Ramblings Over the Front

Paul F. Baer in front of his SPAD S.VII

As members of the forum may know, I have some great interest in the Escadraille Americaine/Lafayette Escadrille/103rd Aero. I have a few planes to represent the various stages of this squadron, ranging from two Nieuport N.11 repaints, to the Thaw/Lufbery Nieuport N.17, to four SPAD S.VIIs for the 103rd Aero. Also, one of the interesting American pilots of the war, and one who was the American Ace of Aces ...

Originally Posted by predhead

Looking through various aircraft ratings and seeing that perhaps the Ponnier's climb rate (according to the good work the unofficial stats committee does for the rest of us) is on the low side. Comparing rates of climb using the Wings of Linen site, and averaging when applicable if the is a variation of climb time. The numbers in parenthesis are the game climb rates):

Nieuport N.11 - 3000 meters in 17.33 minutes - 568 feet per minute (4)
Nieuport N.16 - 3000 meters in 10.17

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This decision is super easy - I already have the plane for this deck nearly painted!


Image from Reduced Aircraft Factory

The E Deck is a nice early war deck in terms of maneuverability. Speed is about the same as its contemporaries, and with the broad left and right sideslips it is a joy of a deck to use. Plane options are very limited, being just the Nieuport 11 and the Siemens-Schuckert D.I, and it is the latter plane that I have ...

We held another great gaming session at the Dragon's Guildhall. As I do not know everyone's 'Drome handle to list all the players, I will say that we had 6 participants at one table (a smaller group than usual due to vacations and other happening), gaming a little early war action over France.*

The group I gamed with saw the pilots of Escadrille Americaine (N.124), using ...

Wrapping up the Pfalz Dr.I when decals arrive, having another go at the SS D.I since I hated how the paint scheme turned out, looking towards a Roland D.IIa for the Eastern Front, and one more crazed idea...a Euler D.I! I posted about this obscure plane last year, and might tackle one in one of two directions:

1. Ares Chaput N.11 repaint, cutting off the Lewis gun or
2. Reduced Aircraft Factory Shapeways N.16 with the synchronized gun

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