A few nice things from a fly last night.

[Zak33]

Me and Rias and Tumble were up last night until about 12:30...was a good few hours as it goes. Except Tumble having PC troubles, we did ok.

A quick Dog fight server (in which I owned you all thanks to Tumble's TB3 to the slaughter ) and then Virtual Pilots server.

Gulf of Finland is still DAMN HARD with no map icons, so you just fly NW to get to target and SE to try to get home.

IL-2 Torpedo planes close formation Taxiing (way too close) and off we went. First lesson....the BOMBS on an IL2 are WAY HEAVIER and create more drag than a Torp..I was outpacing Tumble with my Torp loaded plane, who normally has the edge on me with trimming and smooth flight, in his Bomb laden beast.

Rias and I got attacked from all angles and had to drop both our Torps early and then get into a turn fight in the IL-2's

Now THAT was good......somehow Rias managed to get her Torp going roughly the right way....and got a CAR DESTROYED MESSAGE!!! I have no idea if the CAR was on the beach and the torp ran ashore OR if she was more inshore than she realised and dumped it on the deck, but it was funny as hell Then my rear gunner started taking pops at someone, and so did Rias's and we then turned in earnest....I spotted her plane, and the pursuer, and remembering that IL-2 T has only machine guns and no big arse canons, I got up close and personal and as the silly arse realised she had lulled him into a trap, he went down.

Then her rear gunner took a pop at something over my shuulder, as did my rear gunner, who then brought the farm, leaving me with no rear view, and it was turn tight time again.....

and those big old Russian beauty's turn tight with landing flaps, 180 kph and we're circling, and then flap up and dive and regain speed and then right over at 45 degrees and drop flaps again (like a ground strafe run and turn and run again) and then I saw him stall out.

at which point Rias took one apart with a nose to nose (nother foolish pilot jousting with an Il-2)

But Rias lost elevator...and for the first time learned the importance of TRIM In fact, for anyone else who doesn't understand or use trim, if you ever get a chance to limp home with no elevators, DO IT....cos Rias learned lots fromn that limp home....and she made it too.

Meantime I am in a black oiled cockpit with bad visibility , heading INTO enemy airspace cos they aint sussed its me....and then the engine starts to die.

I remember when I first flew Forgotten Battles with you guys I didnt know what to listen for...what to expect...and yet, last night, I knew she was ill and my engine was slowing up...the power was going, and then the bearings started to whine!

What a superb way to fill the virtual pilot with terror....no power, just the ability to try to nurse her home.

In a rally car, with a bad engine, you'd wanna try to increase mixture...I dont think Oleg thought that deep, but I did it anyway...120% and nose slightly down. I'd like to think it helped. I made it half way across the Gulf of Finland before I could carry my Russian lady no more...she was too heavy...

and I could hear Rias struggling with trim and throttle control, holding steadier than ever before, but the panic was rising.
Not as fast as the tide! I was in the water

And last night brought other things home. Rias and Tumble and myself can taxi around in a "virtual" world and position a plane on the ground within a few feet of each other with little or no thought. Tumble can fly so damn close that I can see is pilots head MOVE when HE looked around with his hatswitch.......Rias can fly a crate for 20 minutes over the sea and make it to base level and true. OK she can't land but hey...I can't shoot and Tumble can't install the Il2 T for some reason.

But it all makes sense...in my head.

I need to get out more

S!

[Tumble]

it was a good night when I was finally able to get it going... no idea at all why the IL2-T didn't work - no picture in the arming screen, and once selected, couldn't get back into the arming screen OR click fly... most irritating. I was able to fly it in QMB tho which is even odder..