J5_Hotlead

That sounds like...fun. Hopefully the result will be worth the weather! Tell us how it goes! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in JG1! You guys are one of the things I’m thankful for today!

Since Thanksgiving Day is this Thursday for all our American pilots, I realize some (myself included) won’t be able to make it tomorrow evening. For those who are still interested, however, tomorrow's fly in will be held on Wargrounds. Because I can’t make it Thursday, I’m going to try and hit this very promising mission by Cuban on Sunday! https://riseofflight.com/forum/topic/52803-sunday-vintage-mission-somme-high-recons-112518/

This looks sweet! Can't wait to get into Flying Circus.

CURSE YOU RED BARON!!!! Great find, Etzel!

Salute all! The 2nd trailer is out; the full film goes live on December 15th!

Salute gents! Here's last night's livestream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/336445289 And here also is the right Hon. Baer's stream from last night's festivities: (Twitch stream 0:00:00 - 2:00:52) One Life to Live, baby! JG1 takes Pfalz D.XIIs in an effort to intercept the US103rd. After about an hour's uneventful patrolling, the sky lights up and our forces collide in what can only be described as a stunning win for the US103rd. Following this, we dust ourselves off and are airborne again and, while escorting J30 in their trademark Gotha, we once again clash forces against the US103rd, this time putting up a very determined resistance and...dare I say...sending them running for home. [but Herr Hotlead, ve also vere running for ze hills at ze end of that one, ja?] Maybe... (Twitch stream 2:03:08 - end) Afterwards, we embark onto Hillbilly's "Ma and Pa's Basement" server for a good ol' fashioned round of E3s vs DH2s. Soon, the map switches, and we take Nieuports vs some very determined Albatros D.IIs. Not a banner night for me; by the end of the night, the Germans had a separate scrap yard dedicated solely to the wrecks of my machines. Ah, well. Live and (re)learn! During the latter part of the stream, I got the opportunity to share comms with none other than the US103rd's own Larner and Talbot! Always a pleasure talking with you guys! Until next time!

Congrats gentlemen!

Just a reminder, gentlemen, that we'll be flying online on Cuban's server this evening starting at 8pm Central US time. See you in the skies! (Screenshot credit: Laser on the SimHQ forums)

Right now, these are my grooves:

Thanks Luft! Glad you're enjoying the streams! Good point about the Lewis guns. Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen the twin guns mounted on a pole in the back; only the single version. Like you said, I'd personally take the ring mount and double guns any day over the single gun and switchable firing point. Also, the Lewis gun on the S-22 did take some getting used to. Guess I've been spoiled by the 97 round Lewis guns lol.

Salute all! Was quite the interesting night on Wargrounds this evening! You can see my archived livestream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/333440900 You can also see US103_Baer's livestream from the Entente perspective here: (Twitch stream 0:00:00 - 1:03:48) We started off with some super high-alt attempts to engage the US103rd in our Pfalz D.XIIs, Fokker D.VIIfs...and Dr 1s. (We dragged poor AngryGoat up to nosebleed altitude in his Dr 1. Upon his return to our lines, we were only able to stave off the effects of severe hypoxia with craft beer and assurances that we wouldn't do that to his beloved Dr 1 again. ) (Twitch stream 1:07:00 - 2:16:28) Following that, we headed to the claustrophobic skies of winter Cappy, where JG1 and J30 teamed up to try some 2 seater formations with Halberstadt CL.2s and Rolands. Had some interesting run-ins with the US103rd once more, and some entertaining dogfights with a brave man flying a Sopwith Triplane and one particular Cuban gentleman in a SPAD 7. (Twitch stream 2:18:00 - 2:39:00) I then decamped to NFF in search of some PvP action. No luck, so I took an S-22 and tried to brush up on my level bombing. After the bombs were dropped, I attempted to dogfight the AI in my trusty Russian passenger plane. (Twitch stream 2:40:00 - end) Still searching for PvP action, I returned to Wargrounds determined to have some fun. One life to live was earlier; now it's time to live like there's no tomorrow! Thus, we took a hypnosis-inducing paintscheme in our gun-packed DH.4 and attempted to draw some planes into a fight. After that, it was back to NFF for some really hilarious dogfighting action with some dedicated Camel pilots, including the one and only Voodoo! (Several collisions may have been involved...my apologies, Herr Voodoo!) All in all...I had way too much energy last night. This is what happens when I take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Big salute to the US103rd! You guys are maintaining your discipline and cohesion. But you still manage to have fun, which really is why we fly this sim. (On that note, seeing Parsons demonstrate low-altitude bombing techniques at 0:09:35 on Baers YouTube stream is the funniest thing I've seen in ROF livestreams for a while lol!)

And guess what? You can access the JG1 forums and post on them from your phone too! Now you’ll never get away from us! Mwhahahaha!

Salute all! After a few months' absence, I've reentered the fray once again. Glad to see Thursday nights still going! Had an awesome time scanning the skies and facing some stiff competition with the US103rd! You guys were good when I left, but I would dare say that you've all gotten even better! Very good cohesion & teamwork! After the serious flying, I went and had a series of hilarious duels on New Fliers and Friends. Apparently my Camel and DH.4 skills need to be dusted off lol. Anyway, you can catch the livestream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/330415870 Also, you can get a view from the other side with US103_Baer's excellent YouTube stream here:

Congrats all!

Wow!!! Great job reversing the roles! Considering how that last bandit practically appeared out of nowhere, what you did was nothing short of amazing. Thanks for sharing!

That is absolutely awesome!!! Thanks for sharing, Hess!

Haha, yes you did! Didn’t know you were in the hospital! I’m glad to hear you’re out, and I hope you continue to recover. J6 needs guys like you!

You're welcome! It's always a blast making videos like those, and I have ideas for ones in the future - especially with gorgeous new Flying Circus around the bend!

For now, I’d say it will mainly be Thursday nights. Although if things come up in my schedule I might have to switch it around a little.

Thanks for the warm (re)welcome guys! It's good to be back! I'm a CH fanboy lol. It's solid, reliable, and what I know. Except for the pedals, that is. I'm getting some Logitech/Saitek pedals very similar to the ones Raz gave me a while back. I have good memories with those. Should have most of my gear back in about a week or so!

Bravo! Loved the vintage feel!

Things took a really unexpected turn for me yesterday. Basically, my parents met with me and told me that they would be fine with me returning to flying ROF. This naturally came as quite a (pleasant) shock for me, as when my parents and I decided I should stop flight sims and PC games, I thought that this decision was pretty much set in stone and not subject to change. Now, it's not that my parents brutally swooped in and forced me to give up simming lol. It was a joint decision we made, albeit a very hard one for me. And I still believe it was the right move at that time. Flight sims (plus a whole lot of other PC games) had really gotten a hold on me to the point where I wasn't trying any new hobbies and sacrificing time with my family. I know in JG1, one of our core mottoes is "real life comes first," but things had gotten to the point where real life was starting to take a backseat for me. Also, especially as my younger brother (Furious Flea) started to battle with ulcerative colitis and was hospitalized, it was crystal-clear that I needed to be available for my family rather than spending 2-3 hours on my PC every night. Anyway, so that's why my parents and I jointly decided to pull the plug not just on ROF but every PC game. At that time, we thought that I would never do it again and just leave it all behind. That's why they suggested I sell my gear so that I wouldn't be tempted to re-enter it. So, when I submitted my resignation from the group, I honestly thought that I was done for good. I closed down my Twitch channel, sold my gear, and said my goodbyes. That's why yesterday came as such a shock for me! I believe my time on leave was ultimately was a good thing. I started new pursuits, learned some new hobbies, and spent time deepening my relationship with my family in a way I probably wouldn't have if I was still flying every night. But now, I think I can put ROF in its proper place in my life and take to the skies again! I'm planning on flying one night a week, and not on Saturdays. I've grown to like having my Saturdays free, so I wouldn't be doing FiF. But honestly, FiF wasn't what I missed most about ROF. It was just the pure awesomeness of flying sorties with the guys in JG1 and the adrenaline rush of dogfighting that I missed the most. And now that I've been away, I think I am going to appreciate and enjoy that one night a week so much more! I’ll be reopening my Twitch channel too, so really looking forward to that as well. Finally, I've decided to focus purely on ROF, and later on Flying Circus. With only so much time available, it makes sense to focus on what I really love. So yeah...I'm back! Who’s ready to send those Entente boys down in flames? :D

I've been listening to Kutless and the old 2000's version of Audio Adrenaline recently: