Maushake

How very sad. He was certainly one of the very great (and long-standing) names in the flight sim community, and always a real gentleman. S! Maus

Velts, my first wingman and mentor from way back when? Fantastic to have you with us again! S! Maus

I do hope we'll see you online soon, even if just to chat or perhaps jump in an observer's seat. Take care and be well! S! Maus

Not really. Yes, I obviously did agree that the scouts aren't equal when simply considered against each other; my point was that this doesn't necessarily mean that the _tournament_ is unequal, when you consider the bombers and recon planes that these scouts have to shoot down in order to deny the enemy points. (One-on-one, I'd rather fly an HD.2 against a Brandenburg than a Pfalz or Alb against a Breguet.) No plane-set is going to be perfectly balanced, and in any case, as was pointed out above, the FiF practice of switching sides is intended to give each team a turn on each side.

I see Butzzell's point here -- considering just scouts vs scouts, yes, the German scouts are better than the Entente ones. But in FiF, one side can shoot down all the enemy scouts they like, and still not win the tournament; it's only the completed missions that count. In other words, the Germans have to shoot down Felixstowes and Breguets, both of which are tough targets, whereas the Entente has to shoot down DFWs and Brandenburgs, the first of which can be a moderately tough target (though not nearly as tough as a Breguet), and the second of which is much easier. Looked at from the perspective of a scout vs 2-seater/bomber contest, it's not terribly unbalanced. S! Maus

Marvelous photos!

Congratulations to all! S! Maus

Congratulations all! Great to be in such exalted company S! Maus

The Fleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot died today, aged 97. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30039300

Very true! The Blue team scores on Wednesdays and Saturdays were in fact pretty much the same (7 or 8 points) right up until the last Saturday (10 points), so an extra S! for those Wednesday pilots who kept the flag flying. S! Maus

We talked von Wrecker through the Recovery process last night; it didn't seem to fix the problem at the time, but if he was able to get on WG today, maybe something else has fixed itself (at least for now) ...

As I said last night, the whole thing is a complete mystery to me -- not least because it's so inconsistent! The problem's there one day, gone the next, then comes back again, etc. etc. ... I do hope that someone with more knowledge than I have about servers and connections and so on can get to the bottom of it!

Congratulations everyone! Well done. S! Maus

Well done all inaugural recipients of the new award! S! Maus

Congratulations Rotermann!

Great, thanks for the clarification!

I thought the Entente weren't allowed twin front guns on the DH4, only on the rear, since the DFW doesn't have the front option? Just checking for clarification! S! Maus

Congratulations to both! S! Maus

Beautiful shots!

Congratulations to all! S! Maus

'A pretty medal ...' Congrats Fred! S! Maus

My cat has even been responsible for the latter on occasion ... when she jumps up in my lap, I sometimes let her just sit there if there's no action imminent, knowing that if I toss her back to the floor, she'll jump right back up. Usually she just sits quietly and nestles her face into the crook of my elbow, but there have been times when she's been unable to resist suddenly bumping her head against my joystick hand, sometimes pressing my thumb against the button which I have mapped for overwing guns (WWI) or cannon (WWII). So if you're flying on my wing and I suddenly start firing at nothing, without even calling out that I've seen a bandit, that may well be the reason.

I've just got an old $20-ish Logitech headset, 1/8" connectors rather than USB (looks like the 120 model, here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-980447-0914-PC-Headset-120/dp/B000FKNZR0) and it's great. Really good sound, and I gather from others that my voice is clear on the mic, so unless you're a real audiophile and want to spend more money, that's all you need! I always use push-to-talk rather than voice activation, and given the amount of extraneous noise which sometimes plagues our comms, I urge everyone to do the same. S! Maus

Get well soon Shnoze! S! Maus