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Dear Bill, Can't tell you how much I'm gonna miss hearing that relaxed, easy-going drawl calmly emanating from my headphones; the easy-going grace with which you tackled any challenge - in the DCS cockpit anyway, as that is unfortunately the only arena I was able to witness it first hand - and the dichotomy of your quiet, almost befuddlingly laissez-faire, determination, all these made you a pleasure to be around in the virtual skies. The matter-of-fact way in which you treated your illness, knowing your time was limited, was of much the same spirit - and I will take some solace in the fact that, while you always kept hoping for another few months, you seemed, if not fearless, then phlegmatic and philosophical, to the point where if someone had tapped you on the shoulder and said "tomorrow morning Bill, 10.30", you're response would have been "okay, I got 13 hours to have some fun and love my family a little bit longer." I'll miss your stories, your jokes, that wheezy laugh. I'll miss the humility of a gentlemen being instructed in the finer points of Spitfire flying by a young upstart half his age and taking it with such decency and dignity, no histrionics, no drama, no diva, just oodles and oodles of plain good grace. Bill mate, you have a fine legacy and a wonderful family; and, if I may, you have made an example for a not-so-young man to aspire to, and if even a fraction of your grace and decency has rubbed off, well he's a very lucky fellow. I hope you have found yourself back in the cockpit of your T-38 - and this time I think they'll forgive you if you break outta the circuit. Go chase some clouds, Bill. No-one deserves it more.

Salute, I am posting here as I wanted to reach as wide an audience as possible. If you are going to reply to it please do not suggest any tactics for further missions, we have a thread for that Sunday July 31st - Session 3 Mission time-line 10:00 - 12:00 Many thanks to Zukker, Mosquito, Ben, FT, Crash, Sid, Fenrir, Delta, Perfesser, Blubear and Beagle for rocking up and putting in a fantastic shift. In the plan for last night some did not get any action but still did an amazing job, the pilots rained supreme (again) and made it possible for the tankers to do their stuff (a big shout out to Sid for giving me the heads up on a nice side on Sherman kill !) In the session last night we captured 3 new towns, Lens, Bugnicourt and Cantin. We also held Auberchicourt. Star of the night was Tanker Mosquito who captured Lens and made some important last ditch kills to stop the enemy in their tracks, well done sir. Our pilots, lead by Fenrir again created some amazing overhead ballet coming out on top on in an intense last ditch dogfight against multiple P38's, Mustangs may even have been a Tempest in there as well! Its not too late if you want to take part. Not everyone will be able to play every week, we understand that, slots for pilots and tankers available (you do not even have to commit to a plane or tank each for mission), but this is turning out to be a fantastic event against the 352nd. I received a great compliment from one of their guys after we had finished last night saying that it was the best thing they had ever taken part in. Do you really want to miss out on this?...

Tonight just before dark it cooled off enough to pick some of the garden. I didn't even get half way done. It went off the last few days.

I'm out due to real life, and other interests that pull me away seasonally, but the biggest reason is I'm just not satisfied with the Sims, with my current GPU, and I can't convince myself it's worth the expense considering my lack of free time to loaf off on the PC. That being said, I miss the crap out of you guys!!!

Hey Ma..look at me! ...and all in one piece !!! Also "Is my room ready yet" and "Are you sure ATC said to leave it here?" I think the penny might finally dropped with landing control.

Salute Jim!

I have placed the folder of coops we use on Thursday mornings in the 'Downloads' section here

Salute Operation Blackcock was an operation to clear German troops from the Roer Triangle, formed by the towns of Roermond and Sittard in the Netherlands and Heinsberg in Germany during the fighting on the Western Front in the Second World War. It was conducted by the British Second Army between 13 and 26 January 1945. The objective was to drive the German 15th Army back across the rivers Roer and Wurm and move the front-line further into Germany. The operation was carried out by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie's XII Corps by three divisions: the 7th Armoured Division (Major-General Lewis Lyne), the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division (Major-General Ivor Thomas) and the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division (Major-General Edmund Hakewill-Smith). The operation, named after the Scottish black male grouse, is relatively unknown despite the sometimes fierce battles that were fought for each and every village and hamlet within the Roer Triangle. I am currently working on bringing a representation of the above scenario to GBS. It will primarily be an Allied tank (M4A2) operation (we will be playing the role of the 7th Armored Division "Desert Rats" ). There will also be 2 or 3 flown missions (Typhoons) on a Tuesday night when I am hosting which will play a role of supporting the tank operations at key stages in the campaign. I have Sid already looking into producing a 7th Armored Sherman skin for us to use for this event. Stay tuned for more information... Friar

Met up at the airfield, myself, Sidly, Nick, Thomas and Christoff were present. A monumental exchange of world changing esoteric philosophical ideas took place at the art deco airfield cafe and bar partially enabled by fine foods and drink. Then we toured the small but interesting museum. Stayed well into the evening to watch a singular two seater Spitfire start, taxi and take off into the sunset at the now deserted airfield. It was emotional. Back to the hotel, then on to a nearby Indian variant. Smashing food , smashing conversation, smashing evening. Few drinks later at the hotel bar then up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire. Not much sleep, (bloody noisy town centre),followed by breakfast and a pleasant drive home. Would not stay at that hotel again by choice tbh. Really great to meet up face to face after all this time though, very glad I went. Had forgotten how facially challenged the DDz are ! 😉😳

When: This Sunday, 22nd November 2020. Where: DangerDogz Dog Fight Server. What Time: The event will start at approximately 20:00 UK time For How Long: The server will be set for a maximum of 2 hours however the event itself has a built in timer for 90 minutes. The game will announce when there is 30 minutes remaining of the 90 minutes. A decision can be made at this point to extend if required. Scenario: Capture The Flag. By driving a tank to within 75 meters of the flag it will change to your sides colours (German for Axis, Russian for Allies). You do not have to leave a tank by the flag pole to retain ownership. The game will announce ownership of the flag so that everyone is aware of the current state. The side in control of the flag at then end of the mission (designed for 90 minutes but could be extended if we are all having fun and sooner if not!) will win the day. Is there AI?: There are no moving AI either on the ground or in the air. There are a number of static AI light armour units dotted around the town however that will attack you and can be attacked from the air. AAA: There is aggressive AAA at the airfields but none over the town. This will enable the planes to concentrate on the ground targets, providing they have air superiority of course! Map: Rhineland and the town of Veghel (1315 np 7/8, 4/5). All other towns have had their buildings and infrastructure removed. Weather: Medium clouds at 1200 meters, no wind. Allied Airfields: Ground start, on runway with engines running at Volkel (1316 np8) approximate flight time to town 2 minutes. Air start at 1416 np6. Allied Tank Spawn: 1315 bottom left corner of np8 (North East corner Veghel). Axis Airfields: Ground start, on runway with engines running at Heesh (1215 np5) approximate flight time to town 2 minutes. Air start at 1214 np7. Axis Tank Spawn: 1315 mid bottom of np7 (North West corner of Veghel) Equipment: Allies: Planes: Yak 1-69, Sturmovik43 Tanks: T34-76stz(free), T34-76uvz(Tank Crew Only), M42a Sherman (Tank Crew Only) Equipment Axis: Planes: BF109-F2, BF-110E2 Tanks: Panzer III L (free), Panzer III M (Tank Crew Only), Panzer IV G (Tank Crew Only) Note: Planes have a limited loadout of a maximum of 250kg bombs. No limitations for what the tanks can take. Are Plane Numbers Limited: No. Players are requested not to "throw away" their units. Please make an effort to get back to your airfield. There is a Repair/Rearm/Refuel station if you want to use it but if you would rather re-spawn after landing, that is allowed. Having started on the ground at the start, from your second mission onwards you may air start if you wish. Are Tank Numbers Limited: No. If you get killed, re spawn. If you run out of ammo, you are as good as dead so you may re-spawn. I know this is different from the planes but I did think about adding a repair/rearm/refuel point for the tanks but for this scenario we will go with re-spawning. Important Note: Players may change from tank to plane or plane to tank as often as they wish. You are not locked into one or the other. Server Settings: The event will be run with no icons and no external views (excluding open hatch views in the tanks). There has been a number of discussions about this and it is felt that these settings will give the event the right level of challenge for both pilots and tank drivers. There have been some concerns raised about these settings but I want to re-assure everyone that the area of conflict is quite small. Flight times are short (you can even see each others airfields from take off). The runways are pointing at the town. The flight time from one side of the town to the other is about a minute. There are only 4 plane types, each with its own look so easy to pick out. Granted, the ground units may have to watch out from above! There are also number of Allied and Axis light armour units dotted around the town. TeamSpeak: We will be using separate channels for Allied and Axis. I will set a whisper up to both channels so can communicate if required. I will not be able to listen in to the Allied channel. Event Start: The dogfight map will be loaded up at approximately 20:00 uk time. The map itself has a mission start time of 08:25. Players will have 5 minutes to spawn in before the game will announce "Let Battle Commence Go Go Go" at 08:30 at which point planes may take off and tanks may move into the town. Planes should wait on the runway (NO AIRSTARTS at the start please) for this announcement. Tanks may start their engines and may re-position slightly to enable everyone to spawn in if required but not move off until the announcement. Fair Play Rules: Planes should not go over to the enemy airfields. I have tried to protect them with aggressive flak, but please do not go there. Your battle is over the town protecting your bombers and assisting your ground units. Tanks should also not attempt to visit the enemy spawn point. I am going to say at this point that planes can attack the tank spawn point as I do not think it will be that easy with the aircraft available. It will not be like strafing a plane on the ground at an airfield. If during the event this proves to be a "Spoiler" I will make a call. Lets leave it at that for now. Remember the aim of this event is to have fun! The Teams Allied: Sid, Painless, Crash, Jabo, Wingflyer, Fenrir, Arthur,Perfesser, Zukker, Funflack The Teams Axis: Friar, FT, (Pooka), (Delta), BlueBear, APHill, Fruitbat,Ovy, Artie,Swepper, Tbone Players in brackets are possible no shows so we have 10 v 9 If I have missed you off please let me know, if you have not registered for this, it is not too late, also give me a shout. I hope that everyone has fun at this event. It is the first time we have done anything like it so please approach it with an open mind. We will learn from it and hopefully take the good and the bad forward into other Dogz events. Salute Friar

Apologies to all that last night was a bust; obviously there were a number of technical issues, many of which that were no one persons fault, but considering it took 40 minutes to get from server up (2120) to ultimate scrubbing (2200) there is obviously some work that is required. I have my suspicions that my internet connection is partially to blame; it may also have to do with the server being hosted by a player - DCS seems to run happier with a segregated host/client architecture and I suspect GBS may be the same. I will look into options hosting the campaign on the DDz dedicated server with FT. I cannot guarantee this will fix all the issues (lord knows I've experienced the occasional kick/crash even flying our usual coops) and may require a full campaign restart but I will know more in the coming days. As for personal technical issues; gremlins strike, we've all had them and on occasion even a full test prior to joining an event does not completely eradicate the chance of them occurring. However it will help mitigate the chance of spawning in and finding your TiR has gone for a burton or that for some reason a controller detection has decided to go south. Personally I'd recommend a quick mission free flight or a test on the DDz dogfight server. Speculatively, it may help to fly the test on the Rheine map before joining the campaign mission as this could load textures into your RAM, minimising the information that your PC is having to process and the load it is having to cope with when attempting to join, making a successful connection more likely. Maybe. The upshot of this is: from hereonin, if we have all players successfully spawned in but your hardware screws up, then sorry we continue without you. Even if it's a gremlin that didn't show itself in the test prior then you're an abort. Done. We cannot continue doing 40 minutes of restarts every time. As for pre-organisation of who's flying which position - this will help lessen the time taken to ready up but will always be subject to vagaries and interference of Real Life. Leaders will have to prepared to be flexible and adjust to on the spot deviations promptly and decisively. It would help if those partaking read and thoroughly understood the SoPs The point of me writing all that guff was not just to stroke my own ego or cos I had nothing better to do; it plays an important role in getting everyone in server and airbourne in the minimum of time. How? Well it means that the required information to be imparted at briefing is condensed down to just the following: 1. Formation assignments (or any deviations from prepared) - 1-2 minutes 2. Target - type and location - 10 seconds 3. Navigation - waypoints, points of note & egress headings - 1-2 minutes 4. Loadout - 10-20 seconds 5. Runway in use - 10-20 seconds 6. Any other matters lead wishes to bring up - 30 seconds Everything else is known and should not vary between missions. Thus a briefing could be over in as quick as 3 minutes. As for start time; next mission is scheduled for 23/06/20. This mission will have a participation cutoff of 2100 BST. If you are not in comms prior to this you will not be flying. If you have not entered server and selected you plane by 2110 you will not be flying.

I stand and salute the big BG. Always remembered, sadly missed.

Tom has asked me to post some news relating to the discussions and polls recently and the new schedule which will be run initially on a trial basis with a view to it becoming permanent in the fullness of time. So, after due consideration, starting from Sunday 16th June (this coming Sunday) the flying schedule will be changing to; Sunday - GBS Monday - IL-2 '46 Tuesday - GBS Wednesday - CloD Thursday - DCS I have also been asked to point out that this is NOT necessarily the final version and there is always room for changes to be made, but the key thing is that if you want to ensure that your preferred sim continues to flourish then numbers are what's required. Cheers all Jabo

Some pix from this weekend. I had forgoten what burnt nitro smelled like

Salute Friar, the time and weather produced some good screenies...I think. This game can look good....

Home from a really great day at the museum. Thanks to Jabo for picking up and delivering me to the station. Nice to meet Mr Fenrir Snr, also great to see Fenrir Jnr and Blubear. For those that do not know - in the picture in front of the mossie its Right to Left: Fenrir, Friar, Blubear, Jabo

@DD_Fenrir

Message to all the Danger dogz. But more Direct to the Danger Dogz administrators My apologies for not showing up on weeknights your time.Whether it's IL 2 bos or DCS. Reason being for my absence is due to this selection of work I have chosen for this spring sheet. I tried my best to fit a flying schedule. However, the good news is that this sheet is almost over. I have holidays coming up, and then the new sheets starts. So I will have time because my selection this time gives me a bigger window of opportunity to join you fellows. I truly value the time With the dogz, whether it be more of a serious mission or a fun get together. Looking forward to our next get together. Cheers Dennis AKA Wingflyr.

Some photos from visit to malta

352nd V DangerDogz "Battle For Arnhem" - Final Briefing THINGS YOU MUST KNOW When: Saturday 5th March. Mission Start: 21:00 UK time (-5 hours for USA Eastern Standard Time). The map will be put up at 21:00. It will not be held or restarted just because your TrackIR was not on. It is a dog fight map, go out and come back in. Players must be on comms in good time to get a brief of what is going on etc. Mission Type: Dog Fight Location: DangerDogz Dog Fight Tank Special Event Server. MODS ON Mods Required: Icon mod to give air to air icons (a small coloured triangle) but no ground icons. (Known by the DangerDogz as "Dogz Icon Mod - Tank battles v2.00" , 352nd "AIR to AIR NO GROUND"). Other mods as personal choice. Comms: Each side will use their own TeamSpeak servers. At the end of the event, the DangerDogz will join the 352nd server to say "Hi". Server details will be published in the DangerDogz private threads. DD_Friar will sit in both Teamspeaks (on the 352nd server in his own room so that 352nd _Deacon can communicate) Match Duration: 90 minutes. Scenario: The town has 5 key points (flags). Capture a flag and gain a spawn point. Loose the flag, loose the spawn point. Who Wins: The side holding the most flags / spawn points at the end of 90 minutes. For pilots, destruction of main supply convoys, artillery and rear supply depots gets bragging rights. Equipment: Allies: P38, P51, Typhoon, M4a2 "Sherman", T34-42 Axis: BF109-G6, BF109-G14, BF-110, Panzer V1 "Tiger" (max of 2), Panzer IV, Panzer III At The Start: Once the mission has been started, there will be a 5 minute pause for tanks to spawn in and sort themselves out. They should stay within the white circle. Planes may take off as soon as they spawn in and head for Arnhem. A message will display and a horn will sound for the tanks to start. The white circle will also be removed at this point. THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW (to avoid you asking annoying questions on the night!) Flags / Spawn Points: When you capture one of the 3 main positions (Railway Station, Main Bridge or Factories) a re supply convoy will be triggered to drive to the flag. If it arrives it will give you Repair, Rearm and Reheal. The convoy is made up of 4 vehicles. A lead (Allies: American halftrack, Axis: Armoured Scout vehicle), followed by a truck (for ammo and maintenance), an ambulance and a fuel tanker, each of the respective side. If you need them, just get within range when they are parked (you will see the six icons on your HUD). Turn off your engine and open a hatch. RRR is quite quick and will not take long. The icon will go white when you are within range. Capturing a flag / spawn point: There will be NO MESSAGE telling you who has captured which flag. You must check the map to see who owns what. If you are capturing one of the 3 main points you will get a message informing your side only that the convoy is on its way. The Re-Supply convoys will start on their own side of the lines, out side of the town, and make their way to the appropriate flag that has just been captured. They will park up as near as possible to the flag area. They are code named "Romeo" for the railway, "Mike" for the Main Bridge and "Foxtrot" for the factories. They will announce that they are setting off and if they are coming under attack. When the convoys park up by a flag they may be within the "flag capture zone" so if you are attempting to take control of a flag and it does not change, there could be an enemy vehicle nearby that must be killed first. Spawn Camping: This could look like it is happening if someone is en route to the flag to capture it just as you spawn in. If you find yourself getting killed as soon as you spawn in, pick another point. If you find yourself as an attacker in this position, PLEASE DO NOT sit in this position. It is not clever and no fun for anyone. If you can take the flag, do so. Home spawn points (located to the north and south of the town) can not be captured so please as an attacker, do not waste your time and go there. Planes: ATTACKING ENEMY AIR BASE IS FORBIDDEN. Please keep outside the yellow exclusion zone. Your primary job as pilots is to protect / assist your tanks. You can also attack the artillery, attack the main supply convoys and rear supply depots. You can RRR at your home airfields. Plane Arming: Loadouts have been locked for both sides. Allies will not be able to take any bombs bigger than 500lb and the Axis anything bigger than 250kg. Multiple load outs are allowed. Tank Spawn Points: The starting points have unlimited tank numbers (except for the Tiger which is limited to two only.) When a flag is captured you will get a limited number of tanks at that spawn point (Allies M4a2 x 5, T34 x 1, Axis: Panzer IV x 3, Panzer III-M x 2, Panzer III-L x 1). If a flag is lost and re-taken these numbers are re-set. Plane Spawn Points: Plane numbers are limited. Allies: P38 x 10, P51 x 10, Typhoon x 7. Axis: BF109-G6 x 10, BF-109-G14 x 10, BF-110 x 7 Mission Timing: There will be a notification after 60 minutes playing time and 90 minutes. When the end of the mission is called please stop and cease fire IMMEDIATELY. I hope that we all have a lot of fun with this event which hopefully is the first of many. Salute DD_Friar

Will give it a go tonight

Sorry about the no-show tonight, not like me to miss a Tuesday flying... However, time is short this week and I had a last minute project that needed completing before Thursday. My bro is a member of the Royal British Legion in his home town in Essex and has organised a Forces Day there this weekend. He has vehicles and all sorts turning up and also wanted to feature the local wartime airfields, particularly Rivenhall. This is because they were busy around D Day with B26 Marauders, P51s and other types and then were used for glider operations 1944/45 by the RAF after the Americans had moved onto the Continent. I volunteered to build a B26 for him. Short notice ie. a week, and I will be driving it down to him so I need it to be finished and solid as much as it can be. One of the quickest builds I have done. I built the old Airfix 1/72 scale version which by chance comes with the markings for a Rivenhall B26. It took a day or so to locate a usable one on ebay that I could get quickly however one arrived and I started building on Saturday. For an old kit it is surprisingly detailed and went together very well. The cylindrical fuselage top join took some sanding to get it looking good and the rear of the engine nacelles needed some filler to get the curves right but on the whole I enjoyed it. It isn't very often I build a natural metal finished aircraft as it used to be difficult to recreate the metal finish. However, Tamiya make a bare metal finish paint and it did the job nicely. Perhaps I would have spent a bit more time tidying up joints etc. but time was the limiter here, just a few touch ups and corrections to be done tomorrow. D Day stripes were done by painting a white area, masking it, painting the bare metal finish and then using a sheet of black decal from which the stripes were cut. Easier than painting I think. The idea is that the model will stay with my bro and will be used for exhibitions..... I think he wants a MkIV Stirling and a Horsa glider next..... Cheerzen

I'm fine tuning the mod with the help of the author. My goal is to have enemy AI less accurate and friendlies a bit more so your rear gunner isn't firing at another dimension instead of the enemy. I'm also working on getting ship AA to be less deadly. Turns out the guns on the tankers come from the regular AAA Artillery menu so dumbing down the ground AAA will be necessary to get the tankers guns tamed. It's disheartening to attack a convoy and while trying to disable the destroyer you get gunned down by a tanker ship. My final goal will be to incorporate all three "Blind" mods, Aircraft Gunners, Ship Gunners and Ground AAA into a single JSGME package.

Couldn't have put it better, great mini-break with some top chaps. Here are some pictures

Next mission is hosted Sunday 13th June (Campaign date 20/12/44). Scoreboards (as of the morning of the 20th December 1944): 370th FG: Pilot Rosters: 370th FG: 402nd FS 485th FS:

I am 60 in may so decided to treat myself

VICTORY IS MINE!!!! Or, more accurately, victories are now FTs and Reggies. Only took four hours. I will complete the forum debrief when I have re-invigorated my stocks of give-a-sh*t, 'cause right now I'm fresh out.

Debrief from the 410th BG A flight of 3 A20s took off from Eindhoven and, showing great airmanship and engine management skills, carried out a steep climb out and up to the fighter rendezvous at 14,500ft together and with no engine overheating. We met the Spitfire escort and continued on to the target at Zulpich. The cloud above the cloud base at 10,000ft was dense and with virtually no visibility through it or adequate gaps it was decided to level bomb from just below the cloud base. The target was marked as being in the centre of Zulpich so our job was made easier as we had an obvious aiming point. The landmarks on the way were relatively easy to spot so we were able to give ourselves a good long line up and run in. A successful drop was made on the target and a large amount of railway rolling stock and facilities were destroyed hopefully disrupting the movements of the enemy troops in the area. One unfortunate occurrence was that whilst the Spitfires remained in our vicinity they were unable to intercept a lone Fw190 before it shot down 2nd Lt Dave Crosby whilst he was levelled out for the bomb run. They did, however, down it shortly afterwards. Thankfully Dave and his crew were able to bail out. They managed to evade capture and were eventually delivered back to Eindhoven for beer and steak! Well done! Frustrating though....lined up ready to drop and bang....next thing you know you're on the end of a 'chute. Well done 2nd Lt Dave Haggis for completing a bomb drop and getting back to Eindhoven....hope you bought the ground crew plenty of beer Well done 410BG, proud of you.

Here's some footage from Tuesday to whet your appetite for today's mission and to mark the first time both squadrons operated from home base. I hope to capture some combat on film in future missions: Capturing the Cacophony (turn it up loud 😉)

Gentlemen, I have some news... As many of you are aware, at the inception of this campaign, both the 402nd and the 485th were supposed to be based, as in reality, at the same airfield, that is Florennes/Juzaine (A-78). However, due to apparent limitations with PWCG and GBS, this was not to be; we had issues with aircraft from one squadron spawning inside or partially interfering with aircraft of the other and it resulted in my being obliged to move the 485th to another airfield, some 50km to the NE in order for the campaign to be playable and to get us started. It has stuck in my craw for some time, not least because of the ahistorical element but also because having 6-10 P-38's starting, taxying and taking off from an airfield was brilliant but to have almost double that would have been awesome. I felt we were missing out on spectacle, atmosphere and the camaraderie of coming back not just as a squadron but as a Group. It's been nagging me so I looked at this again. Armed with a little clarification from Vander (he of Easy Mission Generator fame) on how the ground start spawning logic works, my own anal retentive obsession for accuracy and a healthy dose of sheer bloody mindedness I set to making this a reality... and I am pleased to announce that, henceforth, The 485th will be based alongside the 402nd at Florennes/Juzaine (A-78) Airfield!!! In order for this to work, I had to fool PWCG that the 485th was based at a different airfield than the 402nd, hence the 485th boys will see their home airfield as "Juizane", where the 402nd will still be based at "Florennes"; however, they are the same airfield. And it works! We have two well separated dispersal areas and no chance for the spawn collisions that wrecked this idea in the first place. I tested myself thoroughly and Painless & Kimo joined for a third party test session and quick airfield orientation and local area familiarisation flight this evening just gone, all successful I might add. Thanks for the help gents. So 485th flyers take note: I have included a map to help you orient yourselves with where you will spawn on the airfield and give you some idea of the layout. Bear in mind your flight times will be a bit longer and there's sweet F.A. in terms of alternate fields in the immediate vicinity - could be something to consider when nursing back a wounded bird or low on fuel.

Quite an eventful sortie for the group today; both the 402nd and 485th were assigned air patrols in the area east of Verviers between Malmedy & Eupen. It was a beautiful, clear dawn, however that blinding eastern sun held some surprises as both squadrons ran into e/a well behind friendly lines, with 485th encountering a mixed force of long nose Fw 190s and Bf 109s around Angels 10 - needless to say, a robust engagement ensued. 485th took some casualties but the Krauts paid dearly for it, 8 e/a being shot down. However, we are sad to report that Lt Denny Pook is missing presumed killed. Others hit in the fighting did manage to safely RTB however. The 402nd got tangled with a pair of Fw's at 20,000+ ft, only to be joined by a second pair of 109s looking to bushwhack them whilst they were distracted with the 190s. Thanks to some excellent teamwork, some sticky situations were avoided and all the bandits were eventually smacked down. The squadron then descended to search out targets of opportunity and discovered some fierce fighting on the ground in the vicinity of Limbourg. Diving into strafe, despite some pretty spirited AAA, the squadron decimated an enemy artillery position that was engaging a push by the US 5th Armored Division and also took heavy toll of the surrounding flak positions, with only one P-38 taking damage; Lt Fesser managed to get his well ventilated airplane back to home base safely, though he did run out of gas whilst taxiing back to dispersal! The 5th AD send their heartiest thanks and say they'll be asking for us by name in the future! Great work all. With that we have some more fruit salad to throw at the chests of some esteemed brethren! 2nd Lt. Casey Baker has received a Purple Heart for his miracle escape from the collision with the Fw 190 he experienced on the 12th. Maj Mick Payne-less & Lts. Delta and Apeehill of the 485th and Lt Per Fesser of the 402nd have all been awarded the Bronze Star. Warmest congratulations gentlemen and keep up the sterling performance. Next mission will likely be the 18th October [event to be held Tuesday 1st September 2100BST] as Met reports indicate that the weather is clamping in for a couple of days, so rest up boys and see if the CO will grant you a pass into Charleroi...

New man cave, still waiting on sky to sort out interweb

Well, gents, for the first time I get to say... Welcome to Debrief! (Whoot!) 01/10/1944 Firstly, great job guys on all making it back. Particularly well done to the 485th for hitting their targets so unequivocally. 402nd - Reconnaissance of the frontline East of Bastogne. Great takeoff, form up and ingress to recon area, cruise alt Angels 16. Well flown gents. Spotted two contrails high over frontline, shortly after two Fw 190s dived through the formation. Broke formation and pursued one through cloud, lost him then reacquired him twice then came up on his 6 as he climbed south east and shot him down with a 2 no. 2 second and one no. 5 second burst, confirmed by Wingy and Zukker. Jabo claimed a probable in the same vicinity but couldn't get it confirmed. Regrouped squadron over Bastogne and we flew back to the frontline. Zenith squadron called mission complete so we RTB'd. All a/c down safe. To address some issues brought up: 1. Stuttering mid-mission; this is an AI issue and occurs when we fly close enough to the mission area to spawn the enemy and friendly AI air and ground units. I will tweak the numbers of these down further. 2. The multiple restarts were a pain and I am VERY conscious of those who suffer most for it, and can only apologise. For future I suggest the following: a) All players restart Il-2 prior to joining the P-38 Coop Campaign server b) All players DO NOT TOUCH A SODDING THING WITH THEIR CONTROLS UNTIL ALL PLAYERS ARE SUCCESSFULLY SPAWNED IN COCKPIT. In 402nd we basically call "Red 1 is in", "White 3 is in", etc, until everyone is in cockpit then we begin startup. c) We start even sooner. A 2100 start time perhaps?

One more quote from my grandfather...and one of his best ever. Back in 1970 when I was 11, he took me down to Biggin Hill to see the air show and have a look at the Battle of Britain memorial flight first hand. I can't tell you my disappointment when instead of heading straight to the airfield he stopped at the old pub in the village...which had a closed sign up. When we got into the pub it was full of old blokes all shouting and laughing at eachother...turned out it was a few of my boyhood heroes...ones that I had read about and had most of their their photos on my bedroom wall... For the home team... Douglas Bader Bob Stanford-Tuck James 'Ginger' Lacey Brian Kingcome John 'cat's eyes' Cunningham Johnny Johnson Paul Brickhill Raymond Baxter (who was a TV presenter for the 'Tomorrow's world' program on the BBC back in the 60's and 70's) My grandfather... And for the visiting team... Adolph Galland Erich Alfred Hartmann Günther Rall Gerhard Barkhorn Walther Dahl Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert... ...and a few others from both teams I didn't know...I was like a pig in proverbial going around getting all those old blokes to sign my autograph book, we even missed the airshow. Thinking I was destined for a big disappointment at missing the BoB flight fly past, I was stunned when my grandfather and all those old blokes all jumped on a few buses dragging me along with them and headed in to the airfield after the airshow had finished...still laughing and shouting at eachother like rowdy kids ...and went straight to the hangar where the Battle of Britain flight were parked. They all took turns sitting in the cockpits of the Spitfire and Hurricane... and getting pics taken by an army of official photographers. When it came around to my grandfathers turn, I watched him climb into the Hurricane as I stood on the wing next to a young RAF flight lieutenant who had flown it during the airshow. As my grandfather looked around the cockpit just lightly running his hands over the controls, the young officer started to explain to him what all the levers and buttons were...He just smiled at the young bloke and said. "That's all very interesting, son... but I've done things in a Hurricane you wouldn't do with your wife." The comment certainly pleased all the rest of the WW2 veteran pilots who all jeered and laughed uproariously. I still have the framed and autographed photo of me standing up in the cockpit of the Hurricane wearing my grandfathers flying helmet with all the collected aces stood around out front of it... Best day ever

2 photos from Dave the pilot

Howdy chaps. Results are in. Before I announce the results, a quick explanation of how the voting was scored: For simplicity, I went with a "points based on preference" philosophy, so First place = 1 Point, Second place = 2 points, etc. As such it was a "lowest score wins" structure. Ergo, for the sims a voter had a total of 10 points (1+2+3+4=10) to distribute amongst the sims. For the days a voter had a total of 28 points (1+2+3+4+5+6+7=28) to distribute amongst the days. Where a voter only applied a preference position to one or a few of the total available sim/day choices, the remaining points total left available to the voter were applied equally over the remaining un-preferenced choices. For example if a user chose only Il-2: 1946, that scored 1 point. The remaining sims then scored equally (10-1)/3 = 3. The scores as follows: Sims 1. GBS/Box - 55 points 2. DCS - 63.5 points 3. CloD - 78 points 4. Il-2: 1946 - 83.5 points Days 1. Tuesday - 80 points 2. Thursday - 95 points 3. Sunday - 100 points 4. Monday - 101 points 5. Wednesday - 114.5 points 6. Friday - 141 points 7. Saturday - 152.5 points A total of 28 out of a potential 35 members voted, representing a round 80% turnout. Spreadsheet attached for transparency. Please feel free to double check and tell me if I made any errors. DangerDogz Voting 2019.xlsx

Personally, I'll be sorry to see '46 and CloD go. For me, DCS requires too much effort to be moderately competent let alone competitive and GBS doesn't have the planeset or scenarios that hold my interest all that much. It doesn't matter really though - I fly so little now anyway that my input to the group is token at best. That said, I do think that the group as a whole needs to find a way forward that suits the majority of regular flyers. Our decisions when '46 was THE sim were easy - now there are 4-5, making everyone happy is going to be nigh on impossible. I will go along with the majority view for the good of the Dogz, whether I decide to fly or not.

Great pics chaps thank you! I got some footage on my smartphone again this year so threw together another little video for those that couldn't make it:

And the final batch from Sunday;

Some pix (quite a few of the spit formation were taken at 100th of a second )

Curry done, more pics to follow soon

Theresa (my daughter) flew from Eindhoven to Manchester today of all days. Storm Doris made it interesting..... "Take off was bumpy. Above the clouds was pretty. Manchester closed their airport while we were in-flight. Then they opened it for landing. Circled for landing for 20 minutes. Tried to land twice...couldn't. Got diverted to Liverpool. 10 minutes before landing at Liverpool a fight broke out. Three minutes to landing and a very drunk idiot decided to walk up and down the plane....laughing and cheering at himself while 100 people are screaming at him to sit his butt down. 1minute later he does it again and a woman passes out (bear in mind it feels like we're on a rollercoaster). The plane landed sideways.10 people threw up around me and we've been sitting on the plane for 25 minutes while police taserd said idoit. Police escorted the fighters off and the paramedics are here treating the woman who passed out. And due to the shortage of baggage handlers (we're not next to the terminal, out in an open parking spot) we're going to wait a while before we can get our luggage. I need ground beneath my feet...pronto. And someone please give this cabin crew a massive bonus #bumpyflight #groundnowplease#imtoooldforthis " Looking forward to a Dad Hug later when I pick her up from her uncle's in Droitwich, he was good enough to offer to pick her up so had to contend with the diversion.