J5_Hotlead

I mean, I can see why the video might cause a little controversy depending on one's views of shooting parachutes, but holy cow! I could not have foreseen the forumnic nuclear explosion it generated. If I get strafed in a parachute, will I be sore about it? Maybe for a bit, if I was on a nice streak. But... A ) In that case I probably should have flown in such a way as to prevent me from needing to deploy one. B ) There's no questioning that it's a valid war tactic. Ultimately, after the dust settles, I'll simply take a breath in, be thankful I'm still alive in real life lol, and then hit respawn to fly again.

Same! I was looking forward to flying with you again! Maybe my schedule will let me fly FiF sometime again. Just starts a little early for me as things stand right now.

Salute all! Sorry about getting the stream posted up late; here it is: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/399157460 Started out last Thursday by gunning for JG1_Jocassee and then flying a rather uneventful patrol in the Albatros D.Va, adding one more sortie to my scout pilot streak. Following that, I decided, "Hey, I wanna do a recon! I mean, how hard could it be?" Thusly, I lifted off in a Halberstadt CL.II to accomplish said mission...only to find over the target that my absentminded gunner forgot to bring his camera. (Totally my gunner's fault...nothing to do with the pilot.) That meant we had to go old-fashioned and start drawing what we saw. Halfway through this time-consuming endeavor, an enterprising Se5a found us. The result? Timestamp 1:03:00 tells the tale... After this encounter, we conducted fighter sweeps per protocol. We lost some pilots, the Allies lost some pilots...all in all a pretty fair exchange of blows! Finally, I went to Flying Circus to try out the new Fokker D.VIIF. I conclude that it is a beautiful aircraft, capable of turning a mediocre pilot into a great one. It is excellent at altitude and still very capable of punishing Allied opponents who get careless around it at low altitude. Personally, I agree with Larner that it is slightly better than ROF, as in the engine seems to last longer when blasted (which is still a regular occurrence for the Flying Circus model) and the plane has better wing durability. The D.VIIF can also outclimb the SPAD, true to what I believe is historical form. However, the SPAD still reigns when it comes to diving away and sheer speed. I think that if most server operators limit these planes while offering unlimited standard D.VIIs, this will make for a good historical representation. Anyway, those are my thoughts. See you all on Cuban's server next week! (Depending on availability, I may or may not be able to make it.)

For whatever reason, my livestream was really laggy due to network issues and I had to stop streaming after about 12 minutes. Since Baer was on holiday as well, this means no livestreams of last night's action. Despite this, we had a lot of really awesome engagements last night! JG1 conducted multiple patrols, encountering the Brits behind their lines, within our lines, and everywhere in between! Of course the highlight of the night was a massive furball in no man's land. A simple bouncing of a 3 ship flight of Dolphins snowballed into a ginormous dogfight featuring 1 flight of Dolphins, 1 flight of Se5as, 1 flight of 103rd SPADs, and 2 flights of JG1 Pfalz D.XIIs. Took my hands a few minutes to quit shaking after that one! See you all on Wargrounds next Thursday!

A week ago, the dev team released the 2 latest aircraft for Il-2 Flying Circus early access: The Sopwith Dolphin and Fokker D.VII! Come join me for an in-depth ride in these new crates in this review video!

Had a look at the post as it stands today. Looks like the sever test will be at 2000 GMT, which is 3:00pm Central US time. If the rest of the missions start around there, that would work really well actually. I'm usually free on Saturdays after 2:30pm, so I might be able to join this one! But yeah...wish it was DiD. I want the Blue Max!

Here's how you can upload pictures to the forum: 1) On your computer, hit "More Reply Options" button. That will take you to the advanced post creator. 2) Beneath the blank text box for typing, find the button that says "Choose File". See the attached picture below to see what it looks like. (Click to enlarge.) 3) Browse on your computer for the picture you want to attach. 4) Once you've done that, select the "Attach This File" button. 5) Your photo should be put in a loading que like this: 6) Click the "Add to Post" button to the right of the photo you want to attach. 7) Your picture is now attached! Post your post like normal.

It's great to see you here Von Dervare! We are always thrilled to have new recruits. What you don't know, we'll be glad to teach you. Like Dudley reccomended, I think the Monday night practice is a great place to start. It's a great mix of professional seriousness and fun, and is a wonderful way to get familiar at flying with us. Basically, it's a squadron career night against AI opponents. We have patrol and escort missions, and a running killboard that tracks our pilots' virtual lives. If you have any questions, just ask! Like I said before, we're glad to help.

Salute all! Had a lot of fun last night! JG1 started by conducting patrols over the mud and enemy lines with inconclusive results. Unfortunately, the map ended a few minutes too early, as we were practically diving on the tails of several bandits! Ah well, C'est la vie. Another time, perhaps. Afterwards, the map rolled to Metz, so it was time to defend our targets! JG1 took off in Pfalz D.XIIs and encountered lots of action over our side of the lines, including a dramatic furball between SPADs, Se5as, a Handley Page, and ourselves. Lots of fun and a big salute to everyone who showed up last night! Following Metz, JG1 switched over to Flying Circus to try out the brand spankin' new Dolphin and Fokker D.VII! You can watch the archived livestream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/392036792 We will see you all again next week on Cuban's server!

Great find! Thanks for sharing!

I did some testing myself. I flew the D.VII in Flying Circus and then went and flew it in ROF. Not to squish Gamecock’s opinion, but my conclusions line up more with Baron’s. In dogfights, it becomes sluggish less quickly and retains good handling characteristics longer. The airframe seems more durable and it is less easy to rip your wings off, although still possible. In a dive, the engine definitely has more durability, but also will still oil up on you if you don’t throttle back a bit in an extended dive. I haven’t taken many hits in the Flying Circus D.VII, so the jury is still out on the damaged engine from being shot anywhere concept. I think I’ll make a review video when I have time.

The Dolphin and D.VII are out! Guess I know what I'll be flying in Flying Circus after Wargrounds this Thursday! https://il2sturmovik.com/news/460/update-3011/

Hey guys, here is the (belated) Twitch stream of last Thursday's fly-in from the German perspective! College hit me like a ton of bricks with final papers for 2 separate classes...both due tonight. I had prepared for it as best I could, but it still took me out of social life for the last several days. Got the last one submitted tonight...whew! Anyway, here's last Thursday's stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/388350249 Thank-you to Cuban for the interesting map choices you continue to offer us twice a month! Between Wargrounds and your server, Thursday nights continue to be engaging! I'll catch you guys on Wargrounds this Thursday!

Welcome!

Had a good time last night! Started things out with high-alt patrols and flying the Fokker D.VIIF, which I haven't done for a while! Still debating whether I like it or the D.XII better for high altitude operations. Then, I took the Albatros D.Va for some lower altitude defense options...and ended that by unceremoniously smashing into I_Got_Shot's Camel from behind. No excuse for that really; I got too greedy. Sorry about that mate! Afterwards, I ran some tests in Quick Mission about the best way to attack a Felixstowe and live to tell the tale. (Hint: It ain't from directly above and behind! ) Finally, I went to New Fliers and Friends for some entertaining dogfights between myself, Larner, and Baer. DH.2s, Fokker E.IIIs, Nieuports, Rolands, Strutters, Halberstadts...had a lot of fun puttering around in those old birds! You can see the archived livestream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/384625244 See you all on Cuban's server next week!

https://il2sturmovik.com/news/458/dev-blog-217/

We had a highly-eventful night that started off with a bang...quite literally lol! (I crashed into JG1_Butzzell while we were maneuvering for a shot on Baer. This was totally my fault and could have been avoided.) However, up until that point, our 4 ship Halberstadt flight did very well against enemies from above, shooting one down and sending Baer away with bullet holes and more than likely picking pieces of Halberstadt out of his flying scarf. Afterwards, JG1 switched to flying Albatrosses and patrolled over enemy lines, bursting balloons and looking for trouble. I had one moment where I dove on a Nieuport 17 and then he completely disappeared, probably due to disconnection from the server. We concluded the evening in Rise of Flight by facing off against SPADs in a well-fought draw and then returning to base. Despite my dumb collision earlier in the evening, I managed to add 1 enemy aircraft and 1 balloon to my latest "streak," so we shall see how it goes from there. In Flying Circus, Butzzell, Talbot, and I conducted more outfighting tests with the Dr 1 and found that it seems to have an advantage over the Camel in a left turn, when both are loaded with 50% fuel. We also discovered what may be my new signature move...you'll have to watch the stream to find out. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/380785369 See you next week on Wargrounds!

Last night started with...Metz. Ugh. Since we'd been on that map quite a few times recently, JG1 decided to trade German fighters for Allied bombers and knock out all the targets to roll the map as soon as possible. There was level-bombing, dive-bombing, and even some epic Handley-Page-vs-the-world dogfights! Afterwards, we returned to the German side of life and had some good coordinated patrols. All of us scored some good kills; personally, I ended up adding 2 more victories to my One Life to Live streak and my wingmen and I RTB'd safely afterwards. Well done lads! After that, it was off to Flying Circus for some more dogfighting tests between the SPADs, Camels, Dr 1s, and D.IIIas. Really looking forward to the new planes, they'll add some new flavor to the dogfighting scene! Anyway, here's the archived livestream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/376927864 See you all on Cuban's next Thursday!

WOW! I had asked for that exact chat fix and the option to control the flight map's opacity in the survey form! Looks like they listen to us after all! :D

It was interesting for sure! Work + college studies combined to make me a bit late again, but once I joined I got right into the action! Low overcast ceilings made for some very interesting fighting for sure! Bristols bombing targets down low, Dolphins causing mayhem at the cloud base, and SPADs lurking in the clear blue above - no matter where we went, there was action! Afterwards, Butzzell, Dudley, and I were joined by Baer as we tested out the new Camel's capabilities in Flying Circus. Our conclusion? The Camel there seems to have a pretty shocking flat flight to instant climb ability! Most engagements, I could handle 2 foes simultaneously and have a good shot at winning; when I was 1 on 1 with anyone, I could pretty much outclimb, outturn, and outspeed them. Dare I say it...but I think it may need to be nerfed juuust a tad. [Takes cover and puts on steel brodie helmet.] Not to the extent it was in ROF, but maybe just taken down a bit? Or perhaps it's fine and the competition (looking at you, Dr 1 and Pfalz) needs to be buffed just a bit. Following this, I had some entertaining Camel on Camel duels with GCF! You can see the archived livestream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/373212474 See you guys on Wargrounds next Thursday!

That’s hilarious!

All too often, the boys in the bombers get overlooked when compared to their more glamorous fighter counterparts. As a self-avowed fighter pilot myself, it's easy for me to watch them from a distance and not really appreciate all they do. With that in mind, this video is dedicated to all the mud-movers and ground-pounders in Rise of Flight. Long may the enemy ground forces tremble at the sound of your engines!

Salute guys! I got on about an hour late, but got to participate in some nice furballs on the first map before we switched over to Gothas in the next map. We got 5 Gothas in a high-altitude formation at one point and level bombed an airfield, which was good fun! After this, I switched to Il-2 and tried some tanks. Conclusion? I suck as a tanker! To cap it all off, I went to Flying Circus and had some really entertaining 1 on 1 duels with a gentleman named GCF. Good fun! Reminded me a lot of the Bier Stein competition we did a few years back. (Maybe we should do it again sometime? Hint...hint...) You can see the archived livestream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/369335324 See you guys on Cuban's server next Thursday!

I always get a kick out of Squire's stuff! Thanks for sharing!

Last night, JG1 decided to switch things up to keep it fresh. The previous Thursday, we were up at 6k. This Thursday, we were down in the weeds in our bombers, pushing the objectives! We had a very successful night on the first map, turning it around in very quick fashion - not to mention scoring some air kills along the way! The next map was Metz. Traditionally, the Huns are supposed to be relegated to stooging around their own lines to stave off the inevitable bombing offensive from the Allies. Well, we decided that we'd had enough of that. It was time to take the fight to the enemy! Thus, we lifted off in our trusty Rolands and Halberstadts and bombed out their airfields. Not in a long time have the Allied hangars burned in Metz as they did that night! Although the casualties for us were high, we managed to shut down both of their airfields (although not simultaneously as we had hoped). After all this, we decamped to Flying Circus for some fun dogfight action on the JG1 server. Really looking forward to the future of this title! All in all, it was a fun night! Big salute to all who came out and filled the skies! We'll catch you next week on Cuban's server! Here is the archived livestream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/362031209