Flight Logs???

[Dubar]

I thought it would be nice if I started keeping a log of each aircraft I have.  I came up with a spreadsheet with some basic collection data, but I'm wondering if there's a game out there that has such a thing that can be downloaded or viewed.

Here's the log for one of my Fokker DVIIs.  I haven't assigned a pilot name nor a number, right now simply going by the color of the aircraft and any identifying markings.  Only 3 combats so far, been shot down once and destroyed a Camel in the second outing.  The 3rd outing the plane took a lot of damage and could not reload after running out of ammo, so I high-tailed it back to base!

Playing solo I sometimes have to stop mid-game and catch up my recordings.  I feel there should be a bit more data in the entries.

[frd]

Don't know of any games that do flight logs, but I really like the idea!

What rules/game are you using for your solo WW1 air combat?

[Moriarty]

AFAIK Flight Logs of the period weren’t that organised?
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/pilots-logbooks-first-world-war-flying-ace

[Dubar]

frd,
I'm using some homemade rules I came up with and posted here on the forum a while back, but I also use Canvas Eagle rules.

Moriarty,
What really prompted my interest in this was reading through 2 books I recently bought, Jasta Colors volumes 1 and 2 by Bruno Schmaling.  During his research back in the 1970s he interviewed a number of German pilots and ground crewmen.  Many of the pilots (or their relatives) still had their flight logs, combat reports, or diaries.

He even included a couple of RAF pilots combat reports that were used, along with the German reports, to verify what took place in a few dogfights.  One, from a Capt. James Anderson Slater of 64 Sqn. flying a SE5a, dated 16 May 1918, describes the events leading up to the shooting down of a "purple fuselaged" Albatros DV.

The "mauve" Albatros, according to the German reports, belonged to Jagdstaffel 23b and flown by Lt. Heinrich Kullmer, who was killed in the crash.  Capt. Slater's report said he used about 50 rounds to bring the Albatros down.

I don't necessarily want to get into that much detail but it would be nice just to keep some kind of log on my aircraft, which totals about 20 per side right now after 3D printing a Rumpler C.IV and a Salmson 2A2.

Part of keeping the logs would help me to determine if I'm "favoring" 1 type of aircraft over the rest.  My favorite is the Fokker DVIII (5 3D printed so far!) and I'm trying not to use them as much, due to their late arrival in the war.  I know I'm favoring machines with 2 fixed guns (Camel, SPAD XIII) and force myself to use some of the earlier, single-gunned aircraft.  I played a game last night using a single Albatros C.XII doing recon, with a SE5a roaming the skies looking for prey.

Both aircraft had 2 guns, but could only fire 1 at a time: (1) SE5a 1 fixed gun on the fuselage and 1 wing-mounted on a rail and (2) Albatros C.XII with a single forward firing gun along with a ring-mounted, rear-firing gun for the observer.

The end result was that both got thoroughly shot up but the Albatros accomplished its mission of reconning a target hex and returning to base, while the SE5a emptied its guns and couldn't roll the required numbers to reload before having to limp home.  This game lasted 27 turns, they usually last no more than 15.  I purposely used the Albatros, after taking photos of the target, to try shooting down the SE, because I had him damaged enough a few more shots would do the trick.  When I realized I needed to return to base to accomplish the mission, I broke off the engagement.

The rear-firing, ring-mounted gun of the Albatros took its toll on the SE, mainly due to its arc of fire being wider than the fixed guns (firing straight ahead) of the SE.

Please offer up some suggestions for additional data I can put in the reports.

[Dubar]

I'm going to modify this by adding a column for number of "Kills" along with a column for "Type of aircraft shot down".  Maybe a column for status of the aircraft depicted by the flight log.  Doing all this may shorten, or do away with, the NOTES column.

Only types of missions I have come up with so far have been: Hunting, Recon, Bombing, Escort, and Training.  Currently each aircraft log has only the name of the type of aircraft and the headings shown, I pencil in whatever information I need and later enter it using my PC keyboard...my handwriting is awful these days (and I was a draftsman back in the 1970s)!!!

[Dubar]

I made some modifications to the sheet, but I don't know if it's necessary.  I saved both in case I want to go back.  These changes should help make all my entries more uniform.

As of now, I have a sheet for each aircraft.  I want to try using a standard sheet, entering all the aircraft that took part in a particular mission, without having to put photos of each aircraft in as I go.