (a biography of Erich Hartmann), written by Raymond F. Toliver and Trevor J. Constable. A good book with lots of quotes and pictures of Erich Hartmann's. It would have been interesting to read a diary or something similar, written by Hartmann himself...
There is a hope that in January Liviu will have a new computer and we can finally form an element (celulă/Rotte) of our own. Maybe we will start training with IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 and will continue with IL-2 Cliffs of Dover.



October 10, 2012

Back in business

After a long absence, I come back on this blog to drop a few words. I started flying again and I'm trying to go back to my previous shape. Meanwhile, I've been reading a lot about the Enigma machine and I found out that the Luftwaffe 'Red' code has been broken earlier than all the other German Enigma codes. In this respect, the Battle of England deserves reconsidering, not in the idea that Enigma deciphering did all the trick, but because the work in Hut 6 and 3 at Bletchley Park greatly improved the assesment of the OKL's plans and tactics.

July 29, 2012

Lufwaffe Enigma

These days, I've had a love affair with the Enigma machine, reading hundreds of pages about it, watching tens of videos on YouTube. I even watched Das Boot again (wonderful movie!), just because it contains some shots with a 4-rotor type Enigma, although these shots were regarded as a goof, because the 4-rotor type was introduced only after 1 February 1942, after the autumn of 1941, when the film was set.
Here is a video posted on Vimeo by a collector owning a Luftwaffe Enigma machine...


June 15, 2012

HSFX 5.01

Last week was the first time that I started using the HSFX 5.01 mod for IL-2 Sturmovik 1946, version 4.10.1. I was very curious to test it and get a feeling of how it can improve my in-game experience. At first, I was disappointed by the sounds of this mod, but with the help of Mr Thor2 from JO, I managed to install the Jiver's Total Sound Mod and it made me give HSFX one more chance, and I wasn't disappointed again.
Here's my first HSFX 5.01 video, made in a hurry, so that Liviu could see immediately what I was talking about...


May 31, 2012

Shot down in style...

These days, I was in the mood again for some action on HyperLobby. I chose to fly on the Kampferband server, and, in spite of the fact that almost everybody speaks German on their TS3 channel, I enjoyed a warm welcome from Dave, who patiently briefed me about their server.
Yesterday, in the afternoon, I flew a mission at Guadalcanal, in a P-40, and, for almost 20 minutes, I have been looking for my single enemy, III/JG27_Schnel. Suddenly, I'm hit by a burst coming from my six and I start recording my fight.
But it's too late. Another burst destroys my engine and my propeller stops spinning. I see my enemy, in a Zero, at my 7 o'clock, and I'm waiting for his fatal blow, while I lower my flaps and look for a landing strip, by the seashore, since all the island is covered by jungle.
My enemy comes near me in great style, salutes and flies away. I'm moved by this sign of gallantry, which reminds me of Adolf Galland. (I wouldn't be surprised if I'd find out that Galland's name, of French origin, would have been a variant of the 'gallant' word...) I manage to crash land my plane (not recorded), and Schnel only gets less points for 'damaging' my crate, instead of 100 points for a kill...

May 16, 2012

Stuka or Henschel?

I've been pondering over the con's and pro's of Ju-87 and Hs-129. I wanted to find out which was the better plane between these two. The planes that I took into consideration were Ju-87 D-3 and Hs-129 B-2. Here's what I found out, using IL-2 Compare:

Ju-87 D-3 - better rate of climb under 4000 m, better speed at 4000 m, better turn time.


Hs-129 B-2 - better speed, except at 4000, better rate of climb above 4000 m, better rate of climb at true air speed.


Apart from these features, it's pretty hard to compare a two-engine plane with a single-engine one, radial engines with inline engines, the French engine industry with the German one, etc.
I think it's rather a matter of choice and taste. Which was not the case in WW2, but Stuka and Henschel pilots worked well together on the Eastern Front.
For me, nothing compares with Ju-87's 90-degree dive...

April 26, 2012

Back home

After a two-week Easter vacation, I got back home yesterday evening. After unpacking my luggage and having dinner, I jumped in my seat, in front of my computer, eager to get a taste of the virtual flying again, after such a long time of abstinence.
I almost yelled with joy finding out that the guys with the Daidalos Team had posted, just two days ago, the 4.11.1 Official Release on the 1C Company's Official Forum. I consider this my Easter present... I sat in my cockpit till 2 a.m., just to appease that hunger for flying that had tormented me in my vacation.
You could just imagine me, in that far village close to the border, hidden by low hills and away from the benefits of cilivization, looking for a nice spot to land my imaginary plane and day-dreaming about flying any WW1 or WW2 plane (a Fokker D.VII would have been perfect) above those magnificent hills and forests, up to those gorgeous clouds, with crazy fairy tale-like shapes... Man, this love for flying really makes people look insane!

April 10, 2012

G9V

Recently, I have received feed-back from one of my readers, Alex, regarding the intention of a group of Romanian simmers to establish a virtual squadron called G9V - Grupul 9 Vanatoare (9th Fighter Group). It is also one of my oldest and dearest dreams, and I have already talked with Liviu and Ovy about creating such a squadron, with the same name! So, untill Liviu can upgrade his crate and join us, me and Ovy, both from Joint-Ops Virtual Combat Schools, are available for such a great project, especially since we also have knowledge in using the Full Mission Builder. I also believe that Tzon and Tazzu will join us in this great endeavour. So, if there are more simmers willing to join G9V, please leave a commentary and we will reach back to you! I think Gen. Dobran will be proud to hear about G9V soon...

March 26, 2012

One month ago

My last post was about one month ago... Time has passed so quickly, without any chance to come back here, to my virtual flying world.
Nothing special has happenned, but, for the first time, I have been able to play IL-2 online with Liviu. Due to his computer's technical limitations, we could only play the 4.07m version. A few problems came up, like  the port forwarding for my router, the need to update all the time, in Liviu's conf.ini, the local host IP, due to the fact that Liviu's IP is dynamic.
We still have one more problem to solve... The most difficult one! Making Free-track work on Liviu's crate. Up to now, results were modest, although Liviu almost got drunk the first night that we thought that we had solved his problem. Now, he has to stay sober, because he has nothing to celebrate, with Free-track not working properly.

February 26, 2012

2012 Top Gun (2)

This is the first fight in the 2012 Top Gun at JO, and, since we were 14 competitors, this first clash is a 7vs.7. As I mentioned in the previous post, I felt a little bit disappointed that I chose Fw-190 A-8 and not a La-7, as most of the competitors did, and this choice undermined in a certain degree my self-confidence, which proved to be disastrous... In some way, I was feeling like Kikuchiyo, in Seven Samurai...
I spawned in first and shorlty I found out that I was flying lower and slower than most of my teammates. As we tallied bandits, Mr. Eshark warned me that I was flying too far from the main body of your team, and I tried to alter my heading, but it was too late. The fight had begun and the first planes got shot down, some of them most probably at the first head-on pass. I couldn't make up my mind which enemy plane to attack, since I didn't have enough energy to do a boom-and-zoom and I didn't have an ideal position to try something else, either.
When I finally identified a possible target and started maneuvering towards it, I saw tracers above my plane, but one of my mates immediately cleared my six.
After cooling my head from this first threat, I identify another possible victim and start maneuvering again. More tracers fly by and some of them hit my plane. It's Mr. Vintage! I enter a steep dive and try to shake him, but I almost G-locked and crashed into the sea. And I know my opponent is also having a hard time with the G's, but I was too juicy for him to let go. More hits on my plane, I see holes in the plexiglas and shattered gauges in my cockpit. I scissor a little bit but my left wing has holes in it, and I stall and crash, just when my opponent seems to try to go away and gain some altitude...
Luckily, my team wins by surviving planes number superiority, since everybody left alive was out of ammo.


February 20, 2012

2012 Top Gun (1)

Last Saturday I competed, for the first time, in the JO qualifications for Top Gun, an yearly event for the virtual fighter pilots of this select club. I have trained for about two weeks to get in shape for this and my plane of choice was Fw-190 A-8, mainly for its speed, powerful weaponry and formidable roll rate, this last feature being extremely useful in dogfighting, especially in rapid direction changes, scissors maneuvers and discontinuous flight. The patch version for IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 that we used was 4.10.1, since 4.11, even though more realistic and more difficult, still needs some bug fixes.
As it turned out, there were other pilots that, besides their exquisite flying talent and experience, trained harder and chose better planes (we could choose any plane we wished, propeller driven, ranging from 1940 to 1945) - La-7 3xB-20 being their favourite. A superb plane for dogfights and obstacle race tracks.
So, finding out that most of the competitors had chosen La-7, I entered this competition with a sense of inferiority and lack of self-confidence, which is the worst thing that can happen to a pilot...
14 was the total number of competitors, and the first clash was 7vs.7. My team lost this first clash, but, because of a midair collision that could not be assessed based on the eventlog file, it had to be redone. This time, my team won, even if I sucked at it, being shot down by a La-7, piloted by Mr. Vintage.
In the 2vs.2, I was teamed up by draw with Mr. Eshark, who saved my butt a couple of times and won us two rounds, but eventually we lost to a better team.
In the Gauntlet, everything went smooth, but I had an awful landing and I lost a few points. At this moment, my situation was clear. It was impossible to qualify for the final. Then the 1vs.1 fights came, and I did surprisingly well, forcing one enemy to crash (I almost crashed, too, due to a G-lock), killing another and taking my revenge against Mr. Vintage, through a lucky head-on pass. At that moment, I wasn't aware of the fact that my bullets shot down his engine and he had to crash land his plane, and I was maneuvering like hell for a while, since I couldn't see my opponent at all. After three victories and one kill, my score went up, but I got shot down by Mr. Thor, an excellent pilot, on board a Bf-109 G-2.
Surprisingly, my team victories and the 1vs.1 successes pushed me up to the 6th place, right below the last finalist, making me an alternate if one of them couldn't show up the next day. This thought terrified me a little bit, because I hadn't had time to prepare for all the obstacle race tracks that we were supposed to have. Two weeks are clearly not enough to get in shape for Top Gun... Luckily, all the finalists showed up and I had a sense of relief... I felt a little bit sorry that nobody wasn't allowed to watch the final, though...
Anyhow, I am very happy with my result, made lots of quick saves, which I intend to post in the next weeks. It was a great contest, utterly addictive, which lasted almost 9 hours!... The winner: Mr. PAINLESS!!!


February 13, 2012

Did the Romanian Special Intelligence Service know about Operation Tidal Wave? (2)

In the article that I mentioned last time, Mihai Pelin remarks that one the most exciting books on this subject is James Dugan and Carroll Stewart's Ploesti: The Great Ground-Air Battle of 1 August 1943, an extremely well documented book when it comes to the U.S. raid in the Prahova Valley, but less accurate when depicting Romania's real situation at that time, especially concerning the U.S. POWs' fate in Romania, after the raid. The two authors of the book also interviewed architect Gerald K. Geerlings, who supervised the creation of sand table models and mock-up of the target, based on some... ten-year old photographs from the British Museum, lacking any information about the German and Romanian air defences in the Ploesti area. Although, in December 1939, the American photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, accompanied by the journalist Walter Graebner, took extensive up-to-date photos of the Prahova Valley... Mihai Pelin suspects that architect Gerald K. Geerlings didn't tell Dugan and Stewart all he knew, and the two authors had no access to the Romanian military archives and they didn't know at all that the U.S. B-24's were expected by the Romanians on August 1st 1943. All the authors admit was that the Luftwaffe signals intelligence station in Athens might have warned the defences in the Prahova Valley, but the German Freya and Würzburg early warning radar stations of that time, installed in the Balkans, were unable to detect enemy targets below 1,000 m...
I also found on YouTube three videos entitled USSAF Training Film For Ploesti (part I, part II and part III): Now let's see what the Germans have done to arrange the defenses of this vital target. Happily for the Nazis, they have been out of range for us. The Nazis know that and so the defenses are nothing like as strong here as they are on the Western front. The fighter defenses of Ploesti are not strong, and the majority of the fighters will be flown by Romanian pilots who are thoroughly bored with the war. [...] Now the defenses of Ploesti may look formidable on paper, but, remember, they are manned by Romanians and Ploesti is practically a virgin target... Oh, man!... That hurt.


February 11, 2012

Did the Romanian Special Intelligence Service know about Operation Tidal Wave? (1)

A few months ago, I read an article signed by the historian Mihai Pelin on Historia.ro, entitled The Ploiesti bombing, from disinformation to the truth, in which he claims that the Romanian SSI (Special Intelligence Service) and the 2nd Section of the Romanian Air Force had intelligence regarding the imminence of the U.S. air raid (Operation Tidal Wave), prior to August 1st, 1943! The same historian wrote a whole book on the subject, entitled The air raid of the betrayed squadron, but I haven't got my hands on this book, yet. Let's look at what the article has to say:

The imminence of the U.S. air raid has been signaled to the upper echelons of the Romanian Army, in a credible form, only in the report from July 26, 1943, by the Special Intelligence Service in Bucharest. On July 28, in turn, lieutenant colonel Gheorghe Robescu and captain aviator Ceausu Titus, from the 2nd Section of the Air Force, have released a warning, lacking any doubt: "An informant in Turkey, with good connections in the Allied diplomatic circles there - as their report no. D 2241 shows - after a conversation he had had with an Englishman working in the British Consulate in Istanbul, announced that we should expect the bombing of our oil fields, soon. "And on July 30, 1943, SSI has issued a new report,  entitled laconically , as usual: "Turkey. About the possibility of the bombing of our oil fields. Following the announcements in our report on July 26, 1943 - as this document mentions - from a source with good opportunities to investigate within the competent Anglo-American circles in Turkey, we received a piece of intelligence that the Americans intend to bomb the Prahova Valley, soon.

From the excerpt above, we have knowledge of three reports, from July 26th, 28th and 30th, 1943, written by the SSI and the 2nd Section of the Air Force... We even get a registration number of the military report: D 2241. Could this be true?
In the same article mentioned above, Mihai Pelin claims that the U.S. deliberately sabotaged Operation Tidal Wave, denying the British any participation in this air raid, despite Churchill's insistence, in order to prove to Churchill that a landing in the Balkans will hit an impregnable wall... This claim seems to me a little far-fetched (conspiracy theory?), especially since Pelin suggests, in the same article, that SSI probably knew about the imminence of Operation Tidal Wave from a British source... And there is no military connection between the air raid in Romania and the Allied landing that, most likely, would have been planned to take place in Greece... But who knows? Pelin also says that Elyesa Bazna (Cicero) began to collaborate with the German attaché, Ludwig Carl Moyzisch, only after October 26th, 1943, and he also says that the SSI and the 2nd Section of the Air Force had different sources. 
On Wikipedia, the article, written in Romanian, dedicated to Eugen Cristescu - the SSI director between 1940 and 1944, says:

One of SSI's greatest achievements was finding the date of the American raid against Ploiesti - August 1st 1943 - one week before it actually took place.

Cool thing is that, in the (highly controversial, if not tendentious) English version of the same topic , on Wikipedia, dedicated to Cristescu, this piece of information, regarding SSI, is missing...


February 5, 2012

Dobran's birthday

Today is general Dobran's birthday, he is 93 years old, alive and kickin'... Me and my friend, Liviu, called him on the phone and wished him all the best. Dobran's voice is still young, his perception still keen, and we all felt his emotion and joy for having new friends to talk to. When talking about his age, Dobran joked and said that he is like the IAR-93 'Eagle', but, in his modesty, he didn't mention anything else about himself, but reminded me that there is an upcoming celebration, i.e. 100 years from Alexandru Serbanescu's birth, at the National Aviation Museum.
Getting in shape for the upcoming Joint-Ops Top Gun competition, it took me a couple of days to finish The Gauntlet, required in the qualifications. The first success came today and I dedicate this video to general Dobran...

January 14, 2012

Rise of Flight with 6DoF

Today I post another video I made (the second with the Rise of Flight), but this time, apart from Yaw and Pitch axes - which I usually keep when using my Free-Track, this time I started using Roll, X, Y and Z axes.
Using 6DoF gives me the possibility of using all the gauges available in Field Mods, a better view when taxiing and when flying (a better view downwards) and the possibility of aiming through the collimator. And a stronger sense of reality...

January 9, 2012

My first Rise of Flight Movie

My friend, Liviu, asked me a couple of times to post a link here with an in-game video capture of the Rise of Flight, just to have a trustworthy clue of the virtues of this wonderful work done by the guys at 777 Studios.
Yesterday I decided to give movie making another try, knowing how complicated and how much time it would take me to upload this video in a YouTube HD format. Surprisingly, after trying to directly upload the original capture, which took me about 5 hours, since the capture's size was about 3.85 Gb, everything worked just fine. YouTube event automatically kept my HD output, in a 720p format.
For this video, I sat in a Fokker D.VII, against a SPAD XIII.C1...


January 6, 2012

Heaven and hell...

A few days ago, reading some materials at Dacoromanica.ro - Romania's Digital Library, I found some old editions of the Monitorul Oficial - Romania's Governmental Official Journal. In one of them (year CXII, no. 251), dating from October 29th, 1944, I found the text of the royal decree in which, among other war heroes, lt. av. Dobran Ioan has been awarded The Air Force Order, with swords, Gold Cross with first and second bars (Ordinul Virtutea Aeronautica, cu spade, Crucea de Aur cu prima şi a doua baretă)...
This is the first page of the October 29th, 1944 Monitorul Oficial:



And the preamble of that particular decree... An approximate translation would be: Michael the First, King of Romania by the grace of God and the national will, To all present and to the future ones, health to you all: To the report of Our minister secretary of State of the War Department, by no. 135, 1944; Taking into consideration the royal decrees no. 2,895 from July 31st, 1930 and no. 536 from February 28th, 1931, by which The Air Force Virtue Order, with swords, is established and granted, We have decreed and decree:
1st Article. We grant The Air Force Virtue Order, with swords, classes being indicated below, to the following officers, NCOs and ground personnel from the Royal Air Force:


At page 5, under the Air Force Virtue Order, with swords, Gold Cross with first and second bars, we can find lt. av. Dobran Ioan:


The decree (no. 1,821) was signed by the king at October 6th, 1944. Army corps general Mihail Racoviţă was the War minister.
Funny thing is Dobran never mentioned this award in his war diary - Lt. Dobran's war diary (Jurnalul locotenentului Dobran), neither on October 6th (less probable to know about it, since it was the date the king signed the decree), or on October 29th - because Dobran was too busy being... punished!!! For commiting a stupid accident on September 13th, 1944..., when lt. av. Dobran, under the worst weather conditions, being ordered to take off in a Fw-58 (captured from the Germans), in a reconnaissance mission, overshot the muddy runway and failed to take-off, killing two people and wounding eight.
In his diary, on October 24-25-26th, 1944, Dobran mentions that his former commander, Constantin Cantacuzino, of the 9th Fighter Group, summoned at Bucharest, was struggling hard to get Dobran a promotion for the Michael The Brave (Mihai Viteazul) Order - Romania's highest war order. On October 27-28-29-30th, 1944, Dobran writes that he not only didn't receive the Michael The Brave Order, but, instead, he gets punished for the accident: 30 days of arrest, 4 months of flying suspension, dismissal from the office as leader of the 48th Fighter Squadron, and returning to base...
Through the intervention of his former commander, Cantacuzino, Dobran is promised, on November 2nd, 1944, by the Chief of Staff of the Royal Romanian Air Force, gen. Ramiro Enescu, who came to the airfield in a front inspection, that he won't be held responsible for the accident...



November 26, 2011

Flying on JG2 Dedicated Server...

One morning, not too many weeks ago, I feel like firing my HyperLobby up again. At the top of the Games in Progress list, in the left column, I see my favourite JG2 Dedicated Server (JG2~Dedicat-SRV). Difficulty settings: MAXIMUM!!! Complex engine management, limited ammo & fuel, no external views, no icons, no map icons, no minimap path, no speed bar etc...  The status of the server indicates 2/50, that is, apart from the server, there is one more human player. I've just had my first sip of coffee and I think that joining the server would be fun and one opponent wouldn't be much of a bother.
When playing IL-2, I  usually fly campaigns on my computer. I haven't used HyperLobby for months, because I don't like getting killed in dogfights that end on the deck, and because I still need to improve my flight skills... But that day will come! :D


 The map's name is something like Norway 44. I choose the Axis team, as usual, and pick a Fw-190        A-8, 1944, with 2xMk 108 Wing Cannons. I spawn on a taxi alley and, before starting my engine, I take a careful look at the gauges in my cockpit...


I start my engine and it takes me about five minutes to find the runway, because all I get is the cockpit view and I have to move my nose left and right every time I change my direction, to see if there is an obstacle in front of me.
Finally, I'm airborne and I need to take a good look at the location of the homebase on the map. Today, word is  that we have to patrol our area and even to free-hunt in the western islands, beyond the border line across the sea.


The claustrophobia feeling is overwhelming! The cockpit, although having good visibility, makes you feel enclosed in a strange coffin made of glass, metal and weird gauges... I have to look around all the time and avoid flying a straight path, in order to be able to spot any bogie intrusion in time . At 2,000 m, I'm already a little bit tired and slightly nervous, because of that enclosed cockpit view that makes you keep your eyes peeled all the time. When I reach 2,000 m I decide to fly westwards, across the sea, towards the islands and get myself a piece of the enemy.
After fifteen minutes of tiresome flying, I reach the islands and, almost instantaneously, I spot two bogies at 1 o'clock, slightly higher. The cool thing about JG2 Server is that you never know if you fight against a human or an AI opponent...


When I get closer, I find that those two planes were, in fact, bandits, but I'd never seen such strange type before. (Later, I was told that they were PBY's, and that particular type was Consolidated PBN-6 Nomad, 1943... This plane could land anywhere, on earth or on water.)


Anyhow, I decide to attack them and shortly, after dodging the rear gunner's bullets, I succed in damaging one PBY's tail.


The second PBY proves to be an easy prey, too, after its left engine catches fire when I attack from its 10 o'clock... I turn around and contemplate the flying torch.


My contemplation time is very short, because I see tracers above and, at the same time, a Spitfire overshoots by my right side. He must be a rookie, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to write these words today... I look behind and I see two more Spitfires! The ambush is perfect.


After a few seconds, the closest Spitfire at my 6 o'clock opens fire, but I manage to avoid its bullets.


I trade altitude for speed and I'm engaged by the rookie again. I avoid his furious attacks three times and I get on his tail, the other two Spitfire being at my six, but still away. My gun's convergence is set to 250 m for machine guns and 200 m for cannons, and, although the rookie is still away, at about 500 m, he's flying a straight path and I fire a two-second burst. We're already 300 m above the sea, and the rookie's Spitfire starts to smoke and hits the water... I've never been so lucky!


But I don't get the time to enjoy my last kill, since I have to engage the two Spits behind. But soon I find that these guys are no amateurs, and they fight like one. The first Spitfire hits my right wing and jams the cannon.


After a while, I get the chance to hit the enemy leader, but I miss... My luck seems to have vanished away.


And the fatal blow comes! My Fw-190 is a wreck.


Look what they have done to my cockpit! I'll file a complaint! My compass is gone, how am I supposed to get back home?!


I hide in a cloud and descend to 50 m above the sea. I look at my Tutima wrist watch and at the clock on my right side. After that, I observe the position of the sun in the sky and I figure out where the east is. The two Spits seem to have lost me...
But I'm hit pretty hard and my engine seems to lose power rapidly.


I eventually decide to bail out and wait for a better day. I gain some altitude and jump in the sea, after launching a May-Day.


After about three hours, I'm found by one of our ships and live to tell this story... After this awsome  and stressful experience, I feel so tired and all my muscles feel so sore, that I need a good rest...

November 10, 2011

WW2 Luftwaffe watches

Surfing the web, I accidentally found what types of wrist watches the Luftwaffe staff used to wear:

1. Tutima (Glashütte) Flieger Chronograph



2. Hanhart Chronograph



3. Lange & Sohne Observer's Watch
(supplied also by other manufacturers, like IWC, Laco-Durowe, Stowa, Wempe etc.)



Apart from that, I found that the main manufacturer of Luftwaffe aircraft clocks were Junghans and Kienzle. The Junghans clocks that were used in Bf-109 had a 15 minute chronograph, to  help the pilot keep track of the combat time, due to the limited fuel capacity.





And a list of interesting links:

http://general.watchprosite.com/show-nblog.post/ti-496641/

http://www.iwc.com/en-us/

https://shop.laco.de/en/index.html?x91b92=c2s09dgm3dshsqtk3caampf271

http://www.durowe.com/en/index.php

http://www.stowa.de/lshop,shopstart,132221416410188,en,1322214301-11266,,,,,.htm

http://www.wempe.de/st-setlang-en.htm

November 6, 2011

Stuka Power!

After a two-week absence, I finally get the chance to enter my virtual cockpit again... Everything seems a little bit strange, my new earphones with mic sound and feel different, and my head-tracking software seems to be affected by the software of both joystick and rudder pedals, especially in my UP modded version of the game. But I hope to be able to solve these problems in a few days.
Actually, before having to leave hometown, I intended to post a new topic on my blog, but I didn't have enough time. It was about the last combat training exercise... Location: western coast of Norway.
I was flying south, in my Ju-87 D-5, and my mission was to attack the ships or any facility in the harbors in the enemy area, being protected by a Bf-109 G-6. I was supposed to link up with my escort near the front line and enter the enemy area together. It seemed to be a reasonable plan and I was fully confident in my dive-bombing abilities. The ingress route was well chosen, too, away from any enemy patrol or AAA. One SC500 bomb hung under my belly and I was eager to put my new Stuvi bombsight to work.
I follow the planned route and remain at 3,000 m, watching the splendid clouds ahead and the blue sea below. I tell my rear gunner to increase vigilance as we were approaching the front line. Suddenly, I see a small dot at my 2 o'clock. The front line was still 50 km away and my escort wasn't supposed to fly north. Something was wrong with this dot that was growing bigger and bigger. I had the bad feeling that it was a bandit, and, by its size, chances were high that it was a fighter plane. It's a Spitfire! Pure horror to come... I rapidly announce my rear gunner of the imminent danger and send a radio may-day. The Spitfire maneuvers into my direction, and I follow the procedure by the book. I drop my bomb and start losing altitude very fast, heading back north. Hitting the deck could at least spare me of the attacks coming from below. My intention was to slow down near stall speed and scissor like crazy, giving my rear gunner the opportunity to fire at the Spitfire...
I am at 50 m above the water when tens of bullets start hitting my plane, although I do my best to move away from my enemy's gunsight. My Jumo 211 engine starts smoking slightly and all I can hear is the engine roar and the MG 81Z machine guns firing desperately behind me. I am too concentrated to stay away from the enemy tracers that whistle all around me and hit the dark water ahead, raising high columns of white foam, and I don't have a second to assess the damage done to my crate. The rear gunner starts screaming with what I found later to be desperate joy, as he hits the Spitfire and disables its controls. I look over my left shoulder and I see the Spit rolling into the water and disintegrating into a thousand pieces. Mein Gott, we're saved! There are no words in this world to describe our feelings at that moment...
Later I find that the Stuka is still airworthy and I start thinking that we might get home alive... When we reach our base, after a tough landing due to my engine's loss of power, I am told, the second day, that the enemy radio messages indicate that one of their top aces is missing, after crossing our front line...

October 15, 2011

Flying the Ju-87 D-5

I love flying the Stuka! Again, my friend - Liviu, who becomes reluctant when it comes to any aircraft that is not a fighter, will ask me why in the world did I choose the Stuka, because it can be easily shot down by any fighter plane, it has no speed, you cannot bring it into a dogfight etc.
Liviu, dive bombing - like level bombing, is a different kind of flying and it's really worth trying. Apart from that, dive bombing is so... vintage, because, shortly after WW2, its role has declined. While in WW1, dive bombing was rather an experiment, since the airplanes' structure was too frail to withstand the pullout g acceleration, after releasing the bomb load.
The British were the inventors of this tactic, but, funny thing, in WW2 the dive bombing's inventors did not deploy a dedicated dive bomber! After WW2, dive bombers quickly disappeared, because of their vulnerability to fighter attacks and because of the evolution of various computing bomb sights - which allowed for much better accuracy. Sights could be fitted to almost any plane, especially fighter aircfraft. In this respect, ground-attack tactic evolved from the usage of dedicated to multirole aircraft.
Thus, Liviu, I believe you will find the Ju-87 an excellent war machine for ground attack. You will feel like a god mastering the earth from high above and the dives and pullouts will drive you crazy. If you worry about them enemy fighters, get friendly fighter support or form up in a defensive ring with the other Stukas. If alone, you will need a miracle, but you can help that miracle by heading your plane to friendly lines, hiding into the clouds or hitting the deck and trying to scissor your opponent and force him stall, since your aircraft can still fly at lower speeds.
The FARR (Romanian Royal Air Force) used the Ju-87D on the Eastern Front. The Ju-87D Stuka entered service in 1943 in the 3rd Dive Bomber Group (BOPI): www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=760

And a picture of Ju-87 D-3s of the 3rd Dive Bomber Group, Royal Romanian Air Force - October, 1943:


Here is a video I posted on YouTube. Enjoy it:


October 6, 2011

Liviu’s got new rudder pedals!

Yesterday, my friend Liviu, bought himself a pair of Saitek Pro Flight rudder pedals. Nothing extraordinary, but this event came quite like a shock to him, partly because his joystick seemed not to function properly anymore. He tried putting up a quick dogfight with some AI fighters, but his plane kept stalling and the old glory vanished like it never existed.
I had mixed feelings, mainly because Liviu was the one that introduced me to IL-2 and generally to sim flying. I had a sense of guilt – for interrupting his old-time career as a sim ace, and a touch of sinful joy – for pushing him into the realistic and cruel world of sophisticated-gadget piloting, where you transform your desk into a battle station, full of wires and buttons, and where you fight with the rest of your family for the right of having your private room or corner, even with the price of being considered a dangerous freak.
Sorry, Liviu, but I cannot help but laugh my brains out, thinking of you working them rudder pedals, trapped in this new wild sim reality, like a fallen angel trying to learn how to sin again… You might call it sim sinning!
Man, am I mean!
I remember the way you used to immerse into the game and how you forgot about the surrrounding world... But your brand new rudder pedals will remind you for the moment that you are not alone...


October 2, 2011

The first and the last (1)

I began reading Adolf Galland's 'The first and the last' (Die Ersten und die Letzten, Münich, 1953). From the first pages I discover an extremely dense literature, abounding in first-hand knowledge about the policy and war-planning in the Luftwaffe Command, impartial judgments on the mistakes made by Hitler and Göring in waging the war against Britain.
I used my pencil to underline a few notable statements:

It is true to say that the first kill can influence the whole future career of a fighter pilot. Many to whom the first victory over the opponent has been long denied, either by unfortunate circumstances or by bad luck, can suffer from frustration or develop complexes they may never rid themselves of again.

The ME-109 was at the time the best fighter plane in the world. It was not only superior to all enemy types between 1935 and 1940, but was also a pioneer and prototype for international fighter construction. The ME-109 did not result from demands made by aerial warfare. On the contrary, it was a gift from the ingenious designer Messerschmitt, which was at first looked upon with great distrust and was nearly turned down altogether. It was put into mass production far too late. Had this stage been reached during the first two years of the war, it would have given the Germans absolute supremacy in the air.

The German fighters found themselves in a similar predicament to a dog on a chain who wants to attack the foe, but cannot harm him, because of the limitation of his chain. (talking about the Battle of Britain)

The first rule of all air combat is to see the opponent first. Like the hunter who stalks his prey and maneuvers himself unnoticed into the most favorable position for the kill, the fighter in the opening of a dogfight must detect the opponent as early as possible, in order to attain a superior position for the attack.

September 26, 2011

One year of training

One year of intense training has already passed since I joined Joint-Ops Virtual Combat Schools. I learned a lot, using IL-2 Sturmovik 1946, both about fighters and bombers (with propellers and jet-engines), but now I fully understand that this is just the beginning and there are lots of things to be learned and discovered. Therefore, I estimate that the minimum period in a simmulator pilot's training should be at least 3 years.
Since first flying in IL-2, I found that some friends of mine started to think that I, somehow, lost my mind and that I could have done other 'practical' things than flying a sim. Even my wife thinks that I spent too much money on rudders, joysticks, sim games etc. I can only tell them it's a hobby of mine, because it's hard to explain the beauty of flying to someone that has never tried it before and doesn't intend to, at least in the near future. How can one explain, for instance, the feeling of admiring the clouds? You can't do that by mere words, something like that needs to be lived. Some things in this world cannot be understood except through direct experience...
And, again, I have serious doubts about the un-practical character of sim-flying. Just as an example, the world's major powers, starting with the USA, have already innitiated training sim pilots for their UAV programs (see General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, IAI Heron, IAI Heitan, RQ Global Hawk etc.).
And the UAV history has just begun...


General Atomics MQ-1 Predator

September 11, 2011

IBS Grad

Yesterday I graduated JO's IBS (Introductory Bomber School). In our final exam, we had to fly three missions. The first mission was a coop, in a four-bomber formation, with human escort. The second - torpedoing a ship, shooting at barrage balloons and landing with one engine. The third mission was about bombing a target from 3000 m. All these three missions took about three hours and a half, but we had a lot of fun.
I found out that flying a bomber isn't boring at all. Forming up and keeping the formation is a lot harder than with fighters. Besides, gaining altitude with 1-2 tons of payload can be a real challenge, but thank God for the level stabilizer!
So we adjust our heading, according to the ADF indicator, we hit our level stabilizer keys, keep our eyes peeled for enemy fighters, we chatter like crazy (on TS3) and our laughters can be heard only on comms and by the gods...
In IL-2, if you try to view another multi-engine plane and it has at least one engine shut down (and feathered), all the engines seem to be shut down, as if it was gliding. I learned that this is a glitch in the game and today I submitted a request on the 1C Company forum (Daidalos Team discussions), maybe they can change that in the upcoming 4.11 patch...

And another photo with Ion Profir (He-111 H-3 pilot) and his observer - Eugen Teodoru, one of Romania's best bomber teams on the Eastern Front.


August 15, 2011

He-111


Two weeks ago, I started learning about bombers... And not about any bomber, but He-111.
My friend, Liviu, was a little bit disappointed by this news and he asked me why do I need to fly bombers, because, to him, air glory cannot come from anywhere else but from a fighter plane, not from a... bomber, and he was talking about bombers like one would talk about lepers.
I simply answered him that it couldn't hurt to learn more, even about bombers. And I have the patience to fly a bomber, because flying this plane will need tons of patience...
And I had another reason. I really love Ion Profir's (WW2 Romanian Top Bomber Pilot) book - 'Flying Solo in the Sky Above Stalingrad'.
In the JO Introductory Bomber School, we learn flying the He-111 H-6, which, besides bombs, can launch torpedoes. I like this plane very much, especially that feeling of flying a monster tank. Not to mention that take-offs and landings are a real challenge.
Flying a bomber can become boring, but when you approach your target, when you are attacked by enemy fighters or flak, your workload increases in a crazy manner (bombsight aiming, defending against enemy fighters, avoiding enemy AAA etc.), enough to make you old.
Ion Profir said that flying a bomber in formation isn't boring at all, because the pilot has to correct his position all the time, in relation with the other bombers, and he liked the bombers' slow dance, caused by the small variations in height, like they were all joining the same dance.
Above all, flying a bomber can teach you patience and resistance to meet all challenges (flying with one engine, flying with damaged aircraft, crash-landings etc).
Nothing seems impossible to a real bomber pilot, and I remember Ion Profir's unique way of dealing with attacking enemy fighters, i.e. flying towards them, like in a crazy ramming maneuvre, forcing the attackers to avoid collision and disengage.
Wikipedia says that 'Romania received 10 E-3s, 32 H-3s and 10 H-6s' from Germany.
Ion Profir only flew the H-3 variant, and, for a short period of time, the Me-110. From 22 July 1941 to 4 January 1943, cpt. av. Ion Profir fought in the 5th Bomber Group. From 1943 to June 1944 he flew with the 51st Night Fighter Squadron. He was awarded the Mihai Viteazul Order 3rd class and the Virtutea Aeronautica Order Knight class.
Here is one of the He-111 H-3 that cpt. av. Ion Profir flew (number 18):



And a great link containing photos of the 5th bomber group, including two with Ion Profir (the guy with the moustache):

http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?showtopic=1149&hl=

July 17, 2011

IAR-81A with Ultr@Pack 3.0

Today I installed Ultr@Pack 3.0. Here is a video featuring IAR-81A vs. a I-16. I'm impressed with the sound of the guns and of the engine, as well as the quality of the scenery.
Great job, guys!


July 10, 2011

IAR-80 Saturday

Finally, I have to chance to write again, after a long absence...
Yesterday, we had our final exam in Advanced Fighter School 1 at Joint-Ops Virtual Combat School.
My choice is a Romanian IAR-80 (1940), equipped with 4 FN (Browning) 7.62mm machine guns.
We have to apply what we have learned so far and stay alive. Before the fights, I already feel very tense and I need a smoke.
The first fight is me v. a P-51. The P-51 has an altitude advantage (2000 m). My only chance is to be extremely agressive and force the opponent in to a low altitude, low speed fight, with sudden changes of direction.




In the second fight, I have the altitude advantage (2000 m) over a P-47. My strategy is to use my IAR-80 in a combination of boom&zoom and gun bursts harassment, to force the P-47 down to the dirt. My chance comes when the P-47 stalls and loses altitude in the recovery process. I stick to him like glue and force him to take sudden defense maneuvers, with short gun bursts. Eventually, the P-47 stalls and falls into the sea... It's definitely my lucky day!




The third fight... The longest fight! My opponent has the same IAR-80, but he has a far greater experience than me and the altitude advantage (2000 m). My only chance is to be extremely agressive and impredictible (even for myself...). All the fights last 10 minutes and I intend to do my best to make his attack angles very difficult.
The fight starts and I find myself in a desperate defensive position from the very beginning. I feel like an angry rat trapped in a cage. My aircraft gets pounded almost every time we cross in some sort of flat scissors. But I'm lucky he only has got 4 FN 7.62 mm machine guns and I can last longer... After about 10 minutes I can feel my opponent's frustration of not having cannons and I manage to pull out a few gun solutions myself.
At the end, it's a draw, but I can't feel my hands and my feet. It's been terrible! I really need a nice, long cigarette.




The last fight! IAR-80 vs IAR-80 again. My enemy is a vast experience and I only have the altitude advantage (2000 m) and, as soon as I spot my enemy, I start diving from high above, burning a lot of energy and getting no gun solution. Later I get a lucky shot and the enemy plane starts smoking and I see debris coming towards me. In the flat scissors fight I lose the advantage again and my enemy scores a PK (pilot kill). My seat-back armor was not enough to keep me alive.


June 6, 2011

Defend the Land of the Rising Sun!

It's Sunday, so it's seminar at JO. This time, we learn about Nakajima Ki-84. Impressive and powerful! We fly our coop mission and I have the chance to be a Japanese pilot:

We have to defend our country against the American B-29's, escorted by P-51's. We take off
without looking back, just wishing to have the honor of sacrificing everything for the Land of the Rising Sun...
And the Sun embraces the Land in a foggy, warm farewell! Where are we going? Who are we fighting against?
I feel thirsty, but my soul is empty, I'm already a thirsty ghost behind this big and powerful Nakajima Homare powerplant. Blood-thirsty...
We see the enemy B-29's and we know they are extremely well armed, lethally dangerous.
But we don't care! We're here to kill and die. Nothing more.
I see them approaching, huge wingspan, tens of gun barrels, four engines roaring in agony and hope.
I fire at them, sometimes I miss and sometimes I hit them pretty hard. Only their flames
can lighten my rigid and tense eyes.
I dive aiming at another B-29, my bullets rip his fuselage and nearly hit one of my friendlies. But the friendly plane starts burning, badly hit by a nearby Hayate. He escaped my bullets to run into other friendly's.
Wrong time, wrong place!
My wingman warns me that a P-51 is at my six but my reaction comes too late, his tracers already pass through my fuselage and destroy my rudder controls...
I make a last attempt to fire at a B-29, but my AoA is too steep and I stall. Everything is over! No rudder, no escape.
My plane is spinning, in a last effort I try to open my cockpit, but the centrifugal force makes me want to puke.
I can still feel the large and blue sea opening its huge belly for me, like a marauding vortex...


June 4, 2011

6 hours!

Today is a great day... First class in JO Advanced Fighter Pilot 1! Finally, I have the chance to learn more about attack and defense-attack maneuvres. It will be a true marathon, because, after 3 hours of AFS1, I will attend another 3-hour class in JO Jets School.
As a principle, people who play Il-2 prefer propellers to jets, because, in the first place, Il-2 lets you go vintage and breathe the WW2 atmosphere. But, nevertheless, jet planes were a reality in WW2 and they represented the dawn of a new era in aerial warfare.
In Jets School, we focus mainly on 3 planes: He-162 (A-2) "Volksjäger", Me-262 "Schwalbe" and Ar-234 "Blitz". I'll post their photos here, to watch them from time to time, as if they were in a museum...


He-162 Volksjäger

Me-262 Schwalbe

Ar-234 Blitz

May 8, 2011

Romanian Campaign goes forward: Stalingrad

After a very busy week, I decided to spend this Sunday relaxing with Il-2 and Windows Movie Maker.
I continue my Romanian Campaign in Stalingrad, it's already the end of September 1942, and I'm still flying my Bf-109 E-4 B.
To my surprise, the weather condition is extremely poor, clouds everywhere, lightnings striking from place to place. When I get above 500 m, the shakes seem to lose their force, and I'm happy my airplane is still in one piece. I try to stick to the flight leader, but I find it more and more difficult, and I barely see him through this white soup.
Stalingrad campaign is a lot more difficult than Kuban, the weather condition worsens as the winter approaches and my Emil already feels a little bit obsolete, but, luckily, the Soviets still use Rata's and Il-2's in great numbers.
At the leader's sign, we dive down below, blinded by the watery fog and badly shaken by the storm in the air. We attack a few Il-2's and, although my gunnery skills seem long gone, I manage to down one for my own tally, after escaping friendly fire coming from my starboard wing, slightly behind... The Il-2 rear gunner never fired a shot, maybe he was already dead or even missing, I didn't pay much attention to that particular version of Il-2.
Before returning to homebase, I set an I-16 ablaze, I feel the cold in my bones and I'd like to put my hand out of the cockpit, just to feel the warmth of that vivid fire.
The landing was supposed to be a disaster, I touch the runway at the wrong angle, pushed away by the strong crosswind, and I start dancing and jumping like a drunk widow, but, by a miracle, I manage to stay alive and my plane doesn't bear a scratch!
Later, I edit and trim my video with Windows Movie Maker and I lose that last part, with the landing, but the sight was not entertaining, so I don't consider it a loss. But I'm happy that I learned how to record the in-game audio track and how to make HD movies...