WW1 FIGHTERS. Elliot White Springs, WW1, fighter ace

Transcription

1 WW1 FIGHTERS "The heavens were the grandstands and only the gods were spectators. The stake was the world, the forfeit was the player's place at the table, and the game had no recess. It was the most dangerous of all sports and the most fascinating. It got in the blood like wine. It aged men forty years in forty days. It ruined nervous systems in an hour." Elliot White Springs, WW1, fighter ace

2 FOKKER DR. 1 Fokker Dr. 1 The Fokker triplane first entered into combat on the 1st September 1917 piloted by renowned fighter ace Manfred Von Richtoften "The Red Baron". Over the next 2 days Von Richtofen had shot down two allied aircraft and declared the new fighter a success. Buoyed by the recommendation of the ace pilot, production of the Fokker Dr. 1 commenced in earnest. The first aircraft being delivered to front line squadrons in October Much of the success of the aircraft was attributed to the high manoeuvrability and strong rate of climb. This performance benefit was also a curse in that the aircraft had a marked instability in the air and was notoriously difficult to land. This was clearly an aircraft not for the novice pilot but for the aces that could use the eccentricities of the flight dynamics to gain crucial advantage against a less agile opponent. Surprisingly, the downfall of the Fokker Dr. 1 was not as a result of enemy action but in large part to something as innocuous as a shortage of castor oil in Germany during the summer of The oil, used to lubricate the rotary engine was in such short supply that a replacement lubricant, Voltol, was used. The quality of Voltol was extremely low, resulting in a significant number of engine failures. Sadly, none of the 320 aircraft that entered service have survived, the last believed destroyed in the Berlin Museum during World War 2. However, enterprising individuals have created replicas of the Fokker Dr. 1. One resides at the Old Rhinebeck museum in the USA whilst another was fabricated in July 2007 in Sweden.

3 FOKKER DR. 1 Specifications Fokker Dr. 1 Crew: One Length: 18 ft 11 in (5.77 m) Wingspan: 23 ft 7 in (7.20 m) Height: 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m) Wing area: 201 sq.ft (18.70 m 2 ) Empty weight: 895 lb (406 kg) Loaded weight: 1,292 lb (586 kg) Powerplant: 1 x Oberursel UR.II 9-cylinder rotary engine, 110 hp (82 kw) Zero-lift drag coefficient: Drag area: 6.69 sq.ft (0.62 m 2 ) Aspect ratio: 4.04 Performance Maximum speed: 115 mph (185 km/h) Stall speed: 45 mph (72 km/h) Range: 185 mi (300 km) Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,095 m) Rate of climb: 1,130 ft/min (5.7 m/s) Lift-to-drag ratio: 8.0 Armament 2 x 7.92 mm "Spandau" LMG 08/15 machine guns. Compass Tachometer Altimeter Fuel Indicator Oil Pressure Speedometer Throttle Turn & Slip Indicator Fokker Dr. 1 Cockpit 1) Tachometer Allows the pilot to monitor and manage the RPM (revolutions per minute) of the propeller 2) Compass A simple 360 magnetic compass helps you find the airfield 3) Altimeter The altimeter is marked in increments of thousands of feet above sea level 4) Rate of turn and slip indicator The Fokker Dr. 1 used yaw to advantage in dog-fights! 5) Fuel indicator holding the mouse over this gauge will display the volume of fuel aboard 6) Oil pressure allows the pilot to confirm that engine oil pressure is within tolerance limits 7) Speedometer 8) Throttle and mixture controls If I should come out of this war alive, I will have more luck than brains. Manfred Von Richtofen, the Red Baron

4 NIEUPORT NIE. 17 Nieuport Nie. 17 The Nieuport Nie. 17 is one of the most successful fighter aircraft of World War 1. Designed by the Nieuport company of France this is an aircraft that sported poutstanding manoeuvrability with a superb rate of climb. Not surprisingly this is an aircraft that won friends and was exported to 18 air forces around the world, as geographically diverse as Thailand, Russia and the USA. It could actually be argued that the aircraft found favour with 19 air forces in that the Germans were much in awe of this allied aircraft and managed to capture a number intact. These captured aircraft were then transported to German aviation companies who made almost identical copies for the German Air Force! The Siemens-Schulkert version of the aircraft actually went into full production to aid the German war effort! So successful was this aircraft that during parts of 1916 every squadron of the French Aviation Militaire was equipped with the Nie. 17. The British Royal Flying Corps too was enamoured with the Nie. 17 and equipped them with Lewis guns to great success. The British air ace Albert Ball, recipient of the Victoria Cross, downed an impressive array of enemy aircraft when flying the Nie. 17 making him a national hero. When his squadron, 56 Squadron RFC, were equipped wit the new SE5 scout aircraft Ball made an appeal to continue flying the Nie. 17. He was allowed to do so and kept the aircraft for his own personal use, continuing his illustrious career. Albert Ball was by no means the only ace pilot to fly the Nie. 17. W.A. "Billy" Bishop, a Canadian ace also flew the aircraft and was another recipient of the Victoria Cross with a tally of 75 enemy aircraft destroyed.

5 NIEUPORT NIE. 17 Specifications - Nieuport Nie. 17 Crew: one, pilot Length: 5.8 m (19 ft) Wingspan: 8.2 m (26 ft 9 in) Height: 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) Wing area: 14.8 m 2 (159 sq.ft) Empty weight: 375 kg (827 lb) Loaded weight: 560 kg (1,235 lb) Powerplant: 1 x Le Rhône 9J 9-cylinder rotary engine, 82kW (110 hp) Performance Maximum speed: 164 km/h (88.5 knots, 102 mph) Range: 249 km (134.5 nm, 155 miles) Service ceiling: 5,300 m (17,390 ft) Rate of climb: 11.5 min to 3,000 m (9,840 ft) Wing loading: 37.9 kg/m 2 (7.77 lb/sq.ft) Power/mass: 0.15 kw/kg (0.09 hp/lb) Armament 1 x Vickers or Lewis machine gun Throttle Compass Tachometer Altimeter Speedometer Fuel Indicator Oil Pressure Nieuport Nie. 17 Cockpit 1) Tachometer Allows the pilot to monitor and manage the RPM (revolutions per minute) of the propeller 2) Compass A simple 360 magnetic compass allows you to find your way home! 3) Altimeter The altimeter is marked in increments of thousands of feet above sea level 4) Fuel indicator holding the mouse over this gauge will display the volume of fuel aboard 5) Oil pressure allows the pilot to confirm that engine oil pressure is within tolerance limits 6) Speedometer in MPH 7) Throttle and mixture controls Won't it be nice when all this beastly killing is over, and we can enjoy ourselves and not hurt anyone? I hate this game. Captain Albert Ball RFC

6 ZEPPELIN LZ62 Zeppelin LZ62 The cigar shaped Zeppelin is perhaps unique in the annals of military aviation. These distinctive airships were held in high regard by the German high command who saw them as ideal high range, high payload bombers. Despite being used in peacetime for civilian transport purposes the Zeppelin fleet was quickly adapted to this new military role. On January the 19th 1915 two Zeppelins dropped twenty-four 50kg high explosive bombs over the eastern coast of the UK, striking Great Yarmouth, Sheringham and King s Lynn not only marking the first use of a Zeppelin in a bombing raid but heralding a whole new era of warfare. This proved to be the first time in history in which civilian towns had been bombed from the air, a trend that unfortunately would become a staple of future warfare. Only four people were killed in the raid but the propaganda and fear generated amongst the general population led the German high command to see this raid as a major success. Further raids continued with 23 raids in 1916 that killed 293 people in the UK. In response anti-aircraft defences in the UK were significantly stepped up leading Zeppelin crews to fly above cloud cover to avoid detection. As such Zeppelin crews had to resort to lowering an observer through the clouds to locate the targets below! We offer you the opportunity to fly LZ62, the first of the "Super-Zeppelin" class, a veteran of 10 bombing raids over England and 31 reconnaissance missions in the North Sea and Baltic. LZ62 survived the war and was shipped to Belgium to be broken up, however her engine car remains on display at the Royal Army and Military History Museum in Brussels.

7 Specifications LZ62 Super Zeppelin Volume: metres 3 Length: 198 metres Width: 24 metres Engine Horsepower: 1440 Speed: 64MPH Load: 32.5 tons Gas: Hydrogen ZEPPELIN LZ62 Throttle Control Rudder Wheel Pitch Control Zeppelin LZ62 Bridge 1) Throttle Control 2) Rudder wheel 3) Pitch control The aggressive spirit, the offensive, is the chief thing everywhere in war, and the air is no exception. Manfred Von Richtofen, the Red Baron

8 SOPWITH PUP Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup was manufactured for use by the Royal Flying Corp and Royal Navy by the Sopwith Aviation Company. Despite being labelled "Pup" the aircraft was actually labelled the Sopwith Scout by the manufacturer who felt that the term Pup was inappropriate for their aircraft. Despite their protestations this remarkable little fighter will forever be regarded fondly as the Sopwith Pup! The design was based on a personal aircraft of the company s test pilot, the legendary Harry Hawker and entered combat service in October The aircraft was immediately well received by pilots who appreciated the ease of flying, agility and manoeuvrability of the aircraft. With the threat to UK shores by German airship and conventional bombers two squadrons were despatched close to London excelling themselves in domestic defence. However, the Sopwith Pup was more than a traditional fighter in the Western Front and homeland defence. The Pup achieved fame on 2nd August 1917 by achieving the first landing of an aircraft on a moving ship, setting the stage for the introduction of aircraft carriers around the world and changing the face of Naval operations. After this success a number of Pups were deployed to a wide variety of ships, not only custom aircraft carriers, but cruisers and battleships hastily modified to support air operations, often by attaching platforms to onboard gun turrets! Such was the phenomenal success of this aircraft that 1770 were manufactured for a wide variety of duties, with an array of examples surviving in private collections and museums to this day. Perhaps, the finest accolade to the Pup came from fighter ace Manfred Von Richtofen, who declared, after first encountering a Pup in the air "We saw at once that this enemy plane was superior to ours"

9 SOPWITH PUP Specifications Sopwith Pup Crew: one, pilot Length: 19 ft 3.75 in (5.9 m) Wingspan: 26 ft 6 in (8.1 m) Height: 9 ft 5 in (2.9 m) Wing area: 254 sq.ft (23.60 m 2 ) Empty weight: 856 lb (388 kg) Loaded weight: 1,225 lb (556 kg) Max takeoff weight: 1,225 lb (556 kg) Powerplant: 1 x Le Rhone air-cooled rotary engine, 80 or 100 hp (60 or 75 kw) Performance Maximum speed: 92 knots (106 mph, 171 km/h) Service ceiling: 18,500 feet (5,600 m) Endurance: 3 hours Armament 1 x.303 in (7.62 mm) Vickers machine gun Compass Tachometer Altimeter Throttle Speedometer Fuel Indicator Oil Pressure Sopwith Pup Cockpit 1) Tachometer Allows the pilot to monitor and manage the RPM (revolutions per minute) of the propeller 2) Compass A simple 360 magnetic compass 3) Altimeter The altimeter is marked in increments of thousands of feet above sea level 4) Fuel indicator holding the mouse over this gauge will display the volume of fuel aboard 5) Oil pressure allows the pilot to confirm that engine oil pressure is within tolerance limits 6) Speedometer in MPH 7) Throttle and mixture controls He who has the height controls the battle. He who has the sun achieves surprise. He who gets in close shoots them down. Anon pilot WW1

10 WW1 FIGHTERS Flying the Aircraft Here are few pointers on flying the aircraft that you might find helpful 1. The throttle on each needs to be advanced by 25% before starting the engines. This applies to all models. 2. The aviator must not close the throttle until on the ground, this is done to save prop damage and engine wear. Throttle needs to be set at 25% or more to taxi. 3. The engines will not start with the throttle closed. Troubleshooting and Support On you can access the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by clicking the support link in the top menu. If your problem has not been addressed, or if you want to send any comments on WW1 Fighters, send an to and our support team will respond as soon as possible. Before contacting technical support with a problem, be sure you have done the following: Have downloaded and installed any updates When contacting technical support, be sure to include the following information: Your version of Microsoft s Flight Simulator Operating System (Window 95, 98, ME, XP, 2000, Vista, 7, 8) The exact name of the product (WW1 Fighters) Report any and all error messages reported or report the problem you are having by providing a step-by-step If it is a visual problem, describe the screen with as much detail as you can. Please do not send attachments unless permission is granted ahead of time. If screen-shots are required, please keep them as small as possible (100KB or less) in JPG format.